Our mechanic has been with Tony’s over 20+ years. Having an in-house mechanic means we have control over the quality of mechanical parts being replaced as part of the collision damage. Something as simple as a collision alignment is very different from what you get at a discount tire shop. Tire shops tend to do just enough to get by, where a collision alignment is done with the mindset that the car has been in an accident and finding all damaged parts are important for the safety of the customer and his family. Tire shops rarely set the steering angle sensor, but this is a must in a collision alignment, especially in today’s new cars that have lane keep assist, parking assist, back up cameras, for this is how the system knows where the steering wheel angle is. These are many examples of the advantages that we have by having our own in-house mechanic. We do not do mechanical work for the general public, we only do the work as it is related to the collision damaged vehicle at our shop. Shops without a mechanic would have to send the work out to others, sometimes requiring a tow there and back since the vehicle is dis-assembled, the car sits and waits for parts to come in and the work to be done , and many times by different people.