I agree with you 50%. Yes, mechanics are very cheap here but there's a reason. They generally eff shit up more than they fix shit.
It’s hard to find a reliable and good one. In the RSJ aérea there is only one I trust. I don’t even know his name, everybody calls him “Toyota”.
My father in law’s (R.I.P) 24 years old Prado had his Diesel engine broken (I was telling for a year the T-belt had to be remplaced).
“Toyota” a long time family friend was geven the task to find a used diesel engine.
He found in his huge circle of friends a 177, stronger than the original, in very good condition and placed it with one of his helpers in a couple of hours for a Total of only 90.000 peso’s.
No we own a Lexus GX, petrol of course.
I thought I was smart and bought a Toyota/Lexus OBD scanner overhere in Belgium.
One day a warning light showed up, yellow. I used the OBD and it said
“Lambdasondenheizung” “Bank 2 sensor 2”.
I don’t know the terms in English.
I went to Toyota. He saw the warning light. Without showing him the OBD scanner he said “ problema del sensor en el catalizador”.
I could help laughing loud and had to explain him why I was laughing.
They all have the same problem in the DR he said. It’s the bad petrol.
Most mechanics, believe it or not, don’t have an OBD scanner. That’s oké for a Toyota from the 80’s but to do maintenance on recent cars I think it is necessary to use one.