If you own a car, you’ve probably had this experience — the dealer wants $1,000 to fix something seemingly simple. You also got a quote from “Joe’s Auto Repair” and he wants $500. Then, assuming you know who to use Google, you price the parts and find a video on YouTube, and discover you could do it for yourself for around $250.

Yes, giving the work to Joe or doing it yourself will void your warranty, which is riddled with fine-print exceptions and quid pro quos anyway. Still, anything you can save now will pale compared to a transmission replacement or cooling system failure repair.

The bastards have you by the short hairs. What to do?

Of course, the counterpoint to this line of thinking, and Fixit’s manifesto, is that customers are complete idiots and can’t be trusted.

Nevertheless, iFixit absolutely has the right idea because empowering people is almost always the right thing to do…

What’s your take?