Who writes this
A site about repair bills is only worth reading if you know who is behind it.
Iqbal Marwan
Owner and editor · independent oil and parts trade
Has run an independent oil, lubricant and spare parts business since 2011, serving everyday drivers and small workshops. Fifteen years of the same three jobs, most weeks: pricing parts, matching fluids to engines, and listening to people describe a noise.
What I am actually qualified to tell you
The honest version, because a vague claim of expertise is worth nothing.
- Oil and fluids. This is the day job. Which specification an engine needs, why the approval on the back of the bottle matters more than the viscosity on the front, what happens when someone uses the wrong one for two years, and which "special" products on the shelf are worth the money. If there's one subject on this site I will argue about, it's this one.
- Parts pricing and what fails. I see which components come back, at what mileage, on which engines. That's a different and more useful picture than a specification sheet.
- Brakes, cooling, batteries, filters and belts. Routine service work, the failures that follow from skipping it, and the difference between a part that's worn and a part a shop wants to sell you.
What I am not
- Not a dealership technician for the US or European market. I haven't personally worked on every trim sold there. Where an article covers market-specific ground (a recall, a warranty extension, a dealer labor rate) it's presented as published information with its source, not as something I watched happen in my own bay.
- Not a road tester. There are no acceleration figures or handling verdicts on this site, because I haven't driven the cars back to back and won't pretend I have. Reviews here are about ownership and failure, not about how a car feels on a mountain road.
- Not neutral about bad practice. I sell oil for a living, and I will still tell you when an oil change interval is being sold to you too often.
Why write it in English
Most of what is published in English about running costs is written by people who have never priced a part. Most of what is written by people who have isn't published in English. This site sits in the gap.
Corrections and disagreements
If you think something here is wrong, say so. Mechanical claims get checked against the manufacturer's own documentation, and if the documentation disagrees with me, the article changes. Substantive corrections are noted on the article with the date rather than silently edited.