The Lost Mechanic · The Complete Bundle
Two complete handbooks from The Lost Mechanic, plus a free bonus book. One hands you the old driveway repairs the shop charges a small fortune for. The other shows you how to read any garage's quote, judge a fair price, and never overpay again.
// Both handbooks together, plus the free bonus book
// $39.99 · instant download · 7-day guarantee
Slide the dials for the cars you keep running and the kind of work you would normally hand to a shop. The bench gives a conservative estimate of what doing it yourself keeps in your pocket each year.
Estimated saved per year
about $0 a month
Pick a job or two to see your estimate.
These are honest, conservative estimates only. Real savings vary by vehicle, region, and the going labor rate near you. Some jobs need a professional, brakes, airbags, fuel, and hybrid or EV high-voltage work among them, so always know the limit of your own skill.
A handful of the everyday jobs in the book, with friendly, illustrative figures for what a shop tends to charge against doing it yourself with the same parts.
| Job | Shop cost | DIY parts | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oil & filter changeDone on schedule, the dull habit that saves the most | $90 | $35 | $55 |
| Front brake padsChanged before they score the rotors | $280 | $70 | $210 |
| Battery replacementTested first, so you only buy what you need | $220 | $140 | $80 |
| Air & cabin filtersThe filter nobody changes, a few minutes' work | $110 | $30 | $80 |
| Spark plugsRead the plugs, read the engine | $200 | $45 | $155 |
| Coolant flushA few dollars of coolant guards the whole system | $150 | $30 | $120 |
| Diagnostic fee savedA careful look and a cheap code reader | $120 | $25 | $95 |
| Believable total saved, one year | $795 |
// Friendly, illustrative estimates. Parts and labor vary by vehicle and region. This is not a quote.
Read it risk-free
The Lost Mechanic presents
2 handbooks + 1 free bonus · 250 secrets · instant PDF
7-day money-back guarantee · no questions asked
Each handbook also stands on its own at $24.99. The free bonus book, Never Waste A Dollar Again, comes only with the complete bundle above.
100 old driveway repairs across 10 parts, 223 pages. Do the work the shop charges a fortune for, yourself.
The Smart Customer's Handbook. 100 insider secrets to understand any repair, judge the price, and never overpay a shop again.
// Or get both, plus the free bonus book, for $39.99, see the bundle above
A look inside the first handbook. One hundred secrets, gathered into ten parts, working from the way of looking and the tools to look with, through the car itself, to the habits that carry a good car past two hundred thousand miles.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Part Ten
Pick one secret, try it this weekend, and watch the next shop bill shrink.
// The complete bundle · $39.99 · instant PDF
// Two handbooks + a free bonus book
There was a time, not so long ago, when a person kept their own car running. When it coughed in the cold or dripped on the driveway, they did not reach first for the telephone. They lifted the hood, listened, looked the trouble over, and set it right with a few plain tools and a patient hour.
My grandfather was such a man. He could coax a dead engine back to life, silence a squealing belt, and read a worn spark plug like a page of a book. He used to say most cars are not really broken at all. They have only come loose, gone dry, run dirty, or worn thin, and almost all of it can be put right by someone who cares to look closely and try.
That knowledge once passed from neighbor to neighbor. Somewhere along the way much of it was lost. We were taught to trade the car in, to fear the dashboard light, and to pay dearly for repairs we could have made ourselves in an afternoon. This book is an attempt to gather a little of that back, and to write it down before it is lost for good.
The Lost MechanicOld garage know-how, remembered and written down
Yes. The book starts with the way of looking and the few tools to look with, before it ever asks you to fix anything. Each secret is written plainly, as a story, a fix in simple steps, and a line worth remembering. The aim is to make you capable, not to impress you.
The bundle is two full handbooks plus a free bonus. The Forgotten Mechanic's Handbook teaches the repairs you can do yourself; Never Walk In Blind Again teaches you to read a shop's quote and judge a fair price. Never Waste A Dollar Again is the free bonus book, fifty quick ways to spend less on your car, included at no extra cost. Each main book is $24.99 on its own, and together with the bonus they are $39.99.
Very few. An early part is devoted to the handful of tools that fix most cars, a jack and stands you can trust, a multimeter, penetrating oil, a torque wrench, and a clean rag. You can begin with what you likely already own and add the rest a piece at a time.
Both. The fundamentals hold as true as ever, a battery still corrodes, a belt still squeals, and rust still creeps. Where a job on a newer car needs a code reader or special care, the book says so plainly, and it even covers using an inexpensive reader to tame the check-engine light.
The book covers the jobs that are sensible to do at home and is clear about the ones that are not. Airbag and seat-belt tensioner systems, sealed air conditioning refrigerant, and hybrid or EV high-voltage work are left to a trained shop. Brakes, steering, and major engine work reward patience but punish carelessness, so the book tells you to know the limit of your skill and call for help when a job lies beyond it.
All three are printable PDFs, delivered as instant downloads you can keep in the glovebox or on the workbench. If they are not for you, there is a 7-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked, and you keep the books.
Two handbooks and a free bonus book, gathered in one bundle, yours for less than a single trip to the shop.
Get the Bundle, $39.99Instant download · 7-day guarantee · start this weekend