-> WC> I usually junked them out too. Too ethical to pass on what
-> WC> may have become a dangerous or unreliable vehicle. 

-> I have those thoughts as well. On the one hand the cars are old
-> and getting dangerous to drive but on the other hand mine are
-> taken care of and less dangerous than any other car of
-> comparable age that a person might buy if I refuse to sell them
-> mine. I know, sounds like a conundrum. 

I can make claims about the safety of motorcycles I've owned
but I never much got too deep into automotive mechanics so for
them I was at the mercy of professional mechanics.

If professional car mechanics are anything like their motorcycle
equivalents it ain't good.

Due to time constraints from work only I put ony two of my motoccycles
into certified shops twice.

Both times not only were the services performed incorrectly
but both times had very serious life threatening mistakes.

On the Suzuki 550 the mechanic changed the tires and parts OK
but completely blew the tuneup and left the rear brake resevoir
cap sitting on top of but not screwed onto the threads, 
I could have lost all rear braking at any time :-(
The bike overheated repeatedly and stalled on the way home.
I retuned correctly it and it was idling at 3,700 RPM!!!
Set the idle agjustment back, screwed on the brake resevoir cap and 
the bike was OK.
For this _service_ I'd paid just under 300 dollars with the new tires.

The other time I had the Yamaha 1100 in the Yamaha dealership
they had a deal where if you bought tires they'd put them on for free.
Taking the deal I later noticed the rear axle pinch bolt had never
been reinstalled.
The rear axle could have drifted out at any time resulting in
a complete rear wheel lockup. 

In both cases the jobs were quite simple yet utterly botched.
That is the summery of the ONLY two times I had motorcycles in a shop
in 20 years.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5