Sal's Auto Repair at 1844 Utica Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

The facts:
-We purchased a vehicle from a dealer local to Sal's.
-We hired Sal's to do a preliminary vehicle inspection (for our purposes, not state inspection) in our stead before we made the 3hr drive to come look at/purchase the vehicle.
-Sal's gave a glowing report on the vehicle. No issues found what-so-ever. The truck bed had been replaced at some point but was in good condition.
-Sal's did not charge us for this inspection saying (when we tried to pay them after the inspection was complete) that they would not charge a local for this inspection so they weren't going to charge us.
-Upon purchasing the truck and bringing it to our local mechanic we found approximately $2000 worth of immediately necessary repairs.
-In addition to these repairs the bottom of the truck bed was completely rotted out and had a sheet of diamond plate crudely slapped over the rusted floor. This was obvious to me (not a mechanic) as soon as I stuck my head under the bed and should have been caught by even the most novice of mechanics. FYI replacing a truck utility bed can be $3000 - $10,000 and is definitely something a buyer wants to know about.

My assumptions:
-Sal's either 1) did not look at the vehicle, 2) looked at the vehicle but are entirely incompetent, or 3) have a loyalty to the local dealer which precluded our relationship with them.

My conclusion:
-It is very possible that this company is excellent at what they do and are completely honest to their local customers. However, my experience has shown that they have the ability to lie to their customers or provide incompetent diagnostics. I would advise all (especially non-locals) to steer clear of this company. At least they had the decency not to charge us for their poor practices.