I've spent the past couple of years on an amazing road trip that took me and my Liberty to 23 states and as far away as Maine. I've spent so much time in my Jeep that it's really not a car to me; it's a member of the family. Everyone knows Jeeps are tough but with just over 100k miles on mine, it's not surprising that a few things are starting to ask for attention.

Right after arriving back in CA, I found Ron DenBoer's Blackstone Jeepshop card on my window. Normally I indignantly crumple and toss anything left on my car but this time I didn't and thank goodness for that because a little while later, my water pump called it quits. I'm not from this area so my options were to either take my chances with a random general repair shop or try Blackstone. After a quick volley of emails, I brought my Jeep to Ron.

I'm absurdly protective of my car and trust no one to touch it, but right from the start Ron won me over. He's really good natured, straightforward, doesn't try to sell you shit you don't need, and just from watching him poke around the engine you can tell he knows what he's doing. I trust him completely. He'll show you what's going on under the hood if need be and doesn't treat you like an idiot if you have questions. I've been in there twice now and am amazed he doesn't charge an arm and a leg for service that great. I ended up with a shiny new water pump, two hoses, a radiator cap and a bunch of fluid for less than I would've expected to pay for just the pump alone. He even cleaned my engine and scraped the corrosion off my battery terminals without being asked to.

As if that wasn't enough, he's also open to letting you steal his ultra-smooth pens and doesn't mind if you ogle the customized Wrangler eye-candy invariably hanging around the shop.