Mobile car repair at your home in Kansas City, Kansas

Most car repair starts with getting the car somewhere. You drop it off, line up a ride, and wait for a call. If it won't start, you pay for a tow before anyone has even looked at it. A mobile mechanic turns that around. Josh Anderson drives to the car, and the work happens where it already sits.

Josh puts it this way: "Get fixes at your home, on your time." You can stay inside, work from the kitchen table or keep an eye on the kids while he works out front.

Josh keeps a plain list of what he does. Here it is grouped by the kind of work, and each group has its own page with the symptoms and what the work involves. If your problem isn't on the list, ask anyway. He will tell you if it is one he takes on.

• Brakes: pads, rotors and the noises and pedal feel that come with worn ones.
• Starting and charging: alternators and starters.
• The belt drive: serpentine belts, pulleys and tensioners.
• Engine work: gaskets, timing belts, timing chains and camshafts.
• Engine replacement, for when the old engine is past fixing.
• Cooling: radiators, radiator hoses and coolant flushes.
• Fluids and filters: oil changes, engine air filters, transmission fluid and power steering fluid.
• Engine diagnostics: check engine lights and engines that run rough.

A few things make a driveway repair go a lot smoother. If you rent, check first that your lease or the complex allows car work in the lot, since some don't.

• A place to park the car where he can get all the way around it. Flat and firm matters for anything that needs the car jacked up.
• The year, make and model. That decides which parts fit and how the job goes on your engine.
• What the car is doing. When the noise happens, which lights are on, what you smell, and when it started.
• A short video if the problem makes a sound. A clip of a squeal or a knock tells Josh a lot before he opens the hood.
• The keys, and a way to reach you if he has a question while he works.

It starts with a call or a text to (913) 256-5056. Tell Josh what the car is doing and send the video if you have one. From that he works out what he thinks it is, or what he needs to check in person to be sure.

Next comes the quote. Josh tells you what the repair is and what it costs, in plain words, before any work starts. He calls them clear quotes. You see the number first, and then you decide.

Then you pick a time that works for you and he comes out. He does the job at your house and tells you what he found and what he did. If something else turns up while he is in there, like a radiator hose that is close to splitting, he tells you about it.

A car that won't start, or one you don't trust on I-70 or I-435, can stay put until it is fixed, so nobody has to tow it anywhere. With a dead alternator or brakes that grind, keeping it off the road is the safer call anyway.

You also skip the ride. Nobody has to follow you to a drop off, drive you home, and then do it all again at pickup.

And you skip the waiting room. You stay on your own couch while the car sits in your driveway the whole time.

Most of Josh's list fits a driveway fine. Brakes, belts, alternators, starters, radiators and fluid services are bolt on and bolt off work. Timing jobs and gaskets take longer and need more room to lay parts out, and how they go depends on the car. Give Josh the year, make and model and he will tell you how yours would be handled.

Engine replacement is on the list too, and it is the one that takes the most planning. Pulling an engine means lifting it out of the car, and some jobs need a lift and a shop. Josh will tell you straight how yours would go and where, before you spend anything with him.

Weather plays a part as well. Kansas City summers get hot and sticky, and a winter cold snap or a hard rain can make outdoor work a bad idea for a day. If the forecast looks rough for your day, talk to Josh about moving it.

Engine Doctor is based on the west side of Kansas City, Kansas, in the Piper area of Wyandotte County. That is the side of town around Leavenworth Road, K-7, I-435 and Village West.

If you live somewhere else in the metro, call or text and ask if he comes out your way. Put your town in the first message and he will give you a straight answer.