I have a 2006 Honda Accord with 57K miles. I “inherited” it when my mom stopped driving in 2020 because I had lost my job due to covid and it was time to turn my leased car in.

She obviously barely drove it, but took very good care of it in regard to its maintenance. I also have taken good care of it, changing the oil every 5K miles, new tires etc. My dad, whose hobby was fixing up one car or another when I was young, told me to always pay attention to the garage floor to check for fluids of any type there as well as obviously getting regular maintenance done on every car I owned in the future.

I really needed to get my brakes and rotors done and my neighbor recommended his mechanic after I went to the Honda dealership and they wanted $1200. The recommended mechanic has 4.7 stars on Yelp/Google reviews. I paid $385 (cash only accepted) Anyways, I was relieved because my front end was shaking when braking for a couple of months. This is the strange part: the next morning, I backed the car out to go to work and my daytime headlights caught something shining under where the car was parked overnight. It was about the size of 5 quarters and I could tell by the feel & smell that it was oil. Neither myself nor my mom has ever had any fluid leaks from the car. Right away, I checked the oil and the level was fine. In my gut, I felt like it was suspicious that I got a good deal on the brakes and now the next morning, I had a small oil leak. I had my last oil change in August at the Honda dealership and they said that everything except my brakes was good. I called the mechanic and I took the car in today to look at it and he said that it’s a leaking seal…because it’s an 18 year old car, that they wear out regardless of mileage. He said it would cost $800-$1000 to fix it…I think he really meant it’ll cost $1000 As I drove away, I recalled one of my dad’s favorite sayings ‘The cheap becomes expensive’ and I felt foolish for not going to the dealership for the brakes.

Could this really be a coincidence or is this mechanic trying to make an easy (cash only) thousand bucks?

Please help me out with your expertise! I really appreciate it!!