Something sounds fishy about having to have the brake fluid changed after only a year. If it got contaminated that quickly, it could be something as silly as the cap on the master cylinder (where you add brake fluid) being loose, or it could be somewhere along the brake system there's water and/or dirt getting in. Things also go bad from a car sitting and not being used.
Did your mom have all the regular maintenance done on this car? 2001 really isn't an "old" car! Maintenance goes a long way in keeping problems at bay. With only 27k on the car, there really shouldn't be all those problems with it. I have a 27-year old Buick with 114k on it. It runs like a top.
I know this sounds silly, but never be afraid to question your mechanic. And be informed (if only a little) about how your car works. It really does help. Not all mechanics are on the up-and-up with women sometimes. It took me going through 3 mechanics once to find one that actually respected my opinion about my car.
My dad was a mechanic, and I was always around cars growing up, and I've always worked on my own cars when they needed something (so long as it wasn't something really major). My hubby is the same way. I can't mess with cars anymore because of my back, but hubby does most of our routine maintenance (oil, brakes, etc), and it saves us a lot of money. Also saves a lot of headaches from worrying about what someone else is actually doing to one of our cars!
Hope you get it all sorted out and have a long, trouble-free stretch after that.
Did your mom have all the regular maintenance done on this car? 2001 really isn't an "old" car! Maintenance goes a long way in keeping problems at bay. With only 27k on the car, there really shouldn't be all those problems with it. I have a 27-year old Buick with 114k on it. It runs like a top.
I know this sounds silly, but never be afraid to question your mechanic. And be informed (if only a little) about how your car works. It really does help. Not all mechanics are on the up-and-up with women sometimes. It took me going through 3 mechanics once to find one that actually respected my opinion about my car.
My dad was a mechanic, and I was always around cars growing up, and I've always worked on my own cars when they needed something (so long as it wasn't something really major). My hubby is the same way. I can't mess with cars anymore because of my back, but hubby does most of our routine maintenance (oil, brakes, etc), and it saves us a lot of money. Also saves a lot of headaches from worrying about what someone else is actually doing to one of our cars!
Hope you get it all sorted out and have a long, trouble-free stretch after that.