Terms of Service
Honest Joe's Auto LLC, Bastrop, Texas. Last updated 19 September 2026.
1. These terms
In these terms, "I," "me" and "my" mean Honest Joe's Auto LLC, and "you" means the customer named on the invoice.
These terms apply when you hire me to work on a vehicle or a piece of equipment. Where something I've written on an invoice or a quote for your particular job differs from what's here, the invoice or quote is what counts for that job.
2. What I do and what I don't
I'm a mobile mechanic. I come to where your vehicle is and repair it there — at your house, your work, or the side of the road. I work on cars, pickups, diesel trucks, vans, farm equipment and small engines.
There's a list of what I do, and, on the same page, a plain list of what I don't — no engine or transmission rebuilds, no high-voltage hybrid or EV work, no tires, no body work, no state inspections. If your job turns out to be one of those, I'll tell you that, tell you what I think it needs, and you'll only have paid me for the diagnosis.
I'm not a licensed state inspection station, and nothing I do is a substitute for one.
3. Booking, arrival times and weather
Sending the form on this site, or calling or texting me, is a request — it isn't a booked job yet. A visit is booked when I've replied and we've agreed a time.
My usual hours are Mon–Fri 9am – 6pm. Usually within an hour, same day at the latest — but that's how it usually goes, not a promise I can make to every caller.
Arrival times are honest estimates, not guarantees. I'm one person working across a rural county, and a job in front of yours can run long, a part can be wrong in the box, and Texas weather can make it unsafe to work outside. If I'm going to be late or have to move you, I'll tell you as soon as I know rather than leave you wondering. Running late isn't something I can compensate you for.
Work outside normal hours can usually be arranged and is charged at a published out-of-hours rate — currently $150 for an evening callout and $300 overnight, on top of the work itself. I'll always tell you before it applies.
4. Where I work, and travel fees
Travel is free within 30 driving miles of Bastrop.
Beyond that line I charge a flat travel fee for your town, published on the areas served page. If your location isn't on that list, I'll quote the travel fee before I set out, and you'll know it before you agree to anything.
The travel fee covers getting me and the van to you. It's charged whatever the outcome of the visit, because the drive happens either way.
5. Changing or cancelling a visit
Things come up — for you and for me. If you need to move or cancel a visit, give me as much notice as you can and there's no charge for it.
The one exception is if I've already set out for you, or already made the drive, by the time you cancel or nobody's there. In that case the travel fee for your location applies to cover the trip. Inside the free travel radius, there's nothing to pay.
If I have to cancel on you, you owe me nothing, and I'll get you booked back in as soon as I can.
6. Diagnostics, quotes and approval
Diagnosis comes first. My diagnostic fee is $150, plus the travel fee if one applies to where you are.
The warranty page sets out, in full, the two things I guarantee in writing and they form part of these terms: if I can't find the fault, you don't pay the diagnostic, and the price I quote before starting is the price you pay, even if the job takes me longer than I thought. That page also sets out the handful of situations where the diagnostic fee still applies — chiefly when the fault won't show itself while I'm there.
I don't do work you haven't approved. If I open something up and find another fault or hidden damage, I stop, call you with what it'll cost, and wait. You decide. If you decide against it, you've paid for the diagnosis and nothing else — and I'll tell you plainly what I think will happen if it's left.
Prices shown on this site, including the diagnostic fee and the travel fees, are current at the date above and can change. The price that binds me is the one I quote you for your job.
7. Parts
Normally I supply the parts. I choose parts I'd put on my own vehicle, and I'll tell you when there's a cheaper option and what the difference is.
You're welcome to supply your own part, and sometimes that's the sensible thing to do. But if you do: the part isn't covered by my warranty, and neither is the labor to fit it. If it turns out to be the wrong part or a faulty one, the time I've spent is still chargeable, and refunds are between you and whoever sold it to you.
Old parts I remove are disposed of unless you ask me to leave them with you. Ask before I start if you want them back.
8. Payment
Payment is due when the work is finished, unless we've agreed something different in writing beforehand.
I take several forms of payment and I'll tell you which when we agree the job. On larger jobs I may ask you to cover the cost of the parts up front before I order them — if so, I'll say that at quote time, not afterwards.
Parts ordered specially for your vehicle usually can't be returned once fitted, and a supplier may charge a restocking fee on one that can. If you cancel a job after I've bought the parts, you're responsible for what I can't get back.
9. Access, permission and a safe place to work
By booking a visit, you're telling me that:
- you own the vehicle or have the owner's permission for the work to be done;
- I'm allowed to work where it's parked — that if it's an apartment lot, a rented property, a workplace or somewhere with an HOA, you've squared it with whoever needs to agree; and
- there's safe, legal access to it: room to open doors and get a jack under it, reasonably level ground, and not a live traffic lane.
If I arrive and it isn't safe or legal to work there, I'll tell you why and we'll find another spot or another time. I won't work under a vehicle on a slope, in a ditch or on soft ground, and I won't lift a vehicle on jack stands where children or animals are moving around it. That's not me being difficult — it's the line between a repair and somebody getting hurt.
I need the keys, and I may need to run the engine or road test the vehicle to confirm the repair. Take anything valuable out of it before I start.
10. The condition your vehicle is in
Vehicles come to me in the condition they're in. I'm responsible for the work I do — not for faults that were already there, and not for the fact that fixing one thing on a high-mileage vehicle sometimes reveals the next thing behind it.
On older or badly corroded vehicles, a bolt can shear or a seized part can break during an otherwise routine repair. I'll work carefully and I'll tell you the moment it happens, but I can't warrant that it won't, and putting it right is part of the job's cost rather than something I absorb.
If I tell you a vehicle isn't safe to drive, please don't drive it. What happens after I've said that is on you.
11. Limits on what I'm responsible for
I carry the insurance my work requires and I stand behind what I do — that's what the warranty is for, and it's the main remedy for a repair that doesn't hold.
Beyond that: I'm not responsible for indirect or consequential losses — towing, a rental car, missed work, lost wages, missed appointments, or loss of use of the vehicle — and, except where the law says otherwise, what I owe you on any one job is limited to what you paid me for that job.
None of this limits anything that can't be limited by law. Nothing here takes away your rights under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices–Consumer Protection Act, and nothing here limits my responsibility for personal injury or property damage caused by my own negligence.
12. This website
The words, photographs and layout on this site are mine. You're welcome to read them, print them, and send them to a neighbor who needs a mechanic. Don't copy them onto another business's website.
What's written here is general information about the work I do. It isn't a diagnosis of your vehicle, and you shouldn't treat a page on a website as a reason to drive something you're worried about.
13. Texas law
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, and any dispute belongs in the courts of Bastrop County, Texas.
If a court decides one part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still stands.
Before it ever gets near a court: call me. (512) 980-4368. Most things worth arguing about get sorted out in a five-minute phone call, and I'd rather lose an afternoon than lose my name.
14. Changes to these terms
If these change, the new version goes up here with a new date at the top. The terms that apply to your job are the ones published when you booked it. The date on this one is 19 September 2026.
