I'm a mechanic. Now that I work on a fleet though, I have no access to a shop for my personal work which really stinks compared to my 11 years at a dealer where I could always maintain and repair my own vehicles after hours.
The only time I let someone else work on my car then was a heater box job. I despise pulling dashes, so I swapped work with one of the only co workers I trusted to do it well. No money exchanged, I just did some of his side work and he took care of my car.
Now that I have no access to a shop I figured I'd be paying someone, at least for major repairs, but I still haven't run into that yet. I've handled mounts, axles, a timing chain, and many basic jobs at home. I have all my tools at home but still haven't sprung for an air compressor.
I've paid for tires and alignments, and now that I have a new car, I had Mazda make 1 warranty repair and have 1 more that needs to be made but will wait for another reason to visit as it's not that dire of a need.