Wow, you must've found a shop like there used to be, around where I grew up (Oak Cliff, a sub-section of Dalls, but still called "Dallas") in the 50's and 60's. Some mechanics would check stuff for free, for most everyone. They were:

• 1) especially helpful for my Mother, while us kids were fighting in the back seat at a gas station/garage, after she had sheared off a cotter pin on the shifter of her '54 Ford Customline...one Mechanic fixed it for free, while another corralled my younger brothers, to quiet them down,and
  
  
• 2) lifesavers, like when one local shop let me help pin the rocker arm studs on my '56 Chevy 210, in '65, when I went to them for a diagnosis (without asking my Dad or Grandad, who might've taken the car away, after I had broken it...rocker arms not working is trouble...); it was the closest shop, and they let me work on it (at 15), learning skills as I went, and letting me drop by on weekends, to help out a bit, to pay off the bill...no charge.

I hesitate to even take a car to a shop anymore, and have only done so once in the past 30 years (ridiculous pricing on everything, but it was a job that would've been near impossible for me to do, working on sand, under the truck, without a lift, at 74 y.o., at the time).

you found a good place to trust your car, so patronize their business.

__________________
01 BMW X5 E53,3.0i-5L40E, 7/13/01
topas-blau,Leder-grau,"resto-project car"

Here:
14 Lexus ES350,3.5L-U660E
09 HHR Panel,2.2L-4T45E
04 Chevy 2500HD,6.0L-4L80E
98 GMC Sierra 1500,5.7L-4L60E

Gone:
66 Chevelle Malibu 2dr ht.,327>441c.i.-TH350>PGlide/transbrake
08 Cobalt Coupe,2.2L-4T45E
69 & 75 C10s,350c.i.-TH350
86 S10,2.8L-700R4
73 Volvo 142,2.0L-MT4
72 & 73 VW SuperBeetles,1.6l-MT4
64 VW,1.2l-MT4
67 Dodge Monaco 500 2dr ht.,383c.i.-A727
56 Chevy 210 4dr,265c.i.-PGlide