Will be going there tomorrow to have them repair a bump and loose steering feel (Sears noted stabilizer link loose and worn, probably the problem) ... am I stupid? Kinda ... but with no time to spend working on the thing myself, little ideas on what is actually wrong, and no way to fix it myself (I know next to nothing mechanically about autos ), I have a choice of either dealer or local garage.

I think Ryan ("SVT") would have beat your "most times to a Ford dealer" with his old T-red E0, they screwed up the paint job and he had to take it back many times over (10+?) to get it done properly.