We use Simple Past if we give past events in the order in which they occurred. However, when we look back from a certain time in the past to tell what had happened before, we use Past Perfect. Simple Past = some time in the past Example: Jane got up at seven. She opened her birthday presents and then the whole family went to the zoo. Past Perfect Simple= before/up to a certain time in the past Example: Before her sixth birthday, Jane had never been to the zoo.

Yes. All of those sentences are great!

hi! thank you for answering. about mechanics i didn't really pay any attention, i copied it like that from a site. they were giving some examples and at the end they said "If the Past Perfect action did occur at a specific time, the Simple Past can be used instead of the Past Perfect when "before" or "after" is used in the sentence." so i just saw 2 sentences they've given and i wanted to be sure that this is actual for ALL the sentences with before or after. So as i see now, i can use both of them. I am really having great problems with the tenses. Thank you once again! :)

The two sentences about the car breaking down are fine; both are acceptable. Saying "we had had that car for ten years before it ..... sounds well put together, and like how an educated person would speak. One detail: mechanics' license is correct, NOT mechanic's. nouns ending in S that are used in the possessive come after the S. it's a strange rule in English. Another example, " She was the Jones' daughter." The sentence about George is interesting. The first version of the sentence sounds like American English; and the second version sounds spoken by a British person... a little more formal to always include the "had", Americans often drop it so their speech comes out quicker.... a form of slang almost. :)