Bad dealership mechanics even extend to luxury cars. I took my car to Sterling McCall Lexus to have a series of clips that hold the drivers-side seatbelt molding in place. Took them an hour. When I got in the car, I went to put the seatbelt on, and it wouldn't move! Showed this to the guy, he rolled his eyes, and it took them another 30 minutes to fix it right. At least they didn't charge me. I have a great mechanic in my neighborhood that my Dad turned me on to. They are trustworthy, reliable, fair-priced, and HONEST. The place is called Darden's, and they are located near Stella Link and Willowbend. I will not take my car anywhere else.
I'll give you an example. My A/C went out so I took it to the dealership. My warranty is out, but I figured they would know what to do. The said it would cost 450 to fix it. I then went to a friend of mine who works in a garage and he said 125 to fix it. It pays to know a mechanic and it is even better if they drive the same car as you do. This is the case with my friend. Dealerships are just there to use their name to rip you off.
man...Im glad I am an ex machanic and dont need to take my cars to anyone. besides...the stories here show you why I no longer do it...Im too honest to make a living at it... anyway...word of mouth...talk to everyon you know to find ones you can trust...they are out there...bu they are in the minority.
Agree completely on Brake Check. They are the biggest rip off in the business. The whole brake replacement group of franchises are rip offs. I changed my front branks once myself. If you have the right equipment, and really the only thing you might not have is a C-clamp, it only takes about an hour. Particular mechanic I'm calling out, Firestone on Antoine and I-10. I want go into everything, but first they didn't want to take my coupon, then they didn't want to take my check, and after I left I noticed a large dent in my bumper when I got home. Now, I always look at the whole car before I leave a mechanic. And that doesn't begin to get into the shoddy work they did on my car.
When I moved to Austin I asked for a recommendation here on the BBS. DaDakota recommended Klingemann's down near Oak Hill. They have been more than fair with me, even giving me a discount at one point in time because of the holidays and because I started bringing in my girlfriends car. Also, they have provided me with rides to work when my car was in the shop. Thanks for the great recommendation DaD!
On that same honda when i went there for the brakes i lived through hell and back. At that time my accord was dropped like 2 inches and had performance everything on it lol...I took it in there and this was the first time i had to finally change the brakes on the car. They first recommended After market mettalic brakes becuase they were better than the ones i had on there. So i said fine not a bad idea. Well from there they take the car in the bay but not before scrapping the whole bottom of the car on the ground coming up because the guy thought it would be nice to haul ass in my car since it was fixed up...yeah well i b****ed them out and they gave me a discount for that and nothing happend to it thank god. It doesn't stop there. I got the car back finally after paying like 300 bucks or so ( can't really remember) after 2 days my brakes were squeling all over the place and i was pissed. I took the car back and of course it didn't make a sound when they drove, so i yelled some more and said why i don't I come with you. Finally when we pulled up and stopped it made the noise so they decided to take it back in and check it. He come back 2 hours later and says, the reason your brakes are squeling is becuase your car is lowered 1.75 inches and we can't do anything about that. I looked at him like he was a r****d and started laughing and said "okay?, so why is that i had my factory brakes on there for the time i owned the car while it was dropped and never had it squeel once?" He then was at a loss for words and says "i don't know we haven't worked on fixed up cars before." I say, "it's not like i changed anything with the axles or brakes, all i did was lower the car and add rims" Well anyways finally they agreed to change the brakes to factory brakes after i yelled some more and then they wanted to pro rate charge me for the brakes they already put in there at first. At that time i basically told them if they did that i would put a stop payment on my card and you wouldn't see a dime of it. I eventually disputed it and won the case against them so it all turned out good. I hope everyone did watch that 20/20 special on just brakes that was actually taped in houston....they really exposed them.
on a related note. Anytime you or someone else does your brakes and they start squealing...all it takes to get rid of it is spraying some anti-squeal compound on the back of the brake pads. most quality aftermarket pads come with some measure of squeal preventative(compound or shims)...so if you hear squeal coming from your brakes...dont worry...it is just noise and is easily fixed. btw...Stack...you are correct...that guy was a moron that knew nothnig about brakes(or working on cars period).. and to be perfectly fair....on most cars, it is easy to change out pads...but for anything more than that...let a knowledgable person do your brake work...your life is riding on your ability to stop...and doing your own hydraulic work is just asking for trouble. Believe it or not....working on cars is never as straight forward as you think it is...it requires a high degree of training and ability to be a *good* mechanic...just because there are so many 'shadetree' machanics out there making the industry look bad...dont assume that *all* mechanics are morons or crooks..... a good tip....check to make sure your mechanic is ASE certified, check the garage with the BBB to see if they have been reported for bad business dealings, and above all....if the guy you are talking to seems untrustworthy or evasive about his answers to your questions....GET A SECOND OPINION...you dont have to saty there , go to another garage and get them to check it out ... and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ask for your old parts back, and make sure they know that you will not pay for any work that you didnt authorize in advance. these are your rights as a consumer...and every garage knows it....some of them hope you dont....but you can at least go in armed with the knowledge to protect yourself.
I definetly agree with this. I work on computers and network all day and i know what you mean. Nothing is as easy as you think and you have to be able to figure out one thing if another is going wrong as well. takes a lot of experience and actually dealing with the problems in the past. That is not the first time i have heard this. I guess it's a good way to make sure they actually did some work and not BS'ed you about putting this and that in the car. I have learned a lot from my past when i was younger, and it is good that i learn quick. Like all the stereo work and other car related little fixed i have done myself on my new car. Of course a lot of it goes back to the dealer becuase somethings i just don't mess with, and it's under warrenty lol =)
I just had my a/c compressor go out in my van and had to get that replaced(which entails a lot of work). My van has a rear auxiliary air that is part of the a/c system. That was working fine before the compressor completely locked up. So, I get all this work done to replace the a/c compressor but now the auxiliary air in the back blows hot air. So, now they want me to bring the van back in probably so they can charge me more money to fix that. I'm just not buying that, all of a sudden after they fix my a/c compressor, the rear auxiliary unit is now having problems. That's a pretty damn big coincidence. The guy denied the two were related but I'm having a hard time believing that or that they didn't sabotage that to get me to bring my car back in. So, now I'm pissed. It could be all just one big coincidence but I'm having a hard time buying it.
You could always call the dealership and ask them service department a simple question as whether or not they are related together or if they run off the same unit so that way you can have that knowledge to throw back at the mechanics.
It's the dealership I am dealing with here. I asked the service rep about it and he just said I need to bring it in. I asked him if he could ask the people who worked on the problem if it's possible the two were related or there is something they did or didn't do that may have caused the problem. He just said I need to bring it in. I get the feeling their setting me up for more expenses. At the very least, he's not going out of his way to even ask the question. He's just saying bring the van back in. So, he's not being of any help and he wants me to take off work yet again to bring my car back in. It's a bunch of BS.
Surf... they are related.....for sure.(from a guy with over 10 years experience as a ASE tech with GM specialized training) there is only one compressor in your AC system(unless its is some special conversion)...and when you break open the system to work on the front...you have broken into the back system as well. it is not a coincidence....doing AC systems that are split into front and rear requires a extra degree of competence that alot of the guys out there just dont have. It takes as much brains to effectively sabotage a system than it does to fix it correctly...so I would wager that what you are dealing with is plain old incompetence rather than intentional sabotage. that goes for everyone else also...most mechanics arent going to intentionally mess up your vehicle hoping for repeat business,...in most cases they just dont know what they are doing.
Here's a little story for y'all. When I was in college, my dad was landlord to a crazy mechanic. So - I got a "deal" (under the table) on a car after some beemer brat wrecked my trusty subaru coupe in Austin. It was an older RX7- cute, but always breaking down. Perhaps this had to do with it's assemblage of parts. One time, when I sputtered home for an auto fix (exhaust fume leak in the cabin) - the crazy mechanic had the thing up on the rack and was applying some jb weld and tape to a big hole. "Uh... I don't think that's going to get it" - Dad offered. "No worry - I fix." He went out in the lot and pulled another customer's Rx in the next bay, jacked it up, and started pulling the exhaust. "Ummm- you're going to fix that for him, right?" He looked puzzled. "Oh, yeah yeah, new part. Better. Can't order now. Don't worry. You my friend." Of course, a week later, the connection 5 inches up from that fix failed. Vrroom! Also had to pry the hood open with a crowbar halfway to Victoria, when the engine overheated and the hood cable snapped. Good times.
Just wondering. I know to always look for ASE certified mechanics, but coming from your mouth...isn't it still a lot to do with experience as well. Like working with computers you can be book smart about it but until you face the problems yourself you don't become good at it? I really believe in experience of your mechanic helps alot, but how do you really judge that. Is every ASE certified mechanic going to really know what he is doing? Just wondering on your take.
Always trying to screw you... But, they are a necessary evil...I have to get some work done, but I know they're going to over charge me and do unnecessary work...
o...not *every* ASE certified mechanic is gonna be good...but your chances of him being better than the average joe will be increased just because of what it takes to get the cert. the thing about fixing cars and cetifications is that knowing the proper theory and procedures is necessary to become ASE certified, the only thing that experience is going to do for you is improve your diagnostic skills and improve the speed that you can fix something. With computers it is different.... there is only so much that you can learn from a book in regards to fixing computers...the rest of it you acquire from experience...the book can explain to you how things work together, and how to replace things, configure things, etc......but how often does that help you track down a recurring problem(BSOD,weird software malfunctions, etc)? Not very often. with cars it is different...there is a set diagnostic procedure for just about every system on a vehicle...even the computer control systems have set diagnopstic procedures.....as long as you have the knowledge to understand how those systems work together, and the brains to be able to think ogically and follow directions from the manuals....you can diagnose and fix anything. It isnt rocket science....it just requires knowledge, patience and the desire to do the job right. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that figger that since they can putz around with their cars in their driveways, they can work as a mechanic, and their incompetence makes the rest f us look bad.
So, if they try to tell me the problem is unrelated and/or try to charge me to fix it, then I should adamantly tell them their basically full of crap, raise some hell, and blow them off then? I know there is only a/c compressor and I also know the back only has blower control. It doesn't have heat or a/c temperature control.
Im not saying that something else couldnt have gone wrong, I just find it highly suspect that the system was working fine before the compressor crashed...and after they fixed it it didnt work. Part of the job of replacing your compressor and refilling the system with freon should have included making sure the whole system worked right.(front and back) You dont just fix half of it and make the customer come back to get the rest of it workign right...as far as I can tell, they failed to finish the initial job(of repairing the AC system) and therefore should not be attempting to charge you additional monies to finish the job the didnt finish before... Let them know that it is their responsibility to finish fixing the AC since that is what you paid them for...the front and back are part of the saem system unless they can prove otherwise. you had this done at a dealer? if they wont provide satisfaction, go to their bosses(the service manager)..if he doesnt make it right, go to his boss, and so on up the chain....the advantage of going to dealers is that there is always someone higher up in the chain that you can complain to if the lower guys dont treat you right..(district managers, regional managers, etc) make use of that fact and make it work for you...
