THIS IS the kind of stuff that pisses me off

[CAP1]

had a customer(korean lady that barley speaks english) recommended to me by another customer.

 she had had her minivan at another shop about a mile from here. she took it in for no heat. they gave her a laundry list, telling her she needs the following:

brake pads all around
p/s front outer tie rod end
radiator
now granted, i got a customer because of this, which is good........but WTF do friggin BRAKE PADS have to do with a lack of heat?! or that tie rod end?? and for the record, her pads are 50%+ all around, and the tie rod barley has any play in it at all....to the point i'd have no problem telling her it's good for at least another year.

 it does need the radiator, which has a slow leak, which caused her to not get heat.....but what the hell? shops like that are what makes us all look bad. 


<rant off>

[Mirage]

lol BMW tried to tell me I needed new tie rod ends + shocks  on my 850i, when I told them I heard a clunking coming from underneath, they wanted 6000$  for everything, so I said f that took it home, and it turns out it was just an O2 censor that was broken and hitting the chassis, so I ordered a new one for 200$ and put it in myself

[oakranger]

I have said it once and will say it again, you are a honest mechanic that is passionate about his job, not the paycheck.  WTG!
Now, other than Angels List, is there a way that you can report this place to a organization about their shady operation? 

[ink]

Cap~ya thats friggin bullcrap, I know exactly what you are saying, what sux about my business tattoos dont go away, all these new shops tattooing young kids hands and neck just absolutly drives me crazy. That's just one thing that sux about this world, its all about the money and most people will do whatever it takes to make a buck.    your a stand up guy......rare now a days.

[Golfer]

Good on you CAP.  

I was amazed in November when I took my old truck (2000 Silverado where you gave me some maintenance manual info last year for troubleshooting...thanks again!) in for an alignment and front end inspection.  I had to swerve to avoid an idiot in a a parking lot on a wet slippery day and twanged my right front wheel against a curb while on my way to work.  I took such a huge chunk out of the rim I was amazed the tire was holding air at all being right THERE on the bead.  The alignment was off and I was nearly sure something had to be broken with the impact as hard as it was.  I took it to a shop in Thorndale on my way home from work after the trip.  I mounted my spare tire because I didn't have confidence in the tire to hold air.  While it was off I didn't see anything broken after a quick look but prepared for the worst and to haggle over a $1200 bill.

I told the guys what happened, how I wanted my 265 regular tire mounted on the spare rim which had a 245 size tire, front end inspection and alignment.  While I was there and it needed it, an oil change too.

I walked out with a bill for $150.  Nothing broken, nothing bent and no BS maintenance upcharging or phantom problems.  Worth every penny.  This included the inspection, alignment, mounting/balancing of the regular wheel on the spare rim.  The tech who did it kept the old rim after he asked if he could ($20 scrap value or so) and I gave him the OK. All in all a great experience.

$40 later I had a "new" matching aluminum rim from a scrap yard.  I needed 4 new tires so the place I bought them (and bought the last 3 sets of tires from in eastern Ohio) mounted/rebalanced the rim and the spare rim free of charge.  

Then on December 25th I was involved in a 7 car accident that totaled the thing.  

The tire shop I'd been to before and am a loyal customer.  Free mounting/balancing/aligment is part of their schtick.  The local shop in Thorndale was quick, honest and reasonable and I'd go back there without a second thought for work I wasn't doing myself.

Keep up the good work Cap.  There are other good shops out there and they should be recognized for not being slimy ultra melons.

When my 2005 Silverado starts showing a little age I'll be sure to hit you up for maintenance information again  

[Beefcake]

As a young man I used to have a mistrust of local mechanics and would only consider having a dealership service my vehicle. However, I now trust local mechanics far more than the dealership guys and I usually will go to them first before I ever set foot in a dealership garage. My father went through a horrific time dealing with a dealership and fixing a transmission for our jeep. To make a long story short after months of repeated repairs that never worked he took the jeep to a local transmission shop. They found the problem (bad module), fixed it in just a few hours, and only charged us about 60 or so bucks compared to the several thousand with the dealership.

I'll have to tell you the complete story sometime CAP, it will make your freaking head explode. And on a side note the dealership that failed to fix the transmission but charged us out the wazoo anyway went out of business several years ago.

[Dichotomy]

A good honest shop should never be empty.  Shame there aren't any around here I know of.  The guy across the street wanted $40 for an oil change.  I never asked him again.

[1Boner]

I've had two shops try to figure out why my Caddy is sporadicly overheating.

One changed the thermostat, it still overheated. $185.00 (its a Northstar, its a head gasket)

I drove it (overheating) aprox.1/2 mile to another shopand dropped it off, they pressure tested it and hooked it up to a computer and said they could find nothing wrong. It would NOT overheat for them.$50.00 (its NOT the headgasket)

It hasn't overheated since. (but it will)

I think the 2nd shop has magicians working there!

BTW--this is the second time in about 6 months this has happened. I starts overheating(260) then a few days later it will just suddenly stop.

Unfortunatly my only other option might have to be a Caddy dealership, and we all know what will happen to me there!!

[Ardy123]

had a customer(korean lady that barley speaks english) recommended to me by another customer.

 she had had her minivan at another shop about a mile from here. she took it in for no heat. they gave her a laundry list, telling her she needs the following:

brake pads all around
p/s front outer tie rod end
radiator
now granted, i got a customer because of this, which is good........but WTF do friggin BRAKE PADS have to do with a lack of heat?! or that tie rod end?? and for the record, her pads are 50%+ all around, and the tie rod barley has any play in it at all....to the point i'd have no problem telling her it's good for at least another year.

 it does need the radiator, which has a slow leak, which caused her to not get heat.....but what the hell? shops like that are what makes us all look bad. 


<rant off>

Yeah, I hate it when shops tell me all the BS to try and fix things that are not broken. Thats why once I find a good mechanic, I stay with them. Also, its why I've bought cars from the same MFG 3 times now.

[NormH3]

You're a good man Charlie Brown. Good to know there are honest shops still around. If you were close, I'd probably use you to service Bullseye. (My 2005 Ford Escape)

[Babalonian]

As a young man I used to have a mistrust of local mechanics and would only consider having a dealership service my vehicle. However, I now trust local mechanics far more than the dealership guys and I usually will go to them first before I ever set foot in a dealership garage. My father went through a horrific time dealing with a dealership and fixing a transmission for our jeep. To make a long story short after months of repeated repairs that never worked he took the jeep to a local transmission shop. They found the problem (bad module), fixed it in just a few hours, and only charged us about 60 or so bucks compared to the several thousand with the dealership.

I'll have to tell you the complete story sometime CAP, it will make your freaking head explode. And on a side note the dealership that failed to fix the transmission but charged us out the wazoo anyway went out of business several years ago.

My dad was similar, he likes Fords and bought an Explorer about 15 years ago.  He loved the thing, then it started to idle rough one day, took it into the dealership like 10 times in less than two years for the same problem.  Finaly, the idle got so rough it was misfiring and reluctantly he tried a shop I got a recomendation for.  Same thing, they found some faulty computer module for less than $100.  They put in a new one and then did the best they could to make it idle well but basicaly got it to as good as when it first started to noticabley idle rough.  The independent mechanic said that was the best he could do after what the dealership guys did, or at least the best he could without almost a couple grand engine rebuild but that overall he thought it looked good enough to get a bit more moneys worth outa it, and I believe that since there were no other major problems and my brother eventualy took it to college with him in 2004 and drove it into the ground finaly sometime in early 2009 (head gasket was starting to leak radiator fluid into the oil, which surprised me because I had money riding on him snaping an axel or tire off the way he drove it like a 4x4 jeep offroad sometimes).

[ink]

1Boner~electric fan or clutch fan?  I would guess thats the issue, no matter what type of fan, it's working sometimes, somtimes it aint.....electric fan loose wiring, clutch fan the clutch going bad.....allthough I am a tattoo guy not a mechanic ;-)

[redman555]

Same, my Passat had a small hose, litterally 5 inches long that had a break in it.  They wanted like 1,000 bucks to fix it, brought it to another place and it was like 50 bucks lol.


-BigBOBCH

[Dadsguns]

I wish we had mechanics here like you Cap, they are all crooks here as well looking to make the big bucks not what the customer needs.

[Stalwart]

I took my Chevy S-10 into a shop because I experienced loss of power.  $2000 and two weeks later I got the truck back with a whole laundry list of replaced parts and associated labor.  Took the truck around the block and came back to the shop because they didn't resolve the loss of power.  After a heated exchange I took the truck down the road to a Midas.
Their technician pull a broken OEM spark plug out from the cylinder most obstructed by the steering column.  New plug. Power restored.  Another $600 to replace the destroyed catalytic converter, and I was back on the road.

But I will NEVER, EVER, visit
Lamb's Automotive
Four Points
FM 620 & 2222 (Next to Taco Bell)
7515 N FM 620 BLDG 2
Austin TX 78726