Never, EVER go to the dealer for work

A dealership lost me as a customer over tires as well. When I was still stupidly bringing my car there for service, the service manager tried to scare me into buying 2 new tires (and got my salesman in on the act, too). The price? $870 for 2 tires. You read that right. The 2 of them did the hard sell/scare on me - "I would never let my daughter drive home on tires that bad!" I passed. When I got the car back, I did the penny test on the tires, and while, yes, I did need new tires, it wasn't a dire need. I got the same tires they were trying to sell me for $375 total at a tire place nearby. Assholes.

 

I got a letter for a recall notice on mine and she is ten years old. The service for it will be free but I'm just worried the dealer is going to find some stuff to fix and charge me.

 

My switch is in: Literally 10 minutes from opening the package to putting the control panel back in place, and everything works fine.

I think I'll go spend that surplus $150 on booze and hookers.

 

I, too, have a Mazda 3. But my experience was a little better.
The compressor for the AC was shot. It started going around 30,000 miles, which was also about the time winter was setting in. So I kept putting it off and forgetting to mention it. By 37,000 miles it was spring and time to use the AC again. Of course it didn't work. And of course the warranty expired at 36,000 miles.
I finally mentioned it to the service manager, who wasn't a hard sell guy. I explained that it had been going for a while but I didn't mention it because of the weather. One of his mechanics suggested I call Mazda's customer service number, which I did, and they knocked off half the price of the repair.
Still ran me about $800, but it was better than $1,600.

 

Fair discloser: I had the same thing happen with my 2000 Ford Explorer. I felt the same way, that they would find something else wrong, which I could probably deal with, or that they would want to keep the truck all day, which would piss me off more than anything.
When about the fifth recall notice arrived, I finally called the dealer. They said no appointment was necessary and they would need about one hour to fix the problem. Went in the next day, took 45 minutes and I got a free car wash.

 

Go cheap on the beer, expensive on the hookers. Trust me on this.

 

My dad used to be a service underwriter for a Cadillac dealership in the Seattle area. The man made massive bonuses for upsells on labor hours. I told him he was a crook and he countered that he never sold anybody anything they didn't need ... they just might not need it right when he sold it to them.

 

I can't tell you how many useful car-repair tasks I have learned to do after bringing a vehicle in to a dealership for their opinion and estimate.

I think the tipping point was when my seat belt clasp stopped working due to a worn-out spring. This being a very important thing, I went immediately to the dealer (Ford). I buckled into the passenger side receptor for two weeks while I waited for what they said was the correct part, then waited two hours for them to install a second-generation plastic female end that didn't come close to fitting my first-generation metal male end. The dealership never figured out that the manufacturer completely phased out metal seat belt males and females, and that they were *supposed* to install a 100% new seat belt and parts!

Not wishing to convince them to charge me the value of my vehicle to order more parts and potentially rectify their mistakes, I had them remove the wrong part (and therefore avoided paying dollar one).

After buying the proper torx bit, I visited several junkyards, found a comparable receptor off an older Ford model, removed the center island and bolted the GD thing in itself.

I'm no grease monkey, but it felt good to solve a problem for 28 bucks that the dealer couldn't even give an estimate for.

 

I feel blessed that, in my new town, I've found a mechanic who is honest and awesome.

In years and years of moving around and driving old cars (still do - I hate car payments):
- Find a Mom/Pop shop.
- Ask around about it.
- If you visit it, is it packed with people? If so, that's a good sign.

I was recommended to a guy here, fortunately for me, just two blocks from work. I've taken my '98 Corolla in eight or nine times in 2 years, from engine work to brakes to electrical. Twice he has run a diagnostic, kept it for a couple of hours and then told me, "There is nothing wrong with your car. I could charge you but that would be wrong because your car is fine. Come on back when it's not fine and we'll be ready!"

This guy runs an old garage -- it looks like a Chicago auto chop house or a setting in Fight Club. Room for 16 or 18 vehicles, classic rock blaring in this place. He walks around in a grey "flight suit", with two other old guys. All they do is fix cars and trucks and get people on their way.

In the mornings, if you bring the owner Biscuits & Gravy from Hardee's (he gets there at 5 AM most days), he'll smile and often knock a few bucks off the bill just for being considerate!

 

Advance Auto Parts will also install a battery free of charge if you buy it there.

 

That sounds just like the garage we use. It's dirty, crap all over the place and the owner breaks out the cold beer as soon as 5 o'clock hits. But they do good work and they're honest.

 

I go to a lot of "great" places like that, places that are always busy and win BBB awards, etc. They don't screw you and they do good work...but, they're busy and try to get through things quickly. They'll charge you for new parts and (good) labor, when a used part and (good) labor could've fixed it for a fraction. I go there for major work, but do everything else myself or at another shop to save hundreds.

This topic also makes me think of my vet office, where the doctors are all experienced, expensive professionals, and everyone else involved with the operation is both incompetent and insensitive. Of course, the vets are too busy to notice all that.

For example, I had to put a dog down. I bring said dog in for said appointment and am asked who are you, what is his name, why is he here? Well, to be put down. I only said so on the sign-in sheet and when I called in to schedule the appointment with you. The next time I call up for an appointment, for a different pet, they say, "Well, the only pet under this name is ___ and he's deceased." Gee, thanks for the update.