I had a similar thing with Jiffy Lube, where they stripped the screw on the oil pan of my old Accord.
We have a local shop do 99% of our work. He is not cheap but we trust him. Most oil changes are still done at a local oil change plus but we have been going there for years with no problems.
Most dealerships are honest but expensive.
Research a repair before agreeing to have something extra done.
The reason to find an independent mechanic is so you don’t have to deal with the quality of human that infests the alternatives. It’s not the money. It’s the interaction.
Service department managers act like car salesmen. They blow smoke at you, toss in bullshit fees, and confuse you by upselling more work. When I was too lazy to find a mechanic I took my wife’s car into her dealership. I wanted to break the guy’s neck every time I talked to him. He wouldn’t change his script and treated me like I knew nothing. My blood stayed up the rest of the day.
Tire shops can do basic tasks, but the quality of work always seems lower, and they upsell big time. Just skip them.
I was lucky to find a local family-owned shop nearby. The guys know I know my way around a car and treat me properly. They chat with my every time I come in and only mention the critical problems I might not know about. The thing is, they’re probably nearly as expensive as the dealership. I pay it because of the service.
But this depends on your personality.
The next time this happens, this is what you do. And I say this because I essentially had no choice but to do this a few years ago. My car broke down and I thought it was a warrantied repair so I had it towed to the dealership. Turns out it was the clutch (I’d driven a manual tranny car in the past but never blew out the clutch so I didn’t know the symptoms). Well of course they wanted to charge me nearly twice what it should have cost, money I didn’t have. This was of course at Christmas time. I had enough to pay for a new clutch at a fair price but not fuckin’ $2500.
I told the guy there was no way I could or would pay that so I was coming to get the car. He told me “B-but your car is in pieces!” I presume this is a common tactic. So I replied “Then throw all the goddamned pieces out in front of your garage, I’m coming in a flatbed and I’ll pay the driver $100 to help me load all the parts onto it, I’m still saving a ton of money.” Eventually he relented and gave me a better (but still not optimal, as I discovered when the cheap clutch they put in burned out 2 years later) price. A big part of this type of stuff is to call their bluff.
I have found an honest mechanic and he’s great. I have a thermostat that occasionally sticks. I thought it was broken, I took it into him to repair and he gave it back and told me it was just stuck and didn’t charge me a dime. Internet research may help, I looked him up and he had nothing but glowing reviews. Also he always has a help wanted - mechanic sign up and usually there is a little bit of a wait because people no doubt recommend him left and right.
I’d avoid any big chain repair shop. Those are almost universally bad.
About 3 weeks ago I decided it was time to replace the struts on the Prius–100,000 miles, and we live on a rough dirt road, driving the car you could pretty much tell the struts were shot.
I called 3 places. First, the dealership. They wanted $1500 for the job. Next, a local place close to my house. They wanted $1300 for the job.
Finally, a local chain called Belle Tire. I think they are Michigan only.
They did the job for less than $800.
'Nuff said.
They are all more or less crooks. The “more” ones are grossly abusive, and they seem to be in the majority. The “less” ones at least know enough not to make you feel bad about getting screwed.
I would always remember that “cheaper is not always better” does apply to auto repairs. Hopefully yours is the exception.
I have a thermostat that occasionally sticks. I thought it was broken, I took it into him to repair and he gave it back and told me it was just stuck and didn’t charge me a dime.
As someone who has twice had thermostats lead to getting my car towed I think I would prefer knowing I had a good working model rather than one that “sticks” from time to time.
For some models of cars, you really have no choice. New BMWs require you to connect to their server in Germany to get the latest firmware/software updates - which could be required to fix or diagnose a problem.
No way a private dealer is getting access to that. Its the automotive version of the walled garden.
It goes away every time I get the car serviced and the fluids topped off and it has never overheated, so you know. He gave me a choice to replace it but said in his experience it wasn’t necessary.
As for your experience having the dealer “put the car back together” I had something similar happen (but not with so many pieces) with a small mechanic shop. I had him make the car drivable and took it to another place that fixed the problem for about 1/10th of what the other guy wanted. In fact what the other guy wanted to fix wasn’t broken. He was a guy who my wife had used for several years and suddenly decided it was time to cash in on her I guess.
Car dealers make much if not most of their money off of service. Or that’s what sales guys tell me, I have no idea if it’s true. Sounds reasonable. Still, my personal experience has been mixed. In Vermont, the dealers I’ve been to have been pretty good (Ford, Acura, VW, Honda). The prices weren’t terrible, the quality was good, and I was never told anything that turned out to be bogus (that I know of!). In Atlanta and Athens, GA, however, I had horrible experiences with crappy dealers who were scum of the earth. In the DC area, my experiences were a mix of good (Acura), bad (Chevy), and so-so (Ford).
My concern with small, neighborhood shops is whether they have all the electronic doodads necessary to troubleshoot and repair modern cars. Hell, I think my relatively simple base GTI has more electronic computer thingies in it than fighter planes from the 1970s.
The last and present mechanic I found was through the Car Talk Mechanics page. I trust these guys and so I gave it a shot. The mechanic is only a few blocks away and he’s great.
Back in '04, before I knew anything about cars, I had my battery in my Saturn die on me. Got a jump, went to Autozone, and they put in a new battery. The next day, I was driving around, and the thing kept shutting off on me when I’d come to a stop, so I took it to the dealership. Problem? One of the battery cables was loose. Price? $175. They charged me $125 for the inspection and $50 for labor to, literally, tighten a battery cable. Any decent mechanic would have figured that out in minutes and wouldn’t charge you the automatic full inspection fee. Hell, my mechanic would have found it immediately, tightened it, and told me to have a good day – no charge.
Fuck Dealerships.
I had a great mechanic (but unfortunately not a great used car) before we decided to skip used cars and just lease to be rid of the hassle and worries - he lives right across the street and we first picked him just because he was close. But whenever he did work he would painstakingly show and explain me what and why and he’d even photograph the car and give me the photos, so if I felt like getting somebody else to see if he was bullshitting me, I could do that.
When our car broke down on the freeway late one evening on the way to the hospital to see my dads body and a truck ripped off my front door (and nearly killed me) the owner and his mechanic came in two cars to help us or send us on our way in a loaner.
Only reason we didn’t buy a car from him, when we ditched the wreck, was that he’s a Chevrolet dealer.
Of course while I’ve heard some stories, especially about used car lots, I don’t know anybody with stories like yours.
Jesus Hans, worst day ever.
Tie-rod is a suspension part which requires time to disassemble and reassemble the suspension. $80 sounds fine.
$120 for an alignment is too much for a passenger car.
In the past I’ve paid for brakes getting cleaned (she said that’s a scam)
Brakes are self-cleaning… like soap.
spent $200 on a car battery that costs $50 in the shop
Go to O’reillys next time. My SUV battery was about $120 with a 3 yr warranty, and the fellow installed it for me without me having to get my hands dirty.
I figure, why would they rip me off on a $100 repair job if there’s a reasonable chance I’ll buy my next car with them for $20,000? It doesn’t make sense to me.
Because they know you don’t know any better, I’m sorry to say. Get a second opinion here next time. There’s enough automotive mechanical know-how on QT3 to set you straight.
Both my dad (forever) and (for about 10 years) my brother are mechanics. Both of them worked at independent places and dealers throughout their careers. As a few folks mentioned above, your mileage will vary. Some dealerships are crooks. Some independent mechanics (or shops) are also crooks.
On average, I’d guess that a dealership is likely to be more honest. They tend to have more at stake. Smaller mechanic shops are much more fluid, both in their existence and staff. In a small town like I live in, however, your local mechanics are much more likely to be honest. If they aren’t, word of mouth spreads quickly.
The good thing is that the internet has really helped figure out what type of place you are dealing with. If the internet can’t flat out tell you what the problem is (we’ve fixed our own car about 4 times in the past few years this way), it can help you call a shop on its bullshit at the very least, warning you away in the process. The power of information is strong indeed.
One interesting story: My brother was fired for trying to be honest at a dishonest dealership many years ago. After diagnosing a problem, he presented the proper fix to his boss. His boss, in turn, added a bunch of extra, unnecessary work to the bill (I believe the cost went up a factor of 4 or more to essentially replace everything as opposed to a simple repair) and gave it to the customer. My brother responded by adding a small note to the glove box recommending that the owner take it to another place for a second opinion. The owner, being an idiot, showed the note to my brother’s boss. That didn’t work out so well.
Absolutely, but I had too much going on at once to really realize it at the time. Took me a while to realize why my wife didn’t like to drive on the freeway at night and always fell quiet when we passed that spot,
Pretty much THIS.
And don’t believe any hype that a dealership knows your car more than any independent mechanic. Dealerships sometimes hire the dumbest, lowest paid mechanic they can.
Not only do dealerships charge high margin for parts, their service labor costs are through the roof. Most of them go by some book mandated to them on what to charge depending on the service needed.
I’m not saying all independent shops are angels. You really have to try to find an honest shop and mechanic. Sometimes they are plagued by the same problems dealership shops have.
Like doctors on diagnosis, it doesn’t hurt to get a second opinion.