Rick ,
I am not telling the OP what he should do, just presenting different options. If he has a really good, honest mechanic then, by all means, take it in and let him go to town. I used to go to a great mechanic shop when I had my BMW. They had a great reputation for being completely honest, doing only the work that was needed, and doing it on time. I let them do whatever they said needed to be done.
They don’t work on the brand of my new car however. Since then, I have screwed more ways than a hooker working a traveling circus. I try to minimize the ways that the mechanics that I go to can lie or cheat me. That is why I buy my own parts, request the old ones back, and demand a reasonable timeframe. That approach has worked for me until I get a decent mechanic.
Just for my own knowledge, what exactly is wrong with AutoZone parts or those supplied by any of the big auto parts chains? I knew that they supply aftermarket rather than factory parts but do they get them from a different supplier than other places or the mechanic would get? The starter that I bought was new, rather than rebuilt so does that make a difference? I haven’t had any problems with it yet. Just curious.
The last few parts I’ve bought from Auto Zone have been complete crap. I bought a heater fan (the one under the dash) and a starter, both for my old rusty dusty Nissan pickup. The fan is noisy as all hell and the starter occasionally won’t start. I was going to pull out the starter and take it back for an exchange (it’s still under warrantee) but then the truck developed other problems and I decided after two hundred and some thousand miles it was time just to replace the old thing.
I know a sample size of 2 isn’t much to go on, and it might just reflect poor quality nissan parts and not other models, but still I wasn’t very happy about either.
I wouldn’t blame a mechanic for not wanting to install parts from there.
Due to some pretty severe pricing pressure from Auto Zone (or which ever chain retailer is in your area) the rebuilders don’t always replace all the bits that should be replaced during the rebuilding process. Too often a marginal piece gets reused. The parts that do get replaced may have lower quality than factory originals.
If you look at the warranty it appears great. Lifetime warranty, what could go wrong? Read the fine print, you must have the receipt for the warranty to be good. Do you still have receipts on things you bought 3 years ago? I sure as hell don’t.
The business model of these outfits (and their rebuilders) appears to be We turn out crap cheap, and we happily eat the DOA units since we make enough on the ones that don’t come back.
As far as who is responsible for the labor goes, it is amazing what asking somebody for a hundred dollars or two does for their memory. Things that were never said are suddenly recalled clear as a bell, and things that were said suddenly vanish. Hell even things that are written down and signed often get denied. :rolleyes: I know that I have stories, I will be Gary T has a bunch also.
Hmmm. I hope you get many miles of service from that repair. If the starter does act up again relatively soon, do yourself a favor and have a good quality rebuilt unit installed, so you won’t have to fix it every 3 or 6 months.