Sorry, I used to LIVE there–where do you think I acquired this breadth of experience, anyway? 
:smack:
The swindlers at the Suzuki dealership tried a fast one on me. I took her (the car) in to have an odd noise looked at and they called and said they thought it was a belt, and would I like all the belts replaced?
“Sure,” sez I. She is, after all, five years old.
“And,” they said, “you should have us steam clean the engine for $275.”
“Absolutely not!” replies I.
So, of course, when I go pick up Baby SUV, they present me with a $525 bill that includes the steam clean. That charge came off real quick!
$275? How long does it take them? Eight hours or so?
I think it takes them exactly 0 seconds, as I saw no difference between “before” and “after.” Good thing it was free 
!
They change the oil fine. I wouldn’t keep going to them, but it’s not my car. She ignores anything they put down for in need of repair. They told my brother he needed new tires, and his were one month old.
Considering the labor rate of most dealers that might be 2. Even at my (computer shop) rates thats only 5 hours.
Do like I did. Marry one.
One thing about coolant is that it’s different for different cars. There are several types, like old green, Toyota red, and various newer ultra-long-life types that were mentioned. I would make sure they know what type it uses and either use the factory stuff or a brand-name one that’s specifically listed as compatible.
I actually had trouble with a place under-selling me. I was recommended this shop. They had lists of services for different intervals, and I got the impression they were keeping track. I’d call and say I wasn’t sure what I needed, and they would look my car up on their computer and tell me to just take it in for a 3K service which is oil and a general checkup. They said they could test the fluids to see if they need changing. They neglected some things though, such as the spark plugs which I replaced when I realized they were really old.
Now I’m not sure where to take it, because I’m not happy with them. When I ask around for recommendations, I get the names of really high-priced shops that work on fancy cars.
Hell I’m lucky that a guy I’ve become friends with is a mechanic. I know when I suspect I have a problem he confirm if it’s a problem.
If it is he either fixes or tells me where to take it if it’s beyond his skills (He is Ford certified I drive a Pontiac)
I have a small tip. If you can, go to the dealer who sold you the car. If the are a reputable dealer, then they often guarantee the work for a certain period of time. My father does this religiously, and he’s gotten free stuff more times then I can recall by reminding them that THEY did the service on this vehicle each and every time, and if something has gone wrong it’s THEIR fuck-up. He often gets good customer discounts as well as all sorts of coupons that make their services comparable to most independent shops. The only exception is bodywork, which he has Glen for. Glen is one of the gold nuggets amongst the turds.
How many times would you have to forget where you were and subsequently start over to make steam cleaning an engine take 5 hours? I’m pretty sure I could do it in 20 minutes. With time out for a smoke break.
I have worked at about 9 different shops in my career. I have intimate knowledge of the operations of maybe a 20 more. I have a passing familiarly of maybe another 25-30. none of these shops change estimates based on the sex of the car owner. Many times I did not even know the sex of the owner when the repair order said J. Smith. Could be John, or it could be Joan. (assuming I did not write the repair order) In every non-family owned shop I have worked in such an action would either be the second out of three strikes (written warning) or a firing offense. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but I would argue with the statement that a shop like this is reliable. Not IMNSHO. YMMV.
BTW the shop I was at all day Saturday has one service writer, a lady. While I have not looked over her shoulder much, I got a pretty good feeling that she is not jacking up women’s estimates just cause she could.
As far as who to talk to, if my wife drags me along on one of her shopping trips, when I ask the sales lady a question, and my wife gets the answer, it kind of pisses me off too. (Yes this has happened while she was shopping for a new sewing machine.) I agree this should not happen.
When I have written service (and I have done this a lot) or been called to the service drive to answered questions about work, I have found when faced with two people it is often hard right off the bat to tell who is the buyer. I have had husband and wives where the husband drove the car in, but it was clear after about 15 seconds that the wife was the “driver”. I have had couples where one person never said a word. Sometimes this was the wife, sometimes it was the husband. I have also had 50/50 couples. Again, I would always address both parties, but if one person asked a question, that is who I would address the answer to. I would continue to check back with the other person to make sure that they did not have any unanswered questions.
I have done this more times than I can count and I agree that this is the proper way to do things. However I must point out that sometimes customers do bring in a car that is dangerous to drive, and they seem to be oblivious. I once had a customer bring a car in for a smog check. The car had no brakes. The pedal went to the floor. Looking under the car, I could see a long existing, massive brake fluid leak. I informed the owner I would not smog the car, as it was not safe for me to drive into my shop. (the Sate of California smog check rules gave the right to refuse to do a smog check on a car I felt was unsafe.)
His response? It’s OK, just pump the pedal. Umm, no. You have two choices sir. You take it out of here, or I can fix it, and then smog it.
So was I being a scumbag for telling this man his car was dangerous? You call it.
I once had one of those 6 oil changes for 70 bucks deal at a Firestone. So I brought my older car to them. They called me up and said it was in dire need of a break job. I had no idea when the breaks had last been done, so I figured it probably did need one.
Then I brought my newer car, with only 15K miles on it, to be done. They did the same thing, called me and said it needed a break job immediately. I told them no, said I’d take it to the dealer. With only 15K miles, it should be a warranty issue.
Took it to the dealer and there was nothing wrong with the breaks. I finally changed the front break pads 30K miles later.
Here’s a handy tip for y’all:
Just because your car has synthetic oil, don’t assume that the little windshield sticker that they give you that tells you when your oil is due for a change reflects the longer service interval that synthetic oil is supposed to get you!
I just had my oil changed at one of those speedy-lube places, and I’m glad I checked the sticker against my odometer. Sure enough, it told me I was due for another change in the same 3,000 miles they recommend for regular oil.
Thanks for the info on the 3000 mile myth, Rick. My now ex-husband was so fanatical about the 3,000 mile thing that he got the oil changed every 2,500 miles! If we were taking the car on a trip where we expected to drive about 600 miles, and it had been only 2100 miles since the last change, he’d get the oil changed BEFORE the trip!! I think he really believed that at 3001 miles, the engine would melt into a solid block of iron or something.
Now I’m wondering if he’d been changing it every 2500 miles even after he switched it to synthetic…I know he kept a close watch on that windshield sticker. And I took it to the same place he had been using. :smack:
Speaking of which…When I got the last oil change, I asked them if they had checked the tire pressure. They told me that I had nitrogen in my tires (another innovation from the now-ex, I guess), and that they never ever had to be checked. I asked them to check anyway, and the guy told me that nitrogen-filled tires weren’t supposed to be checked. That it was really bad for them or something. Sounded like bunkum to me. Was it?
That’s a silly question. And you know the answer already. But since you’re looking for reassurance: Of course you weren’t being a scumbag. There’s a big difference between a demonstrable safety issue and telling someone that they’re in dire straits because their left-handed zundfulge is cross-threaded or something. And the customer already knew that there was a problem. Any idiot knows that if you have to pump your brakes to get them to work, then something is seriously wrong.*
*Somebody’s going to nitpick this statement. I just know it. Any bets on how long it will take?
I was responding to this statement
Right. But if you can provide actual and obvious evidence of the safety issue, you’re clearly not being a scumbag.
In some cases, the issue wouldn’t be so obvious to the casual observer, but in this case, it certainly was.
“Hey buddy! Your steering wheel has fallen off!”
“That’s okay. I just attach this vise-grips to the post and steer with that.”
“You need to have that fixed immediately. It’s really dangerous.”
“You scumbag! Trying to sell me stuff I don’t need! Uh…do you have an extra set of vise-grips? I seem to have misplaced mine.”
Rick, dude, relax! It’s titanically obvious from your presence on this board and the general helpfulness you exhibit that this thread is NOT about you–nor is it about my incredibly good mechanic who’s also a good friend. It’s not about ANY good, competent, honest mechanic. It’s about the opportunists, shitheads and scumbags, and whereas I’m sure you’ve never worked in a shady shop (because guys like you won’t tolerate an environment like that for a minute) you are absolutely not the norm, but the exception.
Of course there’s nothing untoward about refusing to work on a hazardous car that might damage you as well. However, any mechanic who insists that a car has a totally blown rear main seal had better be able to put that car up on a lift and SHOW where the oil is leaking. A mechanic who insists a headgasket is blown had better be able to show a dipstick covered in chocolate milkshake, a thousand foot exhaust plume or an overheating issue. A mechanic who insists that the front end is shot to shit had better be able to back it up with uneven tire wear, unnaturally loose movement of the wheels, vibration, side pull, or something sheared off. A mechanic who still insists that something is direly wrong but who cannot or will not show what he’s talking about and who insists the repair be done immediately is suspect and I’m not backing down an inch on that.
Good mechanics work in good shops and they generally charge top dollar and rightly so. However, some of us need to deal with the ones who aren’t so top shelf and who also don’t charge the top shelf price. We’re the customers who bring in our own parts to install, who need to get stuff fixed for a reasonable amount, who’ll take our chances with U-Pullit parts and who therefore need to be knowledgeable about our cars because we can’t afford not to be. We’re the ones that the less than top shelf shops will try to get over on because they’re living on a low profit margin too. I don’t fool myself that for every time I haggle a mechanic down to the rock bottom price on a repair that somebody else isn’t going to get a gouging to make up for my bargaining skills. I’d sure like it if we could all just be square and fair–but I also wish people would learn a little more about the vehicles they entrust their lives to and make it a little less attractive for shady mechanics to skin them for every inch of hide they possess. I’m sorry, but some folks make it WAY too easy!
I’m sure I’ve been duped by many a mechanic - Despite people explaining it to me many times, I never really can remember what CV boots or steering rack gaiters are, how long they should last, and when I last paid to have them replaced, so they appeared on pretty much every mechanic bill I’ve ever paid.
And I’ve been upsold a few times too - in a couple of cases, there was the tacit implication that if you don’t pay for the super-duper service options, we’re going to make sure we do a really shitty job of what you do pay for - so you’ll just be wasting your money, unless you hand it all over. Why I didn’t just walk out and go somewhere else is a mystery.
This makes so glad that I spent last Saturday in 20 degree weather under my car changing my own oil. My husband doesn’t understand why my family does all our own car work. The oil change cost me 12.99 and 20 minutes of my life. And I know what I used was good. I will never willing let anyone but my brother or father touch my car.