I recently brought my 1967 Triumph GT6 to Kip Motors to have some work done due to it having sat…read morefor too long. I wanted to have it gone through to make sure it was safe to drive as well, since I do most of the work myself and wanted to take the opportunity to have it gone through by a specialist and make sure things were working as they should be.
I told them that I had a budget of $3500 and that anything more than that we would need to talk about.
They ended up flushing the fuel system, replacing the fuel pump, and rebuilding the carburetors, which needed to be done. They recommended that we flush the clutch and brake lines as well, since I used regular DOT 3 fluid and not the magic British fluid. Fair enough.
Partway through the service I received a bill for about $2000, which covered the fuel system, fuel pump and carburetor rebuild.
Then they continued and determined that the clutch needed to be flushed and two of the brake wheel cylinders needed to be replaced. After that I picked it up, and received another bill for $3500. No one had ever called to verify that the $2000 overage was okay.
I was shocked at the bill, but paid it immediately, and picked the car up. We drove it home, and my thought was that this was a lot more than expected, but at least the work was done, and done properly by a specialist. When we got home, it died while trying to back into the garage and couldn't be restarted.
Two days later, I got it started on choke using gas pedal, but when the gas was lifted the car died. I drove it a bit hoping that it was just cold, but it didn't improve. Suddenly the car started making a screaming noise that went away each time the clutch was pressed. I called Kip, and the diagnosis was that the clutch (which they had just worked on and flushed) may be sticking, and should be replaced. Okay. . . those parts weren't replaced, so I couldn't really hold it against them. I would have expected them to find that out while checking out the system, but maybe not.
The next day, I noticed a long trail of brake fluid in the garage. I thought it was oil, but while doing some of the other maintenance they suggested (replacing the hub adapters, which led me to discover that the rear knock-off nuts were damaged when Kip's shop removed them to replace the wheel cylinders, apparently with a hammer rather than the wooden knockoff wrench that sits in the back of the car.) I discovered the leak stopped behind the wheel and was coming from one of the new wheel cylinders they had just replaced, which ruined the paint on the axle behind it. Again I called Kip. "Top off the fluid and bring it back, and wheel get it swapped out."
I'm not comfortable driving a 60 year old car with failing brakes not knowing how fast the brake fluid is leaking. I'm also not going to pay another $200 in towing to swap out a $15 wheel cylinder 'at no charge'.
I emailed Kip to let him know that I would rather pay the $15 and replace the wheel cylinder myself rather than risk the drive over town or pay for a tow, and about the fact that, as of now, I was charged more than $2000 more that I didn't approve to find that I'm having to redo all of the work that the specialist performed on the clutch and brake system. That work, between parts and labor amounted to $1442.15 to replace two wheel cylinders, flush and bleed the brakes, and flush the clutch, which evidently takes a specialist a billed 13 hours to do. I said I realize that a bad experience doesn't equate to a bad shop, but I'm not sure what to do.
His response back "I'm sorry you spent more than you hoped on your car, but most of the work was repairing things that you had done improperly. . . knowing what parts to order, recognizing the wrong parts and installing them properly requires a higher level of skill".
This is obviously true, since apparently not even they could do it properly in 13 hours. We'll see when the parts get here how long it takes an unskilled amateur. I point out that the car worked fine for years before it was parked.
