It's pretty scary when you move away from your trusted auto mechanics and your car starts driving funny.
I knew I needed brakes and probably rotors, so I called to get a quote and planned to take my car in for that on one of my vacation days. I had a great tire experience with them before, so they were the first place I called. A few days before I took it, I noticed my steering wheel was a little crooked when I was driving straight and if I straightened the wheel, I would veer sharply to the left. So I called them back. They quoted me $65 for front end alignment. (I did a little research and found I could get the same service for $80 with a coupon at another place.) When I took my car in, they gave me a ride home in my car and I mentioned that it had recently started squeaking, and it annoys me. The guy told me he was going to have the mechanic drive it too, because there's a little resistance when you excel and it could be a transmission issue. I've noticed it doing this ever since we got it back from the body shop a couple years ago after my husband wrecked it. They were going to look over everything on the car and call me before they did any work.
A few hours later, they called me to tell me what all was wrong and what it would cost to fix it. To my surprise, I only needed front brakes and no new rotors. They explained what else was wrong, the parts needed, and what it would cost for parts and labor. They called me again a couple hours later to tell me when they took off the bearing, the arm was also broken so I would need a different part, which was about $20 more, but the labor wouldn't change. They also informed me that I needed to have the transmission torqued, and since they don't work on transmissions there, they gave me the names of two places that could help me out with that.
These guys could've easily ripped me off because I was almost positive I needed brakes and rotors. They didn't. They figured out exactly what was wrong with my car and they fixed it. Turns out what caused the squeaking is ultimately actually what caused the alignment issue, so it all got fixed.
I spent about $822 for 2 front wheel brakes, front control arm, front stabilizer links, alignment and an oil change. I'm going to have to go see them again soon for four new tires, which is only going to set me back about $432, including tax and labor. My car drives great again, except for the transmission problem, which I'll have fixed soon.
It really means a lot have folks you know you can trust work on your car. This is definitely my trusted go-to shop when I need anything done to my car. read more