This place is not run ethically. They overcharge for everything and take advantage of people who aren't familiar with cars (example: My mom ended up with a $300 bill for 5 new spark plugs and 1 new coil after taking her car here experiencing minor power loss). I thought the $300 had to be a mistake when I found out what the work was for, so I went back in a few hours later with the receipt to ask. The woman at the desk got really defensive and started going off about how they charge much less per hour than other shops ($90 an hour vs $120) and how they had a $150 diagnostic fee included in the $300 price, despite the fee not being listed on the receipt or work order. She also claimed they used manufacturer spark plugs at no extra charge, so they were really doing us a favor.
A few months later, after experiencing transmission-like problems, my mom took her car here again and they replaced the engine mounts. I believe the price tag was close to $1,000. Later, her car continued to have the same problems as before. I've read online that having bad motor mounts can actually stress your transmission and create problems if not taken care of. She took her car in for a second opinion (without telling them anything) and they told her the motor mounts needed to be replaced, even though she had JUST had them done a couple months back at Auto Fix It. I brought in a good friend of mine (who is a mechanic) to come take a look. Unfortunately, my good friend oversees a dealership and doesn't have time to take on any additional projects himself, as I really trust him to do a good job :(. Anyways -- my friend takes one look, and says the motor mounts weren't installed properly. He even showed me the way the engine tried to jump out of the engine bay when he shifted gears. It was awful. He said he could tell the metal was new on the motor mounts, but whoever did it missed an extra bolt. He said it was the kind of work he would have done when he was a beginner or did not give a shit about the person's car. He said it was a "sloppy job".
So, my mom took her car back to Auto Fix It, and they denied anything being abnormal with the motor mounts. My mom sat and waited for an hour, then the lady at the front suggested my mom go out for some breakfast, as "who knows how long it would be" before they could get her car onto the lift to look at it. My mom said it was extremely obvious they wanted to get rid of her for a few hours, so she took the bait and left. When she came back, the mechanic pulled her out onto the shop floor and "showed" her how normal everything was. She told him about my friend's opinion and they argued with her, claiming that my friend was trying to scam us (ha, yeah right!) They went back and forth. The mechanic refused to fix or acknowledge the problem so my mom left.
Then, magically, on the way home... my mom noticed the transmission wasn't kicking like it had been for the past few months. When she brought the car home, I took a look at it, and sure enough -- they'd added the missing bolt and fixed the problem while my mom was out to eat. Sneaky fail.
I just cannot trust a shop that charges $300 for a 30-minute or less job, then refuses to take responsibility for their errors and tries to pull a fast one over their customers. It isn't right. We won't be back. read more