Is $48 for an oil change with standard oil and $425 for back brake pads at a hole in the wall shop seem high to anyone else or is that just me??? I am going to ask around about this because I am really curious about what happened.
This is a privately-owned, little hole-in-a wall-place on Elam across from the Auto Zone Parts store. They charged me $48 for an oil change with standard oil. One time I paid $40 for an oil change but I had money back then. Most oil changes with standard oil is $20-30. They couldn't tell me an estimate of parts (from Auto Zone) and labor until they took my car apart. So they took my back wheels off and then told me it would be another $425. Plus, I had a doctor appointment for my injection procedure so I told them no and I had to go. I get my car and I drove around a few times on Elam and took it back because the passenger side wheel was clicking like the spoke was hitting something, then sputtering and knocking. I thought the wheel was going to fall off. I drove my car with bad brakes to Terrell and safely made it back last Thursday and yesterday. So I took it back and the manager said that when they took my tire off the brakes broke and fell apart and then the brake fluid leaked out but If you drive safely, then you can come back tomorrow and pay me $425 I will fix it. Then we got into it and he fixed the passenger side back brakes for a discounted price of $219 to do that 1 tire.
For future reference I asked him about how I am leaking power steering fluid and my AC motor doesn't work and if he could give me an estimate. He said no you can't give estimates without first taking your car apart. That seems strange to me. You bring your car in blind and you don't know how much it costs until the car is on the lift and pulled apart. At the point you feel pressured for them to finish and fix it. After I got my car back and heard the noisy and felt the difference driving it, I was concerned for my safety driving it now and felt vulnerable.
I can't believe they weren't going to tell me that they opened up my tire and my brakes broke and fell off and all my brake fluid leaked out. Did they think I wouldn't notice when I left? I went from bad brakes to tire about to fall off. The noisy was obvious. I am to the point that I would rather drive on bad brakes and my car not be able to pass a safety inspection than have to deal with mechanics ripping women off. read more