BY FAR THE WORST EXPERIENCE I've had in mechanic service in 25 years of experience of car ownership.
I've been a long time customer of Kwik Kar. I've used their service in multiple cities throughout the metroplex and had been a happy customer for decades. However, after my experience here, I will *NEVER* use another Kwik Kar service anywhere in America. If you broke down in front of this place, you're better off pushing your car 1/4 mile to one of the other shops in the neighborhood.
Here's the story: 3 months ago I took a 2010 dodge charger in to have the turn signal switch replaced. I bought the part and took the replacement part to them. The original was snapped at the column, and was unusable. When I arrived, the car had no alerts or warning indicators on the dash. They told me it was only supposed to take 1 hour, but it wound up taking almost 3 for the service. The price was reasonable and not outrageous, so I was ok with how how long it took. After I paid and I got in the car, a warning indicator was obviously glowing. I told them that the ESP/BAS light was NOT ON when I arrived and that it now is. They advised I drive it for a bit and it may go off.
I drove it for 660 miles and it never went off. I did my own research and found that the steering alignment sensor needed re-calibrated. Apparently this is common after replacing a turn signal switch on a dodge charger and Chrysler 300. I tried doing it myself, but the ESP/BAS indicator never turned off. It came time for inspection so I took it back and explained the situation, as well as what was pretty obvious : the prior tech didn't do it right or finish the job. I explained it to 4 people. The 4th person, "John", was in a hurry and didn't listen to me and cut me off as I tried explaining. He instead advised that my wheel speed sensor had gone bad (while they had it, he said it was "coincidence"). I explained my objections and he assured me that replacing the wheel speed sensor would resolve the ESP/BAS light.
After replacing the wheel speed sensors (both, since he wasn't sure which one was "bad"), the light still remained on. He said that it needed an alignment, and suggested I take it somewhere else because his machine that does alignments is not capable of doing alignments on a car a car "that new" (the vehicle is 10 years old, if you didn't catch that). I knew after he used the word "coincidence" that he was just guessing, didn't wanna put in the effort, didn't care, and wasn't going to listen to me, so I took it to a dealership to get the real story.
The dealership advised that the original tech caused a short in the steering alignment sensor, broke the clock spring, and stripped the steering wheel bolt using the wrong socket. The estimate for repairing this was just under $1000. I had already paid $400 to Kwik Kar and my car was in worse shape than I brought it. They wasted my precious time and wound up costing me another $1000. I got the printout from the dealership that specifically said it was short, they used the wrong socket, and that someone was "messing with it". I explained this to the manager who checked with the owner and they denied any wrongdoing, despite the documentation that clearly says this. the manager said it couldn't have happened because the tech was supposed to have disconnected the battery. The current manager and owner did not witness the original tech's service or have any way to verify that the tech did the the service correctly, and just assumed I'm wrong and that the dealership is wrong.
Whatever you do, NEVER take your vehicle to this place unless you want the service done incorrectly, your vehicle damaged, to be personally ignored, and to waste your time and money. read more