I LOVE this place! I'd give 6 or 7 stars if I could.....
Master Radiator is a mom-n-pop shop. It doesn't look like much, but the people are very friendly, knowledgable, and most important THEY ARE HONEST. I discovered them several years back when I had a Ford Econoline conversion van. The back heater in my van blew out (the motor overheated somehow, I smelled burning, and it stopped working). Anyway, I took it faithfully to my Ford dealer. Would you believe the dealer turned me away???!!?? They did. They said it was a conversion component, and they couldn't help me.
Well, I was at whit's end. It was winter, I had a toddler, and an infant. I NEEDED heat!! I went through the phone book and found Master Radiator. I went to them because I was under the impression that they specialize in heating/cooling systems for automobiles. (They DO, but they do so much more...) When they looked at my van, I told them the dealership couldn't help, and wasn't expecting much. The van was old, and the conversion company went out of business.....However, there was a phone number on the unit. Mike called it, and within 2 or 3 days he had a replacement component, and my van was fixed!
Since then, I take all my cars to him. They always do great work, at very affordable prices. I've taken my vehicles to the dealer, and when I get their quote for work, I've turned around and taken my car to Jim. They ALWAYS beat out the dealer prices, and if I've ever had an issue with a repair, they stand by their work!
At one point, I took my car to Jim wanting a wheel alignment. I went knowing that I was going to leave his shop and drive 3 miles or so to Costco to get new tires. Costco doesn't do alignments. He told me not to waste my money with him, and sent me packing without performing the service! He said that if he did the work, it would be thrown all out of whack even with just a couple miles driven on the old tires. He recommended I have the work performed whereever I got the tires, and to get the tires first. Any other company would have taken my money.
He has also checked my brake pads, etc., and if they aren't worn enough, he'll tell me to wait before having the service performed. I actually came to him after getting a quote on services the dealership said were required. I can't remember now which component it was (brakes, or something else). I can only say that when I took my car to Jim, he looked and said there was nothing wrong, and the part wasn't worn out. He said if it was his car, he wouldn't do anything to it. At that time, he did tell me that my serpentine belt was wearing, and that if it broke, I would be stranded on the road. My car had just been to the dealer, and they never even mentioned it. I had him take care of the serpentine belt, and skipped the other repairs. He showed me the belt, and it WAS worn, and cracked almost all the way through in some spots. I like knowing that he looks out for my best interests.
We took my husband's car there when we were having some sort of computer problems. The car would just stall for no reason at all. It was very intermittent, and hard to even see the problem. We had taken it to the dealer a few times, and they never even found a problem! When we took it to Jim, he basically swapped cars with my husband, and drove it to and from his house for about a week. He gave us a loaner - no charge. It was a very basic - OLD - car, but it ran fine. Jim tried his best to fix that problem, but although he experienced the issue several times, he wasn't able to figure out the specific component causing the problem (it was some computer component). We ended up getting a new car. It was upsetting that the problem couldn't be fixed. However, I was extremely impressed with how hard they tried to assist us. They went way out of their way to help, and after a week of having his car, and all of his efforts, it didn't cost us a penny.
Later this morning, I'm picking up my husband's car. We took it there for brake pads yesterday, and they finished the work the same day. My husband was very concerned about the brakes. I'm not sure why. Jim never found anything wrong with them. He test drove the vehicle, and said the front pads are about half-way worn out, and there were no problems with the rear. He didn't see any need to perform any services. My husband decided to have him replace the front pads anyway. So, he replaced them, and it's going to cost us about $162. However, the product they are using is having a special deal right now. April, Jim's daughter and their receptionist, is going to give us their paperwork for the pads, and we can get $25 back from the manufacturer. What other company would go out of their way to get us the discount??
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