The suspension in the truck has a LOT of travel, so I usually don't worry too much about uneven roads, bumps, or road work. Unfortunately, my truck had never before encountered the industrial area of Metric a few blocks north of 183. In one quick intersection, my truck went from having a nice growling hum to sounding like a fog horn with a sore throat; the small mountain in the middle of the road had torn a big hole in my exhaust.
Time to look for a muffler shop that won't rip me off. Unfortunately, there were no reviews on yelp for muffler shops (or any shops that obviously did exhaust work; this repair was going to require some significant welding) north of downtown. I could go to Meineke or some similar large chain shop that would undoubtedly want to sell me air filters and windshield wipers, along with an oil change and rear differential flush before they let me get away (none of which did I actually need), or I could look up a local place and just risk it. So I found Royal Muffler, right around the corner from me.
Royal Muffler is one of a series of garages all in a few large buildings. Each garage specializes in something; bodywork, paint jobs, mufflers, transmissions, etc. The parking lot (such as there was) was packed with all different sorts of vehicles, but I managed to find a spot and walked in (once I found the front door).
The guy I talked to was also one of the mechanics; the place is small enough to not have a dedicated front-desk person. He was helpful every time I came in and pretty much stopped what he was doing any time he saw somebody at the front desk or heard the phone ring to go and help whatever customer needed attention. When I first went in, I told him that I needed someone to look at the truck and that I didn't know exactly what would need to be done. He promptly rolled the car that was on the lift off and moved it into the parking lot, then drove my truck onto the lift to have a look. After poking and prodding for a few minutes, he came back into the office to tell me that I had a tear in the exhaust between the engine and the catalytic converter. He also mentioned that the manifold appeared to be leaking, and if that needed to be machined, that could cost quite a bit. The estimate was between $185 and about $650 including parts and labor, and that it could be done today (this was Saturday morning) or Monday. I asked him to do what was absolutely necessary (the $185 estimate), and to call me if it did look like the manifold needed work or the converter needed replacing.
I didn't hear from him Saturday, so I called about 30 minutes before closing to ask if he had any news. I spoke to the same guy's brother, who at first told me that he couldn't find the truck (!) but then realized that the guy was working on it right now, and that it would be done Monday morning. That made me pretty nervous. Around that time I was thinking that this guy might completely rip me off or do a really bad job, or both.
I've been ripped off by mechanics before and I was looking for the same pattern; they give you a wide estimate, you tell them to call if it's going to be on the top end, they don't call, you pick up the vehicle, and the bill is for the very top end of the estimate and they tell you that everything absolutely HAD to be done.
So the main guy that I've been talking to calls Monday morning (around 10:30) to tell me that the truck's ready. I go in in the late afternoon (around 4) and again somebody comes up to the front pretty quickly. The bill comes out to about $215, and he tells me that the manifold was fine; it didn't need any work after all. He also tells me that he installed a few brackets (I had forgotten that several of the brackets were damaged or missing; essentially he bolted the exhaust back on), but otherwise everything was great.
I gave this place 4 stars because I've very rarely had a mechanic tell me that something MIGHT need to be done that, by their estimation, didn't actually need to be done after all. All of the help was also really helpful, polite, and attentive. If I need work done again, I'll certainly go back here. read more