UPDATE - Saved three grand $3,000 on two repairs.
Larry Dodson saved me more than a thousand dollars. I'm not big on writing reviews, but in this case, I'll make an exception. I recently moved to St. Johns, Florida (between Jacksonville and St. Augustine). When the air conditioning in my 2009 Honda Pilot started malfunctioning (not blowing cold, compressor staying on after turning off engine, loud hissing noise underneath, etc.) and the battery kept dying, I did the only thing I knew to do... I took it to the nearest Honda dealer in Jacksonville. After thoroughly checking the car, the Honda Service Advisor said I needed a new AC compressor and battery. The estimate was $1470 just for the AC repair, not including the battery, shop fees, taxes, etc. That same day, as I was looking for a lacrosse specialty store called Jax-Lax located on CR 210 just east of I-95, I noticed a small auto repair shop in the same strip center. I went into Turn 9 Automotive and met Larry Dodson, the owner/mechanic. After describing the symptoms to Larry, he seemed confident that he could/would do better than the dealer. Larry actually rode with me to the dealer to pick up the car. Approximately 2 hours later, Larry called to say that he had thoroughly checked the AC system and that there was nothing wrong with my AC compressor, clutch assembly, etc. The problem was the battery was not providing enough voltage to the AC system. Larry flushed the AC system and installed a new battery. My final bill was $216.27. Larry could have taken me for a ride, so to speak, and I would have never known the difference. Instead, he saved me at least $1250. It has now been six weeks since Larry replaced the battery. The car starts reliably and the AC has been blowing cold ever since - not one hint of a problem. Those are just the facts of my experience, and I think the facts pretty well speak for themselves.
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Turn 9 saved me more than $2 grand. This is my second experience with Turn 9 Auto and my second review. After Larry Dodson stopped me from paying the Honda dealer $1470 to replace an AC compressor that didn't need to be replaced in my '09 Pilot (and consequently saved me at least $1250), I decided to give him a shot with my beloved old truck, too. I have a 2001 Toyota Tundra (V-8, 4-wheel-drive) with a failing transmission. One day, I couldn't get it in gear so I had AAA tow it to the nearest Toyota dealer in south Jacksonville. After flushing the transmission and finding huge chunks of metal (most likely from the planetary), the Service Advisor quoted me $4600 to replace the transmission. I decided to take the truck to Larry Dodson and am very glad that I did. It took some extensive searching, but eventually Larry found a transmission in Washington state that he said would work in my truck. Within one day of its arrival, Larry had that transmission installed in my Tundra. It has now been about a month since he completed the work and my truck is driving great. I've driven it all around JAX. I took it on a 7-hour road trip. I loaded the bed with heavy furniture and drove to Georgia. I took it off-road in 4-wheel drive through sand and mud. I pushed it to 90+ MPH flowing with the traffic on I-95 and it felt no different than driving 60 MPH. All I can say is... my decade-old truck with 125k+ miles runs like new. - The thing that any potential customer has to understand about Larry Dodson is that he's a little obsessive-compulsive and honest to a fault. It's just not in him to be able to cut corners or do shoddy work. He is EXTREMELY knowledgeable and experienced. It's obvious his intelligence level is not what one would normally expect from an auto mechanic (no offense to all those other mechanics out there). If Larry doesn't completely 100% understand something, it will drive him nuts until he figures out exactly what's wrong. He will literally spend long chunks of time just investigating every possible angle, and tends to do a bunch of other little extra stuff all along the way without even charging for it. He demands perfection of himself at every turn. And, if for some reason, he can't get something exactly perfect, he will tell you all about it and show you exactly where he's falling short. He's brutally honest. He over-communicates by email, text, and voice. To be perfectly candid, I imagine I would hate working for this guy, but I sure do like the way he works on my vehicles! - Bottom line... my Tundra runs like new and Turn 9 Auto saved me more than two thousand dollars in the process. read more
