I don't understand all of these glowing reviews. On the plus side, they did actually fix my car and the car ran fine when I picked it up and there wasn't any damage to the car. A couple of sensors weren't put back correctly, but that's minor.
The reason I give them one star is because of the labor charge. It was a big shock when I found they charged me $350 for what I know (unquestionably) was a simple repair. Either they jacked up the charge with unnecessary work, or these guys are the most expensive mechanics I've ever met. I know the initial diagnosis didn't take very long because they called about an hour after I dropped off the car and told me what part I needed. But, replacing the part shouldn't have taken more than 15 mins. You don't have to remove anything to get to the part; you just need a screwdriver. Order the part, maybe 10 mins. Retest the repair, maybe another 15 mins. A smog test takes about 5-10 mins. Hook up an obdII scanner and read the codes, maybe 5 mins. They did no other repair, so no other diagnosis or tuning would have been necessary. But the labor charge was $350!!!!! And no, that did not include the cost of the part! They did diagnose and fix the car quickly but they weren't completely honest and up front otherwise they would have given me a written estimate and explained their charges. I'm convinced they just played me for an idiot and ran up their charges. I'd expect this from a chain garage but not a local shop looking for repeat business.
Big shock too when I noticed half a tank of gas gone and 100+ miles added to my odometer. I've been working on my own cars for many years and I've had my share of smog tests and issues but this is my first failure with an obdII car. I am aware that if you reset a car's computer for a smog test, normally you have to drive it for some time under different conditions so the computer can learn your driving pattern and run tests. You have to wait for the tests to finish otherwise the smog test will fail. Under normal conditions this can take 1-2 weeks driving around town. But there are driving patterns on the web you can follow, and do it all at one time. The point is that most people don't know this and the DMV doesn't explain any of this. They just say, get the car repaired at a 2G station. So when I took the car in, I asked the mechanic if they found the problem causing the code, fixed the problem, and if they reset the computer, would I have to drive the car awhile before retesting. His response was "not necessarily" and then didn't offer any explanation or details but just sort of dismissed me and sent me back to the clerk inside.
Why can't I find a mechanic that is honest and upfront? Why do I have to play these games with shops? From experience I know that if you make a repair, the computer may clear the codes just running the engine a few minutes. Since there weren't any other repairs to the car, obviously the part they replaced fixed the smog problem and removed the computer code. I can only assume they replaced the part, reset the computer and then put the car on a dynamometer for 1 or 2 hours. This would explain the missing gas and mileage. I assume they didn't drive the car, which I never agreed to, and would be very, very angry if I found out they did. I can only assume that the labor charge was mostly from running the car on a dynamometer, which I'm fine with, if THEY HAD TOLD ME BEFOREHAND AND GOT MY APPROVAL. I wasn't there, so I don't know what they did exactly, and they didn't write it down on the bill.
It may be standard practice to put a car on a dynamometer when you you reset the computer, I don't know. This is my first failure, but that's why I asked up front about resetting the computer. Had I known they were going to put the car on a dynamometer to go thru the drive cycles I would have said 'no'. Why would I want to pay for this when I can drive the car myself? I can also reset the computer myself. No further diagnosis is needed unless the computer generates the code again, or some other code, which usually happens just from idling the car for a few minutes. Running the car on a dynamometer, if that's what they did, is NOT part of the smog test!!! Some customers may want this service since it saves them some time and hassle, but it's not part of the smog test and it's not required. You're basically paying them to drive your car for an an hour or two, which is complete nonsense!!! Plus, this can run into hundreds of unnecessary charges if they find other problems and then redo the test. Also, the limit is $450 before you can apply for a waiver but a shop can charge you anything they want even if it's more than the waiver. Most shops like this one won't tell you this, but an honest shop will. read more
