The auto repair industry has gotten a bad rap over the years due to dishonest & predatory practices, overcharging for services and claiming to have done repairs that never got done. Yet, even though people know this, nothing is ever done about it. For that reason you normally need to find a mechanic that you can trust to do the job right, and not some guy that just happens to have a garage. And even if this garage happens to be a large national chain, it doesn't mean the mechanics are any good, or any more honest.
There were times that due to a problem, or an emergency I had to take the car to Crappy... I mean Canadian tire. Every single time I asked for something simple to be done, and every time they would point out 3 or 4 things that also needed to be done, usually at high cost.
I would insist on getting only what I asked for, I would always keep the parts they replaced and later see my mechanic (when I had time) for his opinion. 90% of the time he said the repairs they said were "urgent" either weren't as bad as they made them out to be, were totally unnecessary or in some cases could be done a lot cheaper.
For example, my car had a strange problem in which occasionally the starting motor would continue to run once the engine had started, on occasion this would continue once the engine had stopped. Canadian Tire took a look at the car and said I had to replace the starting motor (at great cost) and that within a few months it would die on me. My mechanic said it was a solenoid and fixed it for under $50.
One time when the belt on my alternator snapped, I just had enough power to make to the nearest Crappy Tire and get them to replace it. In the process they said there was a problem with the battery to which I said they were full of it because it was replaced recently and I had a lifetime guarantee on it. After that they magically got the battery to work, but when I go to get my car it had these huge drops of oil all over the roof, hood and windows.
Seems one of the mechanics decided to clean his tools near my car with an air hose and it splattered the car with oil. Neither he, the car jockey or the mechanic that worked on it bothered to tell anybody. Then I had to fight to get them to clean it properly after they just tried to wash it off with some high pressure water. After all, water doesn't wash the oil away, it just kinda smears it around.
Finally, about a month after I had taken it in for a tune up (in which they replaced the spark plugs, got new ignition wires and did a radiator flush and topped off the fluids) I had to take it in again because the car wasn't starting properly. They told me the spark plugs and the wires needed to be replaced. When I asked how old or corroded they were to warrant a replacement they said it looked like they were near the end of life, but you can usually get several years out of them unless you work the engine too hard. I pointed out that they had been replaced the last month and I was assured they were new, The guy on the phone didn't have an answer for that, mumbled something about maybe making a mistake. I agreed with him and said that any mistake I made was bringing my car to them in the first place.
Rick
Tokyo
Japan
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