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honest car mechanic. October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 
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honest car mechanic.
i recently had some work done on my car at dave's auto and it was the biggest mistake i have ever made. not only did my car break less than two days after i picked it up, when i asked him about getting my money back he said "we fixed what we thought was wrong and assumed it would be fine, i can't see through steel sweetie." i can't believe he spoke to someone like that. i may be eighteen years old, and i may be a young girl, but i still deserve to be treated in a respectful manner. when i asked about the price he simply said "well, it's not like you paid for it anyways" because my friends father helped me with the bill until i could afford to pay him back. this man is the typical sleezy automachanic that you would expect in the begining of a bad horror film. i've never, in my life heard someone speak in such a condecending manner; especially to someone who paid for work that wasn't done right. i highly suggest that if you work hard for your money and want to be treated the way a paying customer should, you stay as far away from that place as possible. 19 comments from 10 users
posted by
jewels
on Oct 26, 2007 at 05:32 PM
Stay down girl!!!
posted by
madkow2747
on Oct 27, 2007 at 08:38 AM
That's why I don't even like to get my oil changed by myself. They're always telling me I need things replaced and fixed when I know everything is fine. I'm not totally ignorant about cars-- I'll ask when I need something fixed. And I can replace most things by myself.
posted by
scottso
on Oct 27, 2007 at 05:21 PM
Ok now that I know where NOT to go, who is a good mechanic in town? Is there such a thing? :)
posted by
Smokey
on Oct 27, 2007 at 05:35 PM
I can understand how you are enraged with phrases like that being thrown your way. Thanks for the heads up about this place. posted by
MLArnold
on Oct 27, 2007 at 08:20 PM
I've had a few bad experiences with mechanics too. Last few times I've had auto work done I've used MARS (Mountain Auto) on South St. It's been over a year since I needed anything done to my cars, so I assume they're still there. My experience with them is that they are nice people, reasonable, stood by their work and treated me with respect. YMMV
posted by
olivia
on Oct 27, 2007 at 08:56 PM
I have found the best thing to do is buy a book on your car at the auto parts store. It has pictures and instructions and I've done a lot of work on cars myself this way. My husband says give me a hammer and a butter knife and I think I can do anything. But....I've always had pretty good luck. Now that the cars are newer, there isn't a whole lot anyone can do with their own car, if they don't know much about mechanics. It's a freaking conspiracy. I've never had luck with a mechanic. I can change the oil. The plugs seem to be hidden away under the engine somewhere. Everything is so tight under there, you have remove parts just to get to the bad part. You just about have to know someone personally to get good service.
posted by
scottso
on Oct 27, 2007 at 11:32 PM
My problem is that modern cars pretty much require a computer these days to fix anything but the most simple things. If you don't have the $10,000 piece of equipment to plug into your cars computer chip so it can tell you where to look you could spend almost that trying to figure out what's wrong in the first place! ;) Heck most cars don't even have a distributor cap anymore. I miss my old '77 Trans Am. That was easy to work on even if I did spend almost as much time fixing it as driving it. :)
posted by
GINGER
on Oct 28, 2007 at 12:35 PM
I've also had many bad experiences with automotive shops,particularly when going in as a single female.You know that you're going to get taken,it's just a question of how much.I can wholeheartily recomend PROTECH on west J st. in town though,we've been going there for a couple of years with multiple vehicles and have always been very happy.On the occasions that they have found more work that could be done,they have mentioned it and left it up to us with no pressure at all.Once they even corrected a slight problem for no charge.Finally,a place that I trust!
posted by
MLArnold
on Oct 28, 2007 at 01:54 PM
I've used Protech before too. I liked them, but the last few times I needed work done, they were so busy, so I opted for the other place. There are a couple of mechanics in town I'd NEVER use. Protech and Mountain Auto are both good choices.
posted by
bigdog
on Oct 28, 2007 at 03:13 PM
Taking a car to a local mechanic in this town is like going to Vegas, you usually come out the looser. At least that has been my experience. Daves been a rip off for years. The work he has done for me was crap and expensive. I suggest that if you take your car to Dave's that you test drive it before you give him any money. Most old timers that i have talked to have very little good to say about protech, They are famous for recommending repairs that don't need repairing.You have to be careful. Anyway that's my two cents. posted by
GINGER
on Oct 29, 2007 at 12:32 AM
Hmmm,will look out for that,but the only times they've ever recomended additional work with us it was phrased as"If you ever get around to it,it could use...".Given the age of vehicle,milage and the way I drive it,I feel they were being fair.Of course they could have just recognized us as the really cheap folks that we are and known that it wouldn't happen.Went to Daves a few years back when we were "mechanic shopping "and was rather appauled at him,worried about the quality of work and had a bad feeling about the whole thing.Bigdog-help-that creature is weirding me out and that's not a dog!!!
posted by
olivia
on Oct 29, 2007 at 03:43 AM
LOL, Ginger, that's what I say...about the dog. It looks more like this wierd hairless cat we have. It wierds me out too.
posted by
bigdog
on Oct 29, 2007 at 08:12 AM
Ginger if your grease monkey does good work then that's all that matters. Don't care how good or bad a mechanic is you will always have customers that will have different experiences. In the twenty years that I have lived here I have heard many horror stories with several mechanics. You mechanic happens to be to be one of them. I myself don't trust any mechanic. I have a friend that does work out of his garage that does all my simple stuff but when it comes to something major I usually take it to the dealership. Ginger I feel that picture best represents the real me. ruff....ruff.... posted by
WAWA
on Oct 29, 2007 at 09:09 AM
Ken Schaffner is a good local, honest mechanic. I believe he works out of his home though. Scotts Auto has fixed my vehicle numerous times and I'm very happy with thier work. That is too bad about Dave's Auto and how you were spoken to. I am a young woman myself and have received similar treatment from numerous businesses here in town. My favorite is when store owners think i'm going to steal something because I'm young and I carry a large purse. I make a very good living and definetely would never steal anything! I always try to spend my money IN TOWN to support the small businesses. When I am treated badly it makes me really want to take my business OUT OF TOWN. Sad. Hopefully the small business owners in town realize that they need to start treating thier customers better or i'm going to be counting the days until we get a Walmart.
posted by
Colitas
on Oct 29, 2007 at 09:40 AM
Thank you WAWA. For two days now I have been trying to think of his name to tell people. I knew it was Ken and started with a S but that was all I could come up with. Yes, is very good and honest. He used to work out of a shop I think off of South street. It was many years ago, but he was good. I can't remember the exact problem, but he had quoted me a price with parts and labor. There was an unforeseen problem, something else broke while he was taking apart my car to fix the problem. The extra part was already broken and it so happen to completely broke or something like that. Plus the price he quoted me on the known broken part was higher than they quoted him. Anyhow, he did the extra work without charging me and he ate the extra price of the part himself because that is not what he quoted me. I told everyone about him. Word of mouth goes a long way. I hope I had brought more business and I hope I still can. He is really good and he doesn't treat women like they are stupid.
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