My son took his car in for a frontend alignment (lifetime alignment). He is 17 and is learning the ropes with vehciles. I told him that the service people would try to get him to let them do other things to the car besides the alignment. I looked over the paperwork when he came home to see what "up selling" they quoted. $1599 worth of work! 841.00 - Front struts, rear shocks, 14.99 for a 194 mini bulb, $99 for service eng light diagnosis, 90 for fuel system cleaning, $31 for fuel filter and $344 for fuel pump replacement. $32 for oil change. All of this was recommended service except the mini lamp and SES light.

New rear shocks were installed just a couple months age, oil and filter changed 2 weeks ago, SES light diagnosis with my new code scanner (needs 02 sensor) New fuel filter less than 3000 miles ago. No indication that front struts need replacing, no fuel pump issues. The light bulb is burned out.

Imagine that! I know these places have to make money to pay for labor and tools, etc but come on, they have to be able to see that the shocks were new, oil filter was new and that if the fuel pump was bad, the car would have issues.

That is the second time this has happened. The first was when we took it in for a set of tires and we had just replaced the engine and they tried quoted replacing plugs, wires, hoses, etc. I could not believe they were quoting this considering the hoses still had the part number sticker wrapped around them and all the plugs, wires and coil had been replaced when we installed the engine.

 

better find another place to take the cars. also check all the places quoted for work, u may find some new damage.

 

thats rediculous.
i feel bad for the people who actually believe that they need all that extra work and pay for it.
i bet that if you payed for all that work they wouldn't do half of it.
At least you know what your doing and don't fall for all that junk.

 

Man, they must be running slow and desperate for business. Are they the only show in town? I definitely wouldn't go back to them. Were they at least going to throw in a free jar of vaseline? Ouch!

 

these people give others a bad name. thats why we show people whats wrong with there tires when we tell them because most dont believe us

 

disgusting to hear. but, as more and more people move away from actually getting their hands dirty (gasp!!) under the hood, this will contine to get more and more common.

one of my trucks needed some front end work. two upper ball joints, pitman arm, idler arm. i was quoted 6 hours labor and the parts, a hair under $1400. bought the parts for $350 and had them installed in two and a half hours.

another time, i put a lift kit in for a buddy with a dodge 1500. he had just had all new arms, bushings, etc done on his truck. took it in for an alignement. got a call from the shop, his ball joints were to worn to allow for an alignement. they wanted well over $1500 for new ball joints. picked the truck up, he drove it home, went to a shop in his home town, (same chain, different managment) and they did the alignment and never said a thing about the ball joints. armed with that, i went in and confronted the manager. didn't tell him that the job had been done by another shop owned by the same chain that owned his. got some crap about the other no name shop not having trained mechanics, etc. told him that it was another ___ Tire shop that did the alignment and then told him i would not be recommending anyone to his shop, and as i do a lot of automotive work for my friends, that's hitting him where it hurts.

rant off

 

wait wait wait. did he buy all of that? or did they just quote him on all of it? the kid has to know when he's being screwed.

 

you can name the tire shop we dont do alignments just tires

 

lol, no worries, i doubt they are in the states. maybe, Kal-Tire?

 

No. He did not buy any of it. Only reason he went back there is because we bought the lifetime alginement when we had the tires put on.