Have been a loyal customer for several years at CARS. Not any More. Not only did I get my car serviced there, I had 3 additional cars flowing through their bays. I enjoyed the open communication and the way they try to inform you about the technical aspects the procedures, why they did a certain thing a certain way etc...But things started happening that at first, I shrugged off as honest mistakes,; little mishaps here and there that I let go because I felt it was all part of this relationship that I thought I had with my auto repair shop. This like a ripped seam on a new tire that cost my daughter in Cincinnati to buy a new tire - new tires that were not balanced properly the first time resulting in steering wheel vibration ( this is a tire shop first and foremost!) - just things that seem to be a lack of attention to detail or follow through - promises to call me, that never (ever) happened when the car was complete so that I could schedule transportation to pick up - a seaming disregard for my urgency or at least an honest assessment of how long a procedure might take so that I can plan things on my end or at least make informed decisions about when to schedule work.
I ran into a run of many repairs on my vehicles and the bills really started to add up, so I thought to get another mechanic to provide insight and estimates. Never shared the estimates received from CARS with other mechanics but was shocked to find a huge difference in cost between the CARS estimate and the others I received. When I say huge, I'm talking double or triple the amount. Now I know mechanics and they informed me that, yes there are many variable that can influence price - quality of parts, shortcuts, cost of labor, procedural differences - i get it - but double or triple! I wanted to believe that the relationship I had with CARS might open a discussion about the routes I could take to affordable care for the four cars I was servicing there ( some of them were older models, that really did not require OEM parts etc - they just needed to run safely) - Well long story even longer, I took my vehicle to a competitor for work that needed to be done and I was going to pay 1/3 of the estimate provided by CARS. Lo and behold...I was shocked that my new mechanic called and asked where the lug key for my vehicle was since he needed it to get the tires off to make the repairs necessary. Oh did I mention that the last place to service my vehicle was a brake job at CARS who had the basic responsibility of returning the key to its place on my vehicle? Well they must have had a follow through break down because there was no key, resulting in my new mechanic having to torch the wheels off at additional expense to me. I called cars and they were unable to help and refused to be accountable. Oh well, live and learn - this tuition was expensive. Advice to CARS - work on replacing the "S" in your name with an "E".
more