I apologize for the length of this review, but I encourage you to read it lest you suffer the same fate I did.\r
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Nelson Auto is a sobering reminder of why I always disliked mechanics before I was able to find the perfect mechanic for my car.\r
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Five days before Christmas my 2001 VW Cabrio broke down and my normal mechanic who is amazing was on vacation for two weeks. I need my car for work so, at the suggestion of the tow truck driver, I had it towed to Nelson Auto. Within a couple days they had diagnosed that the timing belt broke and said it would be $600 to repair. I agreed to the charge.\r
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A week later they called to say that there were bent valves and it would now be $1,500 to repair. They gave me three options. They could take the parts out and hand me my car in its original state, charge me only $350 for the work done, or we could proceed. I chose to take back the car for free.\r
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A couple days later they stated they couldn't return the parts so they were going to charge me $350 no matter what. Obviously, if a mechanic has done work, they should be paid, so when I was able to swallow the ""I'm paying $350 for nothing"" pill, I agreed to pay it. However, as I had bought a replacement car in the meantime and Christmas had just passed and I'd still have to pay to tow the car back to my house, I told them I'd need time to come up with the money.\r
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They called me back a week later, on 13 January 2014, and said if I didn't come get my car that night (they called me at work at about 4pm), they would begin to charge $30/day storage fee, starting that night. I begged them to hold off one night so I could get it during the day and not pay emergency towing rates.\r
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The next day I showed up with the money and rescued my car. Now, here's the real rub, and anyone who knows anything about cars (not me!) has already figured this out. My mechanic knew it as soon as I started telling him the story, and the tow truck driver who brought my car home knew it. But these guys had no clue which resulted in a huge waste of time and money.\r
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The Cabrio has an Interference Engine, which means if the timing belt breaks while driving, the engine is dead. It bends the valves and fixing it will cost thousands. If I had brought my car to any real mechanic, they would have known this and told me up front. EVEN THE TOW TRUCK DRIVER KNEW THIS. He told me their incompetence is probably why they didn't have any cars in their lot.\r
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Speaking of which, they are out in the middle of nowhere with a huge gravel parking lot. My car was parked unceremoniously in a corner. I'm not sure what they were doing to earn that $30/night ""storage fee"". I feel like I should have hired a wrecker to come liberate it in the night, but I'm not that kind of guy.\r
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In short, avoid these guys at all costs. They do not know what they are doing and they will unapologetically charge you for their incompetence.
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