My 2002 Ford Explorer was having transmission problems. The transmission was slipping. I took my car to a general mechanic who directed me to the technical bulletin about the transmission problems for Ford Explorer. The bulletin basically said that the transmission breaking down wasn't a if but a when. Plus anything over 100,000 miles will have transmission problems. The shop that I took it into gave me an estimate and although I liked the mechanics that diagnosed it, I wanted to go to a specialist to see their opinion on the manner.
I found Lodi Transmission online. It was only about ten miles away from me and I was impressed with their certification. Their website was very informative and very clear. I did some additional research as far as what a new transmission would cost versus a rebuild. So I had a little bit of information about transmissions under my belt.
First I called the owner of Lodi Transmission. He was very responsive and was on location at Lodi Transmission. He took my phone call and went to great lengths in explaining the process of how they rebuild transmissions. He made it clear that they didn't buy a rebuilt transmission that they did it all themselves. He gave me an estimate that was in line with what I learned online and the other shops. I told him I would call them back in a few weeks because I wanted to do some more research.
When I called him back the information was the same the second time he explained it. This instilled in me some confidence in him. I scheduled an appointment to drop off the car. He actually called me to remind me about it. I dropped the car off on the weekend and that was fine. He actually went and moved it inside so it wouldn't be outside. I was impressed that he would take care of the car on the weekend. Two days later I got a call from him where he reiterated the problem and outlined the solutions and what the solution. He anticipated that the work would be inline with the estimate.
Very pleased with the pick up. He went over the warranty with me. The shop was clean and the staff was courteous. Very pleased with my purchase. However as I was driving away from the shop I noticed that my window had a large crack in it that wasn't there before I took the car in. I called him up and he told me to turn around and take it back to the shop so that he could exam it. He guessed that it was caused by a small chip that cracked due the heat of the shop. He told me that at the fifteen day check up he would have a window guy there to repair the damage and that is exactly what he did. He took responsibility for the damage. Overall a great experience.
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