On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:22:59 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote:


"Ron" wrote

It was at a Goodyear and they replace front end parts all the time.
Much rather go there than to some independent mechanic...and no, I'm
not gonna go to a dealership.

I'd use them for an oil change, but nothing more technical than that. Many
try to sell you stuff you don't need. Some are good, many are not.


After they have cross-threaded the filter, stripped the drain plug,
blown the crap out of the ball-joint seals with the pressure grease
gun, rounded off the corners of the differential drainplug, drained
the transaxle instead of the engine oil-pan and overfilled the engine
by 4 quarts because of it (and left the transaxle empty), put power
steering fluid in the coolant overflow, or antifreeze in the power
steering (or both), you won't use the trained monkeys even for your
next oil change.

I've seen all of the above, and a whole lot more!!!!
As for independents, you have to find a really good one. Some are great,
others are thieves using wrenches instead of a gun to stick you up. If you
find a good one, stick with him.

Agree on the dealer. Rare I'd take a car to one aside from warranty work.
Prices are usually the highest, but they usually have good mechanics if you
need something that is particular to the brand you are driving. My dealer,
though, does oil changes cheaper than anyone and they wash the car too. I'd
never let them to the so called xxx miles service though.

When I was service manager at the Toyota dealership in a former life,
there were not many independents - and precious few chain shops that
could service your Toyota for much less than our shop would do it -
and we had all the right parts in stock, all the latest specifications
and service bulletins, and the factory manuals and training to boot.

There was a reason we had a retention rate of over 100% - meaning we
serviced MORE cars than we sold, based on 3 year numbers.