05/10/2026
This is not a real story but something that happens alot.
Client comes in Dave I'm having an issue with losing coolant. You told me my radiator was cracked so I had my friend thats a mechanic to fix it for me and its still losing antifreeze he charged me $150 cheaper then you quoted me and i need to save as much as possible. Ok we can take another look at it but there is going to be another diag charge for it of $185, WHAT I just paid you to tell me what was wrong with it and I softly respond yes ma'am you did but you have "your" mechanic to fix it now there maybe another issue, you have to fix the known issue first to make sure there isn't something else wrong. Fine whatever.
4 hours later the car comes into the bay......Mike walks in and say Dave or Lee you have to see this. We go out and the "mechanic" could not figure out they didn't attach the upper radiator hose correctly, its noticeably leaking and their "mechanic" somehow over looked it.
I call the client back Mrs. Overly Stressed lady we found your problem, please come get your car. She comes in what was the issue? I showed her pictures of the problem and shes like so something simple and I was like yes but this could have been a huge problem, the is what happens when you rush a job.
She said thank you, I told her that would be $185 for the diagnostics fee, she was stunned. She asked aggressively what!!!!!! I said yes I have to pay my technician to find out what was wrong with the car, but it was a 5 minute catch and fix. Ma'am your mechanic had your car for how many hours or days? 2 days she responds. Well the time he had it he did a sloppy job and couldn't figure out an obvious problem. Now you bring it back to us and not only did we fix it and add coolant the time it would have took us to fix it correctly and it would have cost $150 more now your in another $35.
So the moral of this story is just because its cheaper up front doesn't mean it's the same job. We will not cut any corners here we will be upfront with cost yes we sometimes can be higher but you will have the assurance that it was done correctly and has a nation wide warranty for 2 years or 24k miles.
