Comments on: Dealing With A Car Breakdown and Paying Rip Off Repair Shop Prices http://www.moneybluebook.com/dealing-with-a-car-breakdown-and-paying-rip-off-repair-shop-prices/ Personal Finance Beyond Credit Cards and Balance Transfers Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:21:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: JoJo http://www.moneybluebook.com/dealing-with-a-car-breakdown-and-paying-rip-off-repair-shop-prices/#comment-20941 JoJo Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:28:16 +0000 http://www.moneybluebook.com/?p=524#comment-20941 Its so sad that learning a lesson costs so much! A similar event happened to me just last week with my 1993 subaru legacy. OK. what do you expect for a 15 year old car, right? Well it is our local beater car and we love it so when it stopped running due to the alternator we wanted to fix it. The car would start up right away after jumping it so we figured we would jump it after returning from vacation. Of course when we came back to jump the car, it would stay on for a few minutes then die. Eventually it wouldnt even start. I dont have AAA and knew it would be very expensive to tow so what we did was take the old battery out in our driveway(it was gonna need replaced anyway) and put a new one in ourselves. After calling around was suprised to find out that our local sears had the battery for the cheapest price. Walmart was even more expensive. Put the battery in (my husband is NOT mechanically inclined so I will say ANYONE can do this) and jumped the car. Since it was a new battery it held the charge and we were able to get to our 5 mile destination without a stall out. Just saved 100 bucks on a tow truck doing that! Before vacation called a subaru dealer who wanted $380 dollars for the alternator but I remembered when my very first new car needed an alternator I went to this little shop who fixed it perfect and for a great price(as you see I am very cheap!) He didnt have the alternator that I needed but said to go down the road to Advanced Auto and buy the alternator myself, 118 dollars, then took it back to him. He put the alternator in 80 dollars for the labor, and I had my car in 2 hours! Far cry from 380 at subaru dealer (and it probably would have been there all day) and saved on the tow too! ( 50 dollars for battery) So I feel I got a good deal! It felt almost as good as hitting a sale at the local department store! It is time consuming but it really helps to call around to get prices and I always make a mental note of someone that did a good job since I dont have a regular auto mechanic. You need a car and they know that. So many places have very high unreasonable prices but when you are stressed and in need of a quick repair, certain buisnesses just feed off of your stress and your misfortune and take advantage of you. That is why it is so important to take a couple deep breaths, relax and think through what to do without doing something impulsively. Of course in your situation your stress was heightened by the fact that it was night. I agree that you should only go to the dealer if you are under warranty. I also agree with Mrs A that I probably could have saved the 80 dollars and got my husband to put it in but after the morning of replacing the battery I figured he used up ALL his mechanical abilities for the day! I was once told that parts and labor on foreign cars are always more expensive but I think that dealer was way out of line. Your car seems way too new to have such expensive problems. I never had a toyota or a Honda, and I know people who love them, but I will keep my 15 year old subaru! OH and get a AAA membership (or whatever auto club you prefer) I had one in the past but let it expire. Im getting it again just in case my car feels the need to act up again! Its so sad that learning a lesson costs so much! A similar event happened to me just last week with my 1993 subaru legacy. OK. what do you expect for a 15 year old car, right? Well it is our local beater car and we love it so when it stopped running due to the alternator we wanted to fix it. The car would start up right away after jumping it so we figured we would jump it after returning from vacation. Of course when we came back to jump the car, it would stay on for a few minutes then die. Eventually it wouldnt even start. I dont have AAA and knew it would be very expensive to tow so what we did was take the old battery out in our driveway(it was gonna need replaced anyway) and put a new one in ourselves. After calling around was suprised to find out that our local sears had the battery for the cheapest price. Walmart was even more expensive. Put the battery in (my husband is NOT mechanically inclined so I will say ANYONE can do this) and jumped the car. Since it was a new battery it held the charge and we were able to get to our 5 mile destination without a stall out. Just saved 100 bucks on a tow truck doing that! Before vacation called a subaru dealer who wanted $380 dollars for the alternator but I remembered when my very first new car needed an alternator I went to this little shop who fixed it perfect and for a great price(as you see I am very cheap!) He didnt have the alternator that I needed but said to go down the road to Advanced Auto and buy the alternator myself, 118 dollars, then took it back to him. He put the alternator in 80 dollars for the labor, and I had my car in 2 hours! Far cry from 380 at subaru dealer (and it probably would have been there all day) and saved on the tow too! ( 50 dollars for battery) So I feel I got a good deal! It felt almost as good as hitting a sale at the local department store!
It is time consuming but it really helps to call around to get prices and I always make a mental note of someone that did a good job since I dont have a regular auto mechanic. You need a car and they know that. So many places have very high unreasonable prices but when you are stressed and in need of a quick repair, certain buisnesses just feed off of your stress and your misfortune and take advantage of you. That is why it is so important to take a couple deep breaths, relax and think through what to do without doing something impulsively. Of course in your situation your stress was heightened by the fact that it was night.
I agree that you should only go to the dealer if you are under warranty. I also agree with Mrs A that I probably could have saved the 80 dollars and got my husband to put it in but after the morning of replacing the battery I figured he used up ALL his mechanical abilities for the day!
I was once told that parts and labor on foreign cars are always more expensive but I think that dealer was way out of line. Your car seems way too new to have such expensive problems. I never had a toyota or a Honda, and I know people who love them, but I will keep my 15 year old subaru! OH and get a AAA membership (or whatever auto club you prefer) I had one in the past but let it expire. Im getting it again just in case my car feels the need to act up again!

]]> By: Funny about Money http://www.moneybluebook.com/dealing-with-a-car-breakdown-and-paying-rip-off-repair-shop-prices/#comment-17785 Funny about Money Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:50:10 +0000 http://www.moneybluebook.com/?p=524#comment-17785 Augh! Did this really happen to you? First, if I were you I'd want to know why a 2004 Honda, which is practically new, would crap out and require a $1,200 repair. Find out if Honda is having what is known as a "secret recall." You have to proactively ask the dealership about this--sometimes things go wrong that they don't announce publicly but they will fix if you know about it and ask for it. Second, the law of physics known as the First Rule of Road-Weary Drivers is "after your car is off the warranty, never, ever, EVER get repairs done at a dealership." Dealers are notorious for gouging on car repairs and maintenance. Find an honest, competent independent mechanic and build a relationship with him (or her!): get your oil changed there, and trot the car over to the shop for minor fixes. How do you find such a paragon? First, ask your friends and fellow churchgoers. Second, failing that, go to the PBS site of the radio program called Car Talk. They have a section where readers recommend local car repair mechanics. Or pony up a few bucks and join Angie's List, where consumers will tell you all about their car repair guys and every other trade & craft on the planet. Third, AAA is not the only outfit that will come tow your junk away, nor is it necessarily the best. Check with your car insuror to see if you can get towing insurance for a few extra bucks, which probably will be cheaper than AAA. Discount Tires used to have a towing service--if you buy your tires there, ask about it. If you live in the Southwest and have cell phone service through QWest, you can get towing service for an extra few cents a month. If you're superannuated, AARP has a towing service. These things are all over the place--ask around. AAA is pricey and you can wait upwards of an hour for their trucks to show up. Fourth, do not even THINK "leave your car there for some tow truck dude to haul off on his own." No, no, no, no, no. Twelve hundred freaking dollars sounds totally out of line. Go to a car mechanic's shop and ask if the piece of equipment the dorkuses put in there is really worth that much. If the answer is, as you suspect, that a new alternator & installation should cost somewhere between $300 and $600, raise hell and put a block under it. A very brief Google search brings up an alternator for 2003-05 Accords for $110; as Mrs. A. points out, replacing an alternator is not brain surgery. If you can confirm, with any degree of believability, that you were ripped off, call the manager of the dealership, complain to the corporate headquarters in writing, and if you don't get satisfaction real quick, complain to the the Better Business Bureau and your state attorney general's office. Next time, buy a Toyota. Though all of the above applies to all dealerships, you should at least have the satisfaction of not giving that particular covey of crooks your money. Augh! Did this really happen to you?

First, if I were you I’d want to know why a 2004 Honda, which is practically new, would crap out and require a $1,200 repair. Find out if Honda is having what is known as a “secret recall.” You have to proactively ask the dealership about this–sometimes things go wrong that they don’t announce publicly but they will fix if you know about it and ask for it.

Second, the law of physics known as the First Rule of Road-Weary Drivers is “after your car is off the warranty, never, ever, EVER get repairs done at a dealership.” Dealers are notorious for gouging on car repairs and maintenance. Find an honest, competent independent mechanic and build a relationship with him (or her!): get your oil changed there, and trot the car over to the shop for minor fixes. How do you find such a paragon? First, ask your friends and fellow churchgoers. Second, failing that, go to the PBS site of the radio program called Car Talk. They have a section where readers recommend local car repair mechanics. Or pony up a few bucks and join Angie’s List, where consumers will tell you all about their car repair guys and every other trade & craft on the planet.

Third, AAA is not the only outfit that will come tow your junk away, nor is it necessarily the best. Check with your car insuror to see if you can get towing insurance for a few extra bucks, which probably will be cheaper than AAA. Discount Tires used to have a towing service–if you buy your tires there, ask about it. If you live in the Southwest and have cell phone service through QWest, you can get towing service for an extra few cents a month. If you’re superannuated, AARP has a towing service. These things are all over the place–ask around. AAA is pricey and you can wait upwards of an hour for their trucks to show up.

Fourth, do not even THINK “leave your car there for some tow truck dude to haul off on his own.” No, no, no, no, no.

Twelve hundred freaking dollars sounds totally out of line. Go to a car mechanic’s shop and ask if the piece of equipment the dorkuses put in there is really worth that much. If the answer is, as you suspect, that a new alternator & installation should cost somewhere between $300 and $600, raise hell and put a block under it. A very brief Google search brings up an alternator for 2003-05 Accords for $110; as Mrs. A. points out, replacing an alternator is not brain surgery. If you can confirm, with any degree of believability, that you were ripped off, call the manager of the dealership, complain to the corporate headquarters in writing, and if you don’t get satisfaction real quick, complain to the the Better Business Bureau and your state attorney general’s office.

Next time, buy a Toyota. Though all of the above applies to all dealerships, you should at least have the satisfaction of not giving that particular covey of crooks your money.

]]> By: Mrs. Accountability http://www.moneybluebook.com/dealing-with-a-car-breakdown-and-paying-rip-off-repair-shop-prices/#comment-17533 Mrs. Accountability Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:38:40 +0000 http://www.moneybluebook.com/?p=524#comment-17533 I'm no auto mechanic, but I've had cars long enough that the first thing I thought as I was reading was your alternator had gone bad. You know some of these parts can be taken off and replaced VERY EASILY by oneself. :-) I think owning a Chilton's and Hayne's repair books are worth their weight in gold. One time many years ago I had a battery go dead and went to an auto parts store to get a new one. One of the guys installed the battery for me, but he put it in backwards. He was beating the post onto the wrong side (I was alarmed and went in and told the manager but it was already too late by the time we got back outside). Well, it fried out my alternator and the manager of the store replaced my alternator while I waited, of course for free and he was probably praying the whole time that that wasn't the only thing that was fried. Anyway, my point is, the alternator is usually easy to get at, and once you have a few tools you can save yourself tons of money. I also keep AAA and pay for the premium service because I work 50 miles from my home and often am almost 100 miles from home. I also would not give up on my vehicle just because an alternator went out, but that's just me. I’m no auto mechanic, but I’ve had cars long enough that the first thing I thought as I was reading was your alternator had gone bad. You know some of these parts can be taken off and replaced VERY EASILY by oneself. :-) I think owning a Chilton’s and Hayne’s repair books are worth their weight in gold. One time many years ago I had a battery go dead and went to an auto parts store to get a new one. One of the guys installed the battery for me, but he put it in backwards. He was beating the post onto the wrong side (I was alarmed and went in and told the manager but it was already too late by the time we got back outside). Well, it fried out my alternator and the manager of the store replaced my alternator while I waited, of course for free and he was probably praying the whole time that that wasn’t the only thing that was fried. Anyway, my point is, the alternator is usually easy to get at, and once you have a few tools you can save yourself tons of money. I also keep AAA and pay for the premium service because I work 50 miles from my home and often am almost 100 miles from home. I also would not give up on my vehicle just because an alternator went out, but that’s just me.

]]> By: Amy http://www.moneybluebook.com/dealing-with-a-car-breakdown-and-paying-rip-off-repair-shop-prices/#comment-17187 Amy Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:13:35 +0000 http://www.moneybluebook.com/?p=524#comment-17187 Dealerships will always charge you outrageous prices for car repairs. They will also usually try to upsell you if you are in the waiting room. I would only take my car to a dealership if it were the only option. With dealerships you know you're going to get ripped off. If you go to a mom and pop place at least you have a chance of getting fair pricing. Dealerships will always charge you outrageous prices for car repairs. They will also usually try to upsell you if you are in the waiting room. I would only take my car to a dealership if it were the only option. With dealerships you know you’re going to get ripped off. If you go to a mom and pop place at least you have a chance of getting fair pricing.

]]> By: Brian http://www.moneybluebook.com/dealing-with-a-car-breakdown-and-paying-rip-off-repair-shop-prices/#comment-17179 Brian Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:25:42 +0000 http://www.moneybluebook.com/?p=524#comment-17179 Get the AAA package, for peace of mind and lower costs, with that membership you can have them run dianogstics on your vehicle, and it is unbiased info that you can then take to your mechanic. AAA also has listing of recommended shops that they inspect, and you are generally given a card to mail in after services are render asking for input on the quality of the shop, which makes it consumer driven. Ask around friends, other Honda drivers and people in general that you come across to find a shop that works on nothing but Hondas, here in California there are many, and others who specilize in Toyota's. Get the AAA package, for peace of mind and lower costs, with that membership you can have them run dianogstics on your vehicle, and it is unbiased info that you can then take to your mechanic. AAA also has listing of recommended shops that they inspect, and you are generally given a card to mail in after services are render asking for input on the quality of the shop, which makes it consumer driven.

Ask around friends, other Honda drivers and people in general that you come across to find a shop that works on nothing but Hondas, here in California there are many, and others who specilize in Toyota’s.

]]> By: Raymond http://www.moneybluebook.com/dealing-with-a-car-breakdown-and-paying-rip-off-repair-shop-prices/#comment-17165 Raymond Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:51:43 +0000 http://www.moneybluebook.com/?p=524#comment-17165 I debated about sending my car to some other place to get repaired, but I have a long time habit of trusting dealers more to get my car repaired reliably. I figure they have more to lose should they perform shoddy work or try to perform unnecessary scam-like repairs. I trust them more to use genuine, brand new, and authorized OEM parts to get the job done. Maybe it's time I changed my mindset. Do dealership service shops really provide higher quality repairs? I'm not so sure anymore - but it's hard to break that long held opinion/habit. I debated about sending my car to some other place to get repaired, but I have a long time habit of trusting dealers more to get my car repaired reliably. I figure they have more to lose should they perform shoddy work or try to perform unnecessary scam-like repairs. I trust them more to use genuine, brand new, and authorized OEM parts to get the job done.

Maybe it’s time I changed my mindset. Do dealership service shops really provide higher quality repairs? I’m not so sure anymore - but it’s hard to break that long held opinion/habit.

]]> By: omBRE http://www.moneybluebook.com/dealing-with-a-car-breakdown-and-paying-rip-off-repair-shop-prices/#comment-17160 omBRE Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:10:17 +0000 http://www.moneybluebook.com/?p=524#comment-17160 I had similar problem few weeks ago with my 2001 Civic. Only my car was drivable (alternator was overcharging). At the dealership they told me it would cost me $750 to change alternator, so I went to Sears and they did same thing for little bit under $400. With 7 years old car I decided that its time to stop visiting dealership. I had similar problem few weeks ago with my 2001 Civic. Only my car was drivable (alternator was overcharging). At the dealership they told me it would cost me $750 to change alternator, so I went to Sears and they did same thing for little bit under $400. With 7 years old car I decided that its time to stop visiting dealership.

]]> By: Always Private http://www.moneybluebook.com/dealing-with-a-car-breakdown-and-paying-rip-off-repair-shop-prices/#comment-17121 Always Private Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:53:30 +0000 http://www.moneybluebook.com/?p=524#comment-17121 after reading your story and the rather obvious self suggestions to have autoclub membership... and a functioning cell phone..all I can say is DUH !!! You can get a tmobile prepaid cell and put $100 worth of minutes on it keep it in your glove box and by buying a few minutes more have it for emergency use for 2 YEARS with auto club service you could have had your car towed HOME thus getting you and your car safely where you needed to be... and then started shopping around for repairs .. maybe at an auto club recommended service center after reading your story and the rather obvious self suggestions to have autoclub membership… and a functioning cell phone..all I can say is DUH !!!

You can get a tmobile prepaid cell and put $100 worth of minutes on it keep it in your glove box and by buying a few minutes more have it for emergency use for 2 YEARS

with auto club service you could have had your car towed HOME thus getting you and your car safely where you needed to be… and then started shopping around for repairs .. maybe at an auto club recommended service center

]]>