My Mom has a 2002 Sequoia had a tire issue so took it into the Goodyear shop on post. They were nice enough to quote her $1800 for brakes and rotors she called me on another issue and told me and I ed. I called a few indies near post their numbers were $800. The part that really yanked my chain is they said they could have it "done this afternoon". I said mom how can they complete 16 hrs labor in 4 hours?

I feel like getting on a jet and ***** slapping someone...furthermore the fleecing that franchises do on military posts kills me.

I told her to take it to the post car repair center where soldiers have facilities to work on their own cars and flip a few hundos to a gear head Helo or tank mechanic and call it a day. I used to take my car to those and had repairs done for $10 an hour by aviation mechs...I wish their was a post near here so I could do it myself.

and if someone knows an ethical independent near Lakewood/Tacoma I will be grateful for your advice.

I second that feeling.

My mom had a Ford Fairmont for awhile and it had the usual Ford crap go wrong with it. Everytime she brought it to her "mechanic", another $300-$400 would disappear. But, she needed the vehicle immediately and certainly wasn't going to wait until I could get there to fix it.

They see women coming from a mile away.

Finally, we got her the Accord and most of the problems went away..........until some a'hole stole the damn thing.

You can always do it yourself for 1/4 the price or better. I just got a quote for the ML fuel filter at $230.00! Geez!

^^^^^and someone messing with my Mom...sometimes I'm glad that were 2100 miles away. I've been pretty good lately with self control with only a couple exceptions, each time it involved someone messing with a family member.

I got a couple of stories to stir the pot.

A lady friend went to jiffy lube for an oil change, when those hievees there told her there was oil all over and the engine block was cracked, subsequently offering her $500 bucks to buy the car ...

Ofcourse she paniced, as women do in situations like that. The oil spill was real, but ...

I had her take it to a trusted long time mechanic. The outcome:

Transmission oil had spilled from the overflow valve, since she is pushing over he grade every day to get to work. That was it.

__________________

I had the brakes done on the 300SD early this year, now it turns out, one of the rebuilt calibers is leaking. No problem, me thinks, warranty.

It already was a drama to get those parts in the day the car was on the hoist. Instead of 9am, as promised the came 2pm ...

Well, I am a patient man, but now they announced a shipment in the first week of January for the left side replacement caliber!

Never in my entire automotive life did I get such a proposal on parts delivery.

The mechanic here in Reseda (no names) is actually highly rated, due to his knowledge, experience and reliability.

But, why in the world does he order from such lousy suppliers, when there is tons of them out there?

__________________

Yeah, we do always panic in situations like that. But then we go buy six new pairs of cute strappy shoes and we're OK.

But yeah, as a woman (and a car owner in general) I've had plenty of shops do things that make me want to unload more profanities in a single sentence than ever thought to be humanly possible. Fortunately, I've found a great indy mechanic that I can trust, and have developed a pretty good handle for milking respect out of other places. Of course, I have some idea what I'm talking about, which they can usually figure out off the bat. Case in point, I had new tires put on at the local Good Year ... when they went to do an alignment, they told me the tie rods were shot, so they couldn't do it until I got new tie rods installed. They quoted me something obscene, like $500, for the parts + labor, but the woman at the front desk told me the parts they get are marked up and I might be better to buy them from my own source and bring it back there. I told her I thought I could probably just do it myself and she was pretty respectful of that. I bought tie rods from the MB dealership, and when I couldn't for my life get the ball joints apart, I called my indy ... he said bring it over, and he put them in and only charged me for the alignment ($40). So the whole thing cost me <$150, because I knew enough to question what the Good Year asked for. If it had been my mom's car in the Good Year, she would have given them $500 without question, which is kind of sad, but I guess that's how they make money.

Don't even get me started on the Jeep dealership ... man do they hate me. I think they can't stand having a chick question what they want to do, even if I'm just asking out of curiousity or interest in what goes on inside my car.

The MB parts desk guys are really nice and respectful to me ... they think it's funny that I know my whole VIN number by heart.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

I think that's pretty funny, too.

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Wow you know the whole vin number! The best I can do is tell them its a W126.125.

I have never actualy taken any one of my cars to a shop for anything so I can't reall relate any stories. For little stuff like oil changes its just faster for me to do it myself.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Well, a lot of it means something ... all post-80 MBs start with WDB ... the E is for 124, the B is diesel, the 33 is the end of the model number (124.133) and then from there there's not that much to remember. Your car should start with WDBCB25, I think.

I don't take the Benz anywhere except for when it needs tires, tire rotation or an alignment. If anything's over my head mechanically, it goes to the indy. The Jeep, since it's under warranty, as gone to the deadly dealer several times. I do the oil changes on that one, now, though ...since I like the car and don't want it to die an untimely death due to nitwits putting 12 quarts of oil in it (capacity = 6.3).

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

I am fortunate enough to have a really good/cool indy.



He has always been very fair, and very honest.



Its a good thing, as my the women in my family have a basic understanding of automobile workings. He is very honest, and would never take advantage of anyone.


And when I go to the MB dealer, the parts counter guys know me as the guy that came in covered in grease to get exhaust manifold gaskets. They know I like to work on my car, and they also laugh at me knowing my vin off the top of my head.

__________________
-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Some goodness in the air, there is a teeny repair shop near my house that always has Beemers and Merc's on the lot so I gave them a shot to replace the complete front strut, mounts, bearings, stops bushings bolts. They let me supply the parts and quoted me $125 for install and alignment....the damage $96.00 and that included pick up and drop off of the car.


Well lift my leg.

Aren't Majors allowed to open up a can of whoopass on theiving mechanics?

__________________
1984 300SD Turbo Diesel 150,000 miles

OBK member #23

(\__/)
(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
(")_(") signature to help him gain world domination

No, because they are Foxtrot Charlie's.

Ha!