Vehicle Repair Horror Stories

Over the years, we have heard our fair share of horror stories about the dealers and other shops.  We decided to share a few of the more recent stories with you!

My A/C will not run

So, it's 90 degrees out and a gentlemen comes into the shop seemingly pretty frustrated.  He had just picked up his BMW from another shop and explained that after a new compressor, condenser and HVAC control unit, his A/C system would still not work.  He was hot and very frustrated with laying-out a pretty substantial amount of money to find no resolution to the problem.  We went out to his car to experience for ourselves what was happening.  Sure enough, the A/C switched on for about 2 seconds and then shut off.  We joked it was a pretty warm day and we asked him what he thought the temperature was - he said about 90 was his guess.  We pointed out that his car, according to the ambient temp indicator on the dash, believed the air temperature was around negative 40 degrees.  We swapped out the bad ambient temp sensor with a new one and the A/C system worked perfectly.  Who needs A/C when negative 40 degrees out!
 

How Much is a $19.95 Oil Change?

Just the other day, a lady came in and was acting sort of frantic.  She explained that she just had an oil change completed on her Volkswagen a few miles up the road at one of the low-cost oil change shops; after she left the shop, her car was not changing gears and it started making all sorts of funny noises.  We inspected her car and discovered she had no transmission fluid - the transmission was completely dry!   Not only that, but her engine oil was overfilled.  The low-cost oil change shop had drained the transmission fluid rather than the engine oil; then they proceeded to fill the engine oil without ever draining the original oil!  We drained her engine oil and refilled it properly and then refilled her transmission. Hopefully there was no long term damage to the car because she acted quickly.  What is the real cost of a $19.95 oil change?
 

Low Rider - An Upgrade?

A customer had brought us a 2004 Porsche 997 that he had just purchased used.  The car had been modified and included "upgraded springs" to lower the car about an inch; the car actually looked great!  The Porsche's new owner wanted us to look at the suspension as he described the ride as "nervous and uncomfortable."  We test-drove the car and also experienced very poor ride quality.  After inspecting the vehicle, we discovered that the modified springs had caused the original shock absorbers to explode.  Consequently, the car was riding on the springs alone - there was no dampening from the shock absorbers!  The springs were from a well-known aftermarket company, and they probably cost around $600.  On the other hand, the cost of the repair to return the car to its original factory suspension was $4,000.  Clearly, someone thought that by adding a set of $600 springs to a $150K car, they could really improve upon Porsche's original suspension design!
 

Second Opinions Save You Money!

A customer had brought us a 3-series BMW that the dealer had recommended having the transmission replaced on it.  The car would regularly set a transmission light on the dashboard and go into fail safe mode where the car would not go over 20mph.  The customer also reported that his check engine lights, ABS lights, and more would come on.  After multiple visits with the dealer and a quote for $6,000 to replace his transmission, he decided a second opinion was needed.  Upon inspection, we discovered that the car did indeed go into the safe-mode setting, along with a multitude of diagnostic trouble codes.  However, the very first code it had set was a low voltage code.  After testing the battery and charging system, we found that the battery had a weak cell which was causing it to not maintain enough output voltage.  Given this information, we changed the battery (approx $150) and the car ran beautifully.  This guy was smart to get a second opinion; in the end it saved him over $5,000!