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So, I had to go in for an oil change and my car has been having a few minor issues: squealing when I turned the wheel, lower gas mileage, stuff like that. I get my oil changed today and the guys did a good job SHOWING me the issues, not just telling me and taking me for a sap. Why is this a 'rant'? Well, not because of these guys. All the recent previous work (since the problems started) haven't done anything to fix the issues or even address them. Weird thing is, this place had bad reviews, but they've shown me everything wrong before starting, not just telling me. I'm actually quite pleased with these guys, despite the fact that I'm getting more done than planned. Ah well. Share your car issue stories and the unplanned bills that have gone along with them.

Well, last year I took my car in for an oil change and he said the rear U joint on my drive shaft was probably going out.

A month or so later I did it myself with my dad, and whoa boy was it going out. The pin bearings were crushed gravel. It was a tough job and we had to get a second U joint because half the sockets on the first one just didn't quite fit(clearly the wrong size even though it was the right part) but it only cost about $40 for the parts as opposed to probably $7-800 at a shop.

A couple years ago I took my car in for some work that was supposed to run around $600 or so but while working on it they realised that the engine cradle was shot. So that bill ran into the $1600 range quickly

I love my shop though, those guys are awesome. The main mechanic called and said " hey I bet when you're driving this and that happens right? " I said yea why? So I went in and saw the damage. Totally sucked.

I worked at a few dealerships. They were all run by evil caricatures of humanity, and fulfilled every stereotype.

Never work at a dealership.

A few years ago with my 2000 Crown Victoria. I brought it to a local shop with good reveiws and got new tires and an overall check up. Got it back, nothing extra was needed and was on my way. Two days later I was about to get onto the interstate to go to the shooting range. I decided to take an extra trip and stopped at the gas station for some smokes. On the way into the gas station my ball joint failed and the lower and upper arms seperated and pushed the wheel up into the fender. If I had not stopped I would have been on the interstate when this happened and this would have caused my car to flip over multiple times going 60 mph. I was not wearing my seat belt so I'm fairly certain that the pack of cigarettes I stopped for saved my life.

I re-built the whole front end of the car myself and inspected the other ball joints. Found out that all my ball joints where loose and worn out. Needless to say I never went there again and I told them what happened. They told me they would give me a free alignment, I told them they could suck it.

Last sept on my birthday my truck died while my gf was on her way to pick me up from work,,,good thing her dad was up for a visit.
Anyways,,,,we have been ripped out before at a few shops so looked and asked around,,,,got the truck to a local shop in town,,,,guy worked on it,got it back after dropping 400,,,which was our christmas money for the kids,,,,a week and a half later,,,,truck fuxing died in the driveway.....at which point i sorted gave the truck the middle finger,,,,shops reply was,,,well we dont tow soooo,,,,,and he was the stepdad to one of my supervisors at work so couldnt raise to much of a fuss without getting shart canned,,,,,,,anyways,,,,,,,let it sit for awhile ,,,sold a much beloved iG army I spent over a year working on.
after 6months had enough to get it refixed at another shop which we totally checked out,,,,just got it back thursday ,engines running great,purring like a kitten.today,,,front brake line blows,,,,I giveup.

A car will always break down with a full tank of gas.

That's all I got really...

 d-usa wrote:
A car will always break down with a full tank of gas.

That's all I got really...

^True that. My Range Rover blew its head gasket after I just filled it up, and before that its air suspention went out right after I filled it and got new tires on it. Hmm, I should stop buying new tires, something bad always happenes when I do.

Ok here are some of mine.

9 years ago (dear god its been that long!!!) in my Mkiv Supra Twin Turbo

My girl friend (now wife) 21st birthday. Decided a nice trip down to the coast and I had planned to hire a rowing boat and go up a river with a picnic.

Doing a steady 70mph up the dual carriage way and a Porsche comes motoring past......being 21 I was having none of this lol.

Dropped the clutch dropped down into 5th turbos both spool up and bang! Dash board lights up like the USS enterprise. No power steering, no brake servo and no power. Coasted up, popped the bonnet and laying at the bottom of the engine bay was the crank drive pulley in two half's!

No trip to the beach annoyed girlfriend and a 3 hour wait for recovery on a very hot (for the UK) summers day. Was £500 lighter after all that.

Biggest bill would have been the TVR, engine started burning oil on start up and was a sure sign that the oil stem seals had finally gone. Went in for a brand new cylinder head, fully balanced crank, stage 1 cam shafts upgraded rocker fingers and engine remap.

Total bill £5,800 worth every penny it ran like a dream, made 398bhp on the rollers

I had to buy a water pump for my Pontiac Vibe, and ended up embarking on a roller coaster tour of human idiocy. The guys at Autozone, a local auto parts shop, and the Pontiac dealer were all incapable of ordering the correct part. It was completely ridiculous.

My cousin went to the shop for a "Miss" on the car, it wasnt steering right. When he went back, he got a 3000$ bill for work that did not need to be done, and the "Miss" wasnt fixed.
What does he do? Well it is right past the way to his brothers, So he yells "The OWNER IS A HACK" every time he goes past. He is now in the process of putting a loudspeaker behind the grill that says "DO NOT GO THERE, THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF"

I had my Jeep Cherokee broken into just after boxing day.
It's supposed to be getting sorted by the insurance company.
No one has been able to source a window for it since so I've just got a cellophane on at the moment.

I had a shop pull the ole "sooo, you know how you came in to get X fixed for 300$? well we found z y l m q and b wrong with it and did your alignment too, so thats 2500$ please"

to which I basically replied "thanks for the free 2200 worth of work, next time, approve all work through me and I might just bite."

so I paid 300, and walked out thinking I had won...


two blocks later, the noise I heard going over every bump (which is what I took it in to get fixed for) was still there...

so I guess I lost in the end.

 Ruberu wrote:
A few years ago with my 2000 Crown Victoria. I brought it to a local shop with good reveiws and got new tires and an overall check up. Got it back, nothing extra was needed and was on my way. Two days later I was about to get onto the interstate to go to the shooting range. I decided to take an extra trip and stopped at the gas station for some smokes. On the way into the gas station my ball joint failed and the lower and upper arms seperated and pushed the wheel up into the fender. If I had not stopped I would have been on the interstate when this happened and this would have caused my car to flip over multiple times going 60 mph. I was not wearing my seat belt so I'm fairly certain that the pack of cigarettes I stopped for saved my life.

I re-built the whole front end of the car myself and inspected the other ball joints. Found out that all my ball joints where loose and worn out. Needless to say I never went there again and I told them what happened. They told me they would give me a free alignment, I told them they could suck it.

I went into Autozone looking for ball joints. That is when I learned there were 3 quality levels. The lowest cost half as much as the middle and they had a 2 week warranty as opposed to 6 months. My dad and I had a good laugh over this one. Ball joints aren't exactly a part you can scrimp and save on...

Also this thread is making me very glad my father restores old 60s cars for a hobby so between the two of us we can pretty much do any car maintenance we need to get done. I don't think he's ever taken a car to the shop in all the time I've known him.

 easysauce wrote:
I had a shop pull the ole "sooo, you know how you came in to get X fixed for 300$? well we found z y l m q and b wrong with it and did your alignment too, so thats 2500$ please"

to which I basically replied "thanks for the free 2200 worth of work, next time, approve all work through me and I might just bite."

so I paid 300, and walked out thinking I had won...


two blocks later, the noise I heard going over every bump (which is what I took it in to get fixed for) was still there...

so I guess I lost in the end.

My oldest brother had a Pontiac grand am that was like that. He would take it in, get things fixed and the main problem he took it in for would pop back up a day later. It was frigging annoying.

 easysauce wrote:
I had a shop pull the ole "sooo, you know how you came in to get X fixed for 300$? well we found z y l m q and b wrong with it and did your alignment too, so thats 2500$ please"

to which I basically replied "thanks for the free 2200 worth of work, next time, approve all work through me and I might just bite."

so I paid 300, and walked out thinking I had won...


two blocks later, the noise I heard going over every bump (which is what I took it in to get fixed for) was still there...

so I guess I lost in the end.

I'd have gone back and asked for a refund of the $300 as they hadn't done the work they were supposed to, mostly just to piss them off even more.

SBG wrote:
I worked at a few dealerships. They were all run by evil caricatures of humanity, and fulfilled every stereotype.

Never work at a dealership.

This is the 100% truth. The automotive industry is effing terrible. I only worked in a shop for a little bit, but I don't miss it. Now I work for a warranty company and talk to dealers/independents all day, every day. I've had to deal with everything from pissed customers, ignorant service writers, and donkey-cave service techs that are over charging for labor and billing extra parts they don't need "just because." I've been here for five years now, and I could write a book on the stories I have.

One thing I did learn - don't try to make a hobby your career choice.

You should, people like it whe you expose stuff like that, they eat em up

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
You should, people like it whe you expose stuff like that, they eat em up

That's honestly not a terrible idea. I'll have to wait until I retire or quite, however

Look at why this thread exists even, people love reading horror stories about things they can relate to. Especially when there are many worse than theirs, makes them feel not so unlucky after all.

Do it, make some money bro.

The Midas I go to always does me a solid. They saved me quite a bit welding a hole in my exhaust a while back, allowing me to pass inspections on the cheap, rather than a new tailpipe/catalytic converter.

The old guy that runs the place talks my ear off every time I'm in there. That's arguably the only downside.

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