car shop dispute (LONG)-- Am I being ripped off or am I overreacting??!

[fengshuizy]

hey cb7 peoples!! i need some desperate help and opinions from you all. i'll try to keep it short and to the point.

around May-June of this year my '93 Accord SE supposedly died, no longer drivable unless i swapped in a new motor or rebuilt the existing motor. i took it to my mechanic whom i've known for about a year or so. anyway we talked about my options: selling it, buying a new car, rebuild, motor swap.

i wanna let you guys know that i wanted the most economically logical solution since we all know times are tough at the moment. as much as i wanted to keep the Accord i didn't want to spend more to fix it than it would cost to just buy another used car on craigslist you know.

he initially advises me to buy a crate engine from a website that he specified. that quote was around $4300 which was just too insane-- i told him that i wasn't going to be able to afford that because honestly i could've sold my car for $500 and put in +$2000 or so for a good condition used car! anyways we agreed he'd try to sell it for me in the mean time.

couple months later he gets a hold of me saying he found a motor for $400. i was like ok cool things are finally looking up-- i'm gonna get to keep the Accord and finally start my life again because i've had no car the entire time. i have him send me a quote for the rest (labor and misc parts not including motor) which was $1800 which then changed to $1950 in a few days because they found that i needed a new radiator. i was a bit upset but agreed to it anyways...

i pay for the parts and they work on it for about 2-3 weeks. i picked it up on Monday and pay the rest and i take it home that day. so i'm driving home and on the way a coolant hose splits open. so i was like ummm okay, i call them back up and tell them what's going on. they said bring it back we'll take care of it right away. on the way back to the shop i break down on an intersection. i call them back up and say look, you guys gotta help me. i haven't even driven 20 miles!! they come and help me, replace the hose for me, put new coolant in. afterward they let me leave with the car again.

that very same night i break down again after test driving it. i didn't even go another 20 miles when i lost power to the wheels on the way home. i had to park the car on the highway overnight and that morning i called him to tell him again what's up. he was like ok have it towed over here so we can take care of it. seriously... so i take it over there and they said my driveshaft came apart because my tires were so bad. they do a quick fix, supposedly putting my driveshaft back together. they said once i get a new tire i shouldn't have any problems and they let me drive it home yet again. i get a new tire...

THE NEXT TIME I GO ON A DRIVE I BREAK DOWN YET AGAIN IN UNDER 20 MILES!!!

the same thing happens, no more power to the wheels like something disconnected. i'm giving up-- i call him back and was like look man, i broke down again. i'm gonna have this car towed back to your shop and i don't wanna pick it up until it's good to drive. i didn't pay $1k just in labor for my car to break down 3 times in 3 days!

they just now emailed me another quote. $300 for the extra work they did. i supposedly needed new driveshafts and they went ahead and replaced them for me. at this point though i don't know if i can give them any more money because how am i to know that the car won't just break down again?



what can i do guys? so far i've invested $2600-- should i keep paying this shop? should i try and get my money back? is that even an option? i have PDFs of all of the quotes if anyone is interested in looking at that, let me know!!

PLEASE PLEASE GIVE ME SOME INPUT!! WHAT WOULD YOU DO?? I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!!

[stunin92_accord]

reply

damn bro,here is what i would do..i would tell them to drop everything they are doing on your car and don't pay them,keep your money and gather all your parts that you had paid for (motor,axels,what ever belongs to you)..have your ride towed back to your home..let them pay for the fee.(YOU ARE THE BOSS).grab a camera and start taking pictures of their lame job...

Go through all your parts and find out which ones are still usable. take some pictures of them too.

now my question to u is, could u still afford for another mechanic to do it right or just do the work yourself?

[fengshuizy]

yeah having it towed back to my house was already on my mind... so are you saying i'm definitely down all the money i paid? and what do i do with the pics that i take?

i really don't have any tools so doing it myself is out of the question unfortunately... i'm not a wrench monkey at all and don't know how to work on cars. that's why i paid a pro to do it. and if it came down to going to another mechanic i'd rather just sell it and get a different Accord or something else. seems this car just doesn't wanna work with me no matter what i do to help improve it.

[pedroalcala]

You could've just swapped the motor in your self...it really ain't hard bro, they did rape you tho. Usually labor for swapping in an engine should be less than 1k. Especially a FWD...I would go to your local labor commission and complain or down to the better business bearue...(BBB).

[fengshuizy]

You could've just swapped the motor in your self...it really ain't hard bro, they did rape you tho. Usually labor for swapping in an engine should be less than 1k. Especially a FWD...I would go to your local labor commission and complain or down to the better business bearue...(BBB).

oh snap what's up man i'm also from Vegas! thanks for the input... yeah i need to talk things over with my dad tomorrow. right now i'm really really wishing i had taken this thing to Hondoctors but my sister recommended me this shop so i thought i'd get a better deal and better quality work.

to be honest i know shit happens but they should have made sure my car was good to drive before letting me take it. i mean it was literally not drivable. i can understand having problems in a few weeks or a month or two but not when i drive it home THAT day you know? and it breaking down the second day, then the third. i even recall them telling me they only test drove it for 1-2 miles. that shit ain't enough man i mean c'mon now?! is this a joke?

[budget street]

that sux man, i hate to hear stories of people getting ripped off.
you definetly over paid already and for what you paid i would expect all new coolant hoses. not to mention no breaking down.

i would be willing to look over your bill if you want to send it to me in a pm

[fengshuizy]

TOTAL = $1,965.01 + $400 cash for motor

TOTAL = $317.23 <--- Yet to be paid but I don't plan on it.

I want everyone to see this so yeah just look it over. Thanks again guys!..

[eightyfour84]

What a bunch of crap eh. I've been there too, although not as severe but bad enough. It's the main reason I started working on my car myself. Not many mechanics you can trust to do a good job at a fair price.

I would go to war over that...lol.

[Niteryder315]

Did they warranty or guarantee the motor they were putting in? It comes down to how much the garage cares about its reputation or customer(s).

[yardiexd40]

What is the posted Labor rate at the shop,$1000 for doing this job runs to about $84 per hour, you might need to put a case together and take them to court.

[h22sparkle]

WTF damn you got ripped bro. Theres no reason why the car should have kept breaking down like that they performed alot of shady workmanship on your car. If you are going to take them to court becuase they milked you bring a ASE certified mechanic with you to plead your case for them to recover some of your money back becuase your not going to get all of it .

And another thing I hope you take this as a lesson for th emoney that you wanted to spend honestly you could have swapped your own motor if you chose to and then got that experience so that next time you have a problem you could have just swapped the motor again yourself and diagnosed all the problems you may have in the future experience is the best teacher. Do your research on here or ask people or even ask me I can guide you to what you need to swap your motor and be back up to spead thats what we are here for peace.

[ambientwater]

Even Though they do raise prices on parts from a shop. Because they get discounts at parts stores.


just to give you a visual on how much they paid for some of their parts compared to what you paid for them...as follows

oil pan gasket...18.00
water pump 35.00
timing belt 20.00
timing belt componets kit ..ie..60.00
radiator 90.00
heater hose for 2ft... 2.50
plus shouldn't have charged you for coolant twice it was their fault it broke down

Front Rotors for both...45-50.00
Front pads ( for the best quality ) 50.00 who knows which quality they are giving you
Caliper 40.00

YOU OVER PAYED....unless those parts price are included with the labor it would be fine bu it doesn't look like it.
And I know all these prices because i work at Car part sore and i deal with business like this that they buy parts from me and even more so they say that our parts are expensive so imagine if they went some place cheaper and sill sold them to you for that much more ...That Sucks Sorry

[pedroalcala]

I could've swapped in the new motor for you in for 300 bucks...or less than that...Hondoctors are a bunch of ripoffs to....if you need any labor done just let me know...I'm available whenever bro...

[Flyingsheep]

This is why I taught myself how to work on my own car. Believe me I was just like you, didn't know bologna about cars. But after hearing how much some of my friends had paid for what seemed to be such simple tasks, I took it upon myself to learn. There's so much DIY information on this site and all over the internet it's amazing. 80% of the things I learned how to do was through the web. I got done pulling my motor for the first time two weeks ago (for something stupid actually, lol, but that's a different story) and it was such a breeze. I wish I lived near you so I could help you...

[fengshuizy]

fuck well i knew it. i had to hear it from y'all. when i got the invoice at first i knew i was overpaying but i assumed when i got the car back it would be good for sure.

the motor had no guarantee or warranty from what i understand.

i really appreciate all the support guys. all this input is making me think clearer. i'm not gonna pay them any more money and demand them to tow the car to my home at their own expense. keep you guys posted.