I was a LOYAL CCC customer for several years. I have taken BOTH of my cars to them for repairs and while a few of them seemed on the high end, I was willing to pay it because I trusted them. However, my recent trip to them came as a shock when they quoted me $1500 in repair to fix a coolant leak from the pipe assembly and and an oil leak. Parts were charged at almost 500.00, but the labor was 1000. That's 10+ hours of labor for these two items. This sounded VERY fishy to me. So I called around to several other shops as well as posted and paid for an evaluation online from a Mazda expert as to whether or not they were trying to rip me off. Well long story short YES. I ended up taking my car to another shop and had the exact same repairs done for $600. Do your pocket book a favor and go somewhere else.
Hi Stephanie, We really do work hard to give a complete estimate for a repair when there are some unknowns such as the coolant leak in the van. In this case the coolant was all over the engine under the intake manifold and was very hard to see just what was going to need to be replaced, until it could be dismantled and inspected closer. Worst case scenario was going to be gaskets, temperature switch and the water outlet assy. Also the estimate included the oil and filter service and to replace leaking valve cover gaskets plus the antifreeze, sales tax and that would have been $1567.87. When we spoke with Brad the other day to call to ask for how we can repair our relationship and make this right, he was able to update me that after it was repaired it turned out it only needed the water temp switch and the other items were still ok. That is the repair you are upset about that another shop charged $600.00 for. When we quoted the estimate we wanted you to know up front what it could be once it is apart, as most customers (my self-included) are ok with a lower than expected bill rather than having to call back and let someone know that to continue a repair it will need more parts and cost more. In this case for the labor, switch that was leaking, antifreeze, tax system conditioner would have been $720.00 so still higher than the $600.00 you spoke about and without knowing more about the shop you went to it is hard to say what the differences were (apples to apples). Brad did let me know that the valve covers were also later done by the same shop or a different one but that the van ended up having to be replaced due to other issues that were occurring after one of the other shops were done with it. I did also leave you a voice mail asking you to call me so we could all sit down and discuss what took place and how we can make it right. It is no secret car repairs are not any fun to pay for. Many times they are unexpected and expensive I wish there was a way to make all repairs cost less but it seems everything cost more these days. We do regularly compare our prices to other shops. Dealerships, and chain stores. With our team we generally come in the middle as far as price goes. Over all I believe we do a very good job at repairing cars and trucks and providing good service to the good people who own them. When the expectation of our customer is not met it becomes very important for us to understand why and work as a team to improve the process. We are now starting our 19th year as a family owned and operated business, we raise our children to care and treat the people around them with respect and honesty because that is who we are. Our offer is still open to speak about this issue or any other. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Sincerely Craig Zale Craig’s Car Care
- Craig's Car Care