Auto Question - Door Lock Actuators

[Bryan Morgan]

I really trust my mechanic. He and his wife own the shop and are really good people. Since we have our company trucks serviced there and are regular customers they are pretty good with their pricing. I wanted the door locks taken care of by the dealer in case I have issues with them in the future. I used to do a lot of my car maintenance but I'm just not up to it any more.

We used to have a company mechanic too. Seemed like he did a good job until we found out he was doing some really shady stuff and sold off a bunch of our vehicles he didn't even own. He's in jail now... I don't mean to say there aren't any trustworthy mechanics out there, but I have yet to meet one.

[Tim Livingston]

Front brake pads, 45,000 mi service, brake fluid flush - $670.00. Yeah, basically I'm getting the drive shaft (so to speak) but I'm tired of arguing with them and just want the locks fixed. After I posted I checked my service records and I had the 30,000 mile service done by my regular mechanic. The car is just now due for the 45,000 mile service, so I need to do that anyway.

I would tell them to go scratch a fence post! Front brake pads are $15-20 and brake fluid is cheap. I would go to a body shop and pay them half of what the dealer wants to fix your door locks. You know that part you mentioned about trusting your mechanic 90%. Well this dealer would rate a 0% in my book.

I recently got new tires, at the time they told me I needed new brakes on the rear of my car which I knew and planned to do myself. A week later they started grinding and I was working 70-80 hours a week so I called and asked how much? They said if I needed calipers $850! I asked how much without calipers and they said $500. I told him no thanks and that I would never bother him again. A few days later I wrote the corporate office (tire company chain) and told them I would never buy tires from them again as I thought they were thieves.

I did the job myself including calipers for $200.