Here's my story: Ordered a brand new 1997 GD Caravan Sport. At 30K the transmission was acting funny, each time it was taken to the Dodge dealer they said it's alright. At 43K (now out of warranty) it would only go into 2nd or reverse. Chrysler said, 'to bad', and only paid half the $1,500 it cost to fix. And the Dodge dealer would only give $10,000 for it as a trade in. So, Two things if you buy a Chrysler product minivan: 1) buy an expensive extended warranty, 2) resale will be very low. Now after surfing the internet, I see I am not along. Verdict: Chrsyler minivans look nice, but have no quality or resale. Has anyone been successful at suing Chrysler? For 2001, also know that Chrysler has repeatedly said over the past 10 years that they have fixed their transmisson problem.
This is NOT the appropriate place for your remarks vis-a-vis Chrysler. I see you posted in our Transmission Trauma topic, a much better place for this.
Sorry to hear about your experience, but it is probably par for the course...
I highly recomend A&D auto body in LEONIA N.J. went to school with one of the owners.he and his partner have been in the business for thirty years I just had work done on my new Impala, and I cant say enough about their work,they get all their work from word of mouth.Give them a look-see you wont be disapointed.
In response to #105, another satisfactory shop in the DC area is Datsun Dynamics on Rt 7 somewhere out in Loudon County. I forget the town. They're not perfect but they're honest and skilled. I'd trust em again if I still lived up there.
Now for my problem: I have a Honda Civic and a Mazda pickup and I live in NE Florida, between Daytona and St Augustine. I'm looking for a real mechanic. Any tips?
There's a guy in Daytona who keeps early European cars alive for a devoted clientele and is willing to take modern Japanese cars as a sideline. He seems like the best bet so far.
PS The BEST shop I've found in many years is Robert Berry Motors in Toronto (really North York), Ontario. I trust his judgement, work and honesty completely. He'll work on virtually any make and model, as far as I know.
If anybody is interested, I can get you in touch with a great mechanic, working out of his own garage. Don't laugh - when he lived in Europe, he owned his own BMW/Audi/MB shop, and he plans on opening one here as well. Recently, he did my timing belt on '91 Legend -> $200 for labor (~$200 for parts) - I saved almost 50% over what ANY dealer would charge. BTW, although his specialty is German cars, he will work on anything...
Over the years, I've found that most repair shops are some combination of incompetent and dishonest. I guess the car repair industry is like the car selling industry. My solution is that before I consider buying I car, I carefully review reliability and customer satisfaction data in Consumer Reports, JD Power, etc. and only consider cars that are at the top or near the top. You may have to give up a little in the way of styling, handling, features that you want, etc. But, I've found that for me, giving up a little in these areas is well worth avoiding the aggravation of repair work done wrong, return trips to the shop, etc. Also, with all the good cars available today, you can usually find what you want in a relatively trouble free car.
I do not go to dealers for maintenance work. Some 8 years ago when my Camry was just a year old I stopped going to the dealer and found, through recommendations, a shop whose owner is Turkish and had originally worked for Mercedes Bens in Germany. He has a very well established, organized, well supplied, clean shop in Brooklyn, NY. I have taken three new vehicles and recommended friends and coworkers to this guy (who employs his relatives. Very satisfied indeed, good work and reasonable prices w/o unecessary work done.
I had my Acura RL serviced at AutoDimensions in Gaithersburg MD. The RL needed body repair and repainting. When I got the car back, it looked perfect. The paint matched exactly and panel fit was as good as when new. The downside is that there is a wait list. I had to wait for a month before my car was serviced. Pricing was ok and in the ballpark of what I expected.
They were recommended by the Acura dealership that I purchased my car from.
Can anyone make a recommendation on a first class body shop or dealership in the Houston Texas area? I have a '99 Q45 that I want some TLC on and don't want to use just any body shop. Thx.
I went out there yesterday to see about a vibration. They thought it was normal. Maybe I'm an automotive hypochondriac.
They could have changed CV's, axles, who knows what else, as most places would have, and I would have gone for it. Then if I still had the vibration, they could haved shrugged and said "We did what you asked."
I was impressed with their approach. I'll go back for my 60K service.
Excellent tip, Meyer.
PS to Shiftright: I agree. This topic could become a great resource, though in addition to the list of recommended places, it'll also include a lot of supporting chatter (like this). We should keep a list of just the shops, to be published somewhere on the site, maybe listed by state. And of course when I say 'we' I mean 'you'.
Comments
Caravan Sport. At 30K the transmission was acting
funny, each time it was taken to the Dodge dealer
they said it's alright. At 43K (now out of
warranty) it would only go into 2nd or reverse.
Chrysler said, 'to bad', and only paid half the
$1,500 it cost to fix. And the Dodge dealer would
only give $10,000 for it as a trade in. So, Two
things if you buy a Chrysler product minivan: 1)
buy an expensive extended warranty, 2) resale will
be very low.
Now after surfing the internet, I see I am not
along. Verdict: Chrsyler minivans look nice, but
have no quality or resale.
Has anyone been successful at suing Chrysler?
For 2001, also know that Chrysler has repeatedly said over the past 10 years that they have fixed their transmisson problem.
This is NOT the appropriate place for your remarks vis-a-vis Chrysler. I see you posted in our Transmission Trauma topic, a much better place for this.
Sorry to hear about your experience, but it is probably par for the course...
Your host, Bruce
I just had work done on my new Impala, and I cant say enough about their work,they get all their work from word of mouth.Give them a look-see you
wont be disapointed.
Now for my problem:
I have a Honda Civic and a Mazda pickup and I live in NE Florida, between Daytona and St Augustine. I'm looking for a real mechanic. Any tips?
There's a guy in Daytona who keeps early European cars alive for a devoted clientele and is willing to take modern Japanese cars as a sideline. He seems like the best bet so far.
PS
The BEST shop I've found in many years is Robert Berry Motors in Toronto (really North York), Ontario. I trust his judgement, work and honesty completely. He'll work on virtually any make and model, as far as I know.
BTW, although his specialty is German cars, he will work on anything...
8 years ago when my Camry was just a year old I
stopped going to the dealer and found, through
recommendations, a shop whose owner is Turkish and
had originally worked for Mercedes Bens in Germany. He has a very well established, organized, well supplied, clean shop in Brooklyn,
NY.
I have taken three new vehicles and recommended friends and coworkers to this guy (who employs his
relatives. Very satisfied indeed, good work and
reasonable prices w/o unecessary work done.
They were recommended by the Acura dealership that I purchased my car from.
Bruce
body shop or dealership in the Houston Texas area?
I have a '99 Q45 that I want some TLC on and don't want to use just any body shop. Thx.
http://cartalk.cars.com/About/Garage/intro.html
http://www.alldata.tsb.com/smartshops/
They could have changed CV's, axles, who knows what else, as most places would have, and I would have gone for it. Then if I still had the vibration, they could haved shrugged and said "We did what you asked."
I was impressed with their approach. I'll go back for my 60K service.
Excellent tip, Meyer.
PS to Shiftright:
I agree. This topic could become a great resource, though in addition to the list of recommended places, it'll also include a lot of supporting chatter (like this). We should keep a list of just the shops, to be published somewhere on the site, maybe listed by state. And of course when I say 'we' I mean 'you'.