My friend who happens to be a girl took her car in to get safety inspected at a shop in Dartmouth that always has a funny quote on it’s sign. When she went to pick it up they said all her breaks need to be replaced. And it would cost 800 dollars! She said she didn’t have the money and went to get the car. She ended up buying the breaks at Canadian Tire. And she took them to the valley to a family member. After looking at the breaks, he finds out that the back 2 breaks were never even looked at! All she needed was the front 2 breaks replaced. They mechanic from the Dartmouth shop would have just replaced the front 2 and pocketed 400 dollars! What a douchbag! Just because a girl brings her car in doesn’t mean she is dumb and doesn’t know anything about cars or won’t get a second opinion! After talking to the 1st mechanic and informing him she knew what was going on he just slapped a sticker on her car and didn’t even apologize for trying to scam her. Again what a douchbag!
—Hates shifty mechanics
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2009.
Is there such a thing as an honest mechanic? Not in HRM – I’ve gone through quite a few of them over the years and most are as crooked as a dog’s back leg. Like the guy I used to go to out my way – my car went tits up – he said, I’ve got a deal for you – made a phone call, got me a car but charged me $1000 for making the call to the used car dealer – I didn’t realize this till later when I saw the same car listed in the paper. Fucking goddamn cunt. What made it worse was that he made it seem like he was calling in this huge favour when all he was doing was ripping me off. Never went back to him. The most recent arsehole I went to put on my summer tires wrong and after paying $600, the car is still fucked up. What a racket.
I took my car recently to a certain tire shop in Cole Harbour to have my summer tires put on. Not even an hour later the right front started making a funny sound. We went back there next day and my wife insisted they take a look ASAP and not charge us for it. The young punk at the desk got all defensive and swore it wasn’t their problem. We left our car there and got a call later from one of the asshats in the shop who said he couldn’t find any problem with their work and said that the noise was probably due to how we stored our tires over the winter. Anyway, we got the car back and low and behold no more funny noise. The fuckers must have noticed they screwed up something, fixed it, and didn’t want to fess up. Luckily, it didn’t cost us anymore money, but just another example of dishonesty from mechanics. In my experience Canadian Tire are usually good.
I know of two honest shops in Dartmouth. Granted it took time to find and they are busy but it’s worth the wait.
If you drive a car brand that rhymes with… monda…… there is a place on bluewater road that takes “pride” in their civic duty to fix your car – and are pretty cheap / honest about what they do.
My advice to anyone who needs work done on their car is to do what I do. I call it the two shop system. I take my car and in to one shop ask them to take a look at it. Most shops won’t charge you just to look at it and see what’s wrong with it. I tell them I’ll be back in a few days “when I get paid” to have the work done. Then I go to a second shop (which I usually have all the work done at) and ask them to take a look at it too. If what they tell me is the same as the first shop, I’ll have the work done. If it’s different, I’ll call them on it. Never had a problem so far and it’s worked out well for me.
I look for the places that all the cab’s go to. So far, works pretty good. Also, small private owned businesses have always treated me good too. All they ask is that I spread the word.
Junk yard’s are heaven. I remember I had to get my seat fixed, called up the dealership and buddy there told me it would cost 2 grand to order and install a new seat. Obviously I said fuck that, called around to some junk yards, got two seat’s and a new rear view mirror for 500 bucks.
Ustwess: if you drive practically any car, not just ones that rhyme with … monda … there’s a place on Waverley Road that is honest, fairly quick, and inexpensive. My Dad swears by it. On a recent occasion he went to the dealer first, and got a by-the-book quote…then he went to this corner garage, the guy proposed a somewhat unorthodox solution that still fixed the problem, and cost hundreds of dollars less. Not to mention he had the work done for the next day.
The good garages are out there. Unfortunately not always so easy to find.
Wow, I was always pissed off about not being able to drive. But after reading all this I think I’m better off without ever having to deal with any of this shit.
Not sure where you are talking about but I went to a place on Wyse road, I forget the name of the place but it was super quick. Now, I brought in my brand new ’08 Jetta with 1500km on it and only needed an inspection so there wasn’t anything to check, just put a sticker on it, but where other places we taking appointments a week or two in advance this place got me in the next morning 5 min before they opened, I wasn’t even late for work.
Canadian Tire? They’re the WORST… I’ve seen them “poking” my rusty muffler or scraping the rust, to try to make a hole… I believe they have one licensed mechanic, and the rest are “apprentices”.. they get a commission on parts they sell, so some will try to find problems in order to earn the commission on a part..
I’ve had MANY experiences and now won’t deal with them anymore…
From a safety inspection where they estimated $1200 to fix everything required, then just tried another small shop to get a 2nd opinion, and they passed the car the way it was…
Brought Cdn Tire a Mustang I was thinking of buying, just wanted them to estimate what it needed since it’s inspection sticker was due in 2 months… that’s when I saw the mechanic under the car (on the hoist) poking the muffler and exhaust system with a screwdriver..
Another time, I had a coupon for a free oil change if I got a brake inspection… I left them the car for the morning and returned at noon… They told me the car was not drive-able with those brakes and it would cost $800 to replace all the brakes… I told them I didn’t have the money, and asked them to put it back together… they advised the car wasn’t safe enough to put it back together.. So I told them to dispose of the vehicle then or store it, because I sure couldn’t afford to fix it… They DID put it back together, and I drove it for 3 more years before I sold it… and I had to remind them to do the (free) oil change AFTER all of this…
That was my LAST experience with them…
I think the OP said she bought breaks at Canadian tire not got them fixed there. I love that I have a mechanic friend who doesn’t rip me off!
Why do some woman always play victim? Do you really think this only happens to girls?
It’s dumb to think this is a gender issue.
Fix all the breaks in the car. If they’re broken, fix them. Breaks breaks breaks. If you can’t spell brakes, you’re on your own.