Auto Doc

While Kim has been very professional and clearly upset by our complaints, her inability to do anything about it (whether by her choice or the directive of the new owner that lives in California) leaves us with no other choice than to leave a review detailing the problems we had. Whether or not you will have them, well... you roll the dice.

We brought them our older PT Cruiser last summer after having a blowout on the side of the road due to the tire wearing out on the inside edge which was caused by worn out front suspension issues. We checked around to see who was likely going to have a mechanic that could do a good diagnostics and settled on Auto Doc because of the review about the old owner (didn't know it had been sold) being very honest and reliable and the fact that the place looks very nice, not your typical nasty, greasy mechanic shop. Brought them the car and asked for a solid diagnostic to see what all needed to be repaired to decide if the car was worth spending the money on, or if it should just be put to rest. They came back with a thousand dollars (give or take) worth of repairs and when I asked, specifically, if that covered everything, I was told "yes, that will make the car safe to be on the road again, but you will need two new tires and an alignment."

6 months later, I notice a clunking noise in the front end and was told by the tire shop when I went to get two new tires for the back of the car that the new strut wasn't installed correctly and that was what the noise was. they also pointed out that the new tires I had just bought on the front end were worn very badly, one on the inside past the safety bar and on the right the same, but on the outside edge of the tire. I called Kim and she was very pleasant and said I should bring the car in to have it looked at, so we did. After they looked at it, they said it wasn't the strut, but a few other parts under the front end that would cost another 1500.00 (give or take) to replace and then another alignment and two more new tires. I said no, not going to spend more money on this car and I was then charged over a hundred dollars for the "inspection/diagnostic", which is ironic, because I had already paid for the same 6 months prior and they didn't find anything then. Seems to me that this is a game where they knew I would have said no to the cost to repair originally and figured they could just string me along, bit by bit.

Suffice it to say, I was NOT happy. I asked why wasn't this addressed when the car had been first inspected? Had I known there was more that needed repair, I wouldn't have bothered. The car isn't worth as much as the repairs would cost and I said as much. She couldn't tell me why it wasn't addressed and just said that sometimes parts wear out, but when asked why the original diagnostics didn't state that there was significant wear and the parts would need attention soon, she said she didn't know, but that she couldn't do anything about it.

I took it to another mechanic to see what their thoughts on it were and they stated that I was right, I was either owed money back for the original diagnostics that wasn't performed correctly (no mechanic worth his salt could have missed the torn and missing rubber bushings, boots and wear that was showing) or some kind of compensation for having performed work without properly informed consent. I contacted Kim again and asked for a detailed printout of the work they had done, she was pleasant enough, but as of this review, 2 months later, I still have received nothing from them. I expect I won't either and I'm quite certain they are concerned about the consequences at this point of being dishonest.

Be warned, this company isn't interested in anything other than how much money they can squeeze you for.