Lets hear it!?! Is this $300 for brakes all the way around or just front/rear? I work for a honda dealer and we charge $170 per side w/ turning rotors.

 

i know what you mean because i worked at champ Auto Parts back in 04/05. Adam always called got prices for things and sometimes i could hear them talking to the customer tellig the price i just told him x200 .......lol. I sold the parts to LRAC for abotu a year, but all the dealrships and auto care places do that ...but not as bad as LRAC

 

First of all, I work at a local Honda dealer as a flat-rate line tech. Been here for close to 4 years. I know most of the in's and out's.

My dad needed a VA insp. but I was too busy at the time to do it for him. So he took it to Lake Ridge Auto Care. As far as I know, everything went smooth. It passed.

About a month later, my dad tells me that the car is overheating. I look it over and it seems low on coolant; no major leaks or anything. So I just added coolant and bled the system. So far so good. About a week later, same problem - overheating. I pulled the car into the shop. Looked it over with a few techs. We're totally stumped until we find some old residual coolant. Look deeper and we find that a hose clamp was removed from a coolant line. The line was a coolant passage that ran through the throttle body; either a fast idle valve or a IACV (I forget). But visibly. the hose was underneath the throttle body and very very hard to see without direct light some bending around.

The only way that it could've happened was if someone did it intentionally. I normally work on the car. It was only in LRAC's hands once for the VA insp. I think they did it. They could've made some easy cash of off my dad. That year Acura Legends were infamous for their bad head gaskets. They could've easily sold my dad a head gasket job, pretended to do it, replace the clamp, and bam, money in the pocket.

Sooo yeahhh, thats how it goes. Did they do it? Maybe.

 

Back from the dead and more on topic.

 

Well of they would of known what they were doing and checked the diagnostic machine, it would of told them that I need a new Oxygen Sensor. And thats all i needed! They tried to charge me all that money. But luckily got it all back!

 

Here's my experience with this auto shop so far. I recently bought a used Mitsubishi Galant (81,000) miles to use as a work vehicle (lots of driving). I brought it to Lake Ridge Auto to get the timing belt replaced (just to be on the safe side). I was a bit surprised when they recommended quite a list of stuff with the end bill being $1800. But I figured I would assume the car needed and it might be a good idea since I'd be pounding on the car for the next few years.

One of the items they replaced were the rear drums (they said the originals were cracked). Driving the next day I noticed quite a bit of knocking and shudder from the rear brakes. I drove by there today (Sunday) and they told be they couldn't get to it today (even though it was take about 15 minutes to put it on the lift and check it out).

Now I'm going back tommorrow morning. I'll be extremely irate if they don't take me right in. This should be a priority for them especially since it is not a serious engine problem. If they dick me around I might contest the bill.

 

All comebacks take priority and they should have put you in front of their current appointments.

 

what?

 

If you even knew what you were talking about, you would know the scantool doesn't tell you what you need. It tells you what fault it sees and gives the technician a starting point so he knows what system to check. It is up to the technician to figure the rest out and properly test the system.

 

I just discovered this site after performing a search for LakeRidge Auto. I have brought 4 or 5 cars to them for service in the past but no longer use them.

The positives: open 7 to 7 M-F and open on the weekends, provide courtesy van rides, and at one time I think Adam cared about customer service.

The negatives: They recommended service and repairs that were unnecessary. I took cars to other shops for second opinions to verify. They botched a brake job for me too and some other repairs that I can't remember. There were also tech writers whom I would never trust.

Since moving to VA from TX 7 years ago, I've yet to find a shop that doesn't use book values for time. I did have a mechanic in TX who used actuals and one that I was actually comfortable leaving a car with and asking him to fix whatever needed fixing without worrying about him making unnecessary repairs. LakeRidge Auto is not the place to do that. After trying 5 shops in northern VA, I think I finally found one I can trust ... not LakeRidge obviously.