Cottsman Transmission Charged me over 2,400 bucks for a shabby transmission rebuilt job. Ripoff Fredericksburg Virginia

I have been doing buisness with thses people for several years and have never had any issues. my suggestion is that if you have an issue with the location that you ask them for their Regional Manager's phone number and call that person. You need to keep in mind that these locations are franchise organizations and are obligated to operate and conduct themselves in accordance to their franchise agreement. i am also sure that these locations would not be the number 1 franchise orgaization if they were shady.

I wouldn't touch a 500 series tranny for less than $2000. They aren't hard to build, but they are prone to erratic shifts, which mean more time required to please the customer. The overdrive unit is also it's weak link.

It's gotten to the point where Chrysler is now using the 606 transaxle in their trucks. The differential is removed from the front case, and a tailshaft attached in it's place. The theory is this will minimize issues, and parts. It seems to be working so far, as this is a very good tranny. The heavy duty trucks will still use the old tranny, but at least Chrysler is attempting to make a better mousetrap.

As for the Ford truck, it probably had a C6. That's about as simple a tranny as a TH400, or a TF727. An AOD is a little more tedious, but the price you paid looks like it was for a C6.

Robert,

Most of the chains like AAMCO, Cottman, etc. do this. It is standard procedure in many shops.

It is called the rule of averages.

They buy thes units from salvage yards pressure wash it, replace rear seal, pan gasket, filter, etc. and repaint it to make it look new. They make at least 500% profit.

I have seen this myself.

$2400 for a 500 or 518 electronically controlled overdrive transmission sounds like a fair price for the area.

You have only driven down the street a little ways and already you are going to "sue the Hell out of them" Have you ever bought anything new and had to return it for some reason?

The transmission probably worked fine on their roadtest but, what ever mistake made by the builder or the replacment parts hadn't showed up yet. Im sure that when you take your vehicle back they will stand behind their warranty. This is why you have a warranty. If nothing ever went wrong or broke there would be no reason to warrant anything would there?

The comparison of the F150 manual trans for $1300 is comparing apples to oranges. They are nothing alike and have no relative cost comparison. In fact, rebuilding that transmission at $1300....you're the one that got riped off.

common scam? pretty sure they only painted a used trans.? I have been in the auto repair business over 20 years and have never seen this common scam and without seeing the trans what makes you pretty sure? Im pretty sure a human made the parts, a human rebuilt the trans. and a human could make a mistake. I do wish this was a perfect world where everything worked the way we wanted everytime.

Don't jump to conclusions until you give them a chance to make it good. If they do or they don't you should report that as well. Only if they don't then you have been ripped off. NOT NOW. $2400 was a fair price when you agreed to the work. Why is it not fair now? Because something went wrong? They have to pay to repar it now. Do you really think they want to invest the time and expense to have to redo any of the work? NO they don't.. but I bet they do.

I have an '89 F150 4X4 that I got for free in 1994. At 70K it had a bad tranny that still worked, but because sometimes it couldn't find second gear real well so I knew that one day...

That day came in 1998 while we were in Upstate NY. I drove home 45 miles+ with no second gear. I asked around our little town, and some trusted people pointed me to a shop that wanted $1300. $1300 seemed high to me, but people had described that repair shop as "the shop I'd use for my truck". They replaced everything but the gear cluster, and at 144K today that tranny is still perfect.

At 3% inflation, $1300 in 1998 would be $1650 today.

I never heard of COTTSMAN.

Anyway, this is a common scam. I doubt you actually got a rebuilt transmission. I'm fairly positive you got a junkyard tranny with a fresh steam clean, a few seals and some paint.

This is why they put a warranty on it for only $2400. The cost of that junkyard tranny is about $200. Paint, seals and pressure wash about $50.

They multiply their investment by 10, and maybe 2 in 10 come back on them.

You do the math.