PepBoys Automotive Repair Casa Grande PepBoys wanted $500 to fix my car -- actual repair cost: $2 Casa Grande Arizona

On a recent late Saturday night, I was driving from Tucson, AZ to Phoenix, AZ in my Mazda Miata when I heard a loud bang from under the car. I pulled over and looked under the engine and smelled leaking radiator fluid. I called my insurance company and they towed it to a PepBoys automotive repair facility in Casa Grande, AZ. I don't know why it was towed there vs somewhere else but the car ended up there.

One of PepBoys mechanics looked the car over and called me with an estimate of repair. The mechanic said that an object had come off the road and had put a hole in the radiator and that it needed a new radiator. The cost: $250 plus labor and fluids. Plus, they had to move the air conditioner condenser which took the labor higher. They also recommended replacing the hoses.

Total estimate for the job: almost $500.

Here's where the alarm bells started going off. I had just replaced the radiator six months before for less than $200. I had also replaced the hoses when I had put in the radiator. The hoses were brand new.

I told the mechanic that the hoses were brand new and he started to hedge that they "were soft".

I immediately said no to their offer to fix the car. They seemed surprised since the car was undrivable (captive market). I drove down to Casa Grande, got the car on a trailer, and paid the $30 diagnostic charge and left.

I got the car home and ordered a new radiator for $140.00. It came in on Friday and on Saturday, one week later after the initial problem, I went to put the radiator in and discovered that there was nothing wrong with the radiator!!!! The problem was that the drain plug had been sheered off! I picked up the part ($2), put in $10 bucks worth of antifreeze, returned the radiator, and the car is running fine.

So why the $500 bill? Maybe the owner has his eye on a new BMW 630i and I was going to provide 1/50th of the buy cost. Or, maybe, he just enjoys gouging the consumer. I don't know. In a business that relies on trust, they are definitely not worthy of trust.

My advice: go somewhere else. Do NOT trust them.

Mike
Chandler, Arizona
U.S.A.