After dropping off my car, which was overheating, I asked Aram to confirm it was the serpentine belt and a jammed thermostat. After running the diagnostics (allegedly worth $300), they confirmed it was indeed a jammed thermostat. Next to that I received a list of recommendations/immediate attention items which I did not request and most of them based on the generic reason "due to age and mileage", instead of condition. The total quote added up to over $8500. The replacement of the thermostat (a $60 part, which takes max half hour) was quoted for over $600. The other items on the list were similarly overestimated. I am all for business owners turning a profit, but this was far out. Unless you have money to burn, I highly recommend to avoid this place. For that reason I picked up my vehicle as is, and did take my business somewhere else. No experience with the quality of their work. Only reason it is not a 1 star review is they did not charge me the full $300 for confirming my own diagnosis.
Thank you for leaving a review first and foremost. Not sure why you believed the serpentine belt would be causing your issue, but indeed a thermostat could cause your issue. Low coolant level, potentially due to a leak or defective radiator cap would also be a cause. Both of these were checked. A water pump not circulating the engine coolant properly or a restricted radiator could also be the cause, both of these were also checked. Cooling fan operation and potentially a combustion leak, caused by a failing head gasket are probably also the last two things we checked for during the diagnosis. I don't believe that you actually "diagnosed" anything, but you had an opinion of what you believed to be the issue. You brought the vehicle in to actually get yourself an answer, as to what was causing the issue, and you received that. Your opinion on how much time it takes to replace the thermostat is of no concern to us, as like almost all automotive repair shops, we use a standard labor guide to estimate the time to repair. In this case. the labor guide calls for one hour, not including the time to refill the system. The time to properly bleed the air from the system, so as to not allow an air lock condition, which would cause the new thermostat to not operate properly. Or the time to test drive the vehicle when completed to verify the repair. If you believe that you can do all of those things in "max half hour" I would encourage you to seek employment in the automotive industry because you would be a rock star. The other items that were estimated are items we review for all of our customers, especially first time customers as we have no prior records to how the vehicle has been maintained. Most people like knowing a complete health status of their vehicle before making a financial decision about the vehicle. Seeing as how your vehicle has 179,984 miles with the original cooling system hoses and heater hoses, which wear out from the inside out, we wanted you to know while the cooling system was drained that this would be the time to replace them. Most hoses are recommended to be replaced at 6 years or 60,000 miles, and yours were just potentially stressed due to the overheating condition. I think it's fair to say that there are a few things on the vehicle that are worn out, to which we provided you pictures and estimates for. This means we provided you with conditions, not "age or mileage" generic reasons. I appreciate that you mentioned that you don't know the quality of our work as you had none performed. If you are taking the vehicle somewhere else, I hope that the facility is also providing a 3 year or 36,000 mile warranty that is good nationwide like we would have provided to you. If you change your mind about us providing you future service, or have actual questions about the recommendations that you potentially didn't understand, feel free to reach out. Billy - owner Aram's Auto Repair Center
- Aram's Auto Repair