Looking for honest, competent, reliable Auto Mechanic (Jacksonville, University: condo, buyer)

[cricketfan]

Preferably in St. Johns County but not necessarily. I have decided not to go back to my dealer for post-warranty service after they hit me with a bill for $225 to replace a hose. Ouch!

Anybody knows a good mechanic that they can vouch for?

[harajuka]

what make and model? domestic, euro, japanese?

[cricketfan]

Originally Posted by harajuka

what make and model? domestic, euro, japanese?

Grand Cherokee Jeep.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by cricketfan

Grand Cherokee Jeep.

My condolences. I've done the Jeep Grand Cherokee thing, it only gets more and more expensive .

For sure, avoid Caruso and Jacksonville Jeep Dodge on the Southside, they're robbers .

We had good luck with some of the Sears locations, they can handle most things on a Jeep, and certainly a hose.

Mawipawfl put out a thread in the recent past and got some good mechanic recommendations, maybe try the search feature for her posts?

[lazy_d]

John at A&N Auto on Beach Blvd. On the left just past University heading towards Parental Home. Don't let the looks of the place (its dumpy) fool you, he's honest. He was recommended to me by a family who has been in Jax for years.

[cricketfan]

Originally Posted by riveree

My condolences. I've done the Jeep Grand Cherokee thing, it only gets more and more expensive .

For sure, avoid Caruso and Jacksonville Jeep Dodge on the Southside, they're robbers .

We had good luck with some of the Sears locations, they can handle most things on a Jeep, and certainly a hose.

Yeah, I know what ya mean, Riv. Few more miles though and I'll put it out of its misery.

Funny, I never thought of Sears Auto except for batteries and tires, so you may have a point there.

[runswithscissors]

I know it's expensive to maintain the warranty but if there was trouble shooting involved I don't really think it's fair to say it was just a hose for 225. There had to have been more involved like the SCHEDULED maintenance right?

I'd watch Sears, too, they "lost" a $650 Bronco wheel that belonged to my son in one day when he left it to get the tire changed. He went back and found a piece of crap on his truck instead of his wheel. He even noticed it right away and looked up and saw his wheel on another truck and they refused to address it. Being a college kid he left and called me and when I sent him back in one hour so I could call the store with him there, the truck was gone.

The manager refused to remedy that for me no matter what I threatened or did and living out of state I didn't follow through on small claims court. He accused us of lying, as if we were driving around on three expensive wheels and one standard one.

EVERYTHING in Florida is buyer beware, that's for sure. I've learned over many years that you have to proactively try and think of everything that might go wrong and even then, you can never predict the level of scam. And never EVER leave your possessions in the hands of anybody stand right there and watch and ask questions. It's very annoying.

I've always used my dealers for maintenance and although I've had plenty of fights with them, usually they give in. Like before I moved here and they replaced my whole alarm without asking my permission (when it had a malfunction) and tried to charge me, I won that fight because I never signed the authorization for that.

[cricketfan]

Originally Posted by runswithscissors

I know it's expensive to maintain the warranty but if there was trouble shooting involved I don't really think it's fair to say it was just a hose for 225. There had to have been more involved like the SCHEDULED maintenance right?

No scheduled maintenance, just a rubber hose for $80 and the rest is labor. Of course you can always change your mind and they will take it off the lift, no problem, sir.
Just pay them a diagnostic fee of $72 for looking.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by cricketfan

Yeah, I know what ya mean, Riv. Few more miles though and I'll put it out of its misery.

Funny, I never thought of Sears Auto except for batteries and tires, so you may have a point there.

Sears does it all except for anything complicated with the 4x4 system.

We've used the Sears @ Regency and the Sears @ Avenues. They've both been good with maybe a slight preference for the one @ Regency (we ended up using them more).

A lot of it definitely depends on the mechanics and the management, so one Sears location might be different than another - I don't know which location Runswithscissors' son used.

LazyD's suggestion sounds good too .

[agreatlife]

I've had very good work for nearly 20 years at the Goodyear dealership on San Jose Blvd. They've always been very honest with us, never any surprises, and work is honest and fair (well, fair for the going rate in town).

If you go, ask for Tony the store manager. We also had a Jeep Grand Cherokee that they did a lot of work on. Oh what a junk heap of a car that was. We dumped it after 60K miles and a new transmission. Junk.