Dad's Garage

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work was done in timely matter, Wayne(owner) is great and makes sure you are satisfied

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Over a few months’ period last year, I began to find a few oily stains on the garage floor where my BMW Z3
sits. After consulting Angie’s List, I decided to take it to “Dad’s Garage” on Rancho Drive on October 15, 2012. After they inspected it, they decided that the leak was caused by a defective power steering high pressure line. I authorized its replacement at a cost of $338.65. I left hoping everything was fine, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.

The oily stains continued to sporadically appear on my garage floor just as before. Consequently, I took the car back to “Dad’s” to get the problem looked at again on February 21, 2013. After another inspection, Jared, the manager, told me that the new
hose had caused too much pressure within the old pump, thus causing it to go bad. That sounded counterintuitive to me as I couldn’t understand how a hose could cause a pump to go bad. It seemed only logical that if one would cause the other to go bad, it would be the pump that actually creates the pressure that would cause the hose to blow, not the other way around.
However, I decided to defer to their judgment and authorized the pump’s replacement from a non-BMW source at a cost of $347.82 since Jared had assured me that this non-BMW sourced part was as good as an original. With the supplied labor and fluid, this repair added up to a total of $598.38. So, at this point, I had spent a total of $937.03 to get this leak stopped.

As I started to drive off after this second repair, a horrible sound came from under the hood that sounded like a buzz-saw. I immediately returned to Dad’s so they could hear this new, very loud noise. They lifted the hood and acknowledged that the sound was not normal. They took it back into the garage and decided that a pulley was now bad and that it was causing the noise. They checked at some parts stores and found a replacement after a couple of tries. They installed it at “no charge” and started the car.

Unfortunately, the pulley made absolutely no difference in the racket emanating from under the hood. Jared and a couple of the mechanics gathered around and told me that some power steering pumps needed to be “broken in”, and that I should take the car and drive it for a few warm-up cycles to give it a chance to break-in. They explained that some types of pumps sound like this did when they are new. They claimed that Ford pumps often had this problem, but that GM pumps always worked right from the get-go. Again, that sounded fishy, but I thought I’d defer to their judgment once more, so I drove the car home with the pump squealing like a banshee all the way.

Over the next month, the new pump continued to squeal every time I drove the car. So, on March 18, 2013 I returned the car for the third time. Although the leak had finally been repaired, the noisy pump was just as loud and as disconcerting as ever. This time I asked for a genuine BMW replacement pump. They ordered it from Desert BMW and replaced the defective pump they had previously installed back in February. Jared gave me a credit of $347.82 that I had paid for the defective pump, but told me that Desert BMW had charged $528.78 for their pump, thus causing me to owe an additional charge of $195.62. Jared had told me beforehand that the BMW original part would be more expensive, so I wasn’t overly surprised at the increased cost.

Because I had spent almost $200 extra for the genuine BMW part, I asked for a copy of the bill from Desert BMW for my records to show that the pump was truly a BMW part. Should I ever decide to sell the car, prospective buyers would like to know that their BMW is all BMW. The bill with a prominent BMW logo that Jared had flashed at me earlier to show me that it was a genuine BMW part was located right on the wall behind his desk. Instead of giving me a copy of that receipt, he went into the back room behind his desk and returned with a copy of the package packing slip that had no price on it.

Since Jared obviously did not want me to closely see the actual receipt from the BMW dealer, I became suspicious of how much I had been charged for the pump. A few days later, I decided to call the Desert BMW parts department to see how much they charged for the pump and the power steering high pressure line. I was quoted a price that was less than $4 different from what Dad’s had charged for the high pressure line. However, Desert BMW quoted me a price of $433.60 for a new pump. Jared had charged me $528.78 for the exact same pump. That’s a difference of $95.18. Now I understood why Jared did not want to give me a copy of the actual receipt showing what Dad’s Garage had actually paid for the pump.

I do not feel that it was an ethical business practice to charge almost $100 over their cost for a part, especially when I had been to their establishment three times now to just get a simple leak repaired, and had spent a total of $1,132.65 in the process. I might speculate that Jared decided that he wanted to recover the cost of the pulley that they had replaced on my second visit at “no cost” even though its replacement had made no difference to the problem. However, that is speculation. I just know that I paid $95.18 more than I believe was fair or honest.

Whatever the reason Jared decided to overcharge me for their work, I unequivocally DO NOT recommend “Dad’s Garage” for anyone’s repair work. Between the overcharging, the questionable explanations regarding the first pump’s problems,
and their debatable statement that a new hose could cause a pump to go bad, I don’t believe that they are running an above-board and principled establishment. Although Jared and the staff are courteous enough, I don’t believe that they are completely honest, fair, or competent.

The moral of the story: Don’t be fooled by the homey name of “Dad’s Garage”. If you think you will get treated like a family member, then your “Dad” would most likely be the dodgy black sheep of the family. Look elsewhere for your automotive repair needs.

Good, the ABS sensor was giving bad messages that did not effect the ABS system.

Great

The experience was great.. They even fixed a problem with the rubber molding on my door without charging me. I thought they were very honest and fair in price. I would definitely go back again.

Dad's Garage called to let us know about the need for a CA cat converter before installing it. They advised us it would take an extra day because they had to get the part from the dealer. We were impressed that they kept us informed all the way through and got the car done in a timely manner.

We were in Las Vegas for a trade show and our Yukon XL developed a significant noise in the rear end. The noise was bad enough that we knew we could not return 1,400 miles for repairs to be done at home. I searched Angie's List to locate reputable auto repair shops in Las Vegas. I found Dad's Garage among four others from my search.
Dad's Garage correctly diagnosed the problem as damaged pinion and axle bearings and I received a cost estimate for the repairs. The key problem was we needed the truck in 36 hours to load our materials at the end of the trade show on 1/20/12. The owner of Dad's put his best mechanic on the job and the mechanic was able to complete the work to meet our time limitation. Four axle bearings and two pinion bearings were replaced. Two axle seals and the pinion seal were also replaced.
The final cost of $942 was reasonable for the amount of work that was done and the cost matched the estimate.
Dad's went out of their way to help us to get our truck back out on the road. They could have taken advantage of us but they did not. The repairs successfully remedied the noise problem.

I really liked them. They used good parts and did good service. Price wise compared to the cheaper ones, they are appropriate for what I got.

I have been a mechanic in the past so I know what should be expected from an auto repair place. I asked them to find out why the check engine light stayed on. They diagnosed problem then said I probably needed a new catalytic converter. Said that I could get the job done cheaper and quicker at a nearby muffler shop. Took their advice and was very pleased with the price and service I received there as well. I also had some noise in my front end. They checked it out and told me what would be needed. They said that they would order the parts and let me know when they came in. This was around Christmas time. They didn't charge me anything for the hour they spent diagnosing the check engine light or ask for any deposits to get the other parts I needed. I called them back in January to see when I could get the additional work done. They worked with me to get it scheduled. They started work on the car and later on in the day they told me that they had received a wrong part for the CV joint and no one in Las Vegas had the correct one not even the dealer. They said that they could get the part shipped in overnight if I wanted and I could either pick up the car then and have it fixed later or keep it overnight and fix it in the morning. I let them keep the car and the next day it was all finished. I am very pleased with their fast, courteous service. I would recomend them to anyone wanting an honest, competant, well run garage.

I went and had my oil changed here and they did a good job. No real complaints. The were a little expensive but they did some inspections that were a part of the service so I was pleased. I would recommend them to people in the future and will be using them in the future myself.

Excellent. They explained what probably went wrong with the car and why it happened. Explained why these things happen on older cars and what to do in the future if it happens again. This is the first place that took the time to explain the whys of problems with older cars.

Had a written estimate of front struts and mounts replacement for $700 on 04/20(Wed). Called for an appointment on 04/22(Fri) but shop was short of manpower. Called again 04/25(Mon) but still was busy and finally got my vehicle checked in 9:30am on 04/27(Wed). It was supposed to be a 3-hr job so should be ready by 1pm. Instead I got a bad news around 2pm that their Los Angeles supplier delivered the wrong parts so repair had to be resumed the next day(04/ 28). Picked up the vehicle by 1pm the and the actual cost went up to $730 due to supplier changing the cost. Even the KYB brand was substituted by Monroe's because supplier was out of stock and it would take another 2 weeks of wait. Everything went OK for a couple of days until 04/30(Sat) when rattling noises started to come out from under the hood. Went to Discount Tires to have my regular free tire rotation and had them check the noises. Told them that I just had the struts and mounts replaced. Waited for a good hour and tires were rotated and the noise fixed which was due to a loose nut that holds the front right strut to the body. I would fairly recommend Dad's Garage to anybody who would like to shave off some bucks compared to other Angie's list rated shops here in Vegas. If I had to do this again, I'd spend the extra $40 savings I made and bring my vehicle maybe to Vegas Car Care instead.

They were a little high, but weren't much higher than everybody else that I got quotes from. They completed the job in a timely manner. I really didn't have any interaction with the owner, but they seemed to be good. Their quality is very good. They are very responsive, punctual and professional. I would use them again in the future.

Called for an appointment. Took car in at appointed time. They diagnosed problem, had to wait for parts until the next day. Repair was made a car was available that afternoon.

I went to another mechanic and he was more than twice the price so his price was very reasonable. He is honest and I can trust him. The quality is excellent. It is always a good experience.