Kar Fix

unknown

I had a coupon for the oil change.

This service went fine, and was done for a reasonable but not impressive price. HOWEVER, this work was needed to fix a problem that I had already spent $1007 at Kar Fix to repair a few weeks before. The other thing they "fixed" the first time around was not fixed.
Details below, but in short: I had two problems, I paid $1000 to fix both but neither was fixed satisfactorily.
I went in with sluggish acceleration and a sometimes poorly responsive throttle. My AC was also not blowing properly (it was hardly blowing even at the highest setting). I wanted both fixed. Their diagnostics showed an error with my throttle body and a general misfire that they attributed to the faulty throttle body. I spent about $650 to have the electronic throttle body replaced and another $350 to have various parts of my AC system, including the blower motor, replaced and the system filled with coolant and checked for leaks. No leaks were detected.
They weren't particularly fast but their general manager was good about keeping me updated on the phone and discussing options. They said the new throttle body helped but didn't get things quite right so they checked my spark plugs and they were really dirty (lots of carbon buildup) so they cleaned them at no charge. That seemed nice, but, as you'll see below, they did that because they didn't really know what the problem was.
The AC problem wasn't fixed, it blew slightly harder than it did on the highest setting but was in no way shape or form working properly. I didn't notice this until I already got to work that day or I'd have left it at the shop. I took it back two days later, he gave me some curious excuse about why it failed so fast, and fixed it at no charge with little fuss. Very annoying, but at least no hassle to get it redone.
Less than a week later my throttle problems were back and they quickly got worse than ever before. This time he said there was a major short in the spark plug wiring, they weren't sure where it started, but that my plug caps and wires and distributor cap were all shot. The brand new throttle body was also ruined, probably due to the electrical shorting, but that was replaced for free because it was still under warranty.
I said they should have detected this before and that I shouldn't be charged for this work when they were likely responsible for the short. The manager would have none of that, said this was probably already a problem (not their fault) that wasn't detectable before (not their fault they didn't catch it) and may have been what was causing the general misfire error in the diagnostic. The parts for this round of work were more expensive than I expected but some brief price checking suggested they were realistic. I needed my car back and decided to settle with them removing the cost of labor to replace the short-lived throttle body (so no cost at all on the second new throttle body).
When I got it back that time the throttle worked properly, so they did get the acceleration/throttle problem fixed in the end, but I am very confident a dealership would have caught all of this early and saved me a lot of trouble and probably even some money.
A few months later my AC stopped blowing cold air. I took it to a dealership. They said there was a leak after all. It could have started after Kar Fix did the work, but mathematically that is really unlikely. It is more likely they caused the leak when they were working on it the first or the second time...
Save yourself some trouble and some money. Go to a different mechanic.

They did a good job. It's performed perfectly since. Once, they even gave my wife a ride home one time. The work has been good quality.