Well 3 weeks ago my tranny took a shizit on me at the track and it just so happened that my freind who is a decent mechanic was there with his new boss. He and i end up talking and he convinces me to let him work on my tranny because I knew off the bat GM would not cover it so I decided not to even bother. Well the first day the car is at his shop he quotes me 500.00 to take the tranny out and see exactly what is wrong with it plus a new throwout bearing and slave cylinder. End up that the input shaft threw first gear into my trannycase causing it to crack spin bearings and wreak all sorts of havoc. So he ends up trying to locate another tranny for me he says it was going to cost him around 1900.00 plus some other miscelaneuos parts. So ends up its the wrong tranny and we decide to rebuild it after many calls to the shop I never had a returned call for the next week. So I am trying to find out what is up with the car i find out that they sent the tranny out for rebuild because they didn't want to screw it up. So i end up calling the place it's being rebuilt at and they tell me it should be done soon and that they had ordered 1500 in parts for it. Well next day my mechanic calls me and says, "Do me a favor don;t call the tranny guy anymore he is pissed off that you called him". I tell him to mind his business because he told me he would give me a call all week and never did and i wanted to know what was up with it. Well the car will be done tomorrow and i heard from my freind that the bill was up to about 4,000.00! He never gave me any written estimate and the only time he called me was to tell me they were rebuilding it for roughly the price of the other tranny 1900.00. So now I am stuck with a 4,000.00 bill from this guy and I don't know what to do. Help! Sorry for the long read just wanted to let you know all the details.

bump for afternoon crew.

 

This is at a dealership right? I would say argue all day long if they didn't give you an estimate in writing.

 

No not a dealership but a liscensed auto mechanic.

 

that actually sounds like a lawsuite to me. When a shop works on your car they are supposed to run all costs by the customer before they begin them. It sounds to me like he just started ordering stuff and running up the bill without your consent. It gets a little tricky when you start outsourcing work like he did when he sent the tranny to a tranny shop. He should have told you that he was sending out the tranny before he did it and informed you of all the possible costs of doing so.

It doesn't sound like he's trying to rip you off. It just sounds like he didn't communicate enough with you. Its just not right to spring a bill like that on someone without them knowing it would be that much before they started the work. If someone would have called me telling me it was going to cost 1900 for a tranny rebuild, I would just go buy a brand new tranny. You could literally buy a brand new tranny for that much.

 

New tranny with LSD is $2540.00 from this site , i would be pissed . It's the same price @ http://gmpartsdirect.com/
Without LSD it's $2003.38 , i'd guess your LSD is ok to reuse right?

http://www.newgmparts.com/partlocato...06&catalogid=1

 

http://www.gm-parts-dealer.com/parts.htm

$1905 for a brand new tranny WITH lsd

 

Wow good price . i'll have to bookmark that site .

To the OP were they going to rebuild it with better than OEM parts or something?

 

After reading alll these posts for trannies around 2 grand is making me furious with this mechanic why the **** would he have rebuilt and not told me i could get a new one for that price god damnit. I am going to sue the breaks off this bitch!

 

Just tell them what you will pay them for the trans rebuild, especially since there was no confirmation with you on the go ahead. Then if they dont like it, they can keep the transmission. Order the new one. That is if you havent payed for it yet.

 

dont pay period, or tell them you will pay half the price as a new one would cost, cause they can either take the money or have a tranny lying around, with a lawsuit

 

Did you sign anything authorizing work to be done..??
I believe Florida law requires you to sign something stating that you authorize the work to be done. If you didn't and he was trying to do this under the table, its his fault for not collecting money ahead of time. Call the BBB and verify the law about automobile work....you don't have to give specifics.

 

yeah hope you did not sign anything that probably gives them the permission to do what ever it takes to fix it

 

there is a clause about what is authorized where you sign....can't remember what it says right now though...I did at one time, I asked for a timing belt to be replaced and they tried to charge me for a lot more.....

 

that would suck if he gets stuck with a 4000 bill if a new one would cost 1900 bucks **** i would just leave mine there take my car and go buy a new one instead

 

oh....and get an itemized list of the charges too....thats a requirement they have to provide

 

i bet out of the rebuild prices and everything the labor cost is gunna be 2500 bucks

 

4g's...**** that...he shoulda told you everything they were gunna do, a shop here tried that **** on me, they said they had to paint the whole bumper...when i asked them to just buff it off...it only had some minor scratches..not even that deep, just some scratches to the factory clearcoat

i told them f'u i didnt say i wanted that and in the end after some shouting and threat to call the cops if i didnt get my car back they let it slide for the price of a buff

 

If you didn't pay yet, just order a new trans from one of the sites above. Only downside is that they have your car, and probably won't be to eager to give it back unless you pay. Not to mention its probably in pieces as dropping the tranny on these requires a lot to come out.

 

Unfortunately, he cares more about what he makes than how you make out. If you bought a new one he would make nothing, but now he plans to make $4K.

I've heard of a lot of guys that have gotten screwed by their "buddies" cause everything is word of mouth because they trust them. This started out bad when they wanted $500 just to take it apart to see what was wrong. I'm not saying your buddy ripped you off, the tranny shop charged too much, your buddies' shop probably added some profit and charged you to put it back together and it all added up to $4K.

What really matters is what the contract says that you signed, and what the laws are like in your area. Read all the fine print, weren't they supposed to get your approval before they did any work? Weren't they required to give you an estimate, and stay close to it?

You need to talk with the BBB and a lawyer, ASAP.

 

thanks everyone i am going up to the shop later today I pulled up some florida laws and i did sign the standard form for them to start work on my car but after reading some **** it says the auto repair shop MUST give a written estimate to the customer if the bill is scheduled to be over 100.00 and they didn't so that is where i am going to start off and if need be i will call the cops to have them straighten this out.

 

I guess my used tranny for $525.-$575. shipped seems like the better deal now doesn't it???


Yes you got ripped off.

PS the cops won't do a thing. Civil court is where you will need to fight that battle.

 

Cops will get involved if they refuse to return his car to him, which they will probably try and do.

 

I am sure that down there they also have a "mechanics lien" that allows them to be paid first.

 

Yeah, but in his case, they aren't entitled to any money because he was not presented with a written estimate, therefore all work they did was unauthorized and he can't be held responsible for the charges.

If it was me, I would walk in to pick it up with a lawyer and a flatbed.

I know people that have had stuff like that happen to them before and have had to get the police involved. Wasn't pretty, but they got their cars back without having to cough up money.

 

The lawyer sounds like a good plan.