| Summary: Here's some plain advice: when you need repair done on your car, make sure you get an estimate first and that you (or better yet, the repair person) sign(s) it. This way, the repair person cannot legally overcharge you. Editor's note: If you are looking for a car repair shop in Utah County, consider Jim's Auto. Full Review Product Selection Product Quality NA I didn't actually end up having them do any work, so I can't comment on the quality of their work. Service  The check engine light came on on my wife's Volvo 850 Wagon and because the nearest Volvo dealer was almost an hour away, I had to find a local auto repair shop that specialized in Volvo's (a diagnostics had to be done in order to find out what the problem was and few auto repair shops have the cable for a '94 Volvo 850 wagon that connects to the computer that does the diagnostics).
I came across Import Auto Center and called them because they were in the yellow pages under Volvo Auto Repair. The gentleman that answered the phone came across as very friendly and honest. He told me that the diagnostics would be between $50 and $75 - a little bit less than what the other shops quoted me. Because of the price and the proximity of the shop, I decided to go there. To make a long story short, the owner (I believe his name was Gary) wanted to charge me $330 for the diagnostic and without doing a single repair to my wife's Volvo 850 wagon. And if I wanted to get the part replaced it would've cost an additional $250 for the part (EGR valve) and $50 for the labor! I was furious! I told him I didn't want him to do anything further and to give me the car back. I refused to pay the $330 and demanded I only pay the agreed $75 for the diagnostic.
He wouldn't give me my car back so I called the police and they sent a policeman to handle the situation. Unfortunately, the policeman didn't have an authority to get me my Volvo back without me having to pay the bill. He said I would have to pay the bill and if the owner was dishonest with me and I wanted to get my money back, I would have to take the owner to small claims court. Because I was able to negotiate the price down to $210, and because of the costs (both explicit and implicit) to take the owner to small claims court, it wasn't going to be worth it.
Obviously, I will never go back to the Import Auto Center to get our Volvo or any other car repaired. There is even more to the story, including personal attacks about my character, that I haven't disclosed. Unfortunate for Gary, I have nothing positive to say about my experience at Import Auto Center. His service was simply a web of lies. I hope Gary is not representative of all auto repairmen. Price  See service explanation. Reasonable Sales Tactics  Beware. He'll underquote and overcharge. Problem Resolution  He dropped the charge that was supposed to be $50 to $75 from $330 to $210. Value  I paid $210 to find out I needed to replace the EGR valve. It shouldn't cost that much to find this out.
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Theodoros Christodoulou
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