3 years ago
My mother took in her 2001 Toyota Solara as it had...
My mother took in her 2001 Toyota Solara as it had overheated when coming off the highway. It was diagnosed as a thermostat issue, which was taken care of, the labor fee was reasonable for around $250 total. However, I had made a mention that the radiator cap was a little damaged as a piece had broken off. The technician said he'd just throw a new one on (his words), and no price was explained to my mother. When we went to pick up the car, I had noticed that they tried to charge $45 on a radiator cap, which if anyone has worked with cars, is an abnormal price for those stamped metal type caps, as they are usually only $8. While there, I confirmed that the Lakeland Toyota parts department charges $10 for the same part, with an MSRP of $15 (still more than it's worth, but a far cry from $45). When it was explained that Sun Toyota would bring the price down to $18 (and was explained they are not Lakeland Toytota), I told them to put the old cap back on and I'll replace it myself, as while there I confirmed with Autozone that they had it in stock for $8 and would just save my mother the money. They ultimately decided to write the cap off entirely and give it to her free. People, pay close attention to your receipts BEFORE YOU SIGN. They tried to tell me some story about how the prices can be odd, but think about it, they were going to charge her nearly 6x the amount of what the part cost, and had I not noticed it, they would have made out like bandits.
To top it off, when I was following my mother home, I noticed that her hood wasn't even closed all the way. They had actually sent my mother home with an unlatched hood. With that, my review is a 3 out of 5, because they did fix the thermostat, no leaks, and the labor price was good, but took off 2 stars for the hood AND the price discrepancy.