Complaint Review: CARMAX - KENNESAW Georgia

I suggest if you file a claim agains them in court spend the extra $75 for the REAL factory repair manual (i.e. not Chiltons or Haynes). Take that to show to the court with the brakes page bookmarked. I THINK for your Mitsubishi the book is published by Helm's Publications. I have the Honda book and it is A+++. Bought mine from Half.com or Abebooks.com or Amazon. Can't remember. MUCH cheaper than the other book stores I priced. Find the ISBN number and then you can comparison shop. Brakes: Some cars preform better with OEM (factory) brand brakes. Volvos are a good example. A mechanic friend tells me that OEM pads just work better and quieter (the main problem with aftermarket parts). I found that I could buy brakes cheaper over the counter at the local Honda dealer for my Honda than from the FLAPS. AND they were thicker (lasts longer). AND they came with the shims and anti-squeal grease where the FLAPS charged extra for that. Having worked for a FLAPS I also discovered that sometimes the new parts are below the used specs. Customer brought in a 300K mile old Mistsubishi brake rotor. It was too thin to be used anymore (there are minimum thickness specs stamped on them). It was still thicker than the new rotor I pulled off the shelf (made in China). Some FLAPS are better than other. I like NAPA but I have seen times when NAPA and the super market style FLAPS (think Auto Zone, Advance Auto) sells the VERY same item (same manufacturer even) at a higher price. HOWEVER NAPA and a few others will have experienced mechanics behind the counter where some of the typical FLAPS have teens or other young folks behind the counter. That is worth something too you know... It costs something too! When I started at a FLAPS some of my co-workers knew very little about what they were selling, what these parts did, and the difference between good parts and junk. In some cases the replacement part was worse than the used part it was replacing. Think Chrysler for a moment. A parts counter for a Chrysler dealer told me they sold brake pads for their vehicles with 8-10 different brake materials. That's because they had vehicles big and small with different braking needs. The FLAPS I worked at sold brakes to fit every vehicle with only 3 braking materials (recipes if you will). Dealer brakes for me, thanks. The braking material needs to match the rotor or drum materials or you risk noise, excessive heat or dust, limited durability of the pad/shoe or the rotor/drum. You could find that the cheaper pads wear out twice as quickly as the OEM parts, or that the new pads wear out the rotor before it's time. FALSE economy when you have to buy rotors or pads twice as often. Using that factory repair book and your owner's manual figure out what maintenance is required at what intervals! Your timing belt might have been required at 60K or it might have been required at 100K. Don't rely on anyone to tell you the truth except the vehicle manufacturer. The dealer or a mechanic is not the same. They lie sometimes. Honestly a seal is $15, and a timing belt is $50 or less, and the labor is typically $350 or less. $1400 is TOO much! I do my own. Not for the faint of heart! Price around for repairs! I really recommend you develop a business relationship with a private (independent) mechanic who can make repairs and advise you about maintenance. Also join an owner's club! That alone has saved me thousands of dollars with free advice. There are plenty of free forums all over the 'net. You can use the maintenance chart to ask specific questions about maintenance with your mechanic. How are the brakes? How are the axle boots? Are there any leaks around the engine? When you get a repair done ask specifically WHAT was done and WHAT was replaced. Have the parts pointed out! Have them save the old parts and see if they look right. If need be take them to a FLAPS and compare the old to the new to see if they have in fact given you an old part fits your vehicle! Have your mechanic write it out in plain language what was done. Go home and look at the FLAPS webpages (Friendly Local Auto PartS) and comparison shop the parts prices. Did they charge you 2 times as much as NAPA would for the same part? Might be okay if they bought parts from the dealer which a typically better quality and more expensive. Of course you can often beat the dealer prices by buying online. We have a '97 VW Cabrio. I have found 3 or 4 places where the parts department of a dealer has a webpage with prices near wholesale levels. They typically beat my local dealer by 50%! If your mechanic is charging dealer prices for Auto Zone parts then I'd be steamed! Anyhow Beverly's info was A+ so I have nothing more to add.

Since your car ran worse after you took it to CarMax, go back to GoodYear and ask them if they can tell if the work you were charged for by CarMax had been done. They should be able to tell, if it was recent, if certain parts were removed, etc. that would be necessary to get to the timing belt, to fix an oil leak, etc. Also, bring them your receipt from CarMax which should indicate to them where your oil leak was... again, see if they can tell if the repair was made and if it was made correctly (a new seal put in) instead of someone going over the outside of it with caulk (that happened to me once). You don't state how long you've had the car, but, did you buy it from CarMax and if so, how many miles did it have on it at the time (no matter where you bought it). If you haven't had it for a couple of years, I'd wonder how they knew that the maintenance hadn't already been done. If you bought it at CarMax and it had anywhere close to the 50k miles on it (or more) at the time of your purchase, I'd want to know why they didn't do it prior to your purchase of the vehicle. Also, find a mechanic who could tell you if there would have been any warning prior to the timing belt going out -- any way you could tell, or any way the mechanic should have known. Also, contact the manufacturer of your vehicle with your VIN # and find out if there is any residual warranty still on any part of your vehicle -- a while back some of the foreign makers were offering 10 year/100,000 mile warranties -- bumper-to-bumper. If it turns out that's the case, it could be your lucky day and maybe all you'd have to do is submit claims for your repairs to them. If you have your owner's manual the warranty info could be in there, but I'd still check with the manufacturer in case the original purchaser extended the warranty at the time of purchase -- a lot of times those are transferable. Don't give up!!! One last thing I was thinking about -- there are those prepaid legal services out there that cost practically pennies to join. I know that they'll write letters on your behalf and stuff like that being fully covered under the service. Might be a cheap way to get some of this done.

Given the history that you have and, I'm sure, can document through three different repair facilities, WHAT *I* WOULD DO IS ... I would file a claim against CarMax in Small Claims Court. As I'm sure you know, the standard in civil court is much more lenient than in criminal court -- meaning you need less proof to prove your case. I would also -- and perhaps unfortunately -- sue the repair facility that did the original brake job. One of them, at least, owes you a refund... let the judge figure out which one or if they both do. Also, contact Mitsubishi on the brake pad issue and find out what the truth of the matter is and ask them to write a letter for you to the effect of what pads can be used on your vehicle. While they're certainly going to recommend their own parts, generally as long as it meets their specifications there is no problem with any other brand. So, that also means, getting the specifications for both the Mitsubishi and the other brand pads. Contact the company that actually repaired your vehicle and see if they would be willing to testify on your behalf in court, and if not, if they would be willing to provide you with a sworn affidavit about the situation. What you said when you brought the vehicle in, what problems your reported, the difficulty in finding the problem -- how much technical expertise it required. What was found to be wrong with your car, how it was diagnosed and what the repair was. And, of course, the price for repair. Also, ask both them and Mitsubishi if the brake repair you had done "could have" corrected the symptoms you reported and whether in their opinion proper procedure was followed. Both you and your husband should attend court since you both had direct dealings with the companies involved. Also, if there was anyone else who drove your car and can further document what your complaint was that would be helpful too. In cases like this, it's usually the person with the most accurate, honest, information that wins. Don't try to increase anything or make it sound worse than it really was. Sue, both companies for the full amount of all repairs that they performed. Sue them both for court filing fees and "document preparation." If, you had to take time off from work to attend to the second and third repairs, document that as well. Document the original day too, but state that you feel that one day would be reasonable because their was a repair that needed to be done. Get a report about the companies involved from the Better Business Bureau. It's way better to have too much information that too little. The judge is not an auto mechanic and he's going to have to be taught, by you, about what the problem was, the correct procedures, etc. Making the situation understandable is VERY helpful. Also, unless the problem truly did keep you from attending the funeral of your only Grandparent or some such -- which won't fly because the jduge knows you could have gotten there *somehow*, don't say things like that. Stick to the facts of the matter. Get the names of the people that you talked with, write down dates, names, conversations,etc. Do it as soon as possible (best to do it while it's going on) so you'll remember more of it -- you'll use that for filling out your court papers and also to refresh your own memory before trial. Many rightful cases in small claims court are lost due to not having documentation and people not doing their homework about what the "right thing" to do would have been. I'm not a lawyer. I am not a legal professional of any kind. And, I don't know to any degree of certainty that this will help you. But, like I said before, this is "what I would do." I listed a lot of things that I could think of above to get you thinking about what documents you can get and from whom, but it's not complete by any means, or, who knows, it may have too much on there that you don't need. You could have a consultation with a lawyer, but you probably don't need it -- but a lawyer might be able to tell you things to make sure you bring. Also, sometimes, just having a lawyer write a letter demanding the refund is all it takes. Oh yeah, depending on where you live, you may have to have made a demand for restitution prior to bringing claim in court and since that's cheaper than filing court papers, should probably be something you try first anyway. Anything you mail should be sent certified mail, return receipt requested. Keep copies and attache your certified receipt and the receipt that they signed to your copy of the letter. But, it's bettter to have too much information. That's the only thing I know for sure. If you don't use it, oh well, it probably only cost you a few minutes of your time anyway. Oh, and last, but certainly not least make copies of and bring the originals of any invoices, estimates, payment receipts, cancelled checks, credit card statements showing the charges, etc. You have to prove the amount of your losses too. I'm sorry this is so long, but I used to go sit and watch these cases and it was really sad the number of people that lost their cases because they didn't know what they needed to have to prove their case. I'm sure you can find more information on the internet too. Good luck!

Sounds like you need to communucate a little better with the service people. What kind of symptoms did you report? A brake job and a PCV valve are two entirely different areas.