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<p>Were you ever bothered enough to file a formal complaint?</p>
<p>Obviously some people were because Sears’ problems in this area are legendary.</p>
<p>I’m trying to decide on filing something or not.</p>
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A family member bought a Hyundai Sonata - comfortable and relatively affordable and has an outstanding warranty. Plus, it’s made in the USA.</p>
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The problem is subjectivity. Whether something ‘should be’ replaced or not is something a group of mechanics or even knowledgeable owners won’t necessarily agree on. </p>
<p>Something like a tie rod end starts wearing the minute you start moving the car, will be more worn 50K miles later and even more worn 100K miles later but the questions is, should it be replaced at that 50K point or the 100K point or does it still have plenty of life left? </p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if your tire shop didn’t tend to focus on ‘tires/brakes/steering/suspension’ and therefore purposely look for steering components to replace and maybe this was all they could come up with and even then it was marginal as to whether it needed to be replaced or not or maybe it was clear it didn’t need to be replaced and they lied to you. It was almost amusing that a long time ago whenever I took the car to Goodyear to get new tires they ‘always’ wanted to replace the idler arm. It was bogus. </p>
<p>Another example is the water pump. Should it get replaced when replacing the timing belt even though it’s not exhibiting a problem? IMO the answer would be ‘yes’ because it gets removed/installed in the timing belt replacement procedure anyway so since the labor has to be done it’s an opportune time to just replace it and call it preventative maintenance. This is the opinion of most mechanics but it actually does cost more and one could argue it doesn’t need to be replaced right now so just leave it in. Both are valid opinions.</p>
<p>I just finished college and start new job soon and need a car to get to work in town. My neighbor has a '96 Nissan Maxima with only 71,000 miles–the car is one owner, just driven locally, kept in garage, A-1 mechanically, has new tires, and the body and the leather interior looks like brand new–he’ll sell it to me for $3500. I’m not sure if I should buy a brand new car that I’d have to make monthly payments for 5 years, or buy a used car like my neighbors with cash and cross my fingers that the car holds up for a couple of years. The 16 yr old Maxima uses premium gas and probably gets about 20 miles/gal. My mechanic eyeballed the Maxima and said it is fine and looks like it hasn’t rolled past 71,000 miles on odometer.</p>
<p>No SEARS was always saying there were leaks and other problems. My mechanic would put it up on the hoist and say that NO, the car had no leaks. I never did bother complaining about SEARS, though probably should have. I just never trusted them but felt locked in since I bought lifetime oil changes and a few other things from them. Was happy after I sold that car and no longer had any ties to them. I rarely ever go to them any more, for anything and the entire store is closing down entirely at our main shopping center soon.</p>
<p>lizard:</p>
<p>Your choices aren’t between a brand new car and a 16 y/o Maxima - there are many cars in between the two somewhat extreme ends.</p>
<p>Although the Maxima might be fine I’d think twice about buying a 16 y/o car that gets 20mpg (really?) and uses premium gas. </p>
<p>Another option is to get a newer vehicle with modern safety features but is 3-4 years old and still has some factory warranty left on it. You can save a lot of money on the depreciation and still have something you can take to the dealer and have fixed under warranty.</p>
<p>But if you don’t want to pay for that and have a budget you’re willing to pay for a car see what else is out there that fits your budget and see how it compares to this Maxima.</p>
<p>I’m thinking something newer too GGD, but not necessarily brand new. I’m afraid if I get an older car I’ll end up having to get costly repairs done on car every other month.</p>
<p>I’ve had to go do an oil change or other service at places other than my own mechanic before…one chain tried to tell me I needed a $450 repair. I declined, took it to my mechanic, who literally tightened a bolt, charged me nothing, and that fixed the issue.</p>
<p>I go only to my mechanic unless it’s an emergency and I’m away from home.</p>
<p>“We have a special on blinker fluid service today Sir.”</p>
<p>Most people have a handful of “awful service” stories. Fortunately there are good independent shops available today. Look around. You’ll find them. </p>
<p>As for that '96 Maxima, I leased one for three years. Very solid car. Just make sure it’s an automatic, because the manuals tended to need clutch service rather often. (And just try to get a dealer to do that job without also changing the flywheel, pressure plate and throw-out bearing. Pricey!)</p>
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<p>2000 Toyota Avalon.</p>
<p>You Avalon owners are SO lucky. The YouTube video for changing the HEPA filter in my Mazda runs seventeen minutes.</p>
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<p>Depends on your definition of “affordable” and “comfortable”. But there are a lot of new cars that are relatively low priced for new cars but have seating, ride, and noise comfort that are quite good.</p>
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<p>Most newer cars have RFID chips in the keys as an theft-resistance measure. To be effective, it has to be difficult to copy the key (so that valets cannot copy the key and then steal your car later with the copy). Yes, a thief with a tow truck can still steal the car, but not all thieves have tow trucks.</p>
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<p>That may depend on the specific model of car… if the car is such that replacing either the timing belt or water pump involves the same labor, and the amount of labor is a lot (i.e. expensive) relative to the cost of the timing belt or water pump, then it makes sense to do both together if one does not have confidence that the non-replaced water pump will have a remaining lifetime at least as long as the replaced timing belt’s lifetime.</p>
<p>^^ Yes - that’s why I indicated the example - something that’s not really failed that’s worth replacing if doing certain other work depending on the cost of the part and labor. There are some other parts that make sense to replace like this but some other parts that, while worn somewhat, don’t really warrant replacing ‘just because’ IMO. Sometimes it comes down to circumstance.</p>
<p>880,000 Toyotas and Lexus recalled today. 2006 and newer.</p>
<p>I have not experienced the attempt to sell phantom services other than at the chain tire companies. </p>
<p>Our over 20 year relationship with the same mechanic has been wonderful. We take him any car we look at for purchase to make a buy/do not buy recommendation. He makes a list with safety priority fixes (if any), then “soon” maintenance requirements and then mid-range maintenance items. He gives us price estimates for each item.</p>
<p>Once purchased, he does all oil changes and state inspections. Since W’s Tahoe has a lot of mileage put on it each year, W has him change the oil every 3000 miles and do a visual inspection while on the rack each time. We fix what he suggests, but I’d say he does not suggest something be done 9 times out of 10. We have experienced one non-tire issue while on the road in over 200,000 miles. </p>
<p>When we had AA tow us to a out of town shop we called our mechanic and told him and he suggested that we ask the local shop to call him to discuss. Then our mechanic called and gave us his take. It got fixed within the price range our mechanic had said was fair. I got a big grin that the local put the parts that had been replaced in the car so we had them.</p>
<p>The water pump - timing belt relationship is on my car so I have them done at the same time.</p>
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<p>This is the first time that it’s happened to me that I know about.</p>
<p>I think that the chain tire stores do a great job at tires. But I imagine that it’s a tough business doing tires alone. I’m almost thinking that this sort of thing is routine for their industry and people just have to know that it happens to avoid getting taken.</p>
<p>GGD, thanks for suggesting the Sonata. That’ll probably be the next car we test-drive. </p>
<p>Any other suggestions of comfortable, affordable ($30,000), safe cars?</p>
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The two places I’ve used for tires for a long time, Discount Tire and Costco, only do tires so there’s no issue at them with the other work up-sell plus their prices are usually very good as is their service.</p>