What matters to me in auto service are quality, honesty and price. My first experience with the service department was an issue I had in a car that actually matters to me. (Sorry, I'm allergic to cats). I enjoy doing most of my own work when possible, but I am occasionally limited by the facilities available to me at home. I am VERY reluctant to have this car serviced by others so quality was a big concern. Since the car is past warranty, I was concerned about how much I was going to get hit for cost. Sure enough, on inspection, the problem turned out to be several problems. (What's up with that?!) It's not that I didn't trust them, I didn't even know them, but I asked if I could go out and personally see what else they had found. Much to my surprise, the savvy technician was willing to walk me out and actually show me in detail under the car what was found. Not only was I satisfied with the tour of my car's new-found problems but In the short time spent with the mechanic, I was not only impressed, but I was glad the problems were discovered. Left alone, fixing these problems would have cost considerably more later. But they DID NOT CHARGE BOOK PRICE on everything since they were already into certain areas. So in some cases only adding parts prices was necessary. Additional problems means additional time and they drove me home to West Seattle and picked me up again in a courtesy shuttle after they spent several days fixing the issues. It's a pretty good distance so this service carries significant value to me. When the job was done, I felt confident about the work and was satisfied with the price. Much to my surprise, I was told that all the repairs provided carried a 12-month warranty. I don't think that's too common with dealer repair shops. It doesn't hurt that the service manager I worked with (Chip) was very friendly and willing to answer any and all of my pain-in-the-butt questions to my satisfaction during the whole process. I've already been back twice for things I could have easily done myself but didn't want to take the time to mess with. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot, they offered a courtesy car wash as part of the service.
more