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Hi everyone, I'm brand new to this forum, and car maintenance in general, so I really appreciate your patience. I did glance at the posting FAQ but if I'm not following protocol, please feel free to let me know.


Q. #1 I have a 2001 Civic with 97,000 miles on it. The A/C failed last month, and I took it in and had the compressor replaced. I took it to Sears because they gave me a one-year warranty, which none of my local shops would do.

Fast forward about two weeks later and I'm getting a high-pitched squeal whenever I start the car and the A/C is on. After a few minutes or when I turn off the A/C, it dies down. I take it back to Sears and they confirm my suspicions that it's the A/C belt - looks like the belt was damaged and instead of letting me know/putting on a new belt, the technician just slapped on the old one. Of course they don't want to honor the warranty, and I'm wondering if I have a valid argument here - I would have of course replaced the belt at the time, and I'm looking at shelling out another $200 + in labor alone after paying 600 + in the first place. I'm happy to pay for the part, but I don't think I should have to pay to have the whole thing taken it off again, when it could have been done at the time (Sear's guy even admitted this to me).

Q. #2 Second question....Sears also told me both of my Lower control arm bushings are torn and need to be replaced. Obviously, this isn't related to the A/C, but is this something I'd need to get done ASAP ($$ is tight right now) or can it wait a bit? If it's going to cost me less to have it done at the same time, labor-wise, I'd rather get it over with.


**Thanks for reading, and sorry if there are any stupid questions. I'm learning!**


- Cara

 
Rep Power: 518

No way...Seriously?


Why? For a belt? Seriously?

Forgive me for asking, but where are you located? If you are not in the middle of a huge metro area, the price sounds completely outrageous. Even you are, and if the labor rate is $200/hour, that's still outrageous IMO.


FWIW almost any respectable shop will give 12/12 warranty on most repairs, parts and labor.

http://autorepair.iatn.net/

 
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We were pushed for time as well - our two local shops wouldn't warranty it - not sure why.

I had the repair done at a Sears in upstate NY. I'm estimating $200 for the labor for just the a/c belt (read online it should take 2 hours? is this excessive?)

The total price they quoted me was $759. This was to replace the A/C and PLS (still not sure what this is) belts, and both lower control arm bushings. I didn't get a detailed estimate (should have asked). I'm still waiting for them to call me back - but I wanted to get as informed as possible as I'm wary of getting taken advantage of (well, maybe I already have been) since I just spent $700 to fix the compressor and I can't even use the A/C because it sounds like i'm butchering pigs in there.....

 
Rep Power: 518

YOU guessed at that $200 figure?

Did you even ask the shop what the price would be?

2 hours is far too long, labor-wise (money).


You don't want me to actually say what my opinion is..... I think you already know what it will be.

You asked about the bushings, yes I'd bet it needs them. They all eventually need them.
BUT second opinions can be invaluable.
Did you check out the link I left in the last post?

 
Rep Power: 518

Pic was too good to pass up...

 
Rep Power: 518

Looks like Alldata says about 0.5 labor hours to replace the belt.

 
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It's been difficult to get them to communicate me. (like return calls)

When I initially went in, they threw a lot of info at me - and the estimate they printed out for me is not detailed. Like I said, this is all new for me, and I was nervous. When I spoke to them, I didn't realize that the bushing issue was unrelated from the a/c belt (after researching online, now I know), so I thought the $759 was just for the a/c belt. I apologize, but I really can't tell what your opinion is - I see that 2 hours is too much, labor wise, but what I want to know is

1) Is Sears responsible for the labor to replace my belt and
2) do I need to have the control arm bushings replaced at the same time or can I wait and go to another (better quality) shop?


Thanks very much - I will check out the link I didn't notice it before...


Cara

 
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Thanks! I appreciate it.

 
Rep Power: 518

That says a lot.
"Good" salesmen can smell fear, and prey upon that.
"Good" salesmen can smell confusion, and prey upon that.

The person on the phone is a salesman. Their main goal is to remove all the money from your wallet and relocate it to theirs. (Commission based pay plan.)
Ok, this makes a lot more sense now.

It's not gonna be pretty.

It doesn't really matter what my personal opinion is in this matter.
There are several things I don't know about the situation, I can only speculate based on what I see with the cars here on a regular basis.....




Guess whose opinion is the only one that counts in this particular matter.

You would need to sway that opinion to your favor.




Wait and go elsewhere if you aren't comfortable with them. I'm sure your belt problem can be taken care of at that time too if Sears won't take care of you.

I'll guess your timing belt hasn't been done yet either? Look into it before it's too late.
The accessory belt job is part of a timing belt job (labor-wise).









Hmmm....I may be having a bad day.

 
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Thanks, that did help a lot.

I ended up having the a/c and power steering belts replaced. They comped the labor time for the a/c belt, so it ended up being about $120 (about 35 for each belt plus 1/2 hour of labor).

I won't go back there as I spent 3 hours waiting around for a service that should have been done a month ago.

I'll use the site you linked to find another shop to get the bushings done - Sears quoted me about $250 for this ( still not sure where they got that original price of $759).

Timing belt is on the list - I'm trying to go light on this car until I can get that done - I realize it's a game of roulette at this point to be driving around without it replaced.




Thanks,

Cara

 
Rep Power: 518

I hate hearing stories about shops and people that put a proverbial black eye on the profession that has put food on my table, paid my bills and raised my family, and that I still love after nearly 30 years. (Oh damn, did I say that?)


About that site linked above, there is no guarantee any shop or person you find is any better or worse than any other shop you can find.
The only thing they have in common is their membership with IATN.