I felt compelled to write a review of Shultz Auto and Truck Repair located at 5085 Southwestern Blvd, Hamburg NY. I specifically sent my son to Schultz Auto, to have his car looked at, based on the pages and pages of positive reviews they share on "their" website. However, after leaving our car in their hands, it became clear that they do not share the full picture of everyone’s experiences. I can honestly say that I would not recommend their services to anyone.
As for my personal experience, we live out of state but my son attends college in the Hamburg area. He was experiencing an issue with his car and we couldn’t get any recommendations on trustworthy local mechanics from other students/parents, so while we were researching mechanics, we suggested he take the car to the local Auto Zone to get a quick diagnostic.
Auto Zone ran a diagnostic and shared with him the error code. They said he needed a new ignition coil and may want to have his spark plugs looked at/replaced.
This was all occurring only a few weeks away from Thanksgiving break and knowing he had a 8 hour drive home, we needed to find a trustworthy local Machinic to replace the coil and/or plugs.
We called Schults Auto and explained the issue. We made an appointment for my son to drop off the car.
After looking at the car, they sent us an absurd estimate. They estimated the repairs at $5,827.46. Keep in mind I only paid $8000 for the car when I bought it 3 years ago.
This estimate included a full diagnostic charge of $244.96. This was clearly over inflated as my dealership only charges me $170 for a diagnostic. Also, this was not even necessary as we shared what the issue was and what we wanted them to look at and fix.
Additionally, the quote was LOADED with unnecessary work including a brake job which, we just had brake work done 4 months earlier.
At this point, we knew we were being taken advantage of. We were now stuck with a $244.96 (unnecessary) diagnostic charge, but we were trying to figure out if it would be better to just have my son try to drive or tow the car to a dealership or another mechanic. However, we still did not know where else to take the car. So we decided that we would just have Schultz change the spark plugs because we wanted to get the car back, and drivable, so that my son could make it home (safely) and we could take it to our mechanic, who by the way was floored by what this business was estimating.
So we declined all the unnecessary work with the exception of replacing the plugs (no wires, nothing else, just plugs) which was $533.09 and when you add in the $244.96 diagnostic, taxes and fees, we were charged $808.50 to have spark plugs replaced.
I feel completely taken advantage of because my son is a college student and we live out of state and I could not be there to help him with this. As a mom, it is extremely hard to send a kid off to another state to go to school. So you pray that there are good/honest people around him that will help him and treat him the way they would want someone to treat their kids. Being so far away, I feel completely helpless in these situations and I worry for other moms/parents in the same situation. The only thing I can do is share my story (which I am doing), so hopefully I can spare someone else from being taken advantage of.
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As for my personal experience, we live out of state but my son attends college in the Hamburg area. He was experiencing an issue with his car and we couldn’t get any recommendations on trustworthy local mechanics from other students/parents, so while we were researching mechanics, we suggested he take the car to the local Auto Zone to get a quick diagnostic.
Auto Zone ran a diagnostic and shared with him the error code. They said he needed a new ignition coil and may want to have his spark plugs looked at/replaced.
This was all occurring only a few weeks away from Thanksgiving break and knowing he had a 8 hour drive home, we needed to find a trustworthy local Machinic to replace the coil and/or plugs.
We called Schults Auto and explained the issue. We made an appointment for my son to drop off the car.
After looking at the car, they sent us an absurd estimate. They estimated the repairs at $5,827.46. Keep in mind I only paid $8000 for the car when I bought it 3 years ago.
This estimate included a full diagnostic charge of $244.96. This was clearly over inflated as my dealership only charges me $170 for a diagnostic. Also, this was not even necessary as we shared what the issue was and what we wanted them to look at and fix.
Additionally, the quote was LOADED with unnecessary work including a brake job which, we just had brake work done 4 months earlier.
At this point, we knew we were being taken advantage of. We were now stuck with a $244.96 (unnecessary) diagnostic charge, but we were trying to figure out if it would be better to just have my son try to drive or tow the car to a dealership or another mechanic. However, we still did not know where else to take the car. So we decided that we would just have Schultz change the spark plugs because we wanted to get the car back, and drivable, so that my son could make it home (safely) and we could take it to our mechanic, who by the way was floored by what this business was estimating.
So we declined all the unnecessary work with the exception of replacing the plugs (no wires, nothing else, just plugs) which was $533.09 and when you add in the $244.96 diagnostic, taxes and fees, we were charged $808.50 to have spark plugs replaced.
I feel completely taken advantage of because my son is a college student and we live out of state and I could not be there to help him with this. As a mom, it is extremely hard to send a kid off to another state to go to school. So you pray that there are good/honest people around him that will help him and treat him the way they would want someone to treat their kids. Being so far away, I feel completely helpless in these situations and I worry for other moms/parents in the same situation. The only thing I can do is share my story (which I am doing), so hopefully I can spare someone else from being taken advantage of.