I am not a car person so I always take my car to Toyota to do the scheduled maintenance. However, I find them taking advantage of my poor knowledge of car and always said I need to do more than is necessary ( but they wrote on the receipt that I am the one who requested the different works done) and charge me accordingly. As the economy worsen, I do not want to spend more than is necessary on maintenance. Please tell me how to find a good/honest independent car repair shop in Westchester county in New York or Flushing, New York. that will not give me genuine front brake & rotors, which I have to replace soon , and not over charge me. Also is it important to have Toyota front brake & rotors on Toyota car, or any manufacturer's part will do? Thank you.
RepairPal Certified shops can diagnose and repair your 2006 Toyota RAV4. They provide transparent pricing with a minimum 12-month or 12,000-mile warranty on repairs and services.
I do not know any repair shops in your area. Word of mouth is the best advertising for any repair shop. I am a strong believer that if a repair shop look after their customers there customers are their best advertisements. Ask friends, family and colleagues at work if they have a repair shop that they trust and have built up a relationship with over time. Look to see if there are any independent Toyota specialty shops in your area that would have the knowledge, training and experience working on Toyotas. Toyota are a relatively simple car to work on and exceptionally reliable. Toyota don't actually make brake pads for their cars, Akibono, or Sumitomo brake company make the genuine brake pads. Many aftermarket parts are equal to Toyota quality. Some chain store franchises in my experience use inferior parts.
I teach an automotive class in a local adult education program. The students are great and have ranged in age from 20 to 72. See if there is any basic automotive adult education class in your area just so you understand the basics (enough to know if you are being taken advantage of).
Toyota, GM, Ford etc., are notorious for overcharging the customer for the work performed on cars in their own shop. If you want to save a lot of money I suggest you take it to a local independent repair shop that you can trust. Talk to your neighbors and friends and get referrals. I used to work as a service advisor for a Cadillac/Oldsmobile/Buick dealership and know first hand how their scam works. They have a developed hourly maintenance billing manuals established to estimate the bill for specified work to be performed. These are usually worst case scenarios. For example a break job may be estimated at 4-6 hours ($700.00 - $1200.00), representing a huge profit to the dealership. The actual break job can be completed in about an hour or less. Parts are very reasonably priced at cost even from an auto parts store. (break drums - $30-$50)(Rotors if necessary approximately $100-150.00) The dealership marks up the parts to include profit and overhead costs and delivery charges. They also add a large mark up on the estimated labor costs. You should also be cautious of so called high performance auto parts and proprietary parts. The service department will overcharge you for these parts also. Shop around and get competitive quotes. Good luck.
I really appreciate your taking the time to give me such a detailed and informative reply. Thank you.