I spent 216 dollars diagnostic fee at this shop with no good outcome because the owner told me to…read moretake the car somewhere else after he charged the diagnostic fee. He said he didn't want to waste my time or his time. He recommended a mechanic that specializes in Mercedes. I thought that they offers minor and major repairs for new and older cars based information on their website. When I called and talked to Scott, the owner, prior to towing my car there, Scott said that they could fix the car although I'd have to wait a few weeks before towing my car there. I said that's okay with me because I was not in a hurry. However, I didn't expect that once I tow my car there, they would not work on the car for weeks afterwards. This was not the impression that I got initially. After I towed my car there, the young lady who greeted me told me that it would take only 2 hours before the mechanic can diagnose the problem on this classic car.
After I towed my car to Woodinville Import Auto Repair, the car was left in their parking lot for weeks. Staffs at this shop kept calling me with different prices on diagnostic fee and different timeline. When I called to follow-up after weeks, Scott's wife said that their mechanic will look at my car whenever he had free time. She told me that if I wanted to mechanic to look at the car sooner, it would be expensive, up to 1,000 dollars to diagnose the car issue. They talked down to me and blamed that I misunderstood Scott's wife and etc, claimed she never said anything like that. They made me feel like I could not communicate well in English when I have been in the U.S. for almost 30 years (since I was a little girl). I went to middle school, high school, undergrad at UW and even got a doctorate degree in the U.S. How can they blame their lack of competent mechanic, their lack of care to customer's car, their poor time management on me as a customer?! I thought it was very odd the interactions that I experienced at this shop. Scott charged me 216 dollars for diagnostic fee, but that was not that helpful at all. This is because when I tow my car to other shop after this, other reputable shops will need to re-examine the car again anyway before they fix the car.
Updated: I ended up towing my dad's 1990 classic Mercedes (420 SEL) to another shop in Renton. My experience at another shop was so different and wonderful compared to this business. At another shop in Renton, they took really great care of this car. The shop in Renton diagnosed the car within hours and got the car fixed in days. The diagnosis they gave me in Renton was much more detailed.
Now the car is fixed and it drives AMAZING as it is supposed to be because it's 1990 Mercedes 420 SEL (my dad loved this car so after he passed, I wanted to fix the car). This made me realized it was such a mistake to take my dad's classic 1990 Mercedes to Woodinville Import Auto Repair. This was my first experience dealing with a car shop because I usually drive new cars. I honestly didn't know what to expect.
Now that I took the 1990 Mercedes to another shop that treated me normal like how it is supposed to be, I realized that Woodinville Import Auto Repair was not good at all. I think what happened was that even though they scheduled me to tow my car there to fix, they ended up fixing others' cars first. They took priority to fix other cars because they thought my car was old (it's a classic car). Then the worst part, both owners tried to blame ME for their poor time management. They kept blaming the issue on "communication" with me. They "thought I was not in a hurry." Yes, I was not in a hurry but to leave the car in the parking lots for weeks is not acceptable. To keep changing their price of diagnostic fee is NOT NORMAL. They acted like I was abnormal for calling them to follow-up after weeks of no progress.
They let the car stays at the same place in the parking lot outside for weeks, charged 216 diagnostic fee, talked down to me as if I was the problem. They didn't really do much to "diagnose" the car.
The owner said that he didn't want to waste my time or waste his time by fixing this car after he diagnosed the problem. I had to pay extra tow fee to tow the car to another shop. Other shop will have to re-do the diagnostic process and charge the diagnostic fee again. As a result, I paid total of 700 dollars (round trip towing fee and diagnostic fee) for nothing because of this business.
What frustrated me the most was that the owners of this shop tried to blame me for many things such as "wasting [their] time" or "communication" issue. When this was supposed to be a straight forward situation. Scott told me the car needs a new fuel pump when fuel pump was new. When I took it to other shop, they spent hours diagnose the car correctly and fixed it within days. If you are looking for an honest auto shop that will treat you with respect, I don't feel that this is the one.