A few months ago, I hired a young woman (19 y/o) as an office assistant (working in admin). Over the past few months, she has noticed me doing some fleet maintenance and realized that I know a thing or two about taking care of vehicles so she asked me to help her out with hers. She drives a 2016 Ford Fusion with the classic 2.5L I4, 141K miles on the clock. She hands me an estimate from a Firestone center where she's been servicing her vehicle since she got it and wanted me to verify it. I said sure and did a once over. Bottom line, about half the estimate was legit. Her front tires were bald (3/64"), dire need of front end alignment, her rear brakes were at less than 1.5mm (front at about 4mm), the battery failed hard on the tester, and it was due for an oil change.
But the other half of the estimate, my goodness. They said she needed a "Tune Up" (which wasn't defined), air filter, coolant flush, transmission flush, and the kicker - POWER STEERING FLUID FLUSH (the car has EPAS!). I assumed by a "Tune Up" they meant spark plugs, so I pulled them all out to take a look. They were worn down a little, but not out of spec yet (probably another 20K miles on them). She told me that they had already done a coolant and transmission flush a couple of years ago. I pulled the air filter out and it looked brand new. She said they replace it every time they do an oil change. They told her that they are required by law to replace the air filter every time they do an oil change and she's been having them do it for the last year and half (4 oil changes).
When I broke everything down for her, she obviously didn't want anything to do with that shop anymore. She wanted to get the other stuff that needed to be done taken care of but doesn't have a whole lot of money and the estimate Firestone gave her was $2.7K. For some new tires and an alignment, I set her up with the independent shop I use for my fleet and got her a good price on some Goodyear Assurance MaxLife tires (her pick). I offered to take care of the brakes, oil, and battery and help her find the right parts. She wanted everything OEM (including the oil and filter) so after quick online trip to RockAuto and a couple of days, she's got a much safer vehicle for a pretty reasonable cost. Of course, throughout this whole ordeal, I've been teaching her some of the traps and scams to look out for, how she can verify some of these things herself, and how to keep a proper maintenance log. She is obviously never going back to that Firestone center and will likely be using our indy shop in the future (free tire rotations and discounted F/S oil changes). I definitely feel much better knowing she isn't going to hydroplane while her brakes are failing and die on the way in to work.
But the other half of the estimate, my goodness. They said she needed a "Tune Up" (which wasn't defined), air filter, coolant flush, transmission flush, and the kicker - POWER STEERING FLUID FLUSH (the car has EPAS!). I assumed by a "Tune Up" they meant spark plugs, so I pulled them all out to take a look. They were worn down a little, but not out of spec yet (probably another 20K miles on them). She told me that they had already done a coolant and transmission flush a couple of years ago. I pulled the air filter out and it looked brand new. She said they replace it every time they do an oil change. They told her that they are required by law to replace the air filter every time they do an oil change and she's been having them do it for the last year and half (4 oil changes).
When I broke everything down for her, she obviously didn't want anything to do with that shop anymore. She wanted to get the other stuff that needed to be done taken care of but doesn't have a whole lot of money and the estimate Firestone gave her was $2.7K. For some new tires and an alignment, I set her up with the independent shop I use for my fleet and got her a good price on some Goodyear Assurance MaxLife tires (her pick). I offered to take care of the brakes, oil, and battery and help her find the right parts. She wanted everything OEM (including the oil and filter) so after quick online trip to RockAuto and a couple of days, she's got a much safer vehicle for a pretty reasonable cost. Of course, throughout this whole ordeal, I've been teaching her some of the traps and scams to look out for, how she can verify some of these things herself, and how to keep a proper maintenance log. She is obviously never going back to that Firestone center and will likely be using our indy shop in the future (free tire rotations and discounted F/S oil changes). I definitely feel much better knowing she isn't going to hydroplane while her brakes are failing and die on the way in to work.
