Just got done with a very confusing and disappointing email exchange with "Bob" a service "Client Advisor". Besides not taking the time to read what I was asking, I'm left dumbfounded at their service policies. I understand as a life long amateur mechanic and car enthusiast, that diagnosing and repairing cars is a difficult business. However, when a vehicle make and model has a known and common issue based on engine codes and service alerts, it makes no sense that a shop as astute and well regarded as NWI cannot provide an "estimate" to repair said known issue without spending the better part of the day to bring it in for pointless diagnoses work that could end up to be 1/3 of the cost of the repair. Especially when any dealer will hard quote the repair, as well as many other Euro focuses shops in town. But that is exactly their policy, no diagnoses fee, no deal. Makes me question whether they would try to charge me a diagnostic fee for figuring out what oil change or brakes I need. More likely though... they just don't want potential customers to shop around for the most fair and reasonable rates, and instead get you in their shop where it is easier to get the work done on the spot than to take your car to a second place that will do the same work for a more reasonable and transparent charge. You can't argue with the reviews, just their business model and refusal to provide estimates, let alone quotes. Edited to address owner's response: Your response does not address the simple fact that the repair I requested an estimate for is a known issue for my make and model, and having just received my 3rd quote from other mechanics, there is no reason you cannot provide an estimate regardless if that is the problem my car has or not. If I know what you would charge to fix the known issue, then I'd would happily pay a diagnostic fee before you started work. That makes sense, flatly refusing to tell me how much my brake change, or fuel filter replacement, or etc etc will cost me if that is the issue is just lack of transparency or shady business practice. Yes, I did not use your service as I clearly stated, because you cannot provide clear and transparent pricing for known repairs upfront, and your argument that you need to diagnose a known repair doesn't add up given 100,000's of quality repair shops do exactly that.
Good day Mr. Black. I believe you mistook what we said. Bob is not the service manager, nor did he ever mention this to you. As for your inquiry, we stated that, we always do our own diagnosis, to protect the client and us from a potential misdiagnosis from another mechanic or shop. That way we can continue to deliver 5 star service. Also, you requested to use non OEM spec parts, that we do not use. As professionals, we strive to give clients the service they deserve by doing things the correct way for our business model. You did not use our service at all, just inquired and did not get the answer you were looking for. I am sorry that you felt the need to write this review without having used our service, but our client's trust us with their vehicles, as can be seen by over 300 reviews. We stand by our process and our work. Thank you, and have a great day.
- Northwest Imports