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| - If you're too lazy to read my novel here's the Coles note: You can trust this mechanic - they went out of their way to do the right thing for me even incurring cost to themselves. Tons of shady mechanics out there but this is not one of them. If you have a feeling in your gut that something isn't working right with your car, or you have questions about a service or repair - tell them. They will take the time to explain things to you without a bunch of pretentious and condescending jargon and will work with you to find a solution. Blown away by their service!
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Took a private-sale 2001 Honda Accord V6 here for a pre-purchase inspection back in February, it passed the inspection with only minor repairs. Because I could not pick my vehicle up during business hours I wasn't able to speak to anyone in person but was left with a full printout of the result. The one thing that was missing were details of the test-drive. I noticed that the vehicle was resistant accelerating from a stop compared to my previous '96 Honda, but didn't think it could be anything major at the time, nonetheless I called Knibbe later and asked to speak to the technician who test drove my vehicle. I was told he would call me back but he never did. Oh well, I thought - I'm very conscious in my driving about easing on the pedals to prevent excess wear, so I decided the resistance accelerating wasn't a big deal, especially since it cleared inspection. The inspection was a bit pricey comparatively, but having read reviews online about this mechanic and the quality of the work I decided it was worth the investment to have peace of mind down the road. I did my own test drive, research, Carproof etc. before purchasing this vehicle as well. Unfortunately I missed a major warning... (ominous foreshadowing)
Fast forward 10,000 km later (at a mere 157,000 km) the transmission is shot. The lag on the upshift from a stop got slowly but progressively worse to the point that it was not gear shifting properly at all. I took the vehicle to a transmission specialist who confirmed the worst. After doing some more honed research I discovered that this was a known mechanical issue with certain Honda models of the same year range given that the transmission is not powerful enough for the 6-cylinder engine. Carcomplaints.com gave it an "avoid it like the plague" rating (kicked, slapped and poked myself for missing this). Being a recent, unemployed graduate living off of canned beans and ramen I set out to see if Honda might have a morsel of kindness in their vast corporate heart.
Spoiler - they didn't. Nothing but black coal there, but I'll save that for another review.
Anyway, I resigned myself to the fact that I would be looking at coughing up a LOT of non-existent money to fix the vehicle - there's no way I could sell it in the condition it was in. I left a review for Knibbe, frustrated that they hadn't caught the transmission issue in the pre-purchase inspection, that I hadn't followed up more diligently on the test drive results etc. Much to my surprise, Knibbe called me about my review - and started asking questions about what happened and what led to the current situation. The management team took time out of their day on multiple occasions to meet with me in person. I was truly shocked at how seriously they considered my experience, especially after Honda admitted liability and then proceeded to tell me to go soak my head. Not only did John Knibbe refrain from telling me to go soak my head (+10 points), he also got his team of mechanics to look over my vehicle in detail - with no obligation on me to follow through on any service with his business. He put together a repair plan for me, and laid out all of my options in detail - no jargon. A couple weeks later I have a rebuilt tranny and my car is (hopefully) good for another 100,000 km. The biggest relief of this whole nightmare is that they made this plan fit into my budget and absorbed all the extra costs. As if that wasn't enough, I had taken the vehicle to Honda earlier in the year to deal with the recalled airbag - turns out they had not even done that right and my airbags were still defective - I never would have known, but they fixed those too.
Ultimately there was no proof on their end that they had missed anything in the inspection. There were no notes on the test drive and there was no obligation to help me - at the end of the day it was just my word against theirs. Despite this John not only believed what I was telling him, he took my experience seriously and used it to improve their workflow so the same thing could not happen to another customer. I have to say it's extremely rare that you come across a business nowadays that cares about their brand so much that they constantly look for ways to improve and defend their quality of service. I cannot recommend Knibbe highly enough. Trust me when I say they will do right by you!
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