Came here based on the positive reviews. Lauren with Firestone was always friendly every time I spoke to her on the phone as well as in person. I would give her 5 stars for her service and demeanor. We dropped off our car and a male quoted my husband $99 for a diagnostic fee. My husband then came to confirm with me if that would be ok. I said we are here, sure! He then comes back out and tells me that we he went back in, the man gave him a break and dropped the price to $69.99 before tax. A day later, I received a phone call of the estimate for $695 + the diagnostic fee would be separate therefore, a bill of about $800 total for our 2000 Toyota Sienna. That was supposed to include all spark plugs, the fee for a coil of some sort and then the cost of labor. When I asked the mechanic over the phone why it was so expensive, he told me it would be 3.5 hours of work. We chose this place also because it was conveniently 10 minutes to our home.
I then decided to call Toyota of North Charlotte and was quoted a much lower price. We then decided NOT to go with the repair with Firestone, paid a $69.99 + tax $5.00 + $4.20 supplies fee for total of $79.19. We picked up our minivan and took it to Toyota of North Charlotte. Their diagnostic fee was only $59.99 (wow, a dealership way cheaper?AWESOME!) and they told us if we went with their service, it would be waived and we would just pay for the service and supplies itself. We gave the report from Firestone to Toyota of Lake Norman and after their mechanic looked at it, they advised us there was NO NEED for any COILs of any sorts and it would only take an hour for the spark plug repair. WOW! What a difference compared to Firestone! We left Toyota of Lake Norman paying only $239.00 for an hour and a half wait! Amazing!
I would say, use Firestone for simple services, tires, oil change ... small things, but anything more, get another quote elsewhere! I was really disappointed and this confirmed my fears of not being able to trust car shops. Go to a dealership.
Even the cost of the diagnostic fee at Firestone was higher than the dealerships! I should have taken the car to the dealership but I wanted to give Firestone a chance and I am glad I went with my gut to pass on it. Saved me money on unnecessary fixes as well as extreme labor fees. 3.5 hours to 1 hour...