Could someone recommend mechanics in Plano area (for my pickup Ram 1500) who is Economical and efficient. Someone who I can blindly trust depend on 
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What are you needing done? We have an Auto Shop here, with a lot of helpful people in it, as I am sure you know.
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On Tomâs (@TLAR) friendâs recommendation, I used EBA Automotive in far east Allen. They did a difficult job right the first time, and quickly, too, which is kinda rare these days. You may or not feel they are economical, but you will almost certainly be satisfied with any work they perform for you.
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Iâve used Gusâs Car Care in East Plano for oil changes and other basics. They have been terrific every time weâve gone, even going so far as to give us recommendations on other shops to go to for things they donât do (window tint, etc.).
However, we havenât used them for anything very advanced. I have a VW, so we take it to a mechanic who specializes in VW when we need anything major just simply because there are a lot of gotchas when it comes to VW.
I have never been to a mechanic until recently when I need to change my truckâs alternator. Long story short, I had to buy alternator for $125 (after returning the core) from orielly plus $110 for labor. I knew I was getting ripped off but I was in pickle as I knew no mechanic around.
Your truck, your call. But this is a fix that is certainly DIYable here at DMS, I believe. Only requirement is that you be willing to do the work yourself (with help/oversight) and learn. Alternatively, check out EBA.
Either way, best of luckâŚ
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This is an interesting statementâŚAs a former German auto tech - Iâd have to say that car/truck owner should try to take their vehicle to a shop that specializes in the make of what they drive (in the event they are not going to tackle the repair themselves).
The absolute LAST place to take ANY vehicle is a place that is a âbrake, muffler/exhaust, transmission, or tire shopâ and most franchise garages. These places typically LACK the equipment or training to higher quality work.
Mom & Pop shops like EBA are a much better resource, or other local brand specific folks.
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To be honest, $235 out the door isnât the reaming I was expecting. They let you supply parts and didnât scorch you on labor for doing so. Could you of done it for less, probably not considering the cost of your time and tools.
Mind sharing the name of the shop you went to? I like knowing the shops that will let you supply parts and donât charge utterly stupid rates.
A real shop let you provide the alternator? and they charged you for the labor only ? (this is unusual - not the norm).
$110 for an flat rate hour of mechanical labor is about right for a non dealership in Dallas & and that is about the time allotted for an alternator removal & installation and the belt as well.
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The only major work that weâve had to have done on our Jetta has been the timing belt kit (planned maintenance), which we were unwilling to do ourselves. DSP Auto in Denton performed our last one, and we have had no complaints. Thus far we have only owned VWs, and have always had them serviced by VW specific mechanics.
To be honest neither of us have more than a passing interest in automotive anything, and weâve educated ourselves on our vehicles enough that we might be able to try some repairs ourselves (with the help of the internet and any possible DMS helpers we could wrangle into it) if we HAD to, but we really just donât want to do it. Iâd rather pay money to someone else who knows a lot more than me about it and is happy to do it so that I donât have to.
alternator was removed and changed in under 15 mins. Not sure if one hour is minimum a mechanic chargesâŚ
Typically âhow quickly or slowlyâ mechanical work is done, it is usually billed in tenths of an hour. Often called âflagâ or âflat rateâ labour times.
This may have rated an hour of flag time but took 15 minutes of actual time. Not all tasks work out this way for the mechanice or the consumer.
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Allison Automotive is who i take my Dodge Ram too
Chip at Heller Automotive has always proven to be very trustfull
If they arenât selling you the part, I wouldnât expect them to bill you for less than an hour. They canât be sure that a part is correct or functional if they arenât sourcing it. If it didnât work, many customers would claim they damaged it when the reality is that the customer supplied a cheap part that didnât work. If the mechanic didnât source the part he couldnât return it and get a functional replacement. Theyâre charging you for bringing your own part. Youâd likely pay less and get a higher quality part if you let them source the part.
Weâve used Reshâs Bass Auto Repair at 75 and Park (sw corner, kinda behind Fishmongers) for some suspension stuff on a couple of our cars. Cost was reasonable and theyâre quick.
Unless the mechanic did a bad job, thatâs not unreasonable. While they might have gotten it done in a shorter time than you expected, you arenât paying simply for that time, but their knowledge and experience that allows them to do so. As someone else said, itâs hard to expect someone to bill you .25 hours, itâs not worth the hassle when there is plenty of work out there.
Be happy they allowed you to buy the part, without markup, and just charge you the labor.
Just curious, did the mechanic diagnose the issue, or was that done elsewhere?
But what is a quality aftermarket part? I wouldnât categorize most of what comes out of OâReilly as quality.
Advanced Auto on Floyd Circle in Richardson, about a block from Texas Instruments. The owner, Jim, will likely be the one that writes up your service ticket. Been going to them since the mid-1980s and theyâve always been honest and reasonable. I have no relationship to them other than being a satisfied customer for 30+ years.
FWIW, 4.8 rating (31 reviews) on google maps.
I guarantee the stuff that comes out of OâReilly isnât quality. They change suppliers every quarter based on the lowest bidder, then rebox to make it seem like itâs a single affiliated manufacturer. Even the ânationalâ brand gets this treatment. Moreover, smaller parts produced by the likes of Bosch and such are sourced from secondary lines with lower QC requirements than OEMs where applicable.
Do your research and check RockAuto. Often they carry the OEMâs supplier, with parts from the main production line (ie meeting OEM QC standards). They also carry more quality aftermarket parts from suppliers like Centric and Sachs. When in doubt, you can also find OEM packaged parts online for cheaper than the dealership will sell you, especially if the car is a bit old.
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