1998 Mazda 626 Can a mechanic charge as much as he likes fo

TPHIFER27

MEMBER
1998 MAZDA 626
4 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
148,863 MILES

Recently I felt my transmission slipping on my car. I had several local, mobile mechanics look at it and stated I needed my filter changed out. I was also told that in that particular model in order to get to the filter you will have to drop the transmission which will run anywhere from 200 to 400.00. So I took the car in to Transmission King auto repair shop, I dropped of my car so it can be hooked up to computer and diagnosed. I received a call stating that it was the converter and filter needed to be changed that they would charge me 489.00 for labor and for parts the converter will be about 200 some what dollars than the filter, I said ok. I received another call today stating they would need to by a entire kit that will cost 1,200 because the clutches were all burnt out, I stated that my car was not worth that much money, I never asked them to rebuild my transmission and that's not what I want done. They stated that if I did not want them to do it, it will now cost me 689.00 just for the labor that they've done. Can they do that?

1 Reply

CH112063

MECHANIC
1,320 POSTS

If you brought your car for work you must have signed a repair order. The place on it where you signed has all the legalities of the repair contract between yourself and the owner of the repair or service shop. If you signed an order for them to service the filter in the trans and removal showed more work was nec. You do usually must pay because of the service required for changing the filter. If you signed a repair order for just diagnosing a transmission problem and calling you with an estimate then they cannot charge you for doing any repairs or removals. Bring your repair order to a lawyer or get a magnifying glass and read the small print. Any mechanic, will always check the transmission fluid level and smell it before anything else. If they say you must pay just leave the car there and get another one. If it goes to a small claims court you'll probably win because the judge at some time got boned by a repair shop and remembers it so just leave it and take your belongings out and buy another car. I douby if they will pursue any legal actions because it only cost them a few hours labor at wholesale anyway. OK Find one Mazda Tech. And stay with his advice at all times when you own a Mazda. Good Luck anyway.