I went to Mr. Transmission after seeing their website. I called them and spoke to Alan Polson. I explained to him that the transmission was driveable, but not over 50 mph. We had the transmission replaced two years ago by S&R Auto Care and Transmission. We still had our warranty for another 4 months and another 7000 miles. Unfortunately, S&R went out of business which, according to Drive Power USA, made the warranty null and void. I explained to him that I already paid $2000 for that rebuilt transmission and that I did not want to pay anything near that amount. I had already received an estimate from the dealer, the sum total of $2600. Alan said he would have the car towed to their shop and that he would check it out for free. I thought that was great, because the dealer charged me $57 to check it out. I explained to him that I really did not want to spend a lot of money on it, because I was going to sell the vehicle or junk it. My vehicle is a 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE minivan in good body condition with a new engine. Kelley Blue Book had it at $2900.
To make a long story short, they checked out the tranny and said it was something internal to the transmission. Alan said it would cost $498 to look it over. He also said that they would only replace the bad part and charge me for that. I said "GREAT" and gave the ok to do it and he charged my credit card. I called back two days later and another mechanic there gave me a couple of prices, $2800 for new parts, $2600 for OEM parts and $2300 for used parts. I almost screamed bloddy murder! I kept my cool and asked to speak with Alan. He was busy with a customer. I finally was able to talk with him and he said he would look into it and call me back. I had to call him back. He then told me that there was a lot more wrong with the transmission. He never told me exactly what was wrong. I was pissed. He gave me a price of $1800 to fix the transmission. At this point, I told him to put the transmission back in, that I was coming to pick it up. He then explained to me that it would cost an additional $298 to put the transmission back in, in addition to a $120 towing fee. Basically, I would be out $900 and the vehicle still needed a transmission. So many thoughts went through my mind and none of them were nice. I found someone that was willing to buy the van if I got the transmission fixed and got a warranty. The buyer gave me the Blue Book value and I paid Alan the remaining balance. We got a 6 month, 6000 mile warranty on this trnasmission. I picked up the van and it was a oily mess. I cleaned it up and gave it to the new owner. Two days later, the transmission went out again. The new owner got it back to Mr. Transmission and they are supposedly fixing it again.
Please find a mechanic you trust and stick with him or you will end up regretting it.
0 comments