The crew at FDG were awesome. I had to take my car in that was WAY overdue to have the timing belt and associated parts changed out. Being a single dad with 2 daughters, it was hard to fit into my schedule, or at least I thought it would be. They made it so much easier by providing a loaner car for me to use while they worked on mine. The prices to do the work were much lower than most other places, and the work was twice as good. It's hard to believe in the world we live in that you can still find a place that is honest, reasonable, and really wants to work with you. They love what they do and it shows. You have my business for life. UPDATE: Fast forward a year and a few months and the FDG has gotten a new office crew, and a new system for doing the billing and the experience was WAY worse. I went in to get a $6 part replaced, a tiny little o-ring that I just couldn't get to go in without breaking it. I told them what the problem was and what I wanted done. I got charged $112 out of a total bill of $245 as a "diagnostics fee" to determine that the o-ring was bad, after me telling them it was bad. I also asked for a price to replace the PCV system, and was told that would be $1200! Half for parts, half for the work. I looked and the OEM Volvo parts were only $320 at my price, so they are likely paying a bit less, and marking up massively. Work for this generally is 2 to 3 hours (2 average, 3 max). That's $200 to $300 per hour for labor! (I have one on order from IPD Volvo for $220 on a Black Friday sale). Plus, they wanted to charge me $42 to replace 2 license plate bulbs that cost me about $4 to do myself in 5 minutes, and out of nowhere, they said my transmission needed "re-sealing" for over $1000. I've never had a transmission issue, have no leaks, and have no indications of any kind that anything needs to be done at all with the transmission. I do most work myself, so I'm not your average car owner, but I'm getting to the age where I just don't want to spend the time doing things like that. This isn't the only Volvo I own and maintain, so I do happen to know quite a bit about them and how to determine when work needs to be done (and how to do the work). Now, the work they do is really top notch, but go in knowing what you are talking about, get EVERY cost in writing up front, and know when to say no to something they tell you needs to be done. If you have a car that is really not a do it yourself type project, like that classic Merc or Porche, or that BMW M5 or M3, they can do anything from the smallest thing, to a total engine rebuild, and do it very well. Just be very, very careful about the up front cost, and the add on's they apparently like to tell you that you need done now.
Thanks Floyd!
- Flying Dog Garage