Fine Tuning Performance: A Trusty Auto Mechanic (really!)
This is part 2 in my writing about people who have renewed my faith in good service. (click for part 1)
My car is 5 years old (aka: just out of warranty) with barely 20k miles on it, so when I experienced some odd behavior recently, the last thing I wanted to do is go to the dealer for help. So, after researching the problem online and getting a good idea of what I was in store for, I logged onto Yelp and started checking out reviews for local mechanics. That’s where I found Fine Tuning Performance, and let me tell you, they were awesome!
This was one of the first times I didn’t feel like my mechanic was being less-than-honest or gouging me for unnecessary work. In fact, they originally thought one of the work items was under recall, and suggested I take it to the dealer to have it done for free, rather than have them do it. When it turned out that it wasn’t under recall, they told me it was super easy if I wanted them to do it: a $6 part and a half-hour of work, for a total of $50. I’ve never gotten out of the dealer for anything close to that!
After a full day of testing and calling around to dealers and other folks, Ryan from Fine Tuning told me the bad news: The problem I saw required a very expensive part, and a lot of labor, to fix. This matched what I had read in my own online research, so I was prepared for the worse, and quite surprised when he told me that he recommended that I not do the work yet. Because this was a freak occurance that they couldn’t reproduce, and the problem is something that will degrade over time, not suddenly stop working, Ryan suggested I just take it home and see what happens. So, after two days in the shop, he sent me home with a bill for 1 hour of labor, and a car that is running perfectly fine.
If you’ve got an Audi or a VW, and you’re looking for a mechanic, check out Fine Tuning Performance. Their shop is way up on Aurora near 145th, but there’s a bus stop to downtown Seattle a block from there. It’s well worth the drive.
