My wife and I own a 1996 Honda Accord and recently had been showing signs of transmission slippage. As soon as my wife finished her school year, we make arrangements to leave the car at the shop (The Auto Clinic). I knew the news wasn't going to be good. My wife and I have been doing the Dave Ramsey thing and paying down debt and socking away money etc. The prospect of a car repair weighed heavy. I wasn't ready to part with my stimulus check and all its Bushy goodness.

The news on the car was that the transmission needed replaced and would cost $2900. This is almost the blue book value of the car. We don't want a car payment so we had to consider scrapping the car and looking at a used one.

I must also mention that the air conditioner in the car was blowing hot air and the Auto Clinic advised that the air conditioner was good, but there was something in the duct work causing blockage and allowing the warm engine air to get through. To break into the ducts was going to run around $340 to repair. Sheesh. But the tranny was the higher priority at this point.

We are indecisive and not sure what we want to do. We had time and the ability to get along with one car for awhile. I don't want to drop $2900 yet. So we consulted with my bro-in-law who recommended "Perfection Connection". This is a shop off of 291 south on the west side of the highway. They came with a good review from the Car Talk guys (website). We hoped they could do the repair for a bit cheaper. We called and told them the news and they offered some pricing that was lower. So... we dropped the car off with them.

Perfection Connection looked at the car and determined the transmission fluid was low, topped it off, drove it and the car was operating normal. As they indicated, the car had only 160K miles and for a Honda the transmission should be solid with this level of mileage. However they did find a leak in the seal which would be a small repair cost. Along with a flush, the news of repair costs got much more appealing. They even checked the air cond to find it only needed a recharge and possibly it had a leak that by infusing the dye they could check back on it if the air turned warm again.

All in all, the $2900 turned into $540. This is grand news and my spirits were lifted. Now, the element of distrust with the Auto Clinic.

I won't ever take another vehicle to the Auto Clinic. Either the mechanics didn't diagnose the problems correctly (obviously) or there is an executive decision to overcharge (take advantage) the clients. Either way, I don't trust their methods and won't use their services again.

The moral of the story is to get a second opinion.