national auto repair chain stores

[econberkeley]

Which auto repair chain do you use? I have goodyear, firestone, pepboys, sears and jiffy lube located close to me. Which one do you think offer the best value for the money? They don't like to give out the door prices over the phone so I find it very hard to compare prices for the same work. Based on my experience, firestone seems quite expensive though.

[retiringearly]

It depends what I need to have done.  I use Firestone for alignments.  They have a lifetime alignment service that you pay approx. $179 for and can then get four wheel alignments for as long as you own the car.

For oil changes, I prefer to go to a place where they can't up sell me on many other services.  I don't want them to try to sell new brakes, etc.

[Gimesalot]

I go to both pepboys and firestone.  I am really surprised they won't give you an estimate over the phone because they do that for me.  Try asking for a "ballpark estimate" instead.  I always say something along the lines of, "I'm trying to budget for this repair and need to know if it will be around $100 or $300."

[econberkeley]

By the way, I love the firestone credit card. You get free tire repair, free fire rotation and free brake check with it.

[ketchup]

Of the ones mentioned, I've used Firestone for an alignment and it went well.  A local friend uses Firestone for most of his maintenance/repairs and has had good luck with them.  From what he's said, their pricing has been reasonable and they haven't done too much upselling or BS.

I've also bought tires at Discount Tire, and their locations seem to be hit-or-miss (either super helpful and awesome, or scummy sales guy lying about inventory to get more $$$).

Stay the hell away from places like Jiffy Lube.

I mostly DIY (I only farm out things like tires, exhaust, and fuel line leaks).

[slappy]

I have no idea, but so far this thread reads like a Firestone commercial.  :) I've been there once, many years ago and had no issues. Now hubby has us using a small local place that he trusts.