United Auto Care

This shop may do good work for others, but they completely dropped the ball with me. Accurate and honest review; see Google for more info. 

Reply: McDonough, GA is made up location. They don't have a recording. Gash, trans leaks, plugged filter never mentioned. Total BS. Vehicle not purchased sight unseen on internet. No mention of fan clutch in reply. LOL! The $104 hose is online OEM for $35. SCAM. Full assembly NOT required.

I took my 7.3 van to UAC on recommendation from PowerStroke Specialty—they aren’t taking new clients on 7.3s anymore. Fine, so I trusted their recommendation and it left me dealing with a bad shop. To be fair, Ryan did warn me up front, and said his average quote is between $5-8k. I have since discovered some dishonest and false information.

*Diagnostics*
Their diagnostic is a rip off, as other reviewers have said in the past. The charge is two hours of labor. They claim to spend way more time than that. Maybe they do? He called me and informed me that my van needed $7k worth of repairs. I feel this is dishonest because they didn’t diagnose my issues properly. 

*Example 1*
I took the vehicle to UAC mainly for a cooling issue because the vehicle wasn’t getting up to operating temperature. I purchased a ScanGauge that shows the temperature sensor data before taking the vehicle to UAC and knew that it wasn’t getting over 160 degrees under any conditions. I reported this to them.

UAC said that the vehicle was in fact getting up to 210 (it wasn’t, I knew it wasn’t) and “something must be wrong with the gauge”. My ScanGauge reported the temperature readings were too low and I reported that at drop off. The fix? A bad fan clutch—a $75 part. 

If it hadn’t been as simple as a fan clutch, I wouldn’t have written this. If they hooked up a diagnostic device, they would have seen the temperature readings were too low.

*Example 2*
See attached photo. When Ryan and I talked, he said the T was leaking in the radiator hose line. I opted not to do this repair because I wanted to do it myself to save money. While they were doing my transmission flush/fluid change, the service manager called and claimed that now the coolant was now “pouring out” of the vehicle from this broken T in the radiator hose and “had to be replaced now”. They claimed the individual part wasn’t available from Motorcraft or other sources without purchasing the assembly. 

This would be fine, but after further investigation by myself, the T was not leaking a single drop. The hose was actually contacting a pulley in the engine compartment, causing the leak. This was due to the hose being misrouted. The new quote on the hose assembly was “about $200” per verbal from service manager. On a radiator hose. The service manager even attempted to scare me into doing the repair with them claiming it was unsafe to drive and I wouldn’t make it home. Absolutely ridiculous. He didn’t know I do most of my own work. 

I personally replaced the hose—out the door for less than $25 and 30 minutes of my time. Any trained technician would INSTANTLY recognize the pinky nail sized hole in the hose and the coolant running DOWN the hose/leaking on the pulley. See photos. 

*Pricing*
UACs pricing is outrageous compared to other shops. They charge over $320 for a transmission fluid flush/change on a 4R100 transmission. Other shops charge less than $200.

I knew I needed some front end work before I dropped it off. The total labor was quoted at over $4,000, most of which to do basic front end work, which is precisely why I declined everything except a transmission flush. 

After looking at the quote, I see why. The numbers appear to be quite skewed. Labor cost should be lower to do everything at once on front end work since it’s already torn down. They quoted the labor like they were tearing it down, changing one part, putting it all back together, and then starting over for the next part. Their quote is pretty unfair in my opinion. 

Make your own judgements, just beware of my experience with them. I suggest to be careful with ALL shops, as most are in fact trying to rip you off. I hope you find a new shop.

I brought my vehicle in because the battery kept dying. I also explained to him that it might have something to do with the radio because the radio stays on when I shut to car off and it might be draining the battery. He opened the hood and said it is the alternator. I told him it was just changed a week ago. He said it is a cheap alternator and that is what it is. Then he told me he would not work on the car unless he put his diagnostic machine on it. That was $95 and the result was the same he said the alternator. A few days later I picked up the car and $430 later I had a new alternator and the same problem with the battery....But the radio turns off when the car turns off now...He said he never touched the radio...I guess the new alternator fixed the radio too...LoL
Word the the wise. Don't believe the hype someone tells you believe the results you get. If you find a good mechanic hold onto them there are not that many you can trust. 

I don't recommend this shop!  I took my truck there with a shifting into gear problem. I thought it might need a clutch but the owner convinced me it did not and he recommended replacing other parts which totalled $1500.  He is supposed to be the expert and I relied on his opinion.

When I picked up my truck a week later it had the same problem shifting into gear. I pointed out it had the same problem and it wasn't fixed and he said, "well we replaced some parts".. I don't think he did this intentionally. It was a mistake with his diagnosis. 

I then took it to a shop in Suwanee and after driving my truck a few minutes they said it needed a clutch! That cost me another approx $800 but I have not had a shifting problem since. 

The owner's son Ryan and I have talked recently and he said he wanted to make this right and he cares about his customers and he said he wanted to give me a free oil change!  If this sounds reasonable and fair to you then go ahead and use this shop if you want...William Powell