Pritchard Automotive

I have not bought a car from a dealership since 1997. It’s always been «on the side of the road purchase». We looked online and found a van that fit our needs. Our sales Person, Dan went to great lengths to make sure we were able to get the van. There was no pushy sales for extra stuff, just straight forward honesty, pointing out every little blemish he could find on the vehicle. Dan and the rest of his family are top notch people.

This review is for the Auto Detailing Services Prichard’s offers. I took my car in for a basic hand wash today. I was told the wash should only take 30 minuets but ended up taking a little over 45 minuets. I don’t mind waiting as long as the service is good. After spending $ 20.00 for the wash and a $ 5.00 tip to the detailer, I get to my car which is still dripping wet. The wheels and wheel wells were not cleaned, both the top and lower parts of the car were still filthy dirty, and to top it all off, the detailer did not wipe down my windshield and allowed the car to sit in the sun causing hard water spots to etch into my windshield. I cannon’t comment on the service department of Prithcard’s but I would highly recommend AVOIDING them for auto detailing services.

— They have poor quality of workmanship
— They don’t check their work
— They charge people for mistakes they made
— They don’t stand behind their service
Details below: In October 2012 I took my car (2003 BMW 330xi) to change the valve cover gasket at this place. The service took 2 days, and they even provided courtesy shuttle. However, after I picked up the car, the check engine light came on. I took the car back, and they said that one of the vacuum lines has been damaged during repairs and charged me extra to replace it and clear the codes (their reasoning was that the car is 9 years old and plastic is brittle). After I picked up the car the second time, the check engine light came on again in. This time they forgot to connect air intake to the MAF sensor. Luckily, they didn’t charge me for this mistake. Six month later the valve cover gasket started leaking again (I was in Cali so it took me some time to visit this place again). I went to Prichards today (Oct 2013), and they said that it is probably bad gasket, or warped valve cover, and offered me «may be some discount» to look at it and pointed to poor OEM parts and poor parts original valve covers made by BMW.
Well, based in my experience I already know that the quality of their labor is horrible, than they don’t double check their work and that they charge people for the mistakes they make. I advise you against going there: even though the service people are nice and attentive, they do horrible job at fixing cars and their workmanship is poor.

Over the winter, when it was still bitterly cold outside, my car battery died while I was parked across the street from Pritchard. I went inside with the intention of just asking for a jump, but they offered to bring my car in and take a look at my battery, then confirmed what I already knew – that my battery had totally bit the bullet (I had been having problems with it for a few weeks at that point and was just in denial). They quickly replaced it for the same rate as if I had taken my car back to the dealer, while being exceedingly friendly and continuously offering me coffee. Of course no one ever wants to pay the money to have a car battery replaced, but it was otherwise a pleasant experience.

Charged me $ 112 to replace a blown fuse. That’s pretty pricey for a simple fix. They claim it took them time to figure out, but I’ve had such a fix before in town for just $ 20.