Frequently Asked Questions

Call ahead when you can — it lets us have the right parts on hand and get you in and out faster. We're open every day from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and we'll always tell you honestly whether we can take the car today or whether you're better off coming back tomorrow.

Always. You get the price before we touch the car, and we don't go past what you approved. If we open something up and the job turns out to be different than we quoted, we stop and call you — no surprises on the final bill.

Finding the problem is real work, so diagnostic time is billed like any other labor. Ask us when you drop the car off and we'll tell you what the diagnosis will run and how it's handled if you go ahead with the repair.

The more specific you can be about the symptom, the faster we find it. Tell us what it does, when it does it — cold start, highway speed, braking, turning — and roughly when it started. If you've had related work done somewhere else, bring the receipt so we're not paying to diagnose something twice.

Both, depending on the job and what you want to spend. For a lot of repairs a quality aftermarket part is the sensible choice; for some, OEM is worth the money. We'll tell you which one is in your estimate and why, rather than deciding it for you.

Talk to us before you buy anything. When a shop installs a customer's part and that part fails, the labor to do the job twice isn't covered by anyone — so we'll walk you through how we handle it and whether it actually saves you money once labor is counted.

Yes. We stand behind the parts we supply and the labor we perform — if something we did isn't right, bring it back. Ask us for the specific coverage on your repair when you get your estimate, since it varies by the part.

We're an independent, locally owned shop — not a dealership. Having routine maintenance done here does not void a factory warranty. Federal law puts the burden on the manufacturer to show that outside work or an outside part actually caused a failure before they can deny a claim. Keep your receipts and you're covered.

Start with your owner's manual and your car's oil-life monitor. Most modern engines on full synthetic land somewhere around 5,000 to 7,500 miles. Go shorter if you do mostly short trips, tow, or drive an older, higher-mileage engine. The old 3,000-mile rule is a leftover — we're not going to sell you oil changes you don't need.

A steady light means get it scanned soon — it can be something as small as a loose gas cap, or something that will get expensive if it's ignored. A flashing light is different: stop driving and have it towed. That's an active misfire, and driving on it can destroy the catalytic converter. Also worth knowing: a trouble code points at a circuit, not at a specific part, so the code is where diagnosis starts, not where it ends.

It isn't points and a distributor anymore. On a current engine a tune-up means the scheduled service your manufacturer specifies — spark plugs, filters, fluids, cleaning the intake side — plus a driveability check if the car isn't running the way it should. We do that work to the interval your car actually calls for.

A high squeal is the wear indicator telling you the pads are near the end. Grinding means the pads are gone and you're into the rotors, which costs more. Pulsing through the pedal usually means warped rotors, and a longer or lower pedal is worth an inspection right away. If the pedal feels spongy, don't drive on it — that's air or a leak in the system.

Yes, every time. Changing ride height changes camber and toe, and driving on it unaligned will wear the inside edges off a new set of tires in a hurry. Springs also settle over the first few hundred miles, so plan on a re-check after that — ask us about it when we do the install.

It's a tradeoff, and it depends on doing it right. A matched kit — springs and dampers designed to work together — rides firmer but holds up. Springs alone on worn-out factory struts is what makes a car ride badly and eat struts. You'll also lose ground clearance for driveways and speed bumps, and depending on your wheel and tire setup there may be rubbing to sort out. We'll tell you what to expect before we order parts.

Kansas doesn't have one. There's no annual safety inspection and no emissions test for passenger cars anywhere in the state, so nothing is due on that front. If you're titling a vehicle that's coming in on an out-of-state title, that's an MVE-1 VIN inspection, which is done at a Kansas Highway Patrol motor vehicle inspection station rather than at a repair shop.

That's one of the most useful things we do. We scan for stored and pending codes and open recalls, put it on the lift to look at frame, rust, leaks, exhaust, brakes and suspension, check tire wear for alignment problems, and drive it. You get a straight answer about what it needs and what it's likely to need soon — which is worth knowing before the money changes hands, not after. Arrange with the seller for us to have the car for a couple of hours.