[tkwalker]

First off let me say this by stating that I have purchased three vehicles from Wilson County Motors when it was owned by HB Cunningham but now owned by a Mega Conglomerate dealership Corp. This is my experience with WCM that happened two months ago.

I have An older Tahoe which was purchased from WCM, but for sometime now I have always tried to maintain it myself or carry it to Webster Bros. Garage for more technical issues. I had developed a bearing noise and determined it was a belt idler pulley. Well Webster Bros. after 45 years had closed shop and retired. (Wendel Webster is my neighbor and an old Racing Buddy) Do to my physical condition I can no longer perform under the hood repairs. So I decided to take it to WCM.

So I get in line and was met with one of the Service Dept. Girls. Very friendly and courteous. I told her What my problem was and showed her the Pulley in question. She said she would take it back and have it diagnosed. I said no just replace it. She said that the problem would have to be diagnosed first to determine that this was the problem. I was getting to the point of getting perturbed by her not following my request. I asked how long this would take after going to the service tech ... She left and returned.. and said about an hour and a half.

At this time I asked what it would cost for the part and labor. She left and came back, which she had to do about every time I asked a question. Here is the break down of the cost: $212.00 for labor which included diagnostics, replacement labor, and incidentals (shop rags, hand cleaner etc.) $61.00 for the pulley. I told her to get my truck out of the line and that was ridiculous. I went to O'Rileys and bought a name brand Guaranteed for life pulley for $21.00. and then took my truck to Mark Fletcher who owns Watertown Tire and he put it on for $20.00 in about ten Min's. (By the way, great turn key out the door prices on tires.)

So for me the bottom line is, if your vehicle is fairly new and especially warranted WCM is the place to go. If it is older and you have a lot of money it is the place to go. But there are a number of local Garages with certified techs who can handle your problems for usually less than half the $$ than WCM. PS. I was also contacted by WCM via internet for a survey which I filled out. The next day I received a call from the Service Manager. We had a GREAT TALK! .... <'TK><