Deanna Dewberry

Woman Waits More Than 2 Months for Car Repair

Auto repair is one of the realities of car ownership. Customers hope their mechanic is reliable, trustworthy and fast.

So when viewer Mia McMurray's mechanic kept her car for more than two months, she called NBC5 Responds. The NBC5 Responds team got right to work and, after several phone calls and the mechanic made promises, he started hanging up on our Responds team. So NBC5 Responds investigator Deanna Dewberry visited the shop.

No one answered the front door of Lightning Fast Auto Care. By the time Dewberry walked around back, the garage door was closed. It had been open moments before. And there was a padlock on the once open gate.

Mia McMurray said the repair shop has had her car since Dec. 5, but, more than two months later, she's still driving a rental. Dewberry stood outside the chain link fence and called out to Clayton Walton, the owner, as he worked inside the closed garage.

"Clayton. Hi, this is Deanna Dewberry with NBC  5. Can we talk?" said Dewberry.

Walton didn't respond, despite the fact activity could be heard inside the garage.

"Mr. Walton, we know you're there. You just closed the garage. Can we chat?" said Dewberry

McMurray said she, too, has often gotten no answer when she's called or gone by. After NBC 5 Responds team members contacted the owner, he said McMurray's car would be ready Feb. 1.

"He said, 'It should be ready at 5.' I called at 5. No answer. Text. No response," McMurray recounted.

As Dewberry interviewed McMurray, the owner opened the garage and agreed to an interview. We asked why it had taken more than two months to repair the car.

"There's been a series of events that happened since she brought the vehicle," Walton responded.

He blamed the first delay on insurance. Walton said he didn't receive payment Dec. 30, and he couldn't start work until then.

"We were waiting on funding for her parts," he said. "So when we finally got that issue worked out, we put two different transmissions in this vehicle."

Neither of the rebuilt transmissions were working.

"I been doing this 28 years, and sometimes you have those issues," said Walton.

But because the repair Lightning Fast Auto Care has not been fast, McMurray's insurer is no longer paying for her rental car.

Asked how long a customer is expected to be patient, Walton replied, "Until it's ready. Until it's right. I don't build transmissions. I know what your job is. Your job is to bring out the facts. I don't build transmissions, we just replace them."

Walton promised his supplier has a rebuilt transmission that works. In the meantime, McMurray, a single mother of three, continues to bear the expense of a car payment and a rental car.

Lightning Fast has no rating with the Better Business Bureau. The agency says on its website that businesses have no rating often because of insufficient information about the business.

It's good practice to have find mechanic you trust before you actually need one. Here's how:

  • Ask whether your mechanic is certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence.
  • Check the Better Business Bureau and Attorney General offices for complaints against the business.
  • Labor rates, fees and guarantees should be posted in the waiting room or front office.
  • Ask for a written estimate of how long it will take to complete the work.
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