AAA Car Care Center- car problems on property?

[wdwscout]

We are about to have a very adventurous Monday! And I think I need a few suggestions from you guys.

Here's the story... My son is starting the Disney Career Start program on Wednesday, 9/1. (It's like the College Program, but the kids haven;t decided on college yet). Anyway, my husband just drove DS's car to VA this morning to bring his 1992 Toyota down on the autotrain. We very recently had the car serviced by our regular mechanic and everything was either replaced or tuned up. So DH gets to the Amtrak station and is waiting in the line where they take the cars, and the car won't start again! The Amtrak folks say not to worry, they will PUSH it onto the train- go have a nice trip!

So, now we're worried about the car.
#1- If it starts OK- we want to have it checked out- does the Car Care Center do that? Can we just drive in and have them look at it and fix anything? They do rentals there I believe- does anyone know what companies they use?

#2- If the car does NOT start when they arrive in Sanford, DH will have to call AAA from there. I wonder if they will bring the car all the way to WDW?

DS and I leave our house at 4:30 tomorrow morning to fly down, planning to take DME to Old Key West and meet DH and the car there. Or maybe we have to get a rental now and rescue DH?

Of course, the car is LOADED with all of DS's worldly possessions! So I will have to get a rental just to get all his stuff to OKW and then to check in on Wed.

Geesh! As if we are not stressed enough already! I am still looking for a phone number for the Care Center- no luck so far.

Tell me what you would do? I need some objective minds to help me!

 

[tammydel]

Can't really help with too many of your questions, but I can tell you my car care experience.
They came and towed my van from Beach Club I needed a new transmission. It was done in a day and a half and I paid the same price that my friend did at home for a similar model van to have her transmission done. They were very professional, prompt and courteous. Made me wish I could take my car them all the time.
I'll say a prayer that the car starts when it gets off the train. I'd start calling now to see if you can get it towed to car care center - I'm sure there are closer places, but that will be more convienent for you on Disney property (while nothing about this will feel very convienent).

Hope it works out, let us know.

Tammy

 

[wdwscout]

Thanks Tammy. It really does help to hear encouraging things about their services.

I have managed to find out that AAA will tow us anywhere. But anything over 5 miles in Central FL will cost $5/mile. It looks like it's about 35 miles, so that's $150.00 right there. Keep your fingers crossed that the car starts tmorrow morning!

 

[jdtopgun71]

We had a similar experience with them in June. They towed my son's car from WL at no charge and fixed the ac compressor/belt etc. The ac compressor had frozen and thus broke the serpentine belt. The price they charged was comparable to what I would have paid at the Dodge dealer and they finished it in a day and a half. I would recommend them based on our experience.

 

[Plaid Princess]

Don't take your car there! I dropped my car off there because of an AC problem. I work nearby and thought it would be convenient. BIG mistake!

I had called prior to taking my car in to see if they had time to work on it that day, they said they did. I dropped my car off and my husband took me to work. We have very different schedules, which means that he had to leave for work 5 hours early to drop me off, and I had to wait around for 5 hours after my shift, so I was really hoping to at least find out what the problem was that day.

No such luck, they didn't even move my car the first day, and never even had the courtesy to call and let me know they were swamped. The next day, they still hadn't called me, so right before they were scheduled to close, I called them. The person I spoke with said that they were unable to find the problem and needed to keep the car until the next day.

Still hoping to get the problem taken care of I agreed, but asked him to call me as soon as he had any information. The following day, I once again called 5 minutes before close, as no one had contacted me, and received the same answer. And as we drove past on the way home, they still hadn't even moved the car.

Finally the next day I called after they had been open for a couple of hours, the guy I spoke to said that they checked it, there was nothing they could do, and I could pick it up.

My husband and I arrived to see that they had never even moved the car (it was still parked in front of the Alamo building, rather than on the side with all the AAA center cars), and then they actually tried to charge me $80 for the "service". When I asked what I was being charged for I was told that it was the labor, because he'd had 3 different mechanics look at the car, and they could find nothing wrong with it.

At this point I got upset. I can understand my car getting lost in the shuffle, but to actually not do anything at all and still try to charge me! So at that point I asked for the number to the corporate office, because I was too upset to deal with the guy I was talking to in a civilized manner. Then he said he wouldn't charge me, if I didn't contact their corporate office.

So I took my car to a different shop that afternoon, and the new mechanic found and fixed the problem in about 45 minutes, for less than AAA was going to charge me for "checking" the vehicle.

 

[wdwscout]

I'm so sorry to hear of the run around you were given.

I did want to report however, that we did take our car there. It did not start when it got off the Autotrain and DH had it towed to the Car Care Center.
They couldn't have been nicer. They let us know they narrowed it down to 2 issues: distributor, and possibly the ignition coil. They ordered the distributor (since they don't stock 1992 era parts ) and replaced that first. When it worked, we were done! He explained that since the older parts can be a little expensive, he didn't want to order both at the outset if we only needed one part.
It took just over 24 hours (since they had to get the part delivered). It was a bit pricey, but what I would expect here at home. It is also guaranteed for 12,000 miles/12 months and he assured me they will tow my son from anywhere in the area for free if he has any issues while there on the CP.
We were happy and felt confident we were leaving him in good hands.

I have no doubt there are times they don't excel. All businesses are like that.
But I did want to update that we did have a good experience.