Rita Ranch Automotive & Tire — Local services in Tucson

PLEASE READ!!!! This might sound a bit cliche right about now but "if I could give a 0 star rating, I would!" We moved down to Vail and began taking our car here for oil changes. Our car is only three years old and under a 100K so we don't expect any issues to arise with it. In December 2015 the check engine light started coming on and off. Took it to Rita Ranch Automotive right away and they advised me to wait until it was steady. A week later the light is steadily on so I take it back and they check the engine light and tell me its a knock sensor that needs replacing. All in all, it costs $160 to replace and I did so. Not a full week later the engine light comes back on. This time I couldn't believe it could be the knock sensor again so this time I take it to the Chevy dealer just in case it falls under a warranty issue with the engine. They do the same check engine light test that reads back that its the knock sensor again (let me repeat - ONE week later). I spoke to both Chevy and Rita Ranch about it and even Chevy said that rarely a part will just be faulty right out of the factory. So I go back to Rita Ranch Automotive and let them replace the knock sensor again under their warranty. The same night of the second repair the engine light comes on (AGAIN!!!), and by this time I am thinking "no freaking way". After having been assured by both Chevy and Rita Ranch that there was absolutely no way it was the knock sensor for a third time I take it back to Chevy to have the engine light diagnosed again. But the advisor at Chevy pulls the same knock sensor code again and then advises me to take it back to Rita Ranch to have them check over their work BEFORE anyone starts tearing apart the engine looking for a hidden problem. This was a Friday, and I took it to Rita Ranch directly from Chevy to have them check their work. They check the engine light and knock sensor for the third time and it comes back the same code. From there, Rita Ranch tells me they want to take my car for a full day to "play with it" to try and figure out what could be wrong because "there is no way it's the knock sensor". We only have one vehicle so I tell them I can't leave the car and our family without transportation, and that at the earliest I could bring it back the following Friday and wait for it. But come Monday morning, we decide at that point that if ANYONE is going to be taking apart our engine piece by piece its best to let the dealership handle it, so I took it back to Chevy to do the diagnostic and rented a vehicle. Within an hour of dropping it off they call me with a diagnosis. The knock sensor connector is heavily damaged, causing all the knock sensors to short out, and the piece is damaged in such a way that there is absolutely no doubt: Rita Ranch Automotive did it. So not only did I have to pay for Chevy's diagnostic, the replacement part and labor, but they also have to redo the entire knock sensor as well that should have been done almost two months before by Rita Ranch in the first place!!! I now have the broken part and the paperwork from Chevy dealer directly implicating Rita Ranch for the damage done to my car. I am nearly $400 in the hole with Chevy. Considering, I don't think it is at all unreasonable for me to request my $160 back from Rita Ranch Automotive to help cover the costs, right? WRONG! Called them bright and early Monday morning and told them everything, and politely requested the money back. They completely shrugged responsibility at that point and even "claimed" that Chevy told them that they touched the knock sensor too, implicating Chevy for the damages!!! I told them Chevy NEVER touched my knock sensor until the final repair. They said that they were going to call Chevy and then give me a call back. They haven't called back. And after calling Chevy this morning (two days later) I know they haven't called them either. I have had enough! I am going to file a claim with my credit card for the charges. And they'll be lucky if I don't take them to small claims court for the $400. DON'T TAKE...

I took my car in recently to have an oil change done. The guy advised me of the prices of each oil change, asked me if I wanted regular or synthetic, now mind you I am not automotive savvy @ all... so, I ask what the difference is. He explained it to me, he looked up my vehicle in the system and advised me my vehicle didn't require synthetic and it would be 29.99... cool, done deal., right? I leave and come back 2 hours later and he tells me when I get there "Your car actually requires synthetic, and it will be 80.00"... so, not expecting to pay this much, I no longer had an option. He offered me a 6.00 discount, and his rewards card, but they already did the work, I was stuck! He never called and advised me, nothing! What if I didn't have that money to spend??? So I leave a little discouraged. After about 10 minutes of driving, pure panic mode comes over me, bc I afraid that all the other places that have put in regular oil in my car, may have caused damaged. So, I pull over and start looking at my owners manual, and looking @ the oil cap under the hood... and then I finally called Nissan. Nissan said, NO we do not require synthetic in any vehicle, except our Hybrids. So, now I am really confused. I called back, and although he said "I will refund the difference", the tone was an agitated one, as if me questioning the situation was un-warranted. He told me "Im not going to argue with you"... I wasn't calling to argue, I legitimately was un-sure...

I come back a couple hours later after a soccer game, with my brother... and he made it right with refunding the difference... but, we did say for future, they should give this option to their customers. I've never paid 80.00 bucks for an oil change, so you can imagine my surprise when I was told this was needed.

update The owner, Terry called me with in an hour and a half of this post, and apologized and made it right with me. It is comforting to know that he values the opinions of his consumers....

Others may have better luck than I did but they tried to literally charge me double what it should have been. Took my car in to diagnose it not wanting to start. I explained what had already been done and I needed the fuel system and evap system pressure checked. They told me the fuel pump system was not holding pressure ok fare enough than came the issue, they wanted $900 to replace the pump. I asked them what brand and how much was the pump. They told me precision (oriley's autoparts house brand) and it was $560!!!! This didn't sound right. I called oriley's and they told me the fwd one was 275 and they didn't make one for the awd (what i had. I called them back to ask what was up. Different person insisted precision did and gave me this line about how consumers can get parts cheaper and the "list price" was 560. He wanted me to believe that automotive shops Pay more for parts than consumers. This is 100% a lie. I called a friend that works at a dealer and uses oriley's and he verified precision does not make a pump for my car and that they pay 20-30% lower than what consumers pay and no reputable shop pays or charges customers "list price" and that is something shady shops use as a way to over charge people that don'tknow better. I also asked him to look up the book hours on aldata for replacement of a fuel pump. It was 1.8 hours. They where going to charge me for 3.5 hours. Even if they where going to charge extra for testing after they replaced the pump it doesn't excuse them trying to charge me double for who knows what part and lying to me about it! I pointed out to them that even a pump from the dealer is 440 and why are they trying to charge more than what the dealership would charge. He only told me I could come get my car if I wanted. Well they got $125 from me for diagnoses that I will now have to pay another shops to do again because I...