OK…first off, I have already reviewed this company before. I have used Mace’s Garage a total of 5 times in the past couple of years. I even recommended my brother to Mace’s Garage about a year ago even though he had a mechanic here in Searcy. Convincing my wife to change mechanics was more of journey because she had a couple of mechanics that she “relied” on (note, I said relied on as opposed to stating they were really good). So my post today will be about the latest encounter we had with my wife’s mechanics here in Searcy and Mace’s Garage in Conway. But before I go into too much detail…here’s how I found Mace’s and got to where I am today “mechanically” speaking.
Something you should know about me. I don’t like DOCTORS, LAWYERS or MECHANICS, of course I’m speaking of the professions…not the professional. I feel they always have bad news to give to you. Rarely has someone from any of these professions made me smile after a visit. So the key is to find one you trust, and to make sure they have the knowledge and expertise to fix your problem. So here’s how I found Mace’s Garage.
I bought my latest vehicle (2013 Nissan Altima) about 2 years ago. It was very low mileage (24K) and was in great shape inside and out. But the day after I got it home…the windows got a mind of their own and when I wasn’t watching they would start going up and down all by themselves…and eventually it would run my battery down. I took it to the Nissan dealer and he suggested buying a new $300 key FOB. NOPE! I didn’t want to start there because I had already ruled out the key FOB being the culprit. At any rate, I got pretty frustrated with the dealer and came home and began a search for a mechanic. I think I looked online for more than a 3 hours doing nothing but searching for a good mechanic. I read reviews, I considered distance, I considered their capabilities and I considered experience. I finally selected Mace’s Garage. I called them and talked to Jeff Mace…told him my problem and told him I was willing to leave my car a day or two. He TALKED to me and told me his plan to troubleshoot the problem. He alerted me it could be an expensive fix, or a more traditional fix at a moderate price…depending on the problem. Within a day he was calling me and telling me he found the problem and was able to fix it at the lower cost. NO PROBLEMS SINCE. When Jeff explains the problem you are having and his plan of action to fix it…he sounds like an expert “special speaker” exuding with the confidence that he can deal with any problem a customer might have.
Now on to my Brother’s story. A few months later my Brother took his truck over to Mace’s Garage with an air conditioner issue. He was told by another mechanic that it would involve removing the entire dash and cost about $1000 to fix. Jeff took the truck into his garage and fixed it on the same day for just a couple of hundred dollars and didn’t not have to remove the dash at all to accomplish the repair. He is now my Brother’s mechanic too.
Yeah…all that preliminary history just to tell this story about my wife’s car.
Lee Ann has a 2011 Chevrolet Equinox. We have had a LOT of issues with this vehicle for the entire 5 years she has owned it, but over those years all the issues were resolved…some under warranty and others at our expense. This latest issue, or should I say issues started about 3 weeks ago. My wife told me one afternoon that the check engine light was on vehicle. She had went by AutoZone and had them check the code. It turns out it wasn’t one code, but 8 different codes. When she told me this, I suggested Mace’s Garage, but she said no that she would just let “her” mechanic fix it. That afternoon when she got home, she told me the mechanic said he too found multiple codes, in fact 9 codes all together. He said he drove the car and found it to operate fine, and could not find anything wrong with it…even though it had these 9 codes showing issues.
I BEGGED her to let me take it to Mace’s Garage. She finally relented and I took the car about a week ago to Jeff’s place. We dropped it off and told him to take his time. The next day, he called Lee Ann and said he cleared the codes and found a wire that had the insulation rubbed off of it and was shorting out system causing some of the codes. After the wire was repaired, he also found and corrected the remaining codes. When I picked it up that afternoon, he told me that he still suspected the catalytic converter might be going bad, but it would need more investigation IF the code came back, and he said not to be alarmed if the code did return, but that we would need to have more diagnostic testing done on the catalytic converter.
Sure enough a few days later the check engine light came back on. We called Jeff and he said to bring it back at our convenience, and that driving the car with that code would not immediately effect the efficiency of the car. We took the car back to Mace’s Garage this past Friday afternoon. On Monday morning I did some additional online research and found that for the 2011 Chevrolet Equinox there was a FREE WARRANTY replacement of the catalytic converter if brought in before 80,000 miles on the odometer. Our care qualified. My wife called Jeff and told him about the warranty option. He said no problem and we could either pick up the car and take it to our local dealer, or if we wanted him to…he could take it to the dealer in Conway. Let me say this again, he said…”If you want, I can take the car to the dealer for the warranty work here in Conway”. This meant someone had to follow him to the dealer, drop the car off. Have someone take him BACK to the dealer to pick the car up. HE DID THAT!
That brings us to today… Jeff calls my wife and tells her the car is ready to be picked up. My wife asked how much was the bill…NO CHARGE from the dealer. She then asked how much the Mace’s Garage bill was…NO CHARGE TO YOU THE CUSTOMER.
THAT is service above and beyond what even a good business would provide. This is the kind of service you get from a GREAT business. The customer is IMPORTANT. Thank you AGAIN, Jeff.
(DISCLAIMER: I am sure there are some good, and maybe even great mechanics in Searcy. I don’t know who they are…but there’s more to just working on a car than fixing it. You should trust your mechanic, your mechanic should have confidence in what they and most important…you must LIKE your mechanic. I just happen to find all those qualities in Maces Garage in Conway).
MACE’S GARAGE
I Gotta Tell Ya 