Car Dealers in Calgary, Canada

I think the better question is where to **NEVER** take your vehicle for repairs. The one that comes to mind is any Canadian Tire. As for the good shops, its very arbitrary. I go to OK tire on Northmount and I'm pretty happy with them.

41 st Auto in the NE

Along the same lines, any preferred shops or those to avoid in the far south? Have a couple Toyotas that could use some maintenance, but don't want to take them to the dealership ever again... TIA

The only place I'll take my car is Nisstech Automotive: http://nisstech.ca/index.php? In the Manchester Industrial area.

I've been bringing my cars to James at Worry Free Auto on 36 and 32 st in the NE for awhile now

I've been happy with Hawkwood Auto. I've had a dealership tell me I had ~$2000 worth of issues that need fixed and Steve at Hawkwood Auto told me my vehicle is fine and didn't charge me a cent.

Brake Check on Macleod Trail did a pad and rotor swap for me quickly and fairly cost effectively. Would recommend.

South Auto on Horton Road is where I go for all my auto work. Originally recommended through a family friend, they are the most genuine people I've ever met, in the sense that they are super fair and very reasonably priced. They are all Chinese, so they have a tiny language gap, but man, the main guy Richard knows his shit. One of my side bulbs on my Mercedes burned out, and he replaced it for like $30, $12 of which was cost of the replacement part. If I had gone to the Mercedes dealership, it would have been like $150.

micromech.net, pretty good mechanics and reasonable prices, plus they'll do the service at you're house or work so you don't have to worry about dropping it off at a garage.

Azim at Airways Brake and Muffler 1936 30 Ave NE Straightforward and decent guy: will only do what you need, super competitive rates, guarantees his work, highly recommend. I had other work done in addition to an oilchange, he charged me just 10 bucks for the oil change labour and 60 for the synthetic oil so just $70, almost half of what Jiffy Lube charged me. He also got the heat back on my driver's side of my Jeep Wrangler, saved me over a grand by doing what he advised versus what the dealer advised.

Knibbe in Crowfoot - http://www.knibbeautomotive.com/ easy drop off, and train away I've had great luck with this shop

What area of the city would help. There have been several posts over the past year on this well.

I work in a dealership collision center and was previously a detailer who would install all of those products. The only one I'd recommend you pay for someone to install is the 3M protective film as it is quite technical and does what it says on the tin. Rust proofing is a complete scam as vehicles are already sprayed with cavity wax from factory, and all we techs would do would reapply it in the same locations! Undercoating is good for reducing road noise, mostly. In my years as a body tech I have seen almost 0 underbody rust (on Toyota's, anyway) on any vehicle until you get to the 7+ year range. Most manufacturers have some sort of 5 - 10 year warranty in this regard, IIRC. The frames on some Tacoma's and Tundra's have issues with rust, but those aren't sprayed in the undercoating process anyway. You can easily apply fabric protection yourself. We would use a 3M product off the shelf. It just sprays on. I think it needs to be reapplied later anyway. I can't say whether paint protection works or not, but again we used products you can probably get off the shelf and apply (and reapply) yourself.

Paint protection is literally a paint sealant that is applied just like car wax. You can buy a bottle for $20 that will give you 10+ applications . Fabric protection is a $10 bottle of scotch guard sprayed onto your seats.

I would not get any of the add ons from the dealer. Most fabric is scothguarded at the factory and even that makes little difference anyway. If you must get the 3m film (I wouldn't), make sure they wrap it around the edge at the front off the hood. Most of the ones I see are cut too short and don't cover the front lip of the hood, then they chip and rust. Ceramic paint protection is useless imo (owned 3 detail shops for 28 years) there is a very durable coating for metal that last a long time...It's called paint and the paint itself is 100 times more durable than any coating. Wax it a couple times a year and if it get scratchy looking, get a professional buff job. As for rust proofing, it is all about the person applying it, very hard to find someone who will cover every nook and cranny while using a flashlight to make sure nothing is missed.

I just had 3 m done last week. I called a bunch of shops and ended up going with Shadow Tint. Was $1500 for full hood, front bumper, a pillars, front part of the roof, front quarter panels, headlights and fog lìght as well as a luggage strip on the rear bumper. I think it was their premium package. They did a good job and only needed the car for a day.

Personally I think getting 3m only part way up the hood looks terrible over time. For my cars, I always get 3m on the entire hood and wrapped around the edges. Part way up the hood, you can see where it stops if your car is dirty. Sure it costs a bit more but I think it’s worth it. I actually got the 3m applied by the dealership. In my case, the option to install was with the finance mgr and we negotiated it before I signed anything so I retained the power to walk away. I felt we got a great deal and knew it was cheaper than the 4 or 5 companies I spoke with before for the equivalent product. I never bother with the rust proofing and other options. I’ve had lots of cars, many that are 10 yrs old or more and never had big rust issues personally.

... All of those things come from the factory on a brand new car. Looks like this dealership found another sucker who doesn't do their research. I suggest hopping on a different subreddit, and find out more. https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/33 pzdm/tips_and_tricks_to_buying_a_new_car/ That's one resource, there are many others here on Reddit

You won't net any cash for this, but just going to throw out a suggestion. There's an organization that accepts donated cars for charities, AARCS being one of them. You get a tax receipt mailed to you for the value of the vehicle that you can claim on next year's tax return http://aarcs.ca/other-ways-to-give/

If you are pinching pennies now before even getting an SUV, I would get a compact or smaller vehicle because you will be in for a surprise at the gas pump.

Advantage ford in the south. They sell new and used and the used are not strictly fords. Talk to Patrick. He's awesome! I bought my used car from him last summer. Couldn't be happier with it.

IMO buy used and privately. The initial price tag from dealers always get gst and other fees attached, not too mention that I haven't met a car dealer who isn't smarmy and a little skeevy and always push the upselling. I've had one try to convince me to finance the vehicle instead of paying cash up front because I "could take the cash and invest it while paying low interest on the financing".

Never, ever buy anything from any Mercedes dealers in Calgary. Especially from Lonestar and John Sweeney. Also, Kijiji is great. It is not full of scammers. In fact, I have bought many vehicles over the years from people on the site and have sold a few. I would highly recommend it.

Educate yourself. Check [Autotrader](http://www.autotrader.ca) and kijiji and compare prices and options. Note how much more dealers are asking and be prepared to offer much lower. Have the vehicle inspected, regardless of whether it's a private or dealer sale. Never trust the dealership when they say they've performed their own inspection. I've purchased 2 used cars, and helped my sister purchase hers, through dealers. The only one I was screwed on was the one I didn't get inspected. The only reason I wasn't screwed on the others was my insisting on getting independent inspections done and demanding that they fix all issues found before purchase. All vehicles had issues discovered during inspection, especially my sister's Neon that required a head gasket job among many other smaller things.

Don't buy an SUV. and don't buy from a dealer. That's what kijiji is for.

Talk to Rob at Courtesy Chrysler. http://www.courtesychrysler.com Tell him I sent you. You will be well looked after.