LC 80 Series Affordable garage

[JBojini]

Hey Mates,

 

I am looking for some oil leak and drive shaft maintenance for my Land Cruiser 1997 (80 Series)

Need reference for affordable and reliable garage who has worked on old cars

 

JB

 

[Frederic]

On 7/9/2024 at 4:51 PM, JBojini said:

Hey Mates,

 

I am looking for some oil leak and drive shaft maintenance for my Land Cruiser 1997 (80 Series)

Need reference for affordable and reliable garage who has worked on old cars

 

JB

 

Hi @JBojini we cannot advertise workshops here, so hence there will be little to no replies. I would recommend visiting some workshops that are not too far from where you live and have a chat with them, and look at the cars they are working on. You will generally find the following types of shops:

1. The squeeky clean (almost like a dealership) workshop. Could be great and you should get appointed to a capable service advisor and free cappuccino, but labor rates will be on the higher side, and you might be getting overcharged. Positive side is that your car can probably stay inside the shop while they are working on it, instead of being moved to a dusty parking somewhere.

2. Mid-level workshop, usually being run by 4-6 techs and one owner/supervisor. Can get very busy and you might have to chase them to get your car done. Could be however a good shop to bring a classic vehicle.

3. Workshop on a dusty sand floor. Could be either fantastic if the guy can focus solely on your vehicle and will fix it cheaply. But it could be an absolute nightmare as well. That reveals itself after using the shop for a while  

 

In the end, everything falls or stands for what you are willing to pay for. I have found and used workshops that were cheap but failed to notice or recognize issues that could have been fixed while the car was in their shop. I would have preferred in that case to use a shop that does a deep professional inspection and gets it over with, on a higher cost and more parts perhaps, but not having to visit that shop every week for ongoing problems.