Cost me over one thousand dollars to learn my lesson about Carr's Garage.
I began taking my vehicles to Rex Carr for Virginia State Inspections. I was initially impressed because they removed the milky film from the headlights on my wife's Toyota Carmy without being asked and at no charge which then passed inspection. Then he fixed my rear window wiper without being asked; for free; and without charge and gave my Honda Odyssey van a passing inspection sticker. All sounds good right??
Mr Carr then convinced me he could fix my John Deere R72 riding mower. All I asked him to do was reassemble a carburetor a lawnmower repair shop had disassembled without my permission. I waited the entire summer and all I got were excuses about why it wasn't ready. I was told that his wife searched extensively and still couldn't find a carburetor for my 1985 mower. I then did a Google search and found a brand new one in less than 1 hour!
I got it to him and waited for several more months and received lie after lie about why it wasn't ready until I notified him I was coming to get it whether it was fixed or not. I discovered that he didn't know how to adjust the air/fuel ratio. He had to borrow a flow guage type carbeurator tuner from a friend of his. Maybe he wasn't around for the carbeurator era?
I have a great deal of mechanical abilities but don't work on my things because of severe medical illnesses but I had it tuned in less than 10 minutes after I got home with it.
THEN I asked if he could fix a Generac camper generator that had been worked on by Camping World and a one man shop. Neither could repair it. Mr. Carr said he had a brother in law that was a genius with electrical systems and generators because he worked on them for a living. He began working on it and a year later I told him to put it back in my camper whether it was fixed or not. He gave multiple excuses and multiple lies about why it wasn't ready.
THEN he said it was fixed! ! When I went to get the truck and camper the generator did on the first 5 attempts EXACTLY what it was doing 1 year earlier. The generator runs perfect as long as the breaker stays off. It ran just fine with the breaker off but when he turned the breaker on the generator runs for 10-15 seconds and shuts itself down. Mr. Carr insisted it was because it was not getting propane but it ran perfectly with the breaker off! The gen shut itself down 5 times after running 10 seconds just exactly as 1 year before. He then began unplugging wires from the control box on the generator and proceeded to unplug the main power cord to the camper from the power outlet directly connected to the generator. Finally the generator powered up and kept running so I turned on the AC.
The generator DID NOT THROTTLE UP. I have used this generator and others and the RPM’S ALWAYS increase VERY noticeably when a load is applied. He claimed it wasn't warm enough outside for the AC to run but the air coming out got cold. I also ran the microwave and the generator did NOT throttle up.
Appliances will operate with low voltage but will be destroyed by the low voltage produced by an idling generator. The electrical and electronics of the generator itself will be severely damaged and burn itself out. If the gen runs long enough under this heavy load and it is hot enough outside the generator WILL OVERHEAT AND BURN ITSELF UP possibly even causing a camper fire.
He charged me the full amount which was over $1000 dollars and he didn't fix a thing. He did give my 1995 Ram a passing inspection though.
He had earlier passed VA State Inspection on my 2012 Ram 3500 dually that had the right front tire worn down to the tread bars. If you have had a State Inspection done there I would suggest that you might want to consider having a safety check done by someone you trust.
If you go there for anything other than an inspection be prepared to wait a year!
All USA
Cost me over one thousand dollars to learn my lesson about Carr's Garage. I began taking my vehicles to Rex Carr for Virginia State Inspections. I was initially impressed because they removed the milky film from the headlights on my wife's Toyota Carmy without being asked and at no charge which then passed inspection. Then he fixed my rear window wiper without being asked; for free; and without charge and gave my Honda Odyssey van a passing inspection sticker. All sounds good right?? Mr Carr then convinced me he could fix my John Deere R72 riding mower. All I asked him to do was reassemble a carburetor a lawnmower repair shop had disassembled without my permission. I waited the entire summer and all I got were excuses about why it wasn't ready. I was told that his wife searched extensively and still couldn't find a carburetor for my 1985 mower. I then did a Google search and found a brand new one in less than 1 hour! I got it to him and waited for several more months and received lie after lie about why it wasn't ready until I notified him I was coming to get it whether it was fixed or not. I discovered that he didn't know how to adjust the air/fuel ratio. He had to borrow a flow guage type carbeurator tuner from a friend of his. Maybe he wasn't around for the carbeurator era? I have a great deal of mechanical abilities but don't work on my things because of severe medical illnesses but I had it tuned in less than 10 minutes after I got home with it. THEN I asked if he could fix a Generac camper generator that had been worked on by Camping World and a one man shop. Neither could repair it. Mr. Carr said he had a brother in law that was a genius with electrical systems and generators because he worked on them for a living. He began working on it and a year later I told him to put it back in my camper whether it was fixed or not. He gave multiple excuses and multiple lies about why it wasn't ready. THEN he said it was fixed! ! When I went to get the truck and camper the generator did on the first 5 attempts EXACTLY what it was doing 1 year earlier. The generator runs perfect as long as the breaker stays off. It ran just fine with the breaker off but when he turned the breaker on the generator runs for 10-15 seconds and shuts itself down. Mr. Carr insisted it was because it was not getting propane but it ran perfectly with the breaker off! The gen shut itself down 5 times after running 10 seconds just exactly as 1 year before. He then began unplugging wires from the control box on the generator and proceeded to unplug the main power cord to the camper from the power outlet directly connected to the generator. Finally the generator powered up and kept running so I turned on the AC. The generator DID NOT THROTTLE UP. I have used this generator and others and the RPM’S ALWAYS increase VERY noticeably when a load is applied. He claimed it wasn't warm enough outside for the AC to run but the air coming out got cold. I also ran the microwave and the generator did NOT throttle up. Appliances will operate with low voltage but will be destroyed by the low voltage produced by an idling generator. The electrical and electronics of the generator itself will be severely damaged and burn itself out. If the gen runs long enough under this heavy load and it is hot enough outside the generator WILL OVERHEAT AND BURN ITSELF UP possibly even causing a camper fire. He charged me the full amount which was over $1000 dollars and he didn't fix a thing. He did give my 1995 Ram a passing inspection though. He had earlier passed VA State Inspection on my 2012 Ram 3500 dually that had the right front tire worn down to the tread bars. If you have had a State Inspection done there I would suggest that you might want to consider having a safety check done by someone you trust. If you go there for anything other than an inspection be prepared to wait a year!