My Garage by Essex

They are not cheap, but they back up everything and do an excellent job. I will recommend them and use them, again.

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I took the vehicle to them because I thought it would be difficult to diagnose, and their reputation as knowledgeable. There was intermittent vibration from the drive train, but I could not tell from where, and there were several suspects. I had 8:00 am appointment and by 5:30 that day, they had correctly diagnosed the problem and gave me an estimate to fix it. They had it finished by 6:00 the next day. They did charge twice for parts what they are elsewhere, but the labor was not unreasonable, and it was fixed. For that part, they get an A-. The young technician also noticed a leak around the power steering reservoir cap. I asked him to see what he could do. He called with, no cap available - had to replace entire reservoir. He said he couldn't get an aftermarket cap. Said he had to then replace the fluid, and therefore flush the system too. I would have replaced this fluid soon (99k miles on it) so I had him do it. In the end, this slightly leaky cap cost me $300. About $100 each on labor for the replacement and the flush. They also noticed a slightly rough cold idle. Ran diagnostics ($100) but found nothing. Suspected worn plugs. I asked very clearly, "Will the new plugs solve the rough idle problem?" "Yes." Six spark plugs at $22 each, and labor at $173 to replace (discounted, allegedly.) The idle was unchanged after the $400 spark plug change and diagnostic. He repeatedly implied we were using low grade fuel. Gasket in oil filter holder was "pinched" so slight leak. News to me. Replaced gasket and filter, but I said no to oil Wasn't due yet and I guessed another $300. I thought they did the hard part well, but then I felt gouged. I should have said No to all the rest, but some might have been needed soon and I wanted the drive train fixed right with no qualifications.

I took my car in three times to fix the problem. After the first time (about $1000) there was a problem that resulted from something that the shop had not done. They fixed that problem and hoped that, then, everything was going to be fine. After about 2 months, the car developed the same problem that caused me to take her to the shop the first time - chugging when I started her up and whenever I had to stop for traffic lights or stop signs. The third time I had the car in the shop we spent an additional $2000 to fix the expensive problem - so now I was $3000 in the hole. Everything seemed fine after that shop visit until about 6 weeks later when she started chugging AGAIN. That was the last straw and my husband and I decided to trade the car in for a newer model.

Rather than going to a chain store for new tires, I tried this local company for new tires for my car. On another occasion my wife went to the store to have a flat tire repaired on another car. My experience was that the owner did his best to talk me into a set of new tires that I did not really want. His attitude bordered on rude; it was an unpleasant customer service experience. My wife's experience was that the owner and employees were flat out rude to her in various ways. Among them, she had to wait a long time for them to just look at the tire; then they told her there was nothing wrong with it, although in fact it did have a leak. All in all, not pleasant experiences, and therefore I will not go back there, and do not recommend this business.