LOUDOUN AUTO REPAIR

Description of Work: They worked on my car.

Description of Work: I've been going to them when I have flat tires and for oil changes.

Description of Work: They rotated the tires and gave the car a general check up.

Description of Work: We have to have safety inspections every year for our car, so I take it there for safety inspection, and if they find anything, they're really cost efficient in fixing it.

Description of Work: Auto service/inspection. They had to do some metal work on the sub frame.

Description of Work: Originally, a brake repair. Told them the brakes were sticking, they said it had nothing to do with the calipers, and they replaced the rotors and pads. Five months later, I had ground the pad down to the rotors because the caliper was sticking. | |Originally thought the service from the brakes was good. Decent price. Timely service. Friendly office. I found it odd that they asked me if I wanted the old parts back. I've never had a garage ask that before. Found out later that generally, garages are less likely to cheat you if you ask for the parts back. So, I suppose they must have been used to people asking for their parts back when using that garage. Guess I should have said yes, rather than no. | |Later returned to have a rear main seal that had been leaking for two years replaced. They did the work, had originally quoted us $900, which was a good price. We took it in. They did the work. Along the way they found a whole host of other things that needed replaced.. axle seals (transmission related), transmission filter, etc. Called me with a song and a dance of how the engine and transmission mounts needed replaced. The owner said that it wouldn't pass inspection but proceeded to tell me that it this deterioration of the mounts was a slow process and that it would have taken a long time to reach this point, etc. Until I said well, so you're saying that this process takes a while, it doesn't just happen overnight? He said yes. I said it was just inspected. He said oh, well, let me go check the mounts. Came back later and said they weren't necessary. | |They replaced the battery. They did several other things. What started out as a $900 job, plus the cost of an oil change.. suddenly was $1500. We picked the car up at the garage. I turn the car on, the car makes a gridning noise, like the starter going bad and then starts but the check engine light is on. The check engine light WAS NOT ON BEFORE THEY FIXED IT. I ask the owner if this car is okay to drive to DC and back on the greenway every single day. He says, no problem. Engine light on because of transmission needing flushed. I said, I've never had a transmission flush cause a check engine light. He insisted it was fine, and it wasn't throwing a code. I said check engine light throws a code. He argued, said the car was fine to drive. I pull out of the parking lot, the car went KERTHUMP and sounded like the engine was dropping out of it. I stop and start at the few turns/stop lights as we're leaving and every time we accelerate or stop the KERTHUMP happens. Turn the car around, take it back. Owner test drives it. It doesn't make the sound the entire time. He says the grinding noise when we start the car is not an issue. | |We drive it back and forth to work for over a week. Keep telling him the car will not shift into overdrive. He tells me that it's because the transmission needs flushed, but bring the car back to him on the weekend and he'll look at it. | |Halfway into the second week, I'm pulling out of my garage in DC, the car starts spluttering and knocking. Have it towed to Leesburg to the tune of $200. Drop it off at their garage. Next day, he tells me that the oil leak I've been complaining about (car was still leaking oil after it was "repaired"), was because when we put oil in the car last time, we crossthreaded the oil cap, and the oil was leaking from there. I mentioned that they were the last ones to have touched the oil cap and that would be their carelessness. He changed the subject. They also told me that one of the sensors was "cross wired". I called a parts store, and a few other auto related places including my old mechanic, another local mechanic, and two Toyota dealerships.. and they said that the sensor is a "plug-in". It has a little clip that just clips in, much like a landline phone jack wire just clips into the plug. So, the garage didn't wire it properly when they put my car back together. We then paid another $400 to have spark plugs and a few other things replaced. My car had absolutely NO PROBLEMS before they messed with it. I'll give them the battery, although the battery was working when I took it in, it was corroded and I figured it needed to be replaced. | |I took it immediately to another mechanic and after having several people look at it, we found this: |The starter has to be removed in order to replace the rear main seal. The starter had a build up of road dust and dirt, and oils, etc, on it, and absolutely no finger prints, tool marks where they'd touched it with a tool, etc. Additionally, in all of their "concern" for whether I'd pass inspection or not, they failed to mention that the passenger side rear floorboard was rusting out and could potentially be more costly to repair than the car was ultimately worth. Hummmm, needed motor mounts, which is work they could do, but failed to mention the floorboard, which would potentially have rendered the repair work nil, as we might have refused to do it knowing that and put the money invested into a new car. It was a consensus from the other garages that they should have told us that before doing the work. | |Additionally, the other garage conceded that the rear main seal was still leaking, and that the starter had not been touched so the rear main seal couldn't have been replaced. | |They are a AAA certified garage. I called AAA. Their agent came out, the garage had to replace my caliper. My brakes are still making noise. The car is still leaking oil. They put a dye in my oil tank to "trace" if there was a leak. They then postponed my return visit to them for a week and a half. The garage attempted to charge me for all the work, and the owner was attempting to convince me that they were replacing my caliper out of the kindness of my heart, even though I was present when the AAA agent said replace the caliper. I was still charged for the caliper but the rotor and pad and labor were free. They couldn't, however, get the caliper before the end of the day.. it was only noon, so they'd have to keep my car and do the work overnight. I'd told the AAA agent that I didn't feel comfortable with my car being in their care and out of my sight, but if he felt that it was safe, and he knew my car well enough to pinpoint any issues or coverups, I'd leave it. | |I don't see why it would take overnight to get that part. The caliper was already pulled off. All they had to do was drop the new one on and reassemble the brake system (which they unassembled in 20 minutes in front of me). | |When I came back a few weeks later to see what the dye showed us about the rear main seal leak, no dye showed. They wouldn't let me in the garage until like 10 minutes after they were doing the "test". By the time they opened the door for me, the car was already running and they'd already "inspected" it for a leak. No dye showed, and they ran the black light over the "trouble spot" for me. The AAA rep insisted that this was residual oil, that it would blow out from all the places it was pooled. It's October. Three more mechanics have looked at this car and said the rear main was leaking. The car is still leaking oil, at the same rate it was before. I still have to put oil in the car. | |I emailed the AAA rep, and he refuses to answer now. I think honestly that the garage, while they had the car overnight, simply changed the oil once or twice to remove the dye. When I checked into this, all the varying sources said that the dye was effective for about 500 miles. It was a week and a half, 8 days, between the two appointments. That was 704 miles on my car. | |Changing the oil would negate the efficacy of the dye. The consensus is that changing the oil would dilute the dye enough that you wouldn't be able to spot it. | |Overall, they are sketchy. They dont' even have a good reputation among the garages in the area. They're deceitful and as soon as you show you know something about it, their story changes. Additionally, every time they said something and then I said, I'll have my nephew, the mechanic, come down and you can show him.. the story changed. Suddenly that thing didn't need to be replaced. | |Scumbags, really. Cannot believe that they got away with this. AAA is just as bad in my book. They refused to comply with my wishes. I'm filing a complaint against them next. | |

Description of Work: Complete front brake replacement as well as flushing and filling the brake fluid. They also did an oil change.

Description of Work: Original repair in February 2014 was front end work ($800.00). Two used, salvage yard engines=$3,100

Description of Work: Changed a serpentine belt and repaired pitman, idler arms in front suspension.

Description of Work: Front rotors/pads - $385 adjustment/tightening of the rear brakes - $50 oil change - $20 and some odd cents

Description of Work: They did some work on my car and my husband's car. They did routine maintenance.

Description of Work: I knew that my Chrysler mini van needed a turn up and since we just moved to Virginia, it also needed to be inspected. They did all the necessary checks and checked anything else I mentioned. They explained everything thouroughly. They did only the work necessary and I feel the charge was reasonable. Previously, I had the van to Pep Boys in Frederick, Maryland and they gave me an estimate of $400 more than I paid at Loudoun Auto Repair and most of the estimate from Pep Boys was hogwash.

Description of Work: Needed a whole host of repairs on an 89 Chevy truck that my son had purchased - wheel bearings, transmission shaft leak, hoses replaced, transmission fluid replaced, coolant replaced, idler arm, the list goes on.