Petersen's Automotive

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When I looked at the previous owners receipts I found that Peterson Automotive was the one who did the lousy work according to Mike Peterson the owner of Petersons automotive. Also, I found out by calling AAA that Petersons Automotive was not a authorized AAA repair shop. I called AAA and they made him take his signs down. A few months later I saw that he had the signs back up at his shop. I called AAA again to see if he had since become an authorized AAA repair shop and was told at the time that he was not an authorized shop. He appears to be advertising that he is AAA when he is not an authorized AAA repair shop. The ;last time I looked a couple weeks ago he still had the AAA signs up. I will not ever use this shop again and I do not recommend that any one else use this repair shop. It is dishonest and possibly an infringement of. Washington state fraudulent advertising laws to advertise with signs that your business is eg--AAA when that is not the truth. Just for that reason only I will not trust any business who engages in this practice in the future.. 

It's sad to see a good business go downhill. I know the business recently had moved back into its old quarters. They seem to be short of staff, and communication between the front desk and the mechanics seems very poor. The estimate was for only one unusual job, but after telling me, "Don't call us, we'll call you," they began work on a number of additional jobs, with no notification or approval. In addition, it looks like their security has suffered; someone obviously tried to pry our gas flap open, badly gouging the finish. This morning, their polite front-desk person called to see if we'd made it home in the car. Last-minute communication and holding onto the car so long didn't help. Truly - sad about this.

Price was very reasonable and was as quoted.  Michael Petersen is passionate about quality and clearly loves his work.  However, he has downsized his business and now does much of the work himself, using other mechanics on a part time basis when needed.  Therefore, do not expect the polished and responsive customer interface you will get from a large garage ..If you call when Michael is under a car out in the shop then his phone will just ask you to leave a message and it may a while for him to get back to you.
The 'two hours of labor' job required an unexpected full day (overnight) to do because of unexpected difficulty during the water pump replacement.  That did not add to my cost, however, and Michael insisted I take his personal car as a loaner (a beautiful old Mercedes which really spoiled me).
Overall, I am happy with the experience and will go to Petersen's again but next time I will be asking up front about expected turnaround time and probability of possible delays.
Don

They gave me an estimate as to cost and time.   The cost was correct.  The time turned out not to be.  They claimed the auto parts store sent them the wrong starter.  What was supposed to be a two hour job turned out to be four hours.  They were very apologetic about it, but it still was a two hour loss of my time.

  

      They were wonderful.  Very friendly, courtious,  respectful and professtional.  It took a little longer than an

      express oil & lube but they had several clients ahead of me.  It was very worth the little extra time it took.

       I was so impressed with the overall job they did.  I have never gotten such a reasonable price, plus they threw

        in  a set of windshield  wipers free.....I have found  bussinesses in this area take advantage of women not the case

        at Petersen"s.  I will certainly return, and will recomend their services.