Master Mechanic High Park

I’m not really educated when it comes to the world of automobile repair, so I’ve always steered clear from leaving reviews on mechanics. I’ve tried a bunch over the years though — whether trying to find something with quick turnaround, convenient locations, good pricing, or even simply based on good reviews.
I can genuinely say that I’ve never found anything that really made me comfortable as I do with this Master Mechanic. Their prices may be a bit higher than other places, but I’m not even going to dock them a Unilocal star as for some reason I’ve found comfort in the fact that they are independently franchised (so they have a level of local responsibility to keep me happy and retain my business instead of going to another location), yet they have a corporate affiliation to stand behind their work (Master Mechanic has a longer warranty period than the Consumer Protection Act dictates they need to).
I haven’t had many recurring issues from work done here, so I’ve kept coming back and would give them the thumbs up to anyone else needing auto repairs in the west end.

I had a groupon like deal I had purchased several years ago that I never got around to using. I finally found the time and was surprised they still accepted the coupon without any questions. The staff were super friendly and polite to deal with. They gave me a call to tell me the service was done and could pick it up whenever and didn’t charge me extra for the synthetic oil which they could have. Overall, they were very customer friendly and I will be happy to be back whenever I have car issues down the road.

These guys are AMAZING! They really helped me out last minute in a pinch, and their staff was super friendly and accommodating. They’re also dog friendly so if you’re a dog person and need to bring them with you it’s no problem, and in fact they might get a little treat!

Hey MM,
I don’t drive, but I wanted to say that I walk by your sign every day on the way to the TTC and I love what you put up there. Makes me smile on the way to work.
So I don’t drive but I’ll happily reco you. It’s nice to see a local company actually do good things in the neighbourhood. Keep it up.

I took my 2004 Toyota Echo to Master Mechanic at 2 Howard Park Ave to get an emission test so i could renew my license this month. This was a good choice because my car FAILED the test with three separate red flags, all caused primarily by a faulty valve in the catalytic converter. The device needs to be replaced, and it could end up costing me $$$ parts and labour. Thankfully Josie Candito the business manager informed me of my options, which included buying a special dispensation certificate from MTO for about $ 80 dollars or thereabouts. Its sad, but fixing the car properly would cost more than I can afford right now.. When my car was up on the hoist, Mike went around and checked my tires’ air pressure and filled them as nec., I had them change the oil too when my car was aloft and Josie gave me a first aid kit that is darn handy to have. And Mike topped up the remainder of my levels when the car came down. So I left happy, even though I got a big dose of bad news. I’m a polluter! So now I know that I have to get my tail pipe fixed, sooner rather than later, for the good of the environment.

I’ve used this shop a number of times over the last couple of years. It seem to be a family-​owned business which is always a plus for me. I find them friendly, upfront and honest. Getting in is tough in a busy shop but they are always willing to work around my schedule and almost always finish the work before the promised time.

I stopped in there once with low power steering fluid. They filled it for free. When it became obvious that there was a persistent leak, I took it to them to repair. They diagnosed the issue and let me know that the part would take a while to get. They proposed an alternative solution that, because it was a leak in a fairly generic metal tube, would fix it right away (i.e. not using the Toyota tube but just making one from similar parts). It was fixed. They alerted me to a smaller and much less urgent leak in the rack and pinion (and the commensurately higher cost to fix). A couple of weeks later, I got a call asking me if everything was still OK.
Overall, very positive experience.

Customer service so-​so, prices rather high, quality of work OK.
I had a group deal voucher that I used for an oil change at this garage. When they were done, they told me my tired weren’t «round» which was a type of lingo that I found to be a tad odd. It turns out that they were worn unevenly as they were trying to explain. I didn’t get a chance to ask the mechanic what he recommend, after having told me that I needed new tires and that the tires that fit on my rims were very expensive (they didn’t recommend any, they just told me they’d be expensive).
I asked the receptionist what she thought might’ve caused it after I was done trying to make sense of what I was just told in my head. After saying I likely need to change my struts, she called another mechanic as the one who had worked on my car was busy working on the next car, and he said that I’d likely need an alignment. He told me that I should get it checked and likely done, and he told me he gets his alignment done twice a year which seemed a bit excessive. When I asked how much checking the alignment would cost, he said it’d be $ 50 for checking it and another $ 50 for doing it if need-​be. I mentioned my winter tires at some point during the conversation, so at the end, he suggested doing the alignment when switching to my winter tires.
I would’ve liked if the initial tech gave me the cause of the uneven wear and at least a reference as to where I could get replacement tires if this shop doesn’t have my size. Ideally, he would’ve shown me where the issue was/​what it looked like, but I guess that’d be going over the top in terms of service.
When I looked at the regular price for an oil change on the wall, they started at around $ 70 from what I recall.
So all-​in-​all, I wouldn’t return to this shop as I didn’t get any value as compared to a fairly priced shop such as Active Green & Ross or Costco.