Carter’s Transmission & Auto Service

The guy running the place is awesome, great customer service. They did an amazing job putting in my transmission super fast and made everything smooth from beginning to end. Thanks!!!

I found Carter’s on Unilocal and scheduled an appt. w/​them solely because of their 5-​star rating. I can see why they’re highly rated because my first experience w/​them was outstanding!
Jake’s customer service skills are second to none! He was honest, which I greatly value, and was super accommodating. He inspected my car and the problems I described and, as it turned out, I didn’t need any repair or replacement at the moment. He was kind enough to not charge me for his inspection time++, for which I was very grateful. When the time comes that I need that replacement done, I will most definitely go back to Carter’s.
Thanks, Jake, for being an outstanding and trustworthy mechanic and running a reputable business! Those qualities are hard to come by these days. You’re the epitome of the movie «A Few Good Men.» =)

I had my experience meeting these guys when I had problems with death wobble with my Jeep TJ, they assured me they could fix it and if I needed any parts just to have them sent to the shop and they would put them on. Everything turned out great. I will be a returning customer with a CJ7 in the future.
Thomas Zimniiak

I took my Prius to the dealer and they told me it would take 4000 to fix it. I took it to Carters and they checked it out and did not charge me anything. I have since taken my other car in and they have done an excellent job at a very fair price. It is a great feeling to be able to trust your mechanic.

I drive a really reliable Honda Civic, so I haven’t needed a regular mechanic. I was stuck when my AC went on the blink and my windows were constantly fogging up in all of this El Niño rain! The day I called, Carter’s gave me a free AC diagnostic since I found them on Unilocal!Although I had scheduled for later in the month, I got a random day off and they were able to complete my AC repair that day instead. Jake reminded me to buy the Groupon (saving me $ 100) PLUS they came in under the initial bid! I think it came in at $ 260. Carter’s did an honest and terrific job. I don’t like car repairs but when you trust the folks behind the counter it makes it all less painful. Plus I’m back to icy cold AC!

We recently dropped off our 1999 Jeep Cherokee with Jake fully expecting him to recommend we sell it for scrap metal. It had been running terribly and another mechanic He quickly diagnosed the problem and gave us an honest and affordable assessment on what needed to be done.
Throughout the entire process he was responsive to our questions and took the time to be sure that we fully understood next steps and costs involved. About a week later we have our jeep back and it’s running better than ever! We were so happy with the results that we dropped off our 2014 Jeep off for a checkup.
Jake has earned our full time business and we will exclusively be using him for both routine checkups and major repairs. This guy is great!

Carter’s is the epitome of an honest mechanic shop. Why can’t more places be like Carter’s? But seriously.
I haven’t taken my car in. Yet. Because I haven’t had car issues (knock on wood), but my fiancé has taken his discontinued Saturn Astra in. He loves that car. He previously only took it to the GM dealership, until they held his car hostage for 5 days straight. and didn’t give him the promised service.
and made him drive a loaner car.
and that loaner car didn’t have any gas.
and he was late to work.
and they never followed up.
and this sassy redhead was about to give them a piece of my mind.
I digress.
Jake is the greatest. Though my fiancé has only schlepped his car over there twice for mechanical issues, Jake has remembered conversations they’ve had over the phone and recognizes him and his car. He has always been honest with him and has saved my fiancé a ton of money.
Who would have thought I’d live in a world where I’d be giving a mechanic shop a 5-​star rating? That’s how AWESOME they are, y’all. I’m so glad there’s a business out there to diffuse the sleazy car repair shop stereotype.

Can’t get better than a mechanic you like and trust. Jake and his crew have helped me limp my sad old car along. They really do and keep me from ruining it entirely, without costing me money I don’t have (or want) to put into my ol’ clunker. I may not drive the flashiest whip in ATX, but at least I have the confidence that if I take it to them, they won’t tell me to just junk it and get another. They’ll try their hardest to make my car last, but within my parameters. No «oh you may need a new _​_​_​_​_​soon», or that famous up-​sell that so many shops like to pull. If you need it, they’ll tell ya. If not, they’ll tell ya that too. Gotta love the old school honesty here…

So i took my truck in today cuz the battery went dead, wahhh. And I absolutely LOVE this place!!! It’s the ONLY shop i take my vehicles to and i actually found it thru Unilocal :) The guys at Carter’s are awesome, they will actually take the time to fully explain what is going on and not try to BS you like other shops who try to sell as much extras as they can. They treat you with respect and will work with you on pricing/​discounts too which is something no other shop will do! Take my word, Carter’s is the place to go for all your car needs: D THANK YOU CARTERS!!!

AMAZING SERVICE! The Carter’s location at 7227 N Lamar is by far the best service I’ve run into in a VERY long while. We were on our way through Austin on the way to Colorado for a short vacation when our Dodge diesel pick-​up truck started running very badly. We turned around and headed back in while I looked up Diesel Mechanics/​automotive online. Carter’s came up and had good Unilocal reviews and was also close to my sons home so we called and asked if he did diesel work as his reviews were mostly a/​c related. Explained the situation and he had a god idea of what it might be so we took it over, left the truck and rented a car for the trip not knowing how long it might take to ID the issue and fix it. Jake gave us an estimate based on what he thought it was and we checked back in on-​and-​off during our trip. He was correct on the initial diagnosis but he had to do all kinds of things including taking the fuel tank off twice because dodge didn’t make the replacement part he needed any longer. Long story short he went to A LOT of effort to make sure the «fix» was good including recommending that we drive it for a while and bring it back in for a final code check before we returned home. BEST OF ALL– he stuck to his original estimate that didn’t include all the tetra steps he had to take. I AM AMAZED that this type of service work is still available. RECOMMEND HIGHLY,

Small shop, but good service. I had bought a groupon deal, but rather than use it for something rgat wouldn’t help my AC, the guy told me what was really wrong. I priced around, and even without the groupon discount, this place was still the cheapest around.
I never got the work done. But I did bring my car back for an oil change $ 39.99 & tire rotation. They used the expired amount of my groupon; so it’s worked out nicely.
Very friendly.

I’ve been taking my car to Carter’s for several years. On several occasions I’ve thought I might have a problem with something, but Jake looked at it and said everything was okay. For example, a few months ago I took my car in to have the brakes done. He replaced the front brakes, but said the back brakes were in great shape and still had a few years left in them (he totally could have told me he replaced those and I would not have known the difference). I have had at least three experiences similar to the one I just described. Jake is a really friendly and honest guy who does great work. I’ve caught several other mechanics in Austin trying to rip me off, and so I really appreciate someone who runs an honest business and does not try and take advantage of people who don’t know cars. Even more, he does not charge for diagnostics. Sometimes I feel bad because he’ll spend quite a bit of time on my car and I walk away not owing anything. This place definitely has my loyalty. I highly recommend (I just selfishly hope not too many people start going here, because I like being able to pick up my car within a few hours!).

I started coming here years ago after my then-​to-​be-​wife at the time introduced me to them when I was looking to get some work done on my oft-​troubled 1994 Taurus SHO. I can’t speak to their work on trannys (thank God I haven’t had to deal with that even though my car is notorious for having bad ones), but in all other aspects they have gotten the job done correctly at a good price. If ever there was a problem after the initial service, they immediately and without question took care of it upon being notified and the car brought in. I like that they attempt to save you money when possible by shopping around for the parts and not encouraging one to undertake unnecessary repairs for things like minor repairs that wouldn’t necessarily manifest themselves into larger problems down the road. It’s nice to have a place where you can just take your car when it’s sick and not have to worry about it.

It was about 4:38 PM on a Thursday evening when I was looking for a place that could work on my AC and look into a check engine light that just would not go away on a 1996 Geo Tracker. A lot of places wouldn’t work on it for me, since the vehicle is no longer manufactured and the parts are hard to come by. Beginning to feel like I was not going to get any help, I came across this place on Unilocal and I am very glad I did. I was delighted when the owner answered the phone on the second ring and he said that he was absolutely certain that he could get the AC working again and would be able to diagnose the check engine light with no problem.
The next morning around 8:00 AM, I made arrangements to drop off my truck and was greeted with a smile from the both the owner and his assistant. Such a nice group of guys to work with. As the day progressed I received a phone call around 9:30 AM with the diagnosis of what was wrong with the AC system as well as what was causing the check engine light to stay on. Everything were simple fixes and one part needed to be replaced on the AC system. When he went over the price with me, I knew that the price he quoted was a really good price for the fixes that were required and did not hesitate to get the work done. Once I approved the repairs, he stated that he would get the parts in around noon and should be able to have my vehicle ready before 4:00 PM. At 3:24 PM, I had received my phone call with the words every owner likes to hear…“Your vehicle is ready!” What a surprise. I was never left in the dark on the progress of my truck and felt that his compassion for ensuring customers feel like their concerns are addressed was a very nice change from your normal big chain auto repair shops. I highly recommend this shop to anyone. They’ll fix about anything and in a nice timely manner as well.

Took advantage of a Groupon deal and man was I impressed! Don’t be fooled by the small garage– this was the best automobile experience I’ve had in Austin since I moved here! My AC is working great and I had a very friendly, helpful experience! Highly recommended– I will be using them for my car needs from now on!

Do you remember the era of a handshake and a smile– if so and you enjoyed honest business relationship this is your place. Taking my car in for a repair ranks right up top with going to the dentist in my book but Carters has changed that perspecitve for me.
My 2002 Nissan Xterra is starting to show her age and decided to give up on the air conditioner right as this summer is starting to show its ugly fangs. After attempting to recharge it myself twice I gave in to what I was certain to be a bank breaking repair. I chose Carters based on very high google ratings and was not dissapointed. Even though it wasn’t the $ 30 fix I had in my budget, I believe the price was fair ($ 650) and overly competitive. Its been two weeks since my repair (hoses and couple of other smaller parts) and my A/​C is running better than it has in years and no signs of any hickups.
They were quick (able to fix it for me the very next day), attentive (patiently tolerated my beefy boyfriend questioning his diagnosis), informative (walked me through a diagram of a basic vehicle A/​C system, how each compenent worked and what to expect in the future), and all out just friendly and receptive. THIS, my friends, is how you do business. Even though it hurt to pay for the repair, it had to happen and I’m confident I got one of, if not THE, best deals in town. Plus, I would rather give my business to a local, honest, customer-​service oriented organization than a chain focused solely on sales and profits.
Give them a try– they give free bids so it costs you nothing to decide for yourself.

I have taken my car to this place twice and both times have been very impressed with the level of service and honesty.
There was one night I called at about 10pm, thinking I was going to leave a voice mail to tell them I would be dropping my car off for them to look at in the morning, and the owner answered! He helped me find a solution while on the phone that night for me to get my car to the shop safely.
The service was done quickly and everything was explained to me in terms I could understand.
If your car has any sort of problem, I suggest taking it to Carter’s first.

I took my car to Carter’s about a month ago, after a friend recommended the shop for their FREE estimates and their honesty with with her. She went in telling them she thought she had transmission problems, and they told her she didn’t – usually it’s the other way around, with car shops telling you your car has problems when it doesn’t.
I do a lot of driving in my 20-​year-​old car, so I wanted to make sure it would continue to be reliable and safe. They spent quite a while checking it out and then told me about 4 things that would need repairing, but told me that I could prioritize 2 of them and hold off and keep an eye on the others for a year or so, so I wouldn’t be out all the money at once. I feel like I paid a reasonable price for the repairs, and I’m very pleased with how smoothly it has been running ever since.
I’m glad to feel safe driving in my old car, and it’s good to know that if something does go wrong in the future, there’s a shop that won’t charge me an arm and a leg for repairs!