Phil Cavill’S Tire & Auto Service Center

Whenever my car decides it’s going to stop working, I take it to Phil’s and they make it work again. At every visit, they’ve taken me under the vehicle to show me what’s wrong. They make recommendations, but have never pressured me into a sale or repair I wasn’t comfortable with. I have taken my car there several times and have always gotten same day repairs.
Stay away from the coffee though. I think it’s just battery acid.

This place is excellent! They really went above and beyond what I expected. They were very personable and professional, plus they kept me in the loop during the entire process. Prices are very fair and work/​quality is top notch. They also won’t try to sell you something you don’t need. Very honest business. I’ll be taking my car here for everything in the future.

My family used to take all our cars there, per my Mom’s preference. I personally would never recommend this shop. In my experience, they are those classic mechanics who «suddenly» find other things to charge you for when «fixing» your car.
One of my experiences, my car kept dieing randomly. The first two times I sent it to them, they told me there was nothing wrong and I just ran it out of gas (despite the ¼−½ tank that was in the car when they received it…) the THIRD time I sent it in, a friend of mine had checked it for me before I sent it in and said it was the fuel pump, so I told them that and then they FINALLY fixed the issue. Car drove fine after that.
But over the course of about 6 months I had some kind of weird smoke-​like stuff coming in through my vents and asked them to check it multiple times and every time they either told me it was fine or they said they didn’t see what the issue was. My health started to suffer greatly and my doc and I both couldn’t figure out why as nothing was showing on blood draws, ultrasounds or other tests. I pulled into a quick-​change oil place and asked one of the mechanics their opinion (as some of it had condensed on the windshield). The mechanic told me it was antifreeze and that my heater core was going. He said to make sure the windows were rolled down when driving and to get it fixed ASAP. When I told my doctor what the other mechanic had said, he had confirmed that my symptoms were consistent with mild antifreeze poisoning (nausea, vomiting, vision changes, headaches, etc).
I called 3 different places for heater core quotes, Phil Cavill’s was the highest by $ 200 and quoted me the same amount for the part itself and the amount of time it would take as the other two shops.
As if this wasn’t enough, the first time I tried posting a negative review about them, someone at the shop called my mom to tattle that I wrote a bad review and told her to have me take it down (I was in my early 20’s at that time).
Anyway, now that I’m not driving a car where my mom pays the insurance and no longer go to this mechanic (for obvious reasons) I thought I would finally write the review I intended to write (although far less detailed than the first). I think it goes without saying, I would not recommend this mechanic to anyone I truly care about, but maybe my worst enemy.

They did a really good job on my car. My front tire was about to go and they found a couple of issues that could have caused me a lot of trouble had I not gotten them fixed. They even called to remind me to schedule these repairs after I had my tire fixed because I wasn’t able to let them keep it that day. They got everything repaired quickly w/​no issues. My car has been driving so much more smoothly. The pricing is fair and they are good at explaining and showing what the problem is which is great because I know absolutely nothing about cars.

Honest. They helped me out several times and as a woman… It’s hard to find Good trustworthy shops. Best service ever!

Best customer service hands down! Phil is honest and really cares about helping you make the right decisions. Prices are beyond fair! I’m done going shop to shop, this is the only place I’ll go now for all of my auto needs!

I’ve never found an auto-​body shop that I trust… until now. Last week, my wife’s dying Honda Civic needed a tow (wouldn’t start even with a jump, unsure why), and had I not just been into Phil’s to get a headlight socket repaired on our other car, I wouldn’t have known where to go (I’ve had BAD experiences with repair shops in metro Detroit). We decided on Phil’s, and I first interacted with Larry, who promised me he’d figure out what was wrong and give me a call.
Larry’s return call was very friendly, but very disappointing (and very empathetic). He said the car needed repairs that would total much more than the car was worth. We kind of expected this, and I asked if we could have a day or two to decide what to do. He said to take all the time we needed. The next day, we called back and I reached Al. We told him we were looking to sell the car to junkyards and needed to leave it in their lot for a little while. «No problem at all.» Five days later, I returned to Phil’s and interacted with Chet and Larry as I cleaned out the Civic and waited for the tow truck guy (who never came). I left the car there overnight again and the next morning spoke to Chet before getting the car hauled off (for double what we thought it was worth).
In all of the interactions with Chet, Al, and Larry, each man was honest, friendly, and reputable. They spoke with me honestly about what the Civic was likely worth, what they would pay for it, who I should call, and what they would do in my shoes. We made small-​talk as I cleaned out the car, and I felt like the place was owned by an old friend or something. They let me store a car there for a week, inspected it to see what was wrong, and even tinkered with it to try to get it to start… all without charging me a DIME. As the tow truck pulled away with our Civic, I asked Chet how much I owed them, assuming there’d at least be some charge for the inspection or the lot usage. He smiled and said he wouldn’t charge me for anything, that we’d been through enough.
Stand-​up guys at Phil’s. We’ll be back for work on our other car as long as we live here. Thanks Chet, Al, and Larry.

Since the first time I went to Phil Cavill’s over 20 years ago, they have absolutely been my regular auto service professionals. They are very accommodating and always find ways to save the customer money. I’ve had situations when I’ve asked AAA to tow my car across town to ensure the work was done by Cavill’s. They always get the car into a bay very quickly and only once did they have to keep the car overnight. (In fact, on that occasion they were kind enough to drive me home).
Their mechanics explain in detail what needs to be done and there’s never any pressure to add on unnecessary work.
Al and Chet at the front desk are very knowledgeable and easy to work with.
I highly recommend Phil Cavill’s to anyone in need of top notch service.

From my experience, Phil’s is not only concerned with the welfare of your vehicle, but also your wallet. I have had nothing but great service in my trips to Phil’s. They work with you to explain all the details of each repair and even go as far as showing you on the actual vehicle on the lift. From brakes to oil changes, I go to Phil’s.
And as an added bonus, I usually take my vehicle in early Saturday mornings then head next door to the Red Olive for some good breakfast.

Auto Service Centers… are just ones of those places that you go into very skeptical, nervous, and well… just knowing that you really aren’t going to be in control. (reminds me of the dentist… open up… this isn’t going to hurt… yeah right)
Phil Cavills was brought to my attention because of a friend of mine who works there. They are always having a constant stream of work coming in and out of the place. Sitting in the front waiting area was a ncie experience when customers who had questions about the work that was being done to their vehicle were having it discussed to them by the servicemen there.
They’ve always got online coupons that you can download and bring with you, and whether it be for an oil change or a new set of tires… I feel very confident in Phil Cavill’s and the quality of work that they do.

We packed our son & his SUV to go up north for College. Then his SUV had a problem. We went to Phil’s. They stopped working on another car and quickly found the problem then fixed it. In less than 1 hour we were on our way. Next time we will have Phil’s look at his car before he goes to College. Randy at Phil’s is a Super Tech!
Last year they helped us find the best SUV tire for him and the up north snow.

A few years back we took our car in to have the brakes checked. They had just recently been replaced, but the folks at Cavill’s decided that we needed them replaced again. We trusted them and went ahead with the repair.
After a day or two, we began to think about whether or not it was really necessary. We called the dealership and asked what they thought, and they thought it was completely unnecessary to have the brakes completely replaced.
We went back to Cavill’s and asked them politely to explain again why they needed to do a full replacement. They were very rude. We also asked why we were not given the old brakes back to inspect (as is required by law). They had no answer for that.
We wrote a letter to Phil Cavill himself just telling him how we felt like we were deceived and taken advantage of. He replied with a letter of his own, replete with spelling and grammar mistakes and insults.
I would never go to Cavill’s again!

Like Nevada, I’m skeptical of most any auto repair shop. I’m from the DIY school of auto repair. I take care of all my cars myself and only go to the shop when I don’t have the time or skill to fix what’s wrong.
My review requires a small back story in order to get the point across. Recently, I was having trouble starting my car, it seemed like the battery was dead. So I had a friend come and jump my car and I drove to Murray’s Auto Parts (see my review on both the Woodward and Southfield Rd locations) and I put in a battery in myself. The battery didn’t fix the problem and I didn’t have enough time or space in my apartment parking lot to try and diagonose the problem and make it to work. So I took it to Phil because, it was close and I had a friend take her car there and she seemed satisfied.
My first gripe is that there is no envelopes or pieces of paper for late night or early bird drop off. Luckily, I had a legal pad and a pen in the car. Then there’s the ‘key-​drop’ which is just a mail slot in the front door, which happens to be all glass and cracked. So they expect late night customers to drop their keys onto the floor in front of the glass so everyone can see. Plus with no envelopes there’s no way for them to contact you with a quote, slowing the work process drastically. I really feel like the key drop is a HUGE security issue, one of the reasons I wont go back.
While the late night drop-​off is an issue, I could look past it if I trusted them. But I don’t, and here’s why:
I took my car there writing them a LONG letter telling them that I had recently replaced my clutch along with the info that I replaced my battery that day and the car still wouldn’t start. I provided them with both my work and cell numbers and at 9:05 the next morning (they open at 8am) they called me and said, «Hey? Chris? It’s your alternator» No introductions, no reasoning. Like I said before, I know more about fixing cars than the average person, and to tell me it’s the alternator sent up my red flag. To put it shortly, the car would have at least 6 to 7 starts on a completely new battery even if the alternator was bad, and my car didn’t start once. Knowing this I told him that I knew the car would start even if the alternator was bad having a new battery and asked him to «try again.» Had I not known how the starting system in a car works I would’ve just told him to replace a part that I assume would’ve cost at least $ 300 total, without knowing that it was not the cause of the problem. Repair shops like this one give all repair shops a bad name.
They did eventually figure out that the terminals that connected from my car to the battery needed to be cleaned, something I was unable to do in the parking lot of Murray’s. I asked him how much it was going to cost me and he replied, «$ 10…no, no, $ 20.» While I gladly paid $ 20 for the repair it seemed to me that he was just making it up as he went along.
I’m giving Phil two stars because my car does work now, but if I wouldn’t have known he would’ve charged me for an alternator. I wont go as far as saying stay away from Phil Cavill’s but buyer beware.