Auto-Spec

Called here because they are the only triple a approved garage west of georgetown where my son goes to school. I needed a pre-​purchase check and thank God we went here! Instead of waiting inside, which was also very nice, we were driven up the road and had a great meal at bb’s; it felt like we were visiting town and had a tour guide. It was a gorgeous day and so we decided to walk back had some great exercise on the way back. We decided not to buy the car based on their thorough check and now have a couple more we need to get inspected bevause I’m going to get a car too. We really appreciated the thorough money saving inspection. Darrell was so patient and kind and explained everything so well to us, he was going to break down the estimate on what we needed done, safety first, then biggest to smallest. Everyone else seemed very nice. The interior is very nice and inviting and comfortable and more like being in a spa than a garage. I love going to family owned businesses and this one was very very nice. I plan to use them again!

:) :] :)

Stopped in twice a couple days ago. I am due for an inspection before March so asked about the wait. I appreciated that I was given an honest approximation of an hour, unlike restaurants and nail salons who all say «20 minutes» when it’s really 2 – 3 times that.
I opted to come back later and noted closing time was 6pm. I didn’t mean to wait until 5:40 to show up again, but was told they could easily get my car in for the inspection. 10 minutes later they were finished!
I was very impressed with the waiting area. It felt like I was in a nice hotel lobby or a beautiful home. There was coffee and tea available. The décor was beautiful, nothing like other repair shops!

Walked in and the manager, Kevin McCollum, never acknowledged me so I wait for the second person at the counter to finish what he is doing and take care of me. Said I needed an oil change and asked if they had semi– synthetic oil. Suddenly I have the managers attention and he sarcastically states that semi-​synthetic oil is a marketing gimmick. I asked why is it sold by many other dealers and he says they’re all a sham. He then tries to go «chemist» on me and says the molecules can’t line up properly, blah, blah, blah. I have four cars that will need service but it won’t be at Auto Spec. They’re too expensive and don’t understand true customer service.

Nothing but great things to say about Auto-​Spec. The Manager, Kevin McCollum helped me out with the process to fix my car’s A/​C issue, and was very friendly, and professional. They have a shuttle service as well if you don’t have a ride, which I didn’t and the drivers were fantastic and friendly. When Kevin told me the total cost of the repair, I was in disbelief, not in the expense, but how cheap the final cost was! Auto-​Spec has me as a customer for as long as I’m here!

I took my 1972 Buick GS in today. The front seal on the differential was leaking. I told the guys to go ahead and replace the u-​joints while they were at it and to inspect the entire car for any other needed repairs.
I was pleasantly surprised when they said the joints were in good shape and that overall the car looked good. No long list of recommended repairs! Of course, I new this, but was curious what they would recommend.
In the future, I plan to take all my cars here for repairs. They do good work and only repair what needs to be fixed.

My 2008 HHR was runny ruff and set of my check engine light and was told by a lube shop that my injectors needed cleaning and if i didn’t get them cleaned i would have issues with car running ruff… Crazy thing is a few hours later my car started acting up and my check engine light came on. I was on my way to a Job in Georgetown and stopped at John Longs and had them check it out and found my injector plugged was not plugged in all the way and plugged it and and re set the code, Highly Recommend them i will be using them again!

I went to John Long’s Automotive last year when my car started making weird clunking noises when going in reverse after I accidentally backed into a low post. I was new to Georgetown, so I read reviews before I picked a place to take my car to since I am just a poor college student and leery of car repair places in general after several really bad experiences with dealership repairs. Looks like a lot of those positive reviews I based my decision on have been filtered since then for whatever reason, but I can still speak from my experience. I must have passed like half a dozen other car service shops on the way to them on the other side of town, and felt a little foolish doing so, but let me tell you – it was so worth it!
Their lobby was nice, including coffee, and I was one of several customers there, but it took only a minute or two to be served. When I explained what the problem was, the repair man at the desk I was talking to immediately came out to the car with me to have me drive it around the parking lot with him to show him the sound.
Well, of course the sound I’d been hearing for weeks would not show up when I finally got a repair person in the car to listen! But instead of telling me what I really needed was my head examined, he said to leave the car there and he would look at it in the shop. I wasn’t gone an hour when he called back saying they found the problem – a crunched muffler. And not only that, but they had already fixed it! And when I asked what I owed, he said NO CHARGE. That if I bumped it ever again, it would need to be replaced, but they gave me a reference for who in town to go to to get a good replacement muffler.
Like I said, it has been about a year or so now, but my muffler has not had any problems since that day I took my car to John Long’s. In fact, my car hasn’t had any more problems at all – a major relief to someone like me who has had the horrible previous experience of having her car break down on the side of the road far from home after a dealer repair person sliced a coolant hose while fixing another part of the car.
These guys are not just good repairmen; they are good people. I was just a walk-​in, but was treated like family. I would definitely recommend them to anybody in the area whose car is having issues. I live another city over now, but I think I would still make the (even farther) trip out to them if my car were to need repairs.

This shop is great! The staff is friendly and so helpful! They get the job done in a good manner of time. They do not hasle you around. I recommend this place to ALL my family and friends! They also have a shop in round rock i highly reccomend as well!

Took my F150 in for an inspection sticker and was told I desperately needed an alignment. I questioned reasoning as it rides straight and true. No pulling or tire wear. The inspection tech insisted I would be buying tires soon if not aligned. Well, They are the «Specialists», so I agreed.
Left the truck overnight and received a call the next day, explaining that my truck didn’t need a single alignment adjustment and the tires look normal for the miles on them and that it would only cost me $ 45 to get my truck back instead of $ 89, had it needed the alignment. I asked why I had to pay, since they insisted it needed aligned and it actually didn’t. They said I had to pay because they hooked it up to the machine and then actually told me that they had never seen a vehicle that didn’t need at least a small alignment. So it seems they feel they can claim every vehicle needs an alignment so they can get an extra $ 89 job or at least the $ 45 to look at it. It was clear I wasn’t getting anywhere on the phone so I decided to continue the discussion in person.
Once arriving to the shop, the older gentlemen at the counter refused to answer my questions on why I was being charged and just insisted I sign the invoice and pay.
I have four vehicles I have been taking to them for oil changes and inspections. I hope they spend that $ 45 wisely as it is the last dollar they will get from me.
My dad visits weekly and needed some work on his truck last week, we took it to another shop.

«You know what? Forget about it.»
First of all, if a mechanic can afford to be closed on mechanic Christmas (also known as Saturday), you already have to be asking yourself how they make up the lost business from the weekend. But we’ll get back to their outrageous prices…
These guys are not trustworthy, hostile to customers, and incredibly overpriced.
So, I knew that I needed a new radiator. My old one actually squirting coolant out directly from the radiator was a pretty good sign. I called up the shop that someone had referred me to and the incredibly bitter and miserable Mike was ready, willing, and able to not help me. Like most people, I work for a living, and if I was going to swing this no weekend nonsense, I needed to have a pretty good idea that they were going to be able to have the part available and time to install it on whatever day they had the car so I only had to troll for rides once.
Mike wasn’t having it. Of course, I understand that customers are not always right, so I didn’t expect them to take my word for it that a new radiator was required sight unseen, but I did want to know their price for a radiator and the part availability. Mike categorically refused to lift a finger until I brought it in. I knew I needed the work done, so we coordinated a time that afternoon for me to bring it by for the eval part and I would bring it back the following day for the work.
I juggled my schedule, took a partial day off of work and showed up as demanded. He rolled his eyes and made it clear that it was a huge imposition on him that I brought the car in with only an hour and a half left in the day for a pressure test that he had insisted upon. He had assumed I was leaving the car with him despite all the discussion we had already had about that. So, I sit down in the uncomfortable waiting area with horrible wifi and wait an hour until somebody finally got around to it. Surprise, I needed a new radiator. Mike calls me over and delivers the bad news. The estimate is about $ 900. He wants over 3.5 hours of labor (It turns out the job is only coded for about 2), and he wants $ 350 for a part that I had seen online for $ 125. He launched into a well-​rehearsed story about how that’s the internet, and this is retail so it’s different. I called another mechanic after I left and they quoted me $ 200 and the 2.2 hours of labor and checked the availability of the part so I could get in and out on… Saturday. Shocking how retail works, huh?
When Mike and his cohort finished their tag-​team spiel about how my car was a deathtrap and shouldn’t be driven off the lot, I asked for my keys. Mike laughed and said «So, you aren’t going to pay for the pressure test you just had me do?» (He has a really short memory). It was my turn to roll my eyes, but fortunately, he had the good sense to say sarcastically, «You know what? Forget about it.»
Stay far away from these guys unless you have money to burn (and a second car lying around to use while they have it). They jacked up the estimate of everything, tried to add in a lot of distracting details (he rambled for 3 minutes about freon and how he wouldn’t charge me for the freon they take out of my air conditioner and put back in if they had to drain the air conditioner), and clearly have worked out high-​pressure sales routines. I guarantee you they wrote any positive reviews below.
Every stereotype about mechanics was true here.

Our 1999 van needed the starter replaced and we took it to John Long’s because that was where AAA recommended. They replaced the starter and I have no complaints about that service.
However, while the van was in the shop, they called me telling me that there was a rather large pool of fluid under the van and that was the power steering and would cost $ 500.00 to repair. We declined because we basically keep this car as an extra and we didn’t want to put any more money into it. We figured we’d just keep an eye on it and fill the power steering fluid as needed… It’s been 6 months since we were there. We have not had a drop of any kind of fluid under the car in that six month period. I’ve checked the levels under the hood and they remain full. Clearly, this was a $ 500.00 repair was was not needed. I don’t think I’ll go back to this mechanic because I no longer trust their recommendations.

This is the best shop I have ever used! I had another shop install new front ball joints on my F250. My truck never drove right after the installation. I took it back to the original shop three times and to three other shops. All of the shops tried to realign the steering or readjust the steering box. One shop overinflated my ties. Another told me my truck is old (2004) and will never drive right.
When I finally took it to Long’s, they figured out that my ball joints were not good. When they took off the old (9 months) ball joints, we found that they did not match. The threads were different, one was loose and one was tight.
Long’s are honest, fair and respectful. I highly recommend them!
L. Rabb
Georgetown, TX