Alan’s Auto

I brought my car in as I failed inspection and needed the pipe that runs from the cat converter to the muffler replaced. Alan took my car this morning and she was done at 1:30 this afternoon. She now sounds brand new! Alan showed me the piping that he took off my car and explained it was leaking, totally rusted up. He stated I should get better milage and be much happier. I recommend Alan’s for ALL of your car problems =)

I go there to get my car inspected. They are always very polite and SUPER fast.

Not impressed with this garage.
Long story: I was very desperate for a new car and never trusted Craigslist. A family friend goes here routinely for her inspection sticker and told me this gentleman had an older car on the lot. Again, I was desperate and I assumed I could trust a mechanic would at least sell me something safe. WRONG! (Turns out the owner use to be a car salesman). He told me this hunk of junk had a lot of miles on it but was owned by an old lady who «took care of it». So, I bought this 17 year old sedan. he passed my car for its sticker. Things were cool for the first month, but after the Lemon Law time period was over and done with I started having issues. I work in the Melrose/​Wakefield area, so it was pretty obvious to me to just continue to use the garage I bought the car from The guy had obviously been servicing it for a long time and it was right down the street rom my place of work.
Now, this isn’t his problem. I am the one who bought an ancient shitbox. However, I should have taken the following as a red flag. The first time I had problems with this car was because of the AC belt snapping and melting on the radiator. Not really a big deal, and he DID agree to look at it right away… however, he added a 40 $ charge to my bill for changing the oil. Yes, it probably needed to be changed. No, I did not give him permission to do this at that time. Not to mention, the day I picked this car up that time he decided to throw in the tiny detail that this «old lady» who owned this car actually let her 20-​something-​year-​old son take it most of the time. HMMM NO WONDER IT WAS FALLING APART! I brushed it off though, because he IS fast and still seemed to be genuinely concerned about my safety. He also tried to be understanding in regards to my life style – i am a college student who works full time. I’m broke, always. My car is my life, and he kept telling me he totally understood and wouldn’t want his kids to be screwed by a mechanic. HOWEVER, the same thing happened when my alternator went about 8 months after having this car. I had it towed to his garage and he called me at home to tell me what was going on. Alright, cars need alternators to run, I get that. But again I did not give him permission. I actually called a family friend who had a used alternator at his autbody shop that would work in my car. I would have had the owner of Alan’s install it if i picked up the part, but when I called him back too late! He had already put a brand new alternator into my now 18 year old car. Oh, he changed the oil for me too. when i was about 500 $ out i swore i would never, ever go back to this mechanic. Today, I was having brake pads in my car replaced. When the mechanic got it on to the lift, we realized the whole bottom of my car is so rotted your can see the carpeting. I’ve had this car for a little over a year and not once did anyone at Alan’s mention this to me. I can’t blame these people entirely because I should have known better than to trust a used car salesman. However I have officially paid WAY more for this car than anyone on the planet would (again, I was desperate for a vehicle) but i’ve also put the same amount of money into repairs for this thing! and test stories don’t even cover all of whats wrong with this car. Oh, he also cracked my rear view once when it was in the shop and i didn’t notice until I was home. Of course no one knew anything. The Kelly Blue Book value of this car is less ~700 $, so likely around the same a year ago before i put all this new crap into it. I bought it for 1700 $, and he wanted 1900 for it! his guy has to be out of his mind! Not worth the time or money! Overly priced for shoddy work. Not at all honest by any means. I will never, ever recommend this place to anyone.

I have been going here for my MA inspection and the occasion auto repair job for my Saab 9−2x aero for several years. I think they are fair and honest with the diagnosis and cost of the job. they are also reasonably fast with the turnaround. I’ve had a brake job, a O2 sensor job and most recently a breakdown that resulted in powersteering failure and power loss right before Xmas. Without my notes they quickly assessed my vehicle needed a new alternator (agreed), a new serpentine belt (agreed again-​this had been causing issues for a while with my powersteering), and a new battery since the battery had been stressed so much from the alternator going. The car was ready the morning after xmas and the labor and the markup on parts were all reasonable. Despite this being a more expensive fix due largely to the after-​market cost of a remanufactured Bosch alternator for my particular car, I wish Alan had asked about replacing the timing belt too. While that would have raised the total cost, it would have made sense to replaced it sooner and piggy-​back on the labor being done. But I’m sure he didn’t want to freak me out with a fat repair bill. My gut is these are good guys, I have never caught them trying to recommend a service that I did not need.

Visit 1: Inspection. I previously reviewed this visit. The review was falsely flagged as suspicious. I wrote:
«Fastest inspection I’ve ever had, and no funny business.
He also caught and diagnosed a problem, part of which I was aware of, which I didn’t mention.»
I’m not sure what’s suspicious about that. There wasn’t anything to say other than that I was in and out, and that he’s an honest mechanic.
Visit 2: Major work. AC compressor, front brakes, front axle and struts, etc., needed replacement. (Don’t ask).
He took care of it all very quickly. It was expensive, but then, so were the parts — and I know they needed replacement.
Visit 3. Portion of exhaust was dragging, broke, fell off. Rather than trying to talk me into getting some major parts replaced, he explained that the part that broke was non-​essential and didn’t need to be replaced.
Now, obviously, you can’t be 100% sure that a mechanic is playing it straight unless you yourself are a mechanic and already diagnosed the problem, etc. That said, I think this guy is entirely honest and works efficiently.

I have been going here for several years for my inspection on all my vehicles.
Bottom line: if the younger guy is there he will give you a proper inspection in a timely manner and he is a pleasant person.
If the old guy (owner) is there, there is a good chance he will fail you for something petty. I saw him fail three people in a row including me. Each one he aggressively tried to convince to come back to get the work done at his shop. He told me a hole in my exhaust pipe (which did need to get fixed but was not a big deal) was a «major problem» and that it was a «serious safety concern» and there was no way he could give me even an approximate estimate until it was «up on the lift». I am not as concerned about his high failure rate as his high pressure sales tactics afterwards. I fixed it myself and got it re-​inspected when the kid was in.
I still go when the young guy is working because I want him to have a job, but feel bad because I know that criminal of a boss still gets some of the money.

Not so keen on going places without Unilocal reviews to guide me, but I was in a bind and due for a state inspection —
Open Saturdays for state inspections from 9 – 12.
Service was quick and fast — Alan was really nice.
There’s even a little waiting area with a couch and tv.
Nothing fancy, but good, honest service.