AAMCO Transmissions & Total Car Care

My daughters car broke down and had to have it towed. We just bought it 1 week prior on Craigslist. We chose aamco. We were devastated to be told the transmission blew and it would cost $ 2200 to $ 3000.00 for a new transmission. The car was bought for 800.00 so that was not an option. The gentleman was surprised we didn’t want to have it done. Now comes the good part… I decide several days later to get a second opinion and had it towed to another shop. They told me the transmission was FINE. The problem was the new brakes that were put on, well the bolts were not put on tight and it locked up the gears. They added new bolts to the brakes and we drove the car off the lot paying $ 70.00 for their time. A blown transmission? Ok.

I don’t think I can say enough good things about AAMCO. I went after my car’s transmission was her king during gear Although I was disappointed to hear my transmission needed rebuilt, I’m so glad that I had Ryan and his amazing staff do it. Was it cheap? No rebuilding transmissions on older cars never is. Ryan charged me am exceedingly fair price. 4K to rebuild an old rusty 06 Pontiacs transmission is a darn good price. It’s even more valuable when you factor in the warranty and all that they do afterwards. The quality of the craftsmanship is second to none. He was also straight up about what needed done and his honesty was so appreciated!!! I’ve also had them do a full name service (calipers, pads and rotors) on the back pads and rotors in the front and a water pump. The car is running amazing! The prices are very fair and again the service is second to none. They have been outstanding through a tough ordeal and that has won them a customer for as, long as they around.

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COST! NO ETHICS, NO CUSTOMER SERVICE!
I brought my car in to have the transmission and what transpired over the next several months was a nightmare! They had my car several times over a 3 month period and could not fix it. They offered to cover my rental car because my car broke down on my first wedding anniversary and the second time after I had brought the car back a third time. When it came down to paying they said they were only covering one of the rental car payments which was only the one for 2 days not the one for almost two weeks! Then when I went to go pick up the check they tried to have me sign a release of all my rights to come after them for anything including anything to do with the warranty!
I could go on for days but I’m going to stop here.

From my 1^st initial phone call with Ryan to finding out if AAMCO would be able to help me was wonderful! Very helpful and kept in touch with me in order to bring my truck in. When I came in for my truck to be checked. Ryan greeted me and had great customer service. They were quick and was able to give me some pointers and top off my fluid. Great place!

This is the most unprofessional, crooked business I have ever come in contact with. It all started in early December 2014 when my fiancée and I took our SUV here to get what we thought might be a transmission problem diagnosed. It was still running fine, but Doug and his son (who both have since seperated from the company) both told us that our transmission was completely ruined and immediately needed to be rebuilt or we risked doing more damage to our vehicle. We agreed to get the work done. Doug quoted us $ 1999.99, which included all labor, soft parts, and the entire rebuild kit. Like I said this was the first week of December and we were told it would take them 7 to 10 days to complete the work.
Over the next 3 weeks, we were given 6 different delayed dates of completion, they just kept putting us off. Finally they promised to have it finished by Christmas Eve, but once again it wasnt ready when we showed up to pick it up. In fact, they werent even working on it. It was parked in a parking spot. Again we were given a new promised date of December 31^st. My finance drove by 4 times in the following week and our SUV never moved from that same parking spot it was in on Dec.24^th. Finally, the morning of Dec. 31^st comes and we go to AAMCO. Our SUV was still sitting in the same spot and we were told it wouldnt be finished that day. That is when we finally had it, and my fiancé reminded them how long they have had it, and that we know they hadnt touched our vehicle since the last time we were here. He said they needed to get our vehicle finished by the end of the day or he was calling corporate.
Well, it was finished by the end of the day… but they were obviously mad thay had to get it done that day because later that night I went to put groceries in the back seat, and the back drivers side door wouldnt open. So I went around to the other side, put the groceries in, and thats when I saw the 2 hammer holes that were obviously intentionally made on the inside of the back drivers side door. We called AAMCO immediately because we 100% knew those holes were made while at their shop. We know this because that back drivers side door was used and worked fine 2 days before taken to AAMCO, and we had just bought it less than 2 months before. Doug completely denied that any of my employees would retaliate like that. He said it was our word against theirs.
We were given a 2 year warranty on the transmission from AAMCO. In June we had to take it back to AAMCO because it was over-​revving, had no power, wouldnt go over 50mph, and was slipping. We were told there was absolutely nothing wrong with the transmission but our transfer case was bad, which wasnt part of the warrenty. So, we took it somewhere else for a 2^nd opinion and found out that AAMCO never replaced the valve body in the transmission, and that it needed to be replaced. This was the opinion of another transmission shop, Hi-​line Auto Electric, and Sound Ford.
Without even test driving our vehicle, AAMCO is denying any responsibility and saying nothing that is wrong is covered under the warrenty. Jennifer, the front desk employee, told my fiancé this adding that, «he could jump up and down, call corporate, scream and yell, wave his hands, do whatever he wanted they didnt care. We dont make mistakes. The problem must have happened after they worked on it.» Then she hung up on him.
We now have to pay to have someone else fix it just so we can drive it again. We are absolutely taking this to court.

I had my car taken to AAMPCO because I wasn’t sure if it was engine problems or possibly transmission. I wanted to find a place that could help with anything. This is the place. The staff –especially Jennifer– are knowledgeable and helpful. I am so glad I brought my car here.

Sorry, it’s been two years since I came back to updating this review. The owner did reach out to me and offered me several concessions. I wanted a simple refund without having to meet the owner or go to the store for it. But he replied with more concessions. I decided to just it let it go and not make the same mistake of buying a automobile coupon deal through these group coupon websites. They can be a mixed bag. Not saying they would have offered me bad service, but because it’s important building a repore with businesses that offer these types of service. For someone like me who knows nothing about cars and price ranges for certain services.
I give the additional star for the owner reaching out to me.

I went in for an oil change and they told me my oil pan gasket was leaking pretty badly. Something I already knew, but figured it was time to fix. So I spent $ 440 bucks getting it replaced. As I’m driving home, my car starts overheating. I call them, tell them whats up, they tell me to bring it back. Suddenly my fan to cool down my engine when it idles won’t turn on. Now I come to find out that the thermostat that turns on the fan when the engine gets too hot is now broken. I’m not implying anything, but I didn’t have this problem before I took my car here. Granted (so I’ve been told) the oil gasket and the thermostat are not anywhere near each other and I do understand that things wear out, especially on an older car, but this is a little bit too coincidental to me. The owner cuts me a break and tells me I can go buy a part at an auto shop to save a couple bucks since I just spent $ 400 bucks with him. He tells me which part to get, I ask for him to write it down for me because I don’t speak car and don’t know what this part is. He dumbs it down for me and tells me «go in and say ‘I need the part that makes the fan turn on’». Which I did. I schedule an appointment when they first open at 8am the next time I’m available and drop off my car.
I’m walking around town just burning time when I get a call from them asking me where this other part is. I told them I already bought the part they told me they needed. They said they also asked me for another part. Again, not speaking car language, I didn’t know they were asking me for 2 different parts. So the front desk guy, who had been working there less than a week, told me it would cost me $ 130 for that. I thought I was already going to spend $ 125, so the way he worded it made me think I was going to have to pay double of what I was prepared to spend. Before I can really ask for a break down, he tells me he’ll take care of it. I walk back to AAMCO, go to the front desk guy, and ask him why it was going to cost me double, he then told me that it was the price for everything and I didn’t have to pay anything other than what I was expecting to pay. So I walk back out and around town when I get another call. Apparently I bought the wrong part. So instead of them fixing their own mistake because I did exactly what they told me to do, I had to walk back to AAMCO, then walk to the auto parts store (a 30 minute walk) and walk back with the right part. The front desk guy told me the right part would be waiting for me at the auto parts store. When I got there, they had no idea who I was or what part I was talking about, and they were pretty rude about it as well not really caring who I was. They find the part that was called about, not confirming back with AAMCO if it was indeed the part they needed to fix my car, and I was sent off with it. Luckily, it was indeed the part I needed. It’s now 10am. 2 hours past from when I dropped off my car.
I call a friend to come pick me up because I’m tired of walking around town and am pretty bored at this point. They told me it would take about an hour to fix my car, but I guess that was only if I had the right part (s). I’m hanging out with her, an hour passes and we figure my car MUST be done by now. We drive back to AAMCO and I walk into the front office. My car is ALMOST done. So I sit there waiting for my car to be done, not looking pleased, when the owner comes to talk to me and asked me what my frustrations are. I tell him this all could have been avoided if he would have written down the parts I needed in the first place. It being my day off, I wasn’t particularly fond of being carless for 3 hours and having nothing to do. Especially when I had other errands to do that day. I told him he keeps talking to me in car language and no matter how much he dumbs it down for me, I’m not a car guy and I don’t get it, but that didn’t really stop him from trying to explain things to me. He told me that even if he had written down the parts I needed, this same exact thing would have happened. He seemed pretty 100% about it even though he himself said nothing is 100%. The only way this would have happened either way is if he wrote down the wrong parts to get, which I doubt would have happened.
When it came time to pay the bill, he asked me how much I wanted off the bill to help me. That’s a really broad question to ask. If I’d answer honestly, I’d say «I want this to be free», but I just passed it back to him saying I didn’t know what to ask for. He shot out $ 20. I accepted because I didn’t know what else to ask for. The irony in this situation is that they have a plaque hanging in their front office saying «The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten». And boy is that true. At the time I was going to post this review, but then I got lazy until I got an email asking me to post a review, I ignored it and got another email yesterday saying they REALLY wanted to know my feedback, so here I am.

Nice place than in Texas. I don’t really write review unless if they re suck! This front desk guy seem very nice. It hurt me to post this but I had to be blunt. I came in to ask for check what’s wrong w my fan blower. He sent those guy from shop to check what’s wrong w my fan blower why it’s not blowing. He took my truck in shop to check and took it back out. Said my motor blown. So he expect me come back later but I ordered new blower motor from autozone and installed it myself. Still it doesn’t work. I came back to this shop and ask the same guy from front desk. I told him everything. He said maybe it’s electrical maybe it’s something else he act like blaming me it’s my fault to order part and install it myself. I was like well… can y’all fix it??? He said they don’t do electrical. Seriously… What?! I was like I thoughts y’all fix anything??? He goes in this guilty way «yea we do ummm. Can you come Monday? In my mind but I didn’t say this. ARE YOU KIDDDING ME?!? This is most disgusting thing I ever heard. So unprofessional.

I would recommend this place to anyone. Doug is good honest mechanic. Which you can’t say for all mechanics. I’d recommend this place for any car need.

Horrible customer service. Was told it will only take a couple of hours, so I went to a nearby Starbucks. No contact for 3 hours. When I called to check, nothing was done because they need my authorization for additional stuff, but I never received any calls. If I still wanted to get my brake fixed, they want me to wait another 5 hours. Never going back.

Took my SUV in because the 4WD wouldn’t engage. They said they would diagnose it for free and they did. They checked it out, they were up front when they said they would need more time. They found the problem and fixed it for a reasonable price, which was exactly what I was quoted on the phone. They were honest and the best part was, they explained what had to be fixed without treating me like a «dumb girl» or asking to talk to my husband like so many auto repair places do.
They fixed what I brought it in for and didn’t «discover» any new problems or try to talk me into fixing anything else on the vehicle.
I would definitely use this shop again.

I came to the Renton AAMCO for a scheduled appointment in ¹¹⁄₂₀₁₃. Long story short, I ended up left the place after waited for 30 mins passed my scheduled time.
The guy at the front desk just simply rude and giving me an attitude of not happy to horror the voucher they sold on Amazon (because they only get to keep half of the $).
He was testing my patience and trying to see how desperate I was to want to use the voucher. Guess what, I could careless. I went home to cancel it and got a full refund from Amazon.
What a waste of time. It’s my 1^st time visited AAMCO, and will be my last also.
Update on 12/​27/​2013 to this Business,
I am sure you guys are happy that my review & many others did not make the Unilocal Recommend List.
Anyway, ask your Front Desk Male Secretary see if he remember a female new custom with a new Lexus came to your shop on time with her appointment and left 30 mins later because she had better things to do than wasting her time with his bs. Well, I am sure his answer is – No, do not recall such thing.

I’ve never been here before so I’m not rating them on the quality of work. This rating is solely based on customer service.
I called twice last week to get a quote on a transmission/​brake/​steering flush. The first time the woman who answered said she would have the manager call me and I said that was fine. Well, I never got a call
Back.
I called back last Monday and spoke with the same woman. She again said the manager would call me with the quote. I told her she previously told me that and never got a call. She apologized and said he would definitely call me.
It’s a week later and still nothing. If u don’t want my money and service, fine. I called the auburn location and they were extremely nice and professional. I will be going to them.

My car was overheating. I called Aamco to see if they can fix it. They gave me an appointment window for the same day. A few minutes after my arrival, they took my car in for inspection. They recommended a new radiator and other accessories. They didn’t charge me for the inspection.
My car is 12 years old and it just wasn’t worth it for me to keep repairing big ticket items… So I opted for selling the car and getting a new one. If I were to keep the car, I’m sure Aamco would have been a great place for the repair. Doug at the front desk was very helpful and offered tips on how to receive discounts and reduce the bottom line.

The transmission blew on our Tahoe last Friday and I had my Mom and 18 month old son in the car. I called and Doug got us to his shop with no problem taking side streets. When we got there, Doug gave us excellent customer service, even entertaining my toddler! His quote was accurate and the car was done before the estimated finish date. Great experience and highly recommended!

Really nice people… a little disorganized. I called to get a quote on a battery replacement and transmission fluid change and they called me back about the transmission but not the battery. I didn’t have time to wait around for them to call again, so I brought it in since their transmission quote was the cheapest out of all the places I’ve called.
The owners and staff are all very kind, though when I got there there was a cop car with its lights on in their parking lot. I thought the place was getting robbed or something, but it turns out the cop was just the manager’s friend. Still pretty awkward…
After all was said and done, I was a little surprised by the price… guess I should have waited for them to call back about the battery! …and the labor cost.
I would ho back, because they’re nice and they cared about my problems and they listened when I told them I didn’t want any extra crap. They’re respectful with their upselling. However, I think I can find somewhere cheaper, so we’ll see if I do ever go back.

took my car there for a brake job, told me that my brakes were 60% and that I didn’t need any work, sent me on my way free of charge!
That’s honesty!

customer service was awesome! They seemed very busy which explains why it took 4.5 hours to do my brake job. That is why I didnt give them a 5 star!

The cost to get a transmission rebuilt here is the most expensive in Washington State!
They will go over there quote, and in my case not fix it completely, the transmission still has some issues after 4000 $ in fees. They were quick to say it needs a complete rebuild, and say there price is competitive, I disagree. The cost is way above average, and does not seem necessary, I am not a transmission specialist but the cost is outrageous! My advice shop around, also these place has a BBB sign on there counter, yet go to the BBB sight they are not accredited and have had claims against them.