Driveline-N-Automotive Machine

Michael Havard

I have decades of experience with mechanical repairs so I normally don't take my vehicles to a shop for service unless expensive special equipment is required. This was one of those occasions. My normal guy in NOLA inspected my truck and pointed out some serious repairs that were needed. Outer tie rod ends, passenger front wheel bearing, and center support bearing for my split drive shaft were needed. I drove back to the northshore and parked my truck until I got the parts to repair it. My 20 ton press did not have the capacity to remove the center support bearing as it was about a foot too short. I chose Driveline-N-Automotive Machine because they would install the OEM bearing I had already purchased. I decided to have them replace the 3 u-joints while they had it. I was quoted $60 for the center support bearing labor and "about $20" each for the u-joints. I took my drive shafts and bearing the 60 miles to them on a Wednesday. I was warned that it would take a "few days" because they were obviously backed up based on the number of driveshafts leaned against the walls cluttering their lobby. "We'll call you next week." They didn't call, missing the quoted timeframe. I called to get an update Friday the following week. I was told they would get to it "...today or Monday." I missed their call late Monday. Wrong time to be driving to NOLA and back anyway. I called them back Tuesday morning and was informed it was ready. I immediately drove to pick up my driveshafts. The invoice reflected $65 for center support bearing labor, $5 more than quoted. The "about $20" u-joints were $36.88 each, totaling over $50 more than quoted. There was an additional charge of $20 each for u-joint labor that was not quoted totaling $60 more. I didn't argue and just wanted my truck rolling again. I use it for work and it had been down a total of 4 weeks. Total charge was $257.32 after adding taxes. The fellow took possession of my card to run it but was interrupted by another employee arguing about another customer phonecall the day before. The fellow running my card then removed my card and reinserted it in their card reader. When I got back to Hammond, I had a credit card notification that indicated they double charged my card and both charges were pending, totaling over $500. I immediately called fearing I would have to make the 120 mile round trip to resolve the charge error. They checked their system and said they only had one charge and one "pending" charge should go away tomorrow. It has now been 3 days and the charge is still pending. I'll just dispute the extra charge with my credit card company if it posts. They are easier to deal with. You could pay in cash if you had an accurate amount you need to bring with you. The quality of the repairs was good, however, their honesty is questionable. I can't recommend them for these reasons. I'll make the dreaded drive to Baton Rouge or Slidell should I need driveshaft work in the future.

Curtis Cunningham

I highly recommend this locally owned complete automotive machine shop run by two men with decades of experience and, more importantly, knowledge. One man works primarily on the drive train/drive shaft & the other primarily works on heads. I had my drive shaft center support bearing & three U-joints replaced. This is not an automotive repair shop. You have to drop off what ever item you want repaired/machined. It did take longer to finish the work on my drive shaft than they said but they did tell me work was backed up due to hurricane Ida. If I have need for future work on my truck, it will go to them. They are set back from Jefferson Highway so look close.

cooper LaCroix

This place is fantastic. These guys know their stuff. Built me a custom drive shaft no one else would do. True professionals and great people to work with.

Ron Gurba, Jr.

This is funny. Driveline did everything but what I asked them to do! But for an additional $50 they will test drive my truck to tell me the problem they didn't fix. I wanted my new u-joints taken out to see if they were installed correctly since after they were installed the vibration was worse. After the payment Driveline said they "looked at the u-joints and they seemed to have been installed correctly." They could have looked under the truck in the first place for such a sophisticated answer. Our agreement was they take them out to reinstall them, which was not done. They test drove the truck but never got up to more than 35 mph or they would have had to do more than a visual inspection.