German Auto Center

Elisabeth Schwendiman

I had been coming to this place for close to 10 years, but will never go back there after the experience had recently. I had made an appointment and brought it in with a list of things to do telling them I did not need it back until the evening of the next day. There was no phone call with a quote the first day, then when I finally called the next day at noon, they told me they had not even looked at it. When I expressed my displeasure, they did a few things that afternoon and I rescheduled. I brought it in first thing in the morning that day and talked to the mechanic who assured me they were going to get everything done that day and to pick it up at closing time, however when I got there, a guy at the front office, who seemed to have no clue of anything told me they didn’t get a chance to do ANYTHING again. I left with a part that I had already paid for and no explanation as to why nothing was done. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. Stay far away from this place. They could care less about their customers.

Ted Warren

My Mini Cooper came up lame one day and the dealership service center didn't have appointments for at least 3 weeks out. So it was time to shop for a new service center. German Auto Center came up in multiple searches as a recommended shop. They are only 2 blocks from my home, too. I spoke to Corey and he said they had an opening on Dec 24th. That's right, Christmas Eve. Two weeks sooner than my dealership service center. Corey did warn that German Auto Center currently only had 1 technician on hand. And I always saw their parking lot full of vehicles. Even with those details and the holiday, at the very least, I could get my car into the shop for a diagnostic. Repairs might be done before the end of the first week of the new year, though. That was my expectation. I dropped my car off first thing Christmas Eve morning. Then returned home to settle into my day off. Within a couple of hours, Corey called with the diagnostic results and an estimate. While we talked I did a quick search on the parts he said needed repair. German Auto Center's estimate came within the average cost of the parts. I told him that I wanted to move forward. Again, because of the holiday, I didn't think parts would be available immediately. So settled back into my day off. Around 2PM Christmas Eve, I picked up my phone. There were two messages from Corey. The parts were replaced and the car was ready to pickup. I walked down to the lot, but German Auto Center was closed. Good for them. People shouldn't be working on Christmas Eve anyways. Had I been paying attention, I would have picked my Mini Cooper sooner. Corey and the tech had beaten my expectations to a pulp. The work was complete within six hours of delivering the car to German Auto Center. The price was fair. And the car has been running well since. They have a new long term customer.

Gretchen Kenney

The first time we took our 2003 SL Mercedes to the German Auto Center, we had a great experience. They did a general overall maintenance check. They were communicative, on time and reasonably priced. This is not the experience we just had with them. We experienced a problem with our front ABC suspension. As this is a relatively known issue,we had purchased after market struts in case the ABC went bad. We asked that they replace the original system with our struts. Initially they said that it wouldn't be a problem, should only take a day and to bring it in the next day, a Tuesday. We were quoted over the phone $770 for the job. We dropped it off expecting a call that afternoon. It didn't come. We called the next day and the front desk gentleman said he didn't have any information, but promised he'd call back. By Friday we still hadn't heard anything, so again we called. It turns out that the after market struts we had only fit the front, not the back and they were having trouble getting the two different systems to work together. We were promised a call on Monday, it didn't come again. Tuesday we called, yet again a promise to call back. It didn't come again. Wednesday we called, asked to speak with the mechanic. He did get on the phone to explain that they had also ordered after market struts as Mercedes doesn't make the others any longer. He also promised to call the next day, he did not. Friday we called, spoke with the mechanic and the problem evidently was not the ABC suspension system at all, a hydraulic hose had broken in the front left and that's what caused all the problems. They would have to order the part and then do the repair. We determined the original suspension system should go back on so that the car's computer system would work properly. I was asked to call back on Monday as they no longer would assure me that they would call me. From Tuesday on, every call that was made we asked for a cost estimate, or would it be the same. The front desk gentleman could not give me one, he didn't have any idea what the cost would be. Needless to say we were anxious about what it would be. We called Monday, they had gotten the part and assured me that it would be done that day, still no estimate was available, but we'd get a call with it. At the end of Monday, we had to call back again. They were just finishing the final check but it would take awhile, so it would be ready in the morning. Still no estimate. We called at noon, assured that they would be done momentarily and we'd get a call back. Three hours later, he called. The final cost $2,720.54! I was apologized to, told that they were extremely busy and the front desk gentleman was overwhelmed. He also said that he had quoted us $1,500 originally. We were never given a written estimate. We asked if they had done a diagnostic at the beginning and if they had found the broken hydraulic line then. Never got a clear answer to that, but it seems if they had, we would have been called that they didn't need to put new struts on, just fix the broken line. Needless to say, this was one of the worst experiences we've had with a car repair. The lack of communication, the increased time and costs are ridiculous.

K

The best doesn’t even begin to describe them. They were extremely busy and still were able to fit me in. My car was done in 1 day and runs like a dream. They threw in several checks and some small parts all without charging me. I’ll be returning here for all my auto needs. Incredible crew. They are passionate about what they do and it shows