AutoStream Car Care Center

4755 Dorsey Hall Dr, Ellicott City, MD 21042, USA

Address:	4755 Dorsey Hall Dr, Ellicott City, MD 21042, USA
Phone:	+1 410-740-2305
Site:	autostreamcarcare.com
Rating:	4.7
Working:	8AM–5PM 8AM–5PM 8AM–5PM 8AM–5PM 8AM–5PM 8AM–2PM Closed

Location

Photos 13

Reviews 4

Rebecca Huddle

Wow. I would give 0 stars if possible. This is a classic case of mechanics trying to rip off a female customer. Didnt know it could still exist, but it does at this location. I feel sorry for customer reviews who didnt get a second opinion after bringing their car here. I ended up here because I bought their Living Social Coupon for a MD State car inspection for a 2005 Subaru Forester that had 68k miles on it which I had inherited from my grandma who is now in a nursing home (read: it wasnt driven aggressively). I thought it would be relatively smooth inspection since my dad had just gotten it checked out. This was everything except a smooth, professional experience. 1. Upon inspection, the car has/had no mechanical issues. There is some rust under the car, and some corrosion around the battery and some lights out (tag light, tail light, fog light). There was alleged leaking out of the steering rack (which never leaked onto my garage floor or driveway the two weeks I had the car prior to inspection). There was hole due to rust in the sub frame (commonly due to condensation from an AC line and easily replaced). Issue : Overpriced estimate of ~$3k and was recommended to send the car off to CarMax to salvage value. Terrible advice since the car only has 68k miles on it, and these issues could easily be fixed. 2. Received a text from the company to give feedback on their service 1-10. I give them a 3. Manager I dealt with, Larry, calls me back the next morning and says his manager wants to know why I gave him a 3. I told him straight up his recommendation was completely thoughtless and lacked any level of problem solving skills. He agreed and apologized. Issue: Why would his manager as him to follow-up with me because its clearly confrontational for Larry to follow-up with me since I had the issue with him? His manager should have followed up with me. Terrible customer service again. 3. I brought the car to a reputable mechanic who gave me a $880 quote for the work quoted on the failed inspection (verse the $3k quoted by Auto Stream). Issue : Auto Stream is overpriced. 4. Auto mechanic didnt have time to do re-alignment (after power steering rack was replaced) given my own schedule so I set up for Auto Stream to perform the re-alignment for convenience sake alongside the re-inspection. Cost of $100 verse $85 for re-alignment at Firestone, but I was paying for convenience. Issue : again, Auto Stream is overpriced. 5. Failed re-inspection saying there was fluid all over the right side of the steering rack, but refused to define where the leaking was coming from when I asked. I also asked for them to speak directly to my mechanic so information would not be lost in translation as I am not an expert. They were rude to my auto mechanic and said it wasnt their job to tell him where there was leaking. Also said tag light was still out. They wanted to charge me for the realignment knowing that I likely had to have the steering rack taken back out because they refused to define the problem. Issue: Rude, not customer friendly, only wants to make money by ripping off customers. Upon receiving the car in my possession, both tag lights were working. This led me believe there wasnt any fluid but I couldnt prove it so brought it back to my mechanic as its under warranty for the service. No leaking fluid found. Auto Stream failed in fiduciary responsibility in giving me an option if I wanted the realignment done despite seeing the leaking when they put the car back up on the lift. Now I have a car that has passed inspection at a different location because majority of the issues they brought up were phantom. I replaced a steering rack that was not actually leaking costing me hundreds of dollars. These guys tried to take advantage of someone who is not a car expert. Considering more formal action against the operation they are running.

paula hagan

REVIEW UPDATE(1/19/17): After being contacted by AutoStream Car Care HQ about my review, I was very impressed at the timeliness of their response. Since I failed my inspection back in December, they wanted to make sure I gave them another chance to show they really do have 5 star service. I was met by Dan, from HQ who was very welcoming and promised my car would be done in 45 mins. It was reinspected in 39 mins. My car passed. Thank you for listening and being proactive in giving gest customer service. -------- Original post (12/21/16) I never write negative reviews but this location deserves one. They claimed 5 star service and didnt live up to it. I made an 8am appointment State Inspection (the earliest appointment you can make) and when I called to check on my car status at 10:45am, they told me they had just started to look at my car. I gave myself 3.5 hour window just in case they where running a little behind for a 2 hour service max. They lady told me since I didnt stay in the building or give a definite time when I needed my car back that my car wasnt a priority. Whats the point of making an appointment then? She told me thats how all car places work and they had also scheduled 4 other 8am appointments. However, I was the second one in the door right at opening. So I did my research to ask different places. None of them said thats how they operate. "If you make an appointment then your car will get worked on on or around that time." Is what Russell Toyota said. Im very disappointed in their services. I understand this is not everyones experience but I just wanted to share mine. I will never go back to this location.

Alejandro Garnreiter

I brought my car in for a puncture in the sidewall of a tire. Expecting to have to replace not just the flat but also its match, I was pleasantly surprised when the technician informed me that, because the tread was only lightly worn, I could safely replace just the punctured tire. As I would have replaced both tires had he recommended it, I appreciated his honesty. Not only that, the replacement for the flat was an exact match. But the great service didnt end there. During routine inspection of my car the technicians also noticed my struts were worn and leaking (they provide photographic evidence of needed repairs through a convenient text message). I informed the mechanic that Id handle that myself through my CarMax extended warranty only to find that this place is also certified to do CarMax warranty work. They contacted CarMax on my behalf and CarMax agreed to the work. They would need to keep my car overnight, however, but, no worries - complimentary loaner! To sum up, AutoStream replaced my flat tire with an exact match, didnt unnecessarily sell me another tire, caught a much-needed strut repair, worked on my behalf with CarMax to repair the strut under warranty, and loaned me a car for the night free of charge!

Amanda Bhandhel

I usually dont give reviews of auto services, but the service I got here really was exceptional. I am by no means a mechanic, but I have a decent knowledge of cars and know when I am blatantly getting ripped off. I drive one of the more difficult cars to work on with expensive parts (VW Beetle). It was nice to walk out to my car and talk with JT about what I believed was the problem and have an intelligent conversation about my fuse box and wires rather than a 2 second "well get you fixed up, mam" kind of thing. He actually knows a TON about volkswagens, which is rare, AND he didnt treat me like a child because I am a female. I have had two mechanics from other places actually BREAK parts of my car because they didnt know how to work on them, but JT knows his stuff! Also, parts and labor have a lifetime warranty, so they put their money where their mouths are. Kelly was just amazing. My parts had to come from PA so it took a little while, and she was in communication with me the whole time and obviously felt worse about it than I did. The overall experience was top notch, and this is definitely my permanent mechanic!