Car-X Tire & Auto

1201 White Bear Ave, St Paul, MN 55106, USA

Address:	1201 White Bear Ave, St Paul, MN 55106, USA
Phone:	+1 651-774-8686
Site:	carx.com
Rating:	3.5
Working:	7:30AM–6PM 7:30AM–6PM 7:30AM–6PM 7:30AM–6PM 7:30AM–6PM 8AM–3PM Closed

Location

Photos 10

Reviews 5

T Murphy

Wow, interesting to see that Darrel checks on these and replies. He hasnt called me back after a phone exchange this morning. Heres my experience: We came in late June using one of their coupons to get an AC check. Car had been blowing cool not cold. That visit seemed to go fine. They said they did a vacuum test, looked good, then filled the system with refrigerant and dye. $105.Car blew nice and cold 2 days then totally lost all cooling.Totally hot. We went back (3 weeks later - they arent close to us) and when Darren, John or Tony reported that they needed to replace a hose on the low pressure side - the mechanic even came out and said yeah, its leaking by the crimp there. By the way, the lower passenger ball joint is bad $250-275 MORE just to get the AC fixed. We didnt do it and took it to Hometown Tire on Robert Street in West Saint Paul. We thought it odd that you could see the dye not around the crimp, but around the low side Schrader fill valve. Hometown found the valve core broken. Had a tool that could extract and then replace it, then fill AC, not even needing a Dryer - system was tight. Checked ball joint, was well within wear limits. Darren claimed on phone "they are either good or bad" - I checked that in my Haynes manual and online. There are tests and wear indicators to see if you need to replace them (and if they clunk on turns, do it soon!), but good/bad only after a point. Hometown said on a scale of 1-10, 1-2 being new, ours was about 2.5 and could go as far as 4-5 before replacing. A good 4-5 years, likely. Darren rejected that completely, said there was no 1-10 scale. Well I knew that! It was just a way for Hometown to convey degrees of wear. I say its just a great way for CarX to pump up billing. Id said that the shop had broken off a part into the Schrader valve (what my wife originally told me) but then called CarX back after Hometown said "no - it was the valve core itself" - unfortunately Hometown didnt keep the core, my wife didnt think to ask. But Im fairly certain Darren would have stonewalled me anyway. He asked what I was asking for, and I said some refund on my $105 since I had to repay the $70 AC check charge again at Hometown. Also, I just wanted to alert him, so he could talk to his mechanic about it. He said hed call back. 7 hours ago. Right. I told the Acting Manager yesterday that with some help, Id at least refrain from writing any bad feedback, implying Id do what I doing now. I dont take the time to do this kind of thing unless something seems really bad, and that I might save others from the same. So watch out.Buyer >>>>New Report: After all this, I got a call out of the blue from Darrell, who said he would get me a refund if I brought in the receipt from the other shop. I did, and he did. I got a $105 check from central CarX just a few days ago, something I never expected. So everything happened as I said - but they did the right thing in the end. Get high estimates from here checked out, but if you stand your ground they did the right thing. .

Anonymous User

5/26/12 I give this place 5 stars, too. I chose this place for 2 reasons: 1. It had really good reviews & the few that had 1 stars, the owner RESPONDED to (I was really impressed by that) and 2. It was within walking distance of my home. Car was there from about 11am til about 5pm for a diagnostic. They said it would be $98/hr. They could not figure out what was wrong with it. I was expecting to be charged A LOT of money. I had made it clear that if it would cost more than a rental car I did not want to spend it. My van is all banged up & I was trying to hold on it for ONE MORE month. When I got there to pick up my car the next day (today) I asked (with trepidation) how much it would be, my eyes down at my purse. Darryl said "No charge". I LOOKED up w/ shock in my eyes & my jaw LITERALLY dropped down...not believing my ears. He repeated "No charge". I said "But what about the $98 diagnostic",,, he replied he couldnt charge me if they didnt figure out what was wrong with it. GOD IS GOOD!! I was nearly in tears. I did cry when I got to my car. I am nearly 62 years old & will use a younger persons phrase --I am so TOTALLY going here again!.

Jamie Slater

I found a free 38 point inspection coupon on their website so I signed up for an appointment to use it, brought my car in BEFORE the scheduled time; dropped it off, they asked me if anything in particular was going on and I told them I didnt know but something was going on with my tires, and of the 38 points they were supposed to check, I received a piece of paper with nine things checked off, with a quote of $700 to fix two rotors and calipers, and sway bar links in the front. I decided to take it somewhere else for the work; when I did they also told me the rear sway bar links were bad and the front ones were good, and the axle in the front was bad. I would assume since they had my car twelve feet in the air when I got there to pick it back up, they should have seen that if they would have checked. No one likes laziness. A 38 point inspection should be a 38 point inspection, and I wont be returning.

Kimber Somers

What a joke. I called up Car X yesterday to make an appointment for an oil change and safety inspection today. The guy on the phone said they do not make appointments, but if I just bring it in I will be fine. I showed up today and he says it will be 45 minutes if not an hour before he can even think about looking at it, then another 45 minutes to wait while he does the actual oil change. I am not going to sit around for an hour and a half or more when I tried to make an appointment yesterday. I drove all the way to Car X on my long awaited weekend for no reason. Thank you for wasting my time. Do you treat everyone this way?

Jerelle Ellis

Terrible place overcharged me for front end work and a month later still problems brought my car yo another place there were bolts missing on my ball joints. I spend over $1000 on uneeded work. The new shop I went to said I need a cv axle and a wheel bearing put it on there for cheap they also told me never to bring my car to car x again cause they didnt do a good job on my front end. Avoid this place they will fix things that dont need to be fixed and wont fix things that need to be fixed. And I think they remove my bolts from the ball joints so I can come back to their shop. Never will I.