AJ Foreign Auto

Reviews 3

KA

Katie Moring

I have taken my car to AJ Foreign Auto a few times for minor repairs (clamp heat shield, brakes, state inspection, etc). I have never actually been inside the business; due to my work schedule Ive always dropped my car off after hours, paid by credit card over the phone, and picked it up after hours -- which I appreciated. I had a rattling noise in the front of my car which was suspected to be a broken spring. I dropped it off at night to be worked on the following day. Dave called to inform me it was a broken spring, as suspected, gave me a price estimate for replacing both front springs, and said he had to order the parts. OK, thats reasonable. Dave then told me that the parts were going to take 5-7 business days to receive. That seemed like a long time to me, but, OK... The following week, 7 days after dropping off my car, I called back to see what the status was. Dave told me they had no time estimate for when the spring would be in -- no idea. He quickly rushed me off the phone because he didnt really have anything else to say, didnt know when the part would be in from the Subaru dealer. I thought this was pretty odd, to have no clue when a part would arrive. I talked to some co-workers, looked up parts online, called the local Subaru dealer, and called other shops in the area to see what I could find out. What I discovered, from my OWN research, was that you must buy the springs/coils from the Subaru dealer. However, you can buy the struts with springs already attached after market, therefore, much more quickly. Yes, its bit more expensive to replace both the struts and the springs, however, they could also be ordered and arrive the next business day. I called back to AJ to get more detail about what was going on. This time I talked to Mary, who again told me there was no time estimate of when the spring would be in or when my car would be repaired. Maybe this week, maybe next week, who knows! My car had been at the shop for 8 days I believe at this point. I said that I would pay for the diagnostic work they had already done, and I wanted to pick my car up. As soon as I said I was taking my car back, I could sense the annoyance in Marys tone as we finished the conversation. I paid for the work, and my car was to be left outside so I could pick it up after they were closed. To my surprise, when I went to pick up my car that night, it was still locked in their chain link fence! I had to call back the following day, and was told they forgot to leave my car outside - whoops. Well, that was pretty inconvenient for me since I had to have someone else drive me down there, and now I AGAIN had to find another ride downtown. What really bothered me about this experience was that every time I was on the phone I felt rushed and like I was a nuisance for inquiring about the status of this repair. My options were not explained to me -- it was just Nope, can only get this part from a Subaru dealer, have to wait an undetermined amount of time. I am assuming if the business responds to this review, they will say they were trying to save me money and why would they recommend replacing the struts as well if it wasnt absolutely necessary? I still feel like that option should have been given to me after making 0 progress for 8 days. Even if its completely beyond your control when the parts arrive from Subaru, have better customer service. I am the one that had to call to check on the status of the car -- the business did not call me to keep me informed. After talking to several other shops in the area, and the subaru parts dealer myself, I was explained various options of how to go about this repair. I chose to go with another shop that took time to explain all my options, discuss them with me, and treated me respectfully and politely.

A

Anonymous User

2X Proven great mechanics. I have a 2006 325i bought in Rochester. Have had ok - albeit very expensive - service at both Holtz (now Rochester BMW; 192 mi R/T) and a rear-view mirror replacement and exhaust system check at Burdick (North Syracuse; 118 mi R/T). Ive been reluctant to go to a non-BMW repair station, thinking that they might not have the real parts nor tools nor expertise to do the job right. I used to do most of my car maintenance and repairs and so am fussy about my car. About two years ago, the car was pulling to the right, and so I had Holtzs do an alignment (about $150) but the car was still pulling slightly to the right. A year later, one of the run-flat tires was worn so badly that I had to replace it ($240). I had AJs do a repeat alignment and they printed-out the before and after alignment numbers and wow! what a difference. The car finally drove straight and true. That was a year ago and even today I can let go of the wheel and the car drives beautifully straight and true. About 2+ months ago I thought that I heard leakage in the exhaust system - but it seemed to diminish after some driving. When I was at Burdicks I asked them to check the exhaust system to make sure that all was ok and replace any parts with real BMW parts if any needed replacing. They said that the system checked-out fine. But a few weeks later I again heard the leaking exhaust system - which did seem to diminish as the car was driven. Preparing for a trip, I asked AJs to look at it and within 20 sec they showed me what the problem was: A rusted-out clamp connecting the front to the rear exhaust pipes - wonder why the BMW mechanics hadnt seen that? AJs got the new gasket and installed it today. VERY reasonable; 1 hr of work because they had to cut off the old partly rusted clamp and bolts, etc. without damaging the rest of the exhaust system. They did two jobs perfectly and very reasonably that were either not diagnosed properly or were not done properly by the BMW guys. Oh - and without me asking - AJs removed a 4-inch ding on my rear bumper. I had asked Holtzs to do that last year and they said that they couldnt do it easily. I dont know if all of AJs mechanics are great but Dave Button is really good. Also they have some limited electronics to deal with the BMW diagnostics but it seems adequate. I gave them four stars and will up their rating the next time they do another great repair job.

A

Anonymous User

Very disappointing. I brought my car in because it had some electrical problems (I think), including a battery that went dead after a few days without driving and some other things. I also needed an inspection and had a check engine light on. I was charged $180 for diagnosis which included $50 to tell me my battery was fine (!) and did not do any further work looking at the electrical issue I had gone in for. In their defense, they did correctly diagnose the problems with my exhaust system (for $100) although their estimate to fix was several hundred dollars more than Wilcox (where I eventually went and have had nothing but good service) charged to redo the diagnosis and fix it. I understand that diagnosis is expensive but I want to know what they did when I am paying so much with no tangible benefit. When I asked for details I got quite a lecture about my bad attitude, rather than an explanation of what was done (which in fact I recently found out I had been accidentally overcharged for). Edit: My online complaint got their attention, to which there were several terse email back and forths. Eventually they agreed that they had indeed overcharged me $45.90 which they refunded to me (although I am still out $120 since I had to take the car to another shop where the diagnosis was redone). All in all a very unpleasant experience that I would not recommend to anyone, although in the end they did make some attempt to make it right.

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