A Plus Transmission Specialists

I’ve been agnostic for a pretty long time, but Marshall and Danny at A Plus made me want to fall to my knees and thank God for them.
The elusive «Honest Mechanic» is a near-​mythic entity, and after my experiences with general contractors I know myself to be a rotten judge of character. I had never in my life wanted to go hunting for a mechanic. I’d planned to rely on my dealership’s mechanic until the day I drove my car straight into the ground. So my heart sank when my dealership informed me that the manufacturer was no longer making parts for my just-​13-​year-​old vehicle, and there was nothing they could do – either officially or unofficially — about its leaking gas tank and filter. Their only advice? … Find myself an honest mechanic.
I asked everyone I knew if they could recommend an honest mechanic, and everyone drew a blank. Eventually it was a neighbor who said there was one shop he trusted completely, but which really only does transmissions — A Plus Transmission Specialists on Bellaire. Still, we figured it couldn’t hurt to drop them an E-​mail and ask them for advice or a referral.
Marshall and Danny did one better: They said I could bring my car in! They would confirm my dealership’s findings, then see if they could locate the parts and make the repair. Since A Plus services all kinds of modern and classic car transmissions, it has a variety of resources — even in other countries! — that they can check for hard-​to-​find parts.
That alone would have been such a relief, but it got even better!
… After seeming at first, for a white-​knuckle few days, to get worse (in true dramatic fashion):
I dropped my car off at A Plus Transmission Specialists and received a heart-​stopping phone call the next day. Danny said they had confirmed the existence of an issue with the gas tank (but even I could smell the gas and see the fluid trailing down, so no surprises there), but he said in his ever-​polite tone that I would need to commit to paying $ 300 for them to dismantle the car and order parts to be sure they fit. If I decided to have the car repaired by A Plus, then the $ 300 would be credited towards the repair cost. My great fear was that A Plus would quote me a repair cost I couldn’t possibly afford, and then I would be out $ 300 more after the costly diagnosis at my dealership. I don’t mind admitting, I’m not a rich lady.
I didn’t have a Plan B, though, and I wasn’t going to get much farther in my gas-​spewing death trap, so I committed the $ 300 and just hoped A Plus wouldn’t take too much advantage of the fact that they had me over a barrel and knew it.
I had asked my dealership mechanic what I ought to expect to pay for the repair… and when I got the next call from Danny, I was ready for him to double or triple that amount, because what choice would I really have?
The outcome? Drum roll, please…
*** A Plus Transmission Specialists charged me LESS than my dealership mechanic would have (if the dealership had been able to help me)! ***
Celestial music! Fireworks! I’d never been so happy to spend that much money on my car.
The repair took a week or two, just because we had to wait for parts to wing their way in from far afield, and Danny kindly waited after closing time so I could pick my car up a day earlier. The work came with a 6-​month warranty, and I’m writing this review about 3 – 4 months out. Haven’t had to exercise the warranty. Everything has been running great. I wish I could come to A Plus for everything! They really go above and beyond! Thank you, Danny and Marshall! Insert cheesy joke here about what grade I would give A+ Transmission Specialists on Bellaire. :)
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A note on the «not recommended» review that I see Unilocal didn’t factor in below: I had the same perception of the location and the staff. The praise seems worthy of more than 3 stars to me, but apart from that I think the review is real.