Drivetrain Specialties

Trustworthy, reliable, quick and affordable. I moved away and still drive from Vancouver to bring my car to Drivetrain.

Paul and crew have always been very fair with me. Never overcharged and I trust their judgement because of the trust built up over many years.

Three things that set a mechanic apart as being one of the «good ones». Good communication, prompt service and making you feel like your business matters. I don’t add being a good mechanic. Because there are a lot of very skilled mechanics out there. The question here is «do I want to work with this one?»
Here is why Paul at Drivetrain Specialists gets a resounding no from me.
First, Paul has the people skills of steel wool on a third degree burn. You will be made perfectly clear that he is doing you a huge favor by communicating with you. This will unfortunately be after multiple attempts to reach him over several days leaving multiple unreturned voice mails. On one occasion after finally reaching him, he was going to call the place that he had sent my car for work he doesn’t do because it had been a week with no word. He said to call back in 10 minutes. I called back in ten minutes and was told by the guy who picked up the phone and seemed genuinely confused to be speaking to someone that Paul had gone home for the day.
When I brought the car in I asked for a mechanics inspection and report as I plan to sell the car and wanted this to give to potential buyers. I was charged an hours labor for this but when I asked for the report was told he gave me one… verbally…over the phone. I was told that the car was in great shape, had no problems and was ready to sell. Well. Made it about 5 miles down the road before it died and had to have it towed back. This was after a 500.00 carb rebuild. Two more days in the shop. Not a word. Finally called to find out it had been ready since noon the day before. Was fixed this time for sure. Off we went again. This time we broke down (same problem) on the 205 in rush hour and waited over an hour for a tow back to the shop. Paul made it clear if we weren’t back there by 6 he would be gone. One more day and it’s done again. Was a vacuum hose all along. But we were assured the car was perfect in every other way. Got it back to our place and were looking it over. The car had been sitting for a year in a shop. We had made this clear. Hence the requested full inspection. While looking under the car it was glaringly apparent that pretty much every major seal was leaking profusely. How do you miss that?
So, if your paying full shop rates anywhere why would you put up with that?