AAMCO Transmissions and Total Car Care

My 2000 Acura TL was one of Honda’s car for the year 2000 and 2001 that their transmissions had a recall up until 100,000 miles. Of course when I bought the car it had a little over 100,000 miles on it. Took it to these guys her at AAMCO since it was only 10 minutes away from my house and they had the most reputable reputation for rebuilding transmissions. They quotes me for a 3 day wait to get the car back. I waited 5 and called them and was super pissed off. When u quote me a certain amount of time I expect it to be done by then. Not for u to fuck around with me and give me the runaround with bullshit excuses, which were they were waiting on parts. Which by the way there is a Honda dealership 5 minutes away from them. Not only did I scare the shit out of the cashier there when they realized I was the customer who called and complained cause of the delay. All in all they did a really good job on the rebuild but they need to get their act together when quoting a person on labor time. Being without ur car is hard enough already, and then only for them to bullshit with you and delay it even further

Loved this place, loved Chip, loved the rest of the guys too. They were very honest, friendly and the place was clean as a whistle. It’s a small miracle to find a mechanic you can actually trust.
Unfortunately, they have recently shut down with no notice at all. I went to take my car in and everything was gone, save a small note on the door that said «STORE CLOSED.» No forwarding information. They were ALWAYS busy, what the hell happened?! I feel like I’ve been dumped. :(I will miss this place very much, and would give my right arm for figure out where Chip went.
Kind of crappy of AAMCO to just dump what seemed to be quite a thriving customer base with no warning whatsoever.

Can’t say enough good about this place! If the check engine light is on they check it for free, which is what brought me in. The head guy Chip is super cool and very helpful. Definitely not one of those creepy vibe garages that lie and rape you.
I’ve been there for all my car issues and I’m always pleased by the time I leave.
Prices fair, friendly help, clean environment.

My level of annoyance right now is considerably higher than normal because my automotive issues happened at the exact same time that our home’s main line to the sewer collapsed and needed to be replaced (thousands and thousands of dollars). So keep that in mind while considering how displeased I am with my results here.
I was having a hard time shifting in my manual 2005 Saturn Ion and decided it was probably better to take it to a transmissions specialist than just a random mechanic. I was in and out for under an hour with no charge with a diagnosis. The clutch was at the end of its life. It would probably be fine to use for a while, but I was fed up enough with how hard it was to shift in day-​to-​day driving I just wanted to have it fixed now. I told them I wanted to shop around to get other estimates, which they were totally nice about and said if I got a better price, to let them know and they would see what they could do.
I ended up not being able to find a better price, and was happy that I got an honest estimate to begin with. I took it back that evening and they started to work on it the next afternoon when the parts came in, and then I received it the following night. A total of 2 days without my car, but it was such a laborious job on a car like mine I thought it seemed reasonable. I was confused though, because they said it was an all-​day job and I was expecting it to be done at the end of the day. They told me it should be done by noon the next day and didn’t call until 4. I am a stickler about doing what you say. If you can’t, then LET ME KNOW so I know what to expect.
I drove it home (only 4 blocks away from my home actually) and it was smooth as silk shifting and I was very happy.
UNTIL I got into my car the next morning to go to work (for the first time that week, since I had no car). The clutch would not engage AT ALL. I had to turn it off to shift into reverse. Then when I was backed out of my driveway, I once again could not engage the car into gear at all. I turned off the car again, put it into 1^st, then pulled up to the curb and called AAMCO.
I was absolutely furious. I know the work had a 12-​month warranty and it’s not like I would need to pay anything in addition, but to drop over $ 1300 and miss 2 days of work only to wake up to a non-​operational car is pretty freaking frustrating, especially while my yard is being ripped up to replace my sewer line simultaneously. It was like the last bit of stress I could possibly handle and I had a hard time believing I was not having a nightmare.
AAMCO sent over a tow truck and they had another look at my car. I got a call much later in the afternoon telling me that there was air left in the hydraulic system and that was causing the system to lock up. They said «Saturns» are notoriously difficult to «bleed» air from and that was why it happened. They also requested they keep the car overnight to make sure the same thing didn’t happen again. Then in the morning, they had some BS story about needing to do it again and they wanted to let it sit even more. THAT’S 2 EXTRA DAYS FOR A MISTAKE THEY MADE. They told me that they’d call be back in a few hours and guess what — It has been 6 and I haven’t heard a damned thing.
I would like to have good faith that I really have the biggest piece of crap car on the planet and everything that ever happens to it is it’s fault because it is a «Saturn,» but it’s actually been the most reliable car I’ve ever had and I have had no other major issues with it. It would seem to me that a transmissions specialist would have no issues bleeding the hydraulic system of any make or model of car, since they are a transmissions specialist. I would assume that me paying a relatively high rate per hour for a specialist would ensure I would not have to deal with any issues after the repair, like one may have dealing with a generic mechanic. Apparently, I was very wrong.
I don’t know much about cars, but it just seems really amateurish for such a thing to happen after such an extensive job done by «experts.» Overall I am happy with the customer service I received with Chip, he is very nice and friendly, and I honestly feel a little bit bad leaving a negative review as he treated me really well. But the quality of work from this place leaves me a bit suspicious if they couldn’t bleed the line correctly and had me out of my car 2 EXTRA DAYS. And if you go back on your word about when the thing will just be done with 3 times, ESPECIALLY when it is due to YOUR mistakes, expect a pissed off customer.

This place is really friendly, clean and honest. I came to them for the computer scan for my check engine light that came on. They also did a 36 point inspection. All Free. All friendly and extremely helpful.
Chip, the main man, had me look at a leak they found on one of my shocks. Actually showed it to me. Very transparent operations! I was very happy at how they handle their business.
I saw Chip handle 3 other customers while I was there and he was just as friendly, helpful and sympathetic to each and every customer. He helped diagnose my car so hopefully I can get transmission issues fixed under the power-​train warranty on my car.
Any other services I need, I will be returning to them!
[[Side note, the Vista location of Aamco is just as helpful, cheerful and understanding as this location. I spoke to Alex on the phone and he was friendly, but I found the Poway location was closer!]]

I generally don’t write reviews of anything, but this business was worth it.
The engine code reading was free and accurate. ~$ 90 to diagnose (pretty standard), which comes off the repair bill. (nice). They found a problem that could have cost me ~$ 200 to fix, diagnosed it a bit further and cut it down to ~$ 48. They could have simply swapped the part out for the high price and I’d have a hard time arguing, but they did they worked a bit more to solve the source of the problem.
I’ve been to good and bad mechanics. These guys are good and honest. When I have issues with my car that I cannot fix on my own, I’ll go to them.