Duxler Complete Auto Care

I only go to the dealer for oil changes, but the nearest dealer sucks! So, I walk into this place with hopes of everything going smoothly. Well, it was a no wait 20min oil change. Informed of leaking back struts, with no pressure to do anything… no look of judgement when I advised the my regular mechanic would check it out. No pressure is important when you hate pressure! It was really a stress free experience, at 3:00pm on a Friday. Just great.

I’m a long time customer. They have always done high quality work, but now I wonder if I actually needed all that work. Today I was really disappointed and will not be back.
When I had my car in for an oil change they came back and told me that the clamps on my exhaust system were rusted and that I would be safer to replace my entire exhaust system for $ 1300 even though the exhaust system was still in good shape.
I declined as that’s a lot to spend on a 12 year old car. I called back the next day to ask if they might be able to re-​weld the clamps and get some more life out of my 12 year old exhaust system. I was told that it was uncertain that it would work, given all the rust, and that they do not do welding.
I went to a local shop that was highly recommended on Unilocal.They showed me that, while rusted, the exhaust system was on solidly and that no work was required.
This was consistent with other Duxler reviews.
I’m very disappointed.

Not sure why so many bad feedback here. Since I work for local AAA I use to feel apprehensive when taking my car to the mechanic, and then I found good old Duxler in Skokie. Frank is the manager, he takes pride in his work, he is a man with integrity, he is honest and trustworthy. He always explains what’s wrong with the car and how he is going to fix it in plain English. Also makes me feel comfortable knowing my car will be fixed without being taken advantage of. I do regular oil changes for all my cars there and they always do a good job. Giving them 4 stars and yes I am a fan of Duxler. Why not five? I think that place needs little bit of renovating. Also using computers instead of handwriting paperwork wouldn’t hurt. That’s just my point of view and suggestion to the owners. Thanks guys.

They overfilled engine during oil change. If they can’t do such a simple job right so why didn’t they close. Maybe open a McDonalds and start making burgers they can do without mistakes. 1 Star for you guys. Sorry.

They will continually fix your problem but will somehow get you to come back periodically. It seems like they have monthly revenue quota and they have to hit that no matter what. After my 4^th or 5^th visit, I ended up just buying a new car.

I went to Duxler today after (for the 100^th time) my dealer acted like a complete ass, treated me poorly, and would not guarantee their work. Duxler is very conveniently located to my house and since I needed a tire patched I called them. They were delightful on the phone and told me I could come in immediately with a limited wait. When I got there they were friendly and, as promised, took my car immediately. Their waiting room was clean and comfortable with a TV and free wi-​fi. Also an extensive children’s play area. I did not have to wait long at all for my car to be fixed and was shocked that it cost only $ 30 to patch a tire with a guarantee and fill all my tires. I noticed an immediate different driving my car out of there. I’m so glad I found them and feel confident about my future car care needs.

I am revising this review, due to the contact I had with Brian M, who is the owner of Duxlers.
I originally went to Duxler’s when my check engine light came on. They charged me $ 100. At the time I didn’t realize I could go to AutoZone and they would tell me what was wrong for free. I was told I needed a new catalytic converter which would set me back over $ 900. I called a friend who is a mechanic and from what I described to him, he told me my car had no symptoms of having a bad catalytic converter and that it most likely was because a sensor needed cleaning. After cleaning my sensors, my friend reset the computer in my car and the check engine light went off. The very next day I had my car tested at AutoZone and my car was fine. It just so happened that during this time I received notification from the state that it was time to go to get my car tested for vehicle emissions. I did and it passed with flying colors.
Originally when I first wrote my rview I felt as if Duxler’s in Skokie tried to rip me off. After writing my initial review I was contacted by Brian M., who refunded me what I paid and gave me a coupon for a free oil change. He also told me that the individual who serviced my car had been fired and the reason was because of situations like the one I encountered.
I’ll be honest that at this time I am having a difficult time wanting to bring my car back to Duxlers, yet the truth is that for the last few years I had been a loyal customer. Though they are a wee bit expensive, everyone in my neighborhood raves about them.
I usually use one of the other Duxler Shops. NOT the one in Skokie. My concern is for all the other customers who used Duxler’s in Skokie, who didn’t know to complain and paid for services that they really didn’t need. I“m happy what I was charges was returned to me, yet it just didn’t seem like enough. Perhaps if I was told that Brian investigated all the other customers serviced by this past employee and they also were refunded for services, I would feel better.

I have a Honda CRV that needed the left headlight replaced. They were much cheaper than Firestone, so I had it done. Then the right one went out about a month later, so I got it done again at Duxler. 2 months later the left headlight was out again, then 1 month after the right again. Out of convenience, I went to Firestone. It turns out my Honda CRV needs a special headlight, that costs more money. It turns out that Duxler was installing the wrong headlights, and that is why they kept malfunctioning. Obviously, Duxler had no clue. Not going back there for anything anymore.

We have been using them for about 5 years now. We keep coming back for basic maintenance or when we do not feel like doing some work on car ourselves due to time or lack of interest.
I have rated them on couple different areas and my rating of 3 is average of these areas
Communication: I think a lot of people complain about them playing into «scare» tactics. This is generally true, and I would suggest to others to always get second opinion. Always. I do not like how they make statements like «you need new breaks» even that I changed them less than 20k ago, sensor has not gone off and 16k miles ago when I came in for my annual oil change they also said they were low. I think not. Same thing can be said about more complex items so I tend to ignore them. 2*
Quality: I have never had a problem with quality of work. Everything has always been very well put back together so good stuff. I have never had them use bad parts, or put them in a way that would make them fail prematurely. They also do little things when putting stuff back together like making sure they clean the threads and put correct amounts of thread lock on bolts. That is how anal I am to check how well the work is done correctly but than I knew I could trust them. 5 *
Speed: This is kind of a mixed bag. At times they are very rapid, in and out for oil change in less than 30 minutes. At other times it has been over 2 hours for oil change even when I was there first thing in the morning as the doors opened 3*
Value: They are not the cheapest but please see quality. They are probably cheaper than dealers but not by much. As always you get what you pay for and I do not have a major problem here. You can get some coupons and that helps but … 4*

Not sure I trust their «suggested» repairs. One of their suggestions should have been to change my brake pads before the rotors had to be replaced as well. They also recommended changing a battery that still works fine over a year later. There has to be a better option available that genuinely takes care of your vehicle.

I was going here for oil changes for convenience. They try to sell you hundreds of dollars of unneeded repairs, and as a single mom, I find this very stressful, never knowing what I do and don’t need.
The final straw: I bought new tires, the lug nuts on one were not tightened properly, my car was shimmying and several people pointed out the problem to me. I brought the car back, explained it was shimmying and said it hadn’t been before they put on the tires. The man spoke very rudely to me, saying there was snow and how would I know if it had been shimmying before or not, etc., etc. The whole time he was looking around at other employees and customers, barely paying attention to me except to scoff.
I asked if they could check/​tighten the lug nuts just in case, and more rudeness, even rolling eyes. I mean RUDE, embarrassing me in front of other customers.
Again, as a single mom I am out of my element in a car place and often give in to the spiel because I depend on the mechanic being honest and helpful. I was asking uncertainly about the shimmying, and the man obviously felt that if he treated me aggressively and like I was an idiot I would just go away. The only reason I persisted, asking if they could just check them, is because my high school age daughters were afraid to ride in the car and said it felt like the tires were going to fly off.
After more eye rolling and shaking his head, he agreed to tighten the lug nuts, and guess what – the shimmying stopped.
I’ve nevef been back and never will be back, although it’s about 4 blocks from my house.
Best car places in the area: Smitty’s in Evanston is awesome – no big waiting room, just car stuff and car dudes. The most honest mechanics I’ve ever met.

The pluses, nice clean place, good customer service. They even have toys for kids if you are waiting. They do a lot of charity in the skokie area.
The negatives, oil change while reasonable is a way for them to sell you services you do not need. It happened to me 3 times already they offered me services and told me quotes. I always as a rule call a few places and their prices are cheaper and when I take them to my mechanic which is not so convenient, he just tells me these repairs are not needed.
They probably pay their mechanics commisions on work they generate.
While there is a saying it is hard to find a honest mechanic, I do not like to get ripped off.
I will not even get back. There are other shops that do oil change and I trust their opinion more.

I called Duxler from the road to ask if I could come in right away for a brake light replacement. They saw me right away and replaced the light in less than 10 minutes. Plus they gave my kids baseballs to take home as a treat.

I won’t strain you with a malignant diatribe of personal slanders about the place or the people. I’ll simply state the facts.
— Take my car into the shop in March simply because they are close to where I work for an oil change, they look at my car without me asking and come back out saying I have $ 1,400 in repairs that have to be done. They say out of safety for the car I need my transmission serviced, my struts replaced, diagnostics run because my check engine light was on, and more. I accept the fact my transmission does in fact need servicing and flushing realizing I had approached 60,000 miles on my car, decline the other work and leave. Thinking they were just trying to help out I return in May for another oil change (I drive a lot due to work).
— Drive in and ask for the oil change, again they come back at me with about $ 1,200 of repairs and this is when I get suspicious. None of the repairs are the same as the time before. This time they say I have a missing O2 sensor, a stripped muffler gasket, a faulty rear gasket, and seized calipers that have lead to break pad corrosion. I ask them why they didn’t catch this stuff last time I was in, ask them to show me the car and explain in greater detail when they basically started explaining things in as esoteric language as possible. I say, no thanks, just the oil change. The head mechanic comes out and starts talking with the lady helping me and says to me, «I hope you’re not planning on driving that car for long. It’s not safe, and that catalytic converter is gonna go out any minute and your engine will be shot.» I look at the man and immediately leave without saying a word to them. I know for fact the catalytic converter is an environmental emission protection device, has nothing to do with the engine or its safety, and they said verbatim, «my car and I were in danger.» Terrifying to prey on people’s vulnerabilities just to make some cash.
I immediately call my mechanic in Cincinnati that has been a family friend for years. Bring it to him and he tells me the O2 sensor is not missing, it simply has been tucked away as if someone placed it in hiding. He said they’ll replace it for fifty dollars compared to the $ 455 Duxler was asking. He says my breaks are tip-​top, gaskets are all fine, but the struts could use some work. He says the reason my check engine light was on was because my timing belt was worn down way too far, and any decent mechanic would’ve caught it and this in fact could’ve shot my engine had it not been caught. They said they could replace the struts, all four of them, and their accessory parts for basically the same price Duxler would’ve done only the one strut without the necessary work to the axel and alignment. Yet, he added, with the amount of work and price to do that at the car’s depreciated value, it probably wasn’t the best idea and be a waste of money in the long run. At the end, my mechanic said please do not ever take your car back to the automotive store that has been telling you all this stuff is wrong with it, and this wasn’t even in an attempt to get business from me for he knows I can’t come back to Cincinnati just to get my car serviced. The entire experience has been surreal, but has proven this. Today, people will do anything to take money from you, even potentially criminal acts, so be careful with who you trust.

I’ve been taking my cars here for two years. Always polite, always quick, and very fair prices.
If I’ve ever needed major work done, they go the extra mile to find the most inexpensive way of doing the repair. They’ll call around 9 different part suppliers just to save me $ 40.
Most recently I brought in my car which I suspected had been totalled. They offered to buy the car off of me! Saved me towing fees to a junk yard, and really helped in the financial jam I was in.
The owner Brian is one hell of a guy. They are honest to the core, and will never screw you over. Just great, old-​school, car service. Best in the city.

This is the fastest place in Skokie to get a check up on your car and a quick oil change. It’s conveniently close to the Jewel, the mall and lunch. I drop my car off and usually head to lunch for a leisurely hour.
The service staff here is quick, to the point and get me in and out on my day off when they promise they car back. They serviced my car for my road trip to California and it’s still humming like a little kitten 2,200 miles later.
Oil change and fluid check for $ 20. I can’t even get my regular technician to look at my car for less than $ 35. With money so tight nowadays, I’m sticking to these awesome guys at Duxler.