Bento’s Auto & Tire Centre

Took my car in to repair a broken headlight on a Friday night. Decided to leave my vehicle overnight and have them do a tune-​up also. They called at 9:30am the next morning to pick up my car. Pricing was reasonable and service was excellent. Exceedingly convenient to be able to have all this done overnight.

Avoid this place! I had been going here for almost 2 years regularly to get oil changes, tire changes, until I became sick of this crooked business!!. The customer service is terrible, unfriendly staff, people are always «on lunch». One time they fixed a popped out bumper clip without my approval and then charged me 30 bucks!!! Worst of all they did it with GLUE and it broke the next day. Always trying to convince me I need my tires changed etc, so ridiculous. Cannot trust them !

I bought a new car and forgot to save my invoice from Bento’s, but Bento’s was able to find my Winter tires by going through their invoices by my name. They are keeping my seasonal tires for me to pick up in the New Year, but I think their charge keeping them for a year is less than my dealership!

Having done my homework on tire brands and prices, Bento’s offered quality winter tires at the best price. The service was kind and friendly and the wait was short to have the tires changed. The car drives beautifully and I will definitely be returning when it’s time to change again in the spring.

Took the car because I noticed a screw in my front tire, the night before a planned family road trip. They took me in right away and were honest with me in saying that the screw entered at an angle such that there was no leak. They removed the screw, and didn’t charge me for any of this. I was in and out in 15 minutes.

DO NOT GO TO BENTO’S.
I had my car towed here after some engine troubles. They told me I just needed a new battery and to leave my car to be serviced. Once they told me my car was ready, I went to pick it up and it wouldn’t even start! How do you miss that?! Long story short, left my car again over night and $ 700 later, it still is not running properly. Taking it to another garage to be serviced as these guys have no clue what they’re doing.
Side note, these guys used to be CAA credited but were cut, as they were caught ripping off a customer.

Happened just last night. Rental car making a weird, snowplow noise. Check underneath and saw a loose metal plate. Oh oh. Drove to Bento. They lifted up the car and showed me what happened (missing bolts on protective plate). 15 minutes and $ 25 later they were done fixing it. No muss, no fuss. Quick and painless.
Wonderful having these guys around with 24 hour availability.

My mom suddenly got a flat last night around 9pm so this was the only mechanic open. My brother managed to put the spare on and then realised the spare was flat as well. So we put both tires in my car and drove it to Bento’s!
First impression was okay, it was a distributor of Good Year Tires so the prices were listed inside on a monitor which made me feel more comfortable (given some of the terrible reviews on here)
2 men were working inside, nice, asked us what we needed. In short, they found the leak on the tire but explained how it couldn’t be fixed because of where it was (between the tread and on the surface near the side). Okay, we accepted it. They blew up the spare for us and just when we were about to leave the owner came…
That’s where the scam part is. The charge was $ 20 to «inspect» the tire and pump air into the spare… Should have just gone to the Shell gas station beside and paid $ 1 for air.
If the owner hadn’t come in, I am almost certain they were just going to let us walk– but I guess business is business. I don’t mind a charge, but $ 20 is extreme, considering air is free…
Or $ 1, at the gas station next door.

Tried to rip me off. Went for a repair for the alternator and was told that the battery was also dead, and that they had tested it. I made them do the test in front of me, which revealed that the battery was still competely fine.

STAY AWAY FROM BENTOS! Have been going to bentos for 6 years. About 5 months ago my belt came off my 97 Chevy Malibu. I tried to wrap the belt around the metal pulley’s but the belt was difficult to stretch. Frustrated, I went inside and watched a youtube video on how this is done and realized I’d probably be better off having Bentos do it as the engine needed to be supported. When I picked up my car they had charged me approximately $ 450.00 for a tensioner, a new belt and they took it upon themselves to replace perfectly good metal pulley’s with cheap plastic ones, charging me an inflated price for each one plus labour. They didn’t know that my neighbour and I had worked on the belt, as the car was towed to them. I’ve noticed whenever my car is towed to Bentos, I’m billed excessively or for plain bogus repairs. The last CAA tow truck driver I used told me they no longer dropped cars off to Bentos unless specifically asked to, due to the customer complaints received. I went to Bento himself (owner) to explain that I had been charged for the replacement of perfectly good parts. He passed the buck and told me the guy that had worked on my car wasn’t in the shop that day, but would be in on Wednesday. I showed up Wednesday and surprise-​surprise, he wasn’t there. Eventually I let it go and accepted the fact that I would swallow this excessive charge due to the run-​around I was getting from owner. Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago. I have a transmission fluid leak and my rpm’s are revving high when driving and there is very little acceleration. I foolishly take the car back to Bentos. They put transmission fluid in my car and tell me ask that I come back another day to get the leak fixed (??), Frustrated, I pay Bento $ 50 for the fluid and off I go. Sure enough less than a week later I have to tow my car back to Bentos This time, when starting to shut down, the car smelled funny, the rpm’s would rev and I’d go nowhere fast then the car lights and dash/​cd would flicker and the power steering would go on it. I explained all the symptoms and they said they would look at the car and call me to let me know their diagnosis. I then called my uncle who told me «you know if the serpentine belt comes off it can affect the steering, the dash etc.» I’m thinking, surely this wouldn’t be the issue as Bentos had JUST replaced the whole belt system (tensioner, belt, pulley’s etc). So I call Bentos and request that they (in addition to fixing the transmission fluid leak) CHECK to see if my belt had come lose. Bento calls me and says «you need a new belt and we need to fix the leak» I say «Oh, ok… How much will that cost me». Bento replies «$ 350 — $ 400». I authorize them to do the work. When I pick up my car, the bill comes to $ 577 and change. I said why so high? I’m then told about the cost of the belt and the small plastic tube/​hose that needed to be replaced and he mentioned for the first time the tensioner replacement, oil charge + labour etc. When they went to find my car key they could not. They looked for 15 minutes before asking ME to come behind their counter to see if I could find it. After 5 attempts to unlock my car with their other customers keys, I found the right key. It didn’t open my drivers side door however, but it did the passenger side and it started the engine. I assumed my front door handle lock was likely frozen after being outside in Bentos lot for 2 nights. I drive my car off Bentos lot (after climbing in the passenger side door) and I immediately noticed the same issue I was having prior to bringing it in — rpm’s revving high and no acceleration. I barely made it home. I checked the bill. Bentos charged me $ 145 for the tensioner he had just replaced months prior (found easily online for $ 30 bucks RETAIL) plus labour. He charged me another $ 90 (on top of the $ 50) for transmission fluid and $ 18 for oil (BOTH WERE NEVER PUT IN MY CAR (fraud) as was confirmed by BENTOS staff when I had the car towed in AGAIN the following morning. They also confirmed that the real reason for my car issues was an entirely separate issue. They stated that another $ 250 part was needed to fix. I disputed having to pay the $ 250 fee due to the complete incompetence at diagnosing, the gross over-​charges on the parts I didn’t need and that had recently been replaced, multiple tows and cabs I had to take to try and resolve and the damage to my front-​door lock while my car was in Bentos possession. Despite addressing these issues with Bento when I went to pick my car up yesterday, he basically told me to go **** myself and he refused to give me the keys to my car (illegal) unless I paid him another $ 250 (unbelievable). Two days later, he still has my car! DO NOT GO TO BENTOS. TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE OR RISK LOSING YOUR HARD EARNED DOLLARS UNNECESSARILY. COMPLETE SCAM — AND BENTOS HAS NO DESIRE TO MAINTAIN RELATIONSHIPS WITH LOYAL CUSTOMERS WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THEIR DECEPTION

I went to bentos for a starters replacement I knew off hand what bentos was all about before I even entered the place threw people! I had no choice, it was Sunday and I had an important to go to, so I decided to give them a chance. They made me sign the bill before They even started the Job (that’s weird) that means they have me by the
b***s. They replaced the starter and also the battery. Come on my battery was good condition. I check stuff myself and I have knowledge, anyways they put the cheapest battery that they hade. To make this story short, one hour later the truck didn’t start. Somehow I Tried the truck next morning and went to bentos and he said sorry I don’t have the time right now to check it. What I need the truck! I went somewhere else to check the starter and they said that the starter was not working. Bad service bentos I’ll never recommend you or your travel agency to anyone.
August 1 2015 update
Also I hade a friend who went their for a leak in his engine, he told me it was a total nightmare on elm street. They ruined is engine so bad that they had to replace it. Everything was all leaking line a river. He had to bring it back 6 times. I’m not joking. Beware of this butcher and his staff.

This place is one of the few in the city that stays open ²⁴⁄₇. In an emergency, it’s your lifesaver. It’s been around since the 70s, I guess, and old man Bento still works the front desk most days. They write their invoices by hand. old school, man. Prices are generally cheaper than other shops I’ve been to, turnaround is fast and work quality is acceptable. That’s the good part.
The bad part: The shop is usually busy, it’s extremely no-​frills, and service is indifferent at best. Do not expect much hand-​holding or anything in the way of an explanation. You gotta understand what you need and what they are talking about. If you speak Portuguese, you’re in luck. If you don’t, well… Guess the concept of customer service did not originate in the Azores. They never call you back to tell you the work has been completed; you have to call and ask. It’s the only shop that did not mark and bag my tires after swapping them for the winter. Want your tires marked and bagged? do it yourself and bring your own damn bags. That’s the spirit.
Why do I keep coming back? I dunno. Price and convenience, I guess.

Last summer I got a flat just as I was about to get on the highway. It was around 6pm on a Sunday and it seemed like my travel plans were going to be nixed for the evening.
After CAA came and changed my flat out for the spare, they told me to check out Bento’s, which is a ²⁴⁄₇ garage, to repair the valve on my tire. Since I still wanted to keep my plans and you can’t do over 80km/​ph on a donut, I made my way over there and was next in line for service. I waited about 40mins in the small waiting area. They were showing Airplane on tv, so it wasn’t all bad.
They charged me less than $ 30 for the repair and I was on my way again 2hrs after first getting the flat. Not bad. Definitely worth checking out, if you are in the west end with late night or after-​hours car trouble.
It’s not a glamourous place, but what non-​dealership garage is, really? It’s just east of the Shell station, at the base of the Dundas St. bridge.