Bartel’s Auto Clinic – Carol Stream

I brought my Saab in to have a tire leak repaired and a tire pressure sensor replaced. The sensor replacement cost I felt was a bit on the high side compared to other shops. I called Adam (there general manager) and he said a mistake was made on their side and quickly rectified the situation. Adam was very pleasant on the phone and in person. Service was performed in a timely manner. I will be happy to go back again for more service.

I took my car in for an oil change, they told me that I needed new brakes. Not trusting them I took
The car into the dealer and they found nothing wrong.

I would not recommend this repair shop! My car was in for new brakes. I picked it up yesterday and as I drove away I realized that my brakes were spongy and I needed to jam on the brake to slow the car. I immediately drove back to have them test drive it. They did and told me that nothing was wrong with them. They said that the brakes would work better with time and as the brakes heat up. (that just doesn’t make sense) I just wasn’t sure about that but I brought the car home for my husband to test drive. My daughter was about to drive back to college with this car!!! We brought it back the next day. Bartels admitted that those brakes were defective and put on new ones. When we went to pick up the car the manager stayed in the back but he could see us. The cashier was the only one up front. They couldn’t even acknowledge or apologize that they sent us home with defective brakes! Cowardly!!! We have 4 cars in our family. We will not be back.

Wow! I really wish I had taken the time to look at reviews before coming here, but we were desperate to get the car repaired as soon as possible, and knowing my father had the car serviced there in the past and was satisfied with the services they provided, it was a no brainer… or so we thought.
Seriously regret throwing 150 bucks out the window, for a service we were later told was so overly priced.
Sad to realize that it’s so hard to come across a good honest mechanic nowadays.
I gave them a one, because they had complimentary wifi and water bottles.

I have been coming to Bartel’s for years! I used to bring my old car here and because I had so many positive experiences I brought my Dad’s car in. He also received great service and recommended them regularly.
Within the last year they have become the WORST place to get any work done on your vehicle.
They trashed my Dad’s lug nuts. Gave me the most expensive battery they had DESPITE telling me I would be getting the specific one that I had called about 20 minutes beforehand, confirmed pricing and even mentioned again when I had arrived (goodbye $ 200+). Then they charge me an insane amount for a Check Engine test. I asked for a quote on the work and it was TWICE as expensive as a dealership. Since when is a small mechanic MORE than a dealership?
They are no longer about providing the high quality customer service many have come to expect.
Not only have they lost two repeat customers, but they have also lost any future business from any of our friends.

I took my car their before and they did horrible work, it’s my fault for taking it there again. The shop I usually take my car to was booked for weeks. I made the appointment with Bartals instead, WHAT A MISTAKE!!! I expressed my need to have my car done in a speedy manner all it need was a oil leak checked and fixed. They PROMISED ME they would do it as quickly as possible. I dropped it off in the morning call at 5pm and THEY DIDN’T EVEN TAKE A LOOK AT IT YET!!! They told me they would call me back, never did and once again I was left with my car not fixed when I really needed it. They are HORRIBLE AND DISHONEST! The first time I took my car there they promised not to do anything until they asked, after checking it out and THEY DID FIX IT, they handed me a bill for 3x wha they quoted me for the job without even getting my approval. Avoid them at all cost! They are just plan BAD BUSINESS.

I agree 100% with these bad Reviews, my wife and I went there to get our car checked out. They told us we had a bad wheel bearing and it needed to be fixed asap, and the cost would be $ 437, well we went down the street to meneke, and they found nothing wrong with the bearing. Even when we were leaving Bartels the guy there reminded us it needs to be fixed and urged us to get it done there.
BUYER BEWARE INDEED!

This place is a joke and are way over priced. $ 100 part and $ 230 for labor? Oh and not to mention the hidden charges of «cleaning breaks» shouldn’t that be included or an option? Please. You are not an Audi or BMW so dont try to. I took it to another place and they were way nicer, didnt hide or add charges, and was over $ 200 cheaper for the same exact work.

They will use pressure tactics to upsell services. They will also overcharge services. Don’t bother using their free oil change.

I used their services for several years and then started to experience a strong emphasis on upselling services. In fact, I even overheard the lead sales managers brag to the owner (Pat) about how had increased his sales over the past few months.
I stopped using them after they told me that my car needed major surgery and they classified it as an emergency (aka high potential for catastrophic failure) type of repair. I sought a second option (at Honda of Lisle) and they found no such problems. That was several years ago and I have not yet had the problem that Bartel’s said was «imminent».
I called Bartel’s after the second opinion and asked for the owner, whom I personally know. He was not there, so I left a message. He never returned the call.
Buyer beware…

No one likes spending a lot of money on repairing their car. especially when it is a lot of money. I knew I was going to be in for a lot of $, as I got several estimates for the problem I was having.
I did sit on writing this review for a few days, so I wasn’t necessarily writing in frustration, though sometimes those can be the most honest. I am torn between 2 & 3 stars. Probably could be 3 stars from me.
I ultimately chose Bartel’s for my repair work because their estimate was the lowest by several hundred $s for the same diagnosis as every other place. I suppose I should have been wary, but for what I was spending, if the lower estimate was all it took, I’m all for it. Maybe my other estimates were targeting more than necessary. I wanted to give them 5 stars for their lowest estimate; glad I held off, as their estimate was significantly off.
Apparently, Bartel’s estimate didn’t include actually repairing the problem the first time. I had to have TWO MORE repairs to actually fix the problem I originally came in to have fixed. All of the repairs that were done were all needed, so I dont think any were unnecessary. I stuck it out here as I was already in for an alignment, which i didn’t have to repeatedly pay for. Going elsewhere to finish the job probably would have cost me even more for another alignment.
When all was said and done, I did end up spending as much here as estimates from other places, but probably only because I complained on the third repair, and so they did comp me the labor charge. If all the necessary repairs would have been done in the first attempt, it may ultimately have been cheaper, with rolled together labor and such.
So, since I did end up spending as much as any other estimate, I can’t ultimately complain about the cost, as painful as car repairs are. And I would like to complain about my time wasted, but when you are trying to keep costs down by trying to target only the problems, then it may take a couple of attempts. so, while that sucked, i suppose it is part of the risk of trying to target the very specific problem, instead of just doing a large, possibly unnecessary, overhaul all at once.
They do have nice free wi-​fi, and some nice work spaces that I utilized. They also provide a shuttle to drop you off elsewhere.
And I will say, for each of the 3 repairs I had, they were all done in a very quick manner.
Even ultimately with a 2 star review from myself, I may actually give them another chance, at least for an estimate, or at least for some minor work. They do appear to have one of the cheapest oil changes around.

Avoid this place, unless you have money to throw away! Went in to find out what was wrong with my car and came out with a estimate for $ 3400. This was for antifreeze leak, upper and lower ball joints and other items. Following day took my Jeep to our mechanic, who informed us that none of the items listed from Bartel’s was the problem. We ended up spending $ 700. They are a bunch of scammers at Bartel’s! Avoid it!!!

All I wanted was an oil change. Didn’t have a lot of time, expected the typical 20 minute in and out oil change you can get anywhere else. What I got was an hour + waiting room experience and a quote for suggested repairs. The technician was kind and could tell I was in a hurry. But the money man showing me the quote was rude, and told me that all oil changes include this safety check. If you want a quick oil change go anywhere else. Seriously, anywhere. They’ll do it faster. If you want a full safety check and ways to spend money, Bartel’s in your place. And the rear-​view mirror hanger /​key chain plastic coupon pushed it over the top.

I love them. They took a completely crap-​tastic situation and turned it around. I was having a stressful week – looking for a place to live with new roommates, just started a new job, when I got a flat tire 30 miles from home. Fixed it that night, and called Bartel’s first thing the next morning to see if they could squeeze me in (since it was on my way to work). The girl that answered the phone said sure, she could get me an appointment in 15 minutes – perfect! I took it in to get the tire looked at, they said it should be 20 mintues and then I would be on with my day. Well, not so much. Apparently they guy who was working on my car was new, and forgot to move one of the arms on some apparatus out of the way when they lowered my car. The driver’s side door was open, and so it got bent so much that it would no longer close. The owner and the general manager both came out to tell me the good news was that the tire was fixed and they wouldn’t be charging me. The bad news was that I couldn’t drive my car. BUT, they had already called Enterprise and were going to pay for my rental until my car came back from the body shop. Amazing customer service. I will definitely be going back there. Not only was the door fixed (as well as the tire), I never paid a penny AND when I got my car back they had washed the outside and even detailed the interior. Nicely done!

I was driving out of my work parking lot and hit a well-​placed pothole at the end of the lot. Next thing I know, it sounds like the bottom of my car dropped out and is now grinding itself to pieces on the asphalt. Yeah, I know nothing about cars, but I did figure out that the piece of car dragging along the ground was my muffler. Fantastic. My kind co-​worker reattached the muffler with a coathanger (on a 90* day, on the hot asphalt, bless his little soul, and yes, I gave him a gift card for that), and sent me on my way.
I stopped by Bartel’s because it was on the way home from work. I told them the problem and asked if they could do it and give me an oil change at the same time. They said sure. They took my car in right away, on the spot, and told me it would take about an hour or so.
They told me the screw had snapped in half in the hanger of the muffler and it needed to be drilled out, for which they charged me $ 30. They didn’t charge me anything else than that and the oil change, which was $ 20-​something bucks. My kindly coworker had told me the screw had snapped in half, so I know they weren’t just going for a few extra bucks. Honesty is a plus.
While I waited, I read their nice selection of magazines, talked to another client (whose wife I work with — small world), and drank several cups of coffee, which was pretty good. The waiting area was clean and comfortable, and their bathroom was clean as well, which is good to know when one ingests several free cups of coffee.
I came out of there within an hour and a half or so, with an oil change and a rehung-​muffler.
The only reason I’m giving a star down is because, as other reviewers mentioned, they handed me a list of things I needed to get fixed as soon as possible. The list included roughly $ 1,000 worth of repairs. I’ve been to other shops in a few months worth of time, and no one gave me such a large list or such a nice big quote.
I’m not sure whether or not my car really needs all these things, so I’m sure I’ll take it somewhere and get a second opinion, so I can’t say perhaps these things weren’t truly necessary and they were really doing me a favor.
I also have to give them credit for giving me this list AFTER having me pay my bill. They could have come out and tried to pressure me into getting all this done while they were fixing my car. But they didn’t. So that’s good.
All in all, no major issues. I’d go back. :0)

The folks at Bartel’s do fine work. I would not say that there is a performance issue. I would not fear that they would ruin my car, BUT they might take my wallet. They put together a laundry list of things that needed to be fixed on my husband’s car. While they needed to be done, the way they priced it out they looked after themselves, and did not look for the least expensive way to do the work. We took the list to 2 other mechanics and both were 30% less. Mostly because they would combine various jobs to maximize my labor dollar.
So, if you are in a bind, Bartel’s is probably fine. Just keep a tight leash on your wallet, because they are EXPENSIVE!!!

* Manager/​Owner Patrick B: Here ya go:
While they didn’t necessarilly do poor work, this place was a robber and my car was returned to me with «uncalled for» type mishaps — 4 DAYS LATER!
I took in my ’92 Camaro, which what I thought would be a $ 500 job maximum for a fuel pump problem, and ended up spending around $ 1600 dollars. My car, although its in great shape, is probably not even worth $ 1500 dollars. In hindsight, I should have taken it to get a few more quotes.
They charged me $ 149.95 for a diagnostics test, which I guess is necessary on most cars if you want to really find out what is going wrong. However, most other places charge significantly less for a diagnostics test (perhaps between $ 60 and $ 100 maximum), which takes only a few minutes. So right there, Im up near $ 170 after tax for just a test. First red flag.
I ended up needing a new fuel pump which cost me $ 650 (actual part value about $ 350). Now I understand you have to pay for «labor», but I think I got robbed. $ 300 in labor? Even if their labor is $ 100 bucks an hour, I am sure this part doesn’t take 3 hours to put on.
Then, I was told that in order for them to access the fuel pump, they would have to manipulate most of my exhaust system. And since most of my exhaust system was «rusted», they charged me another $ 650 for all new pipes and such from the catylytic converter back. Again, I can’t see a few long pipes and a muffler and labor equaling $ 650 dollars. I have seen my exhaust put on by Merlin’s and Midas in the past in maybe an hour’s time tops. The exhaust itself still had a few more years of life. Another ploy at making a quick buck, they simply didn’t want to put my old exhaust pipes back on.
HERE ARE THE REAL KICKERS!
— When I got the car back (4 DAYS LATER!!!), I popped the hood and noticed they didn’t even put the air filter cover back on! It was just sitting there atop the engine — I drove home 5 miles like this when this cover could have fallen inside the engine and CAUSED SERIOUS DAMAGE to the running car!!! Talk about the most basic of concepts overlooked. How could this happen? It literally requires just hand-​adjusting a wingnut to the cover.
— When I checked the «check list», they told me they had checked the automatic transmission fluid and listed it to be «brown» and «needs replacing.» However, I knew that I HAD THIS REPLACED JUST A FEW MONTHS EARLIER AT ANOTHER PLACE! So I checked it myself, and the transmission fluid was red, and completely fine. Either somebody didn’t know what they were checking, or this was a ploy to try and get me to spend another $ 150 to have them replace something that didn’t need replacing.
— When I took the car in, it was a FULL tank of gas. The odometer had about 8 miles on it from being reset from my last gas fill-​up. Now, I can only assume they had to remove the gas tank and drain the gas in order to put in the new fuel pump — otherwise, where did all the gas go? When I got the car back, however, the odometer read 11 miles (they drove a few miles to test-​drive — which is okay) but the gas tank needle was barely hovering at ¼. So, it seems they simply refilled the gas tank with the ‘bare minimum of gas’ despite me bringing it there with a full tank — they should have complely refueled the tank or taken that cost of gas they refused to fill OFF MY BILL.
— Finally, they enclosed a customer care card to be filled out to rate their work and leave comments, etc. One of the check mark boxes asked if you would like them to call you, to which I checked YES. Almost a month later, I have never received a call back, and am not planning on getting one either.
The car runs fine now, but I believe I was taken. Most people are at the mercy of an auto mechanic though, but I think this place is basically a robber, and unprofessional. I am now $ 1600 poorer for a car I will probably end up selling for less than that in say 6 months time.
Unless you personally know these people or have had work done there for years and are satisified, I would look elsewhere for at least some quotes, or at mimum, the diagnostics test.
I did get to use a $ 100 off coupon, which I guess helped for something. However, when you have a total like I do, it’s not a huge deal to have $ 100 taken off. That is basically just the tax taken off…
From my standpoint, NOT RECOMMENDED. There are plenty of other car repair places to take your car to who are more fairly priced and do more precise work — and FINISH THE JOB.
* Last Note: Please also see the dozens of 1-​star reviews not only in this main section, but in the «not recommended» section towards the bottom of the page. Unless 80 people are lying, something is without a doubt «off» at this place.

They didn’t try to sell us anything! Hubby just took his car in here for an oil change and to have the battery checked. He was also worried about the brakes and asked to have them looked at. They checked it out and told him he didn’t need brakes or a battery, but he needed tires. There was no spiel for buying THEIR tires. They also fixed a rattle by putting a clamp on the muffler. All this for $ 33.93!
He dropped the car off and it took 2 hours for this, so who knows how long it would take if he waited. Usually they are a little more speedy if you’re sitting around. The inside of the facility is clean and it’s pretty brand new.
It’s always hard to find a good mechanic, so check this place out if you need one!