Master Mechanic Diagnostics & Repair

I love Master Mechanic! They’re professional and honest. They let you know which repairs need to be completely immediately and which can wait.

We’ve used Master Mechanics a few times after the place we’d been loyal to was sold. We’ve been super happy with the work we’ve received at Master Mechanics. Most importantly, they are honest! Highly recommend. We have an old Jetta they’ve been working on and a Sienna.

AVOID.
Got a Groupon/​Living Social supposedly for 2 oil changes and State inspections for the price of 1.
When you get there they offer the same deal at the counter (i.e. «not a deal»).
OK, but manager was super friendly, said they could do the oil change and inspection within the hour, and chatted me up like we were old friends.
Car failed inspection, was told I needed new tires, rear brakes. Gave me price on both and could come back, get these done within 14 days allowed — he wouldn’t even bother to charge the $ 1 fee for re-​inspection (quote «not worth the paperwork»). Also told I needed new battery and coolant flush. Total almost $ 900.
Went to franchise auto shop near my house. Was told there was nothing wrong with coolant and got everything else done for $ 300 LESS than price quoted for just those repairs — including tires that were SEVERAL GRADES BETTER than cheap pieces of crap Master Mechanic offered for more money.
NOW THE GOOD PART…
Call MM to schedule re-​inspection, which I have to do through them. Told manager I went to place near my house for repairs. Tried to be polite by not mentioning the far better price and honest service. Suddenly he starts asking me how much I paid — none of his business and I politely deferred by reiterating I went near my house. He says I will have to drop car off because it will take them «a couple of hours» to get to it. NOTE: It takes literally 60 seconds to see I have new tires and to pull a hubcap and see the new rear brakes.
Drop car off… he starts grilling me again about how much I paid at other shop. Now it’s obnoxious so I tell him. He grumbles something and says he’ll give me a call when my car’s ready.
The ENTIRE DAY LATER, and after calling THREE TIMES he says «we’re just getting it into the shop now, but still got a few cars in front of it». At almost 5 PM I have my wife take me back over there, unannounced. Find my car still sitting in same space in front of shop where I left it, no other cars around, including in work bay, and manager and one mechanic chatting it up at the front desk. TRANSLATION: They intentionally held me and my car hostage all day out of spite.
AND NOW THE GRAND FINALE:
They look surprised, say they were «just about to get to my car». Mechanic takes around back, comes back within 3 minutes with «passed» inspection sticker on windshield, but slapped on at almost a 45 DEGREE ANGLE, which I’m pretty sure he did on purpose, and which I now have to look at everyday for the next year. Finished off by the manager actually charging me the $ 1.
MORAL OF STORY:
If you want a fair price and honest service, go anywhere else. If you want someone to blow smoke up your butt while quoting you crappy prices and repairs you don’t need — followed by acting like a 3-​year old when he learns you didn’t get repairs from him… then this in your place.
As for me, I tossed the remaining (and worthless anyway) «coupon» in the trash.

My car was undrivable once I received this car back, from getting a drive shaft replaced, They put a faulty part in my car, that was not good.
I wouldn’t reccommend taking yout car here ever.

My car was making strange sounds on the way in to work this morning and it started smoking. *scary*
I called AAA and got a few references and chose Master Mechanic. I worked with Billy and have absolutely NO complaints. Their communication was AMAZING and he worked with me as to which recommended repairs to complete right away and which I could save for later.
It’s so important that a business DO what they SAY and WHEN, even if the news is bad. The news was as good it can get with car repairs :) but these guys did everything when they said they would and always called back when they said they would too!
I did some some research this shop seemed to give me a fair price for the work — though car repair always seems pricey to me!
Since I work so close to the shop, they dropped me off and are on their way to pick me up right now. It’s nice to not have to bother my coworkers or friends for a ride!
If I have any trouble with the repairs I will update my review, but I do not anticipate any issues. :)
~m

We followed one of mechanics from our original shop to Master Mechanic after it closed, and while she was there we got solid and honest work done at a fair price. But after she left, the business has gone steadily downhill. We’ve been charged nearly twice as much for the same service we could have gotten at Sears (who, by contrast, is amazingly honest) and the work they’ve done isn’t any better than what any other auto repair service has done.
Fortunately, we’ve found a much better service in our area, so we’ll no longer be making a trip out to Chantilly to have our car serviced.

Took my car here for A/​C repair, spent $ 240 to fill my tank with freon and dye to look for a leak I already knew was there. Showed the bill to another auto body shop and they laughed at how much I was overcharged. They may do great work, I can’t say for sure, but if they do, my guess is that you’ll definitely pay an arm and a leg for it.

When I was shopping for a car for my fiancée I came across this:
Shopping for a car for my fiancée was complete hell because she wanted to pay no money for high quality. Then I found Fairfax Lions cars and got really excited because she loves non-​profits, charities, etc. I did some research on Lions and found out that the President, Don Ballard owns Master Mechanic. I thought to myself, «This is great! The president of a charitable organization is the owner of a car shop!»
I read all the stuff on their web page and it all sounded great and honest as well. I was excited to know that once we bought a cheap car for my fiancée, we could have it fixed up safely at a reputable place without being ripped off.
We ended up getting a pretty sweet 2000 Subaru Outback with almost 180,000 miles on it. The seller said he’d just recently replaced the timing belt and water pump among other things. I didn’t like how the brakes felt so I had him bleed the system before I bought it. That didn’t help much, so he recommended I replace the rear rotors.
Next, I had my little brother’s friend who works in the Service Bays at a Subaru dealership check out the car. He didn’t have time to do the work for us, but he said all we needed was to replace the AC Belt and the Alternator Belt, and adjust the front left brake shield and our car would be set! AWESOME!
So, with that knowledge, I brought it by Master Mechanic with the parts my friend recommended as well as coolant and coolant conditioner from Subaru because it looked low. My little brother helped me drop off the car on a day the shop was closed so I wrote a letter to Mr. Don Ballard stating the reason for the drop off and the parts and some other concerns I had, as well as a request for state and emissions inspection.
I never spoke to Mr. Ballard but his front office guy did call me on Monday and freaked me out with an estimate of $ 3,000.00 parts and labor!@#!@!@!@#!@#
He said I needed all the replacement parts I dropped my car off with, and that I also needed to flush my brake fluid, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, coolant, and replace my timing belt and water pump!!! He said he could see the coolant leaking and that it was leaking on the timing belt causing degradation. He implied that the seller completely lied to me and hardly did a thing to maintain the car.
I was blown away. I want my fiancée to be in a safe car but for that much money we could have just bought a better car to begin with. She was out of the country for work and inaccessible. I couldn’t just spend that money even though it would make her safe. Then I remembered my mechanic friend at Merchant’s that used to help me out with my 350z when I needed inspections passed. I gave him a ring and surely, he was still working!
He confirmed every single thing my little brother’s friend said. And I told him about all the crap the guy at Master Mechanic said, including the bit about the timing belt and water pump. He said that you couldn’t even see that stuff unless you started removing parts! So he even went back into the car to double check for me and replied that the timing belt and water pump were certainly recently replaced, with OEM parts even!
He affirmed that all my fluids looked fine and even my brakes and rotors were well enough for the next 6 – 12 months unlike what the front desk guy at Master Mechanic said!
Instead of a $ 3000.00 bill, I walked away from this with a great feeling car that passed both state and emissions inspection for just $ 160.00! (I tried to hand him $ 300.00 but he wouldn’t have it. He wouldn’t take a dollar over $ 160.00. Now THAT is honesty!)
I really wanted to believe in Master Mechanic after all the promise it had. The walls of their waiting room are lined with awards and thank you notes. Just none from me.
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One more crazy thing I just remembered: The Master Mechanic guy said I even needed a brake light replaced. When I picked up my car, I checked all the lights and turn signals by observing the car from outside while my brother operated the controls. THE LIGHTS WERE ALL FINE!