John’s Automotive Service

I began taking my little sister’s cars to Johns Automotive back before the turn of the century. The work is always first rate. In my opinion, there is no better automotive service in the Triad area.

As everyone knows, automotive service shops can be one of the shadiest businesses. I don’t know much about cars (or else i would do this stuff myself), but I have a pretty good sense of when I am getting shafted. I first moved to Durham about 3 years ago, and went through all the big name places (Toyota dealership, Firestone, AAA, etc.). It was the same story: you go in for an oil change and you get a list of $ 5k in repairs that needed to be done immediately, or else something horrible was going to happen to your car.
One time, I went in to one of these places to get my NC inspection done so I could renew my registration. They told me that I had all these things wrong, and that I needed $ 3k+ in repairs (new tires, new license plate lights, something about fuel injectors, new tie-​rods, etc.) to get it to passing levels. Given the fact that my car is only worth $ 6−8k in the Kelly Blue Book, I decided to go somewhere else to get a second opinion. I searched the web and saw John’s had good reviews so I decided to try them out (plus they were down the street from my house). Much to my surprise, I passed the inspection without any repairs. They told me that I should get new tires soon, and even recommended a place I could get them for cheap if I didn’t want to go through them.
Since then, I have gone to them for everything (even though I did get the tires at the other place), and they have been great. First of all, they are very friendly, and police (they even remembered me after the first time!). Second, when my car needed something done (other than what I went in for) they gave me an estimate and the repairs were always on the lower range of the estimate (none of that B.S. where you get an estimate, but once they finish the repair, «Oops it ended up being hundreds more than we expected»). Finally, they are very considerate about your time and work with your schedule. When setting up appointments they ask you if you are going to wait on the car, and if you do they put you in at a time when they will be able to get you in and out of there quick. They’ve even stayed after their normal closing time to get my car in last minute. These guys are awesome.
I have a final little story that shows how honorable/​trustworthy these guys are. I am moving to California later this month, and decided to take a road trip back with some buddies instead of flying. I went in to make sure my car would make it all the way back. I told them my plans, and asked them to make sure that everything was in order so I could make it. The significance of this is that I would not dare say anything like this at any other shop because this is basically giving them free-​reign to «recommend» unnecessary repairs (they know you need your car in tip top shape and are most likely willing to dish out cash to get it there). Once again, John’s Automotive did not let me down. The only thing they did was the oil change, which I was overdue for, and wished me a good trip.
Maybe it’s because they are an independent place, so they rely on a good reputation to get and keep customers (can’t just run off their nationally recognized name). Whatever the reason, this place is amazing, and I highly recommend it to anyone that needs car repairs.