C & C Automotive

Good people — Honest, competent, dependable, affordable and quick. A neighborhood shop run by nice people. What more could you ask for?

I didn’t grow up in a neighborhood — I grew up in suburbia. Not the same thing. Suburbia’s bedroom communities, broken by occasional strip malls and major roads, filled with commuters, characterized by neighbors who know each other only if their kids go to school together, are not walkable in the general sense. There’s no where to walk *to* in suburbia, so most don’t. The few who actually walk suburbia’s sidewalks (or more commonly streets — why does anyone think this is safe?) do it for exercise — not with the intension of getting somewhere. As a kid, the concept of walking to a corner store was completely foreign to me. Cars, I learned, were the sole transportation option. Bike riding was done for entertainment purposes only and would likely get you killed on the road. Feet were for toenail polish.
Now I live in a place that’s much more neighborhood than not: a solid 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. And one of my happiest finds my new walkable neighborhood? An automotive repair shop. Ah, the irony.
C & C Automotive is a neighborhood auto shop in all senses of the word. It’s run and staffed by a few unflappable, salt-​of-​the-​earth guys who will tell it to you straight and without bravado and who assume the customer is interested in the money-​saving approach. No original Honda (or any other marque’s) parts here, but an internet search asserts the less expensive parts they’ve recommended have good, solid reputations. They’ve also told me they’d have no trouble using any brand I specified — the downside would be waiting for the part to come in, and perhaps more waiting if another part unexpectedly needed to be replaced.
They have an easy way with my car — putting hand to engine part nearly instinctively and with obvious familiarity. They were more than wiling to chat about repair options, using my own engine as a visual aid. I appreciated the approach — and felt much more like a participant than I ever did at the dealer.
C & C also gets major points for 1) recognizing and pointing out my timing belt needed to be replaced. I had over 100k miles on the car, so it was definitely time, and the probably catastrophic damage from a failed belt (I have a standard transmission) would have been *exceedingly* unwelcome. 2) Not replacing my water pump. It’s their policy to examine it and, if it’s deemed to be healthy, leave it in place. I know some mechanics will replace it as a precautionary measure because it’s easily accessible during a timing belt replacement, but I agree with C & C that it’s a waste of money. 3) Not finding anything else on the car to fix. I keep it in pretty good shape (but didn’t mention that to them) — and having them evaluate the car’s general condition as ‘good’ absolutely bumped them up a notch in my estimation.
I’d definitely recommend C & C to anyone — provided s/​he understands what to expect. C & C is not a dealer. Everything is covered with at least a thin film of automotive grease, the floors do not sparkle, there will be no special precautions to keep any part of your car pristinely clean. Those who obsess over their paint and surgically-​clean interiors need to go elsewhere. Those who will succumb to the vapors without the gentle ministrations of and buffer provided by a customer care representative should go elsewhere. Those who need a nicely appointed waiting room should explore other options — C & C has one room attached to the garage bays that serves as office, customer service desk, waiting room, repository of the occasional blown engine (I was given a tour of said engine — very cool), and no TV, toys, or wireless. This did not bother me a bit, because this is my neighborhood — after dropping off my car, I was able to walk to work. Doesn’t get much sweeter than that.