AAMCO Transmissions & Total Car Care

I was 350 miles from home, visiting my son, when the transmission went out on my ’99 Lexus RX700 (150,000 mi) in Santa Barbara. AAA towed it to the local AAMCO (closed for the day) where, following communicating with the shop owner by phone, I left the car on the street and the keys in the mail slot. A delay in getting the rebuilt transmission, but I got the car back — fixed — after 10 days. Runs like new. $ 6000 cheaper than buying a new car, that’s for sure. Thanks, AAMCO! Good friendly service.

Please, do yourself a favor and don’t take your car here.
I always thought that Santa Barbara was a locals town… a place where you could trust your mechanic and not worry about getting overcharged or misdirected on car repair. Unfortunately this AAMCO proved me wrong.
Their parts are marked up 500% above fair price and their labor cost is insanely high. They also grossly overstate the amount of labor required for simple jobs. In other words, they are using slimy tactics to take money out of your wallet and they’re laughing all the way to the bank.
Regardless of how you were referred to this AAMCO, I encourage you to get a 2^nd opinion somewhere else.
My Story: A technician with 30 years of experience somehow mis-​diagnosed the issue with my car… and they recommended a $ 900 service that my car didn’t actually need. I trusted their judgement and recommendation. After it was all said and done, I had to cough up $ 900 for parts and labor that didn’t fix a darn thing. They didn’t take ownership of their technician’s bad judgement and they didn’t budge on the price. They didn’t even reduce their markup on the the parts.
Sure, I’m sad about the $ 900, but what breaks my heart is that a shop in Santa Barbara thinks it’s good business to shakedown their customers. I would have been better off never bringing the car to them.

I took my car here because it wouldn’t start. They were very helpful and had the problem diagnosed and fixed by about 3:00 the same day. Of course they recommended I have a few other things done (one of which I already knew about). They gave me a quote for the repairs but didn’t pressure me into getting them done. I will probably return to get at least one of the recommended fixes completed.

DO NOT GO THERE!
And here is why:
Had a horrible experience that nearly ruined our Christmas. They lie and use tricks to get your money. Seriously don’t believe them, no matter how nice they seem. They will tell you things are in a «really bad condition» that are still working. They will always try to find the way to make the most money out of it. I know it sounds bad, but all these franchises and chains like AAMCO or Sears rip you off.

My car broke down so I went in to Aamco for a diagnostic. Two of my four coils needed replacing (one was replaced in December). They suggested that I replace the 3 that were not replaced in December, which makes sense. I asked for the estimate and they were going to charge me $ 570 ($ 80 per coil and then labor on top). They claimed that it was going to take 5 hours to fix, one hour per coil. Is he aware that 3 coils at 1 hour each is 3 hours? Knowing that last time the coil was replaced in 10 minutes I called the guy out. He got uncomfortable scrambled calculated again and told me it would be 460 $ and 3 hours of labor. I left because they didn’t have time or the parts to do it then. I ended up buying 3 coils from the Audi dealership at $ 33 each ($ 101 total), watched a YouTube video on how to replace Audi coils, and changed them in 15 minutes with a screw driver. I’m a girl that has never worked on a car before and I don’t know anything about cars. Besides the fact that they rip people off they hit on me from the moment I walked through the door which is completely unprofessional.

I took my 1973 Jaguar E-​Type (XKE) which was shifting rough and eratically to AAMCO. Needless to say with a car this old and rare i am VERY careful about who i have work on it. Rudy the Mgr was very friendly and helpful. He assured me he was able to work on the old school cars, which was believable because he had several old cars up on the racks when I pulled in. Rudy discovered a vacuum leak in my old Borg Warner tranny and fixed it the same day at minmal cost. Thanks!

I went AAMCO two days ago because the check engine light is on. Before going there, I actually also went to another place, so I have something to compare. I’m very satisfied with AAMCO’s service. The general manger Wong is a very nice guy. Not like other place, he did not just throw me some jargon, which I would never understand the meaning. Instead, he and the technician, draw a sketch and explained to me what was going on, and what could be the issue. The price is also a bit lower than the one I went before.
In fact, later on, I also did brake check there, he showed me on the car exactly where is the problem and what its impact could be. I really like the way they treat the customer.
BTW, they also offer coffee and donuts… good for someone who does not get a chance to have breakfast.

Is it cliché to complain about how some auto mechanic ripped you off? This place pissed me off so bad that I will take it to the grave with me. Even sans the smug owner who talked about me in a hushed voice right in front of me, I feel like the level of ondescension I received from him when trying to ask about the 2200 dollars I paid him was only on par with the catch and release scam that seems all too common from reading other reviews.
I took my car here to get it checked out as it was leaking oil. Upon inspection, I was told that I needed a new transmission for 2500 dollars. When I told him that I considered the car a loss and would rather not have work done to it, he informed me that I can pick up my broken car for 500 dollars as this was the cost of the mechanic having examined it. Now, the average cost of mechanic work is 80 dollars an hour. This insinuates that the mechanic had done roughly 6 hours of work on my car. 6 hours to remove a transmikssion from a car? Maybe he and 5 of his peers examined it for 15 minutes and rounded it up. But somehow I doubt it.
Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this place.