Advanced Automotive Works

This is never a place you want to be no matter how good the shop is. But, I’ve taken my vehicles here three times now, and it has been a great experience. Steve is really friendly and lets you know exactly what’s going on. The prices are very fair, and they don’t tell you they need to fix a bunch of crap that doesn’t really need fixing. I’d recommend it to anyone.

These guys are great we have an air conditioning business and needed our truck done ASAP. Not only did they do the repair fast but the price was very reasonable these guys get the job done would highly recommend them!

Great place. Helpful and honest. In addition, they fixed a problem with my tires for no charge.

Thanksgiving Day, my car breaks down and my regular mechanic is closed until Monday. I searched online and found Advanced Automotive Works on Unilocal with a great offer but with no reviews. Friday afternoon I called to see if they were open for the holiday weekend and Scott, the owner, said they were. So after finding great reviews on other sites and their Facebook page, I decided I’d get my car towed here since it’s the closest mechanic to my house. I had not heard of them for the past 3 years I have lived in the area, which is about the same amount of time they have been in College Park (expanded from a previous location on 17 – 92 & Fairbanks). Some direct mailings to the 32 804 area could go a long way as I wish I found this place 3 years ago!
From the initial phone call to the follow up on the diagnosis to picking up my car, I only dealt with the owner. You can easily tell from talking to him that Scott is not the type of mechanic you see on Dateline or 60 Minutes special reports. Scott was friendly, knowledgeable, and respectful of his customers. He recommended some additional repairs that I knew I needed (head gasket leak, bad ball joint), but was putting off due to what I thought would be a big expense. His more than fair prices for the repairs shocked me, and even though he only recommended the ball joint because that was unsafe, he wasn’t pushy about anything and I decided to just get everything done in one visit. When he said he would have everything done in one day, I was thoroughly surprised as this laundry list of work my car needed would have been 2 – 3 days at my regular mechanic who is extremely busy all the time.
The shop was extremely clean and the entire wall separating the waiting area from the shop bays is glass from floor to ceiling so you can watch your repairs. It’s always a good sign when a shop doesn’t want to hide their work, like the chain repair shops that don’t even have a window from the waiting room.
I picked up my car, redeemed my Unilocal offer, and was on my way in 5 minutes. As much as I want to keep this place a secret so the service is always this extremely fast, I’ll be recommending Advanced Automotive Works to everyone I know in the area. It’s always a huge relief to find a repair shop you can trust, and I’m glad Advanced Automotive Works is in my neighborhood now!