AAMCO Transmissions & Total Car Care

Do not go here! We paid thousands of dollars and they kept saying that it’s the motor mound and it’s not they supposedly fixed the transmission but never did. John is very rude and so is the owner they have no customer service skills very disgraceful place DO NOT GO HERE!
We took the car 3 days later were charged 3,800 to rebuild transmission then we said it wasn’t running right. They said transmission was trying to connect with computer and after 2,000 miles it would connect with computer to run right. really? After many more miles put in we called them dropped it off on Monday. 4 days later no call from them then we called and they said its the engine and that they would charge another 196 to check the engine. Then John said that we could take to other mechanic and if we didn’t trust them to go somewhere else. Then he said he couldn’t do anything and this call was going no where. Horrible customer service!

Too bad their work is not consistent. My dad’s transmission was rebuilt by them and my dad has had an issue ever since. They tell him because it doesn’t tell them in the computer nothing is wrong
The man has been driving cars for 35 years and the transmission is still an issue. You dont have to have a certified mechanic to know when a job is not done correctly. What is the point of a warranty if they refuse to look at the job they did incorrectly? Thousands of dollars down the drain and the transmission struggles to shift. Don’t go here. The only reason why I am writing this review is because my dad doesn’t have Unilocal and nobody will help him. He wants everyone to be aware of the issues you may encounter by going here.

DO NOT use this AAMCO on CAVE CREEK RD! After posting this comment I have been called several times by the owner threatening me with legal action for using his name in posting my opinion of his horrible shop! Yet another reason this shop is VERY BAD. Here is Unilocal’s own review guidelines: (don’t post other people’s full names unless you’re referring to service providers who are commonly identified by or commonly share their own full names.) HHHMMMM Wonder why S.L. doesn’t commonly share that he is the owner of this shop or want his name used??? This location charged me $ 3,400.00. To RE-​build my transmission. Used scare tactic «oh you CAN NOT drive out of here it is un-​safe». This is a common practice of AAMCO to separate you from your car as quickly as possible. After leaving my car for 5 days with this location they did several other repairs on my car. I went to pick it up and was dealing with the owner Scott. He was shocked to learn I was paying with my debit card. He wanted me to pay with cash !! I said no I don’t have cash. After 3 weeks I brought my car back due to a bad vibration. I dropped it off on a Monday at noon. By Tuesday at noon no call from them so I had to call and ask what was going on. I was informed by John my car had not been looked at yet it was in line with all the rest of the cars to be looked at! I asked for the owners number. I call Scott Lefkowitz the owner at his other location on Vanburen. He promised to call me back and never did. I got a call from John saying my engine mounts were broken. And that has nothing to do with the repairs we already did. I told them not to do anything to my car. I took my car to 2 separate mechanics both told me I had NO broken motor mounts. That it was my torque converter. Which was suppose to have been rebuilt and replaced when I had the initial work done. The shop on Cave Creek is a scam shop. Very rude poor service and they will lie to you just to get more $$ out of you. Do not use this location !!!

Awful experience today. Took my car to get a repair and left with more damage than I had when I got there. Owner is very unprofessional and doesn’t care about his customers. Office manager was at least willing to listen, but didn’t help much.

They had my car for a week and never did anything.
I dropped my car off on Monday, asking for a quote and repair to be done while I was out of town for a few days on a work trip. I never got a call with a quote until I pestered them a couple times. I don’t know what the delay was. They originally said they’d call Mon afternoon or Tues a.m. The quote was finally provided on Friday, over $ 1000 for suspension work.
Then on Monday I get another call saying they’d ordered the wrong parts, and the actual total would be over $ 1400. I told them no, they’d already given a quote and the mistake was on them. They of course refused to do the work. Then they called back and offered an approx. $ 200 discount over that, for only $ 250 more than originally quoted. I asked for a specific breakdown of parts and labor charges, which they refused to provide.
So, I picked up my car — they’d had it for 7 days, no work done, no apology offered by their staff, and no written quote materials were available when I asked for them. Finally, during the week they had the car they offered twice to send photos of the things that needed repair, but they never sent them. So this appears to be a shop that is either incompetent or dishonest, perhaps both.

I think the staff and management mean well at this shop and genuinely want to help. From a staff and technical perspective, I am not sure I could ever recommend them again. I spent over $ 4,000.00 on total car care on an older Pontiac Firebird. The repairs ran from basic carb rebuild to engine replacement. In every situation, the time car was there really was excessive and often multiple people were working on the same issue. This allows for things being missed and improperly installed/​adjusted. While they attempted to make it right, in the end I picked up car, paid my bill and have spent the past two weeks adjusting and repairing the little things myself or having another shop do it. Case in point was a simple bolt/​screw that held a kick down cable in place. After putting car on rack and wondering why fluid was pouring from trans, it was simple: screw was a metric one on a GM TH350 and was not even in all the way. I am sure for basic work such as a trans swap or oil change they would be ok, but if you are looking for some high end car care with guaranteed reults, you would be better suited to look elsewhere.

Great place! I had my transmission fixed there, and several other repairs. Very friendly and helpful staff. I recommend this place to everybody!

Great for transmission repairs. Had my transmission fluid drained and new filter put in. Then I asked what they would charge for brakes and a motor mount, that’s when everything went down hill. He told me it’s a waste of time to turn rotors he would need to replace my brakes front and back. Then he quoted me 250.00 for just a new motor mount. Including replacing the brakes it was over $ 800.00.
Well, I own a ford, and motor mounts are covered under warranty until 60,000 miles. And come to find out I also had a broken transmission mount as well. Since they are a transmission shop, shouldn’t they have told me I had a broken tranny mount.
I took it to the car dealer and was told it was covered under my power train warranty. SO, shouldn’t AAMCO know this? And the dealer fixed both mounts and charged me NOTHING. And to turn the rotors on my brakes at a brake shop was only 100.00.
They are just ripping you off if you ask them to fix anything but your transmission in my opinion.

I don’t normally gush about an auto repair place but this shop deserves some cudos!
Our car has been having trouble and after taking it to no less than three places Brian at Aamco solved the problem! We were told at another place we may need a new transmission or possibly new tires. To our great relief, Brian said our transmission was in great shape, was well made, but we needed a right wheel bearing (left was changed at another shop recently).
They were courteous, honest, and did the work in one day. Their prices are fair with no upselling! Thanks to Robin & Brian – you are the best!

Aamco on Cavecreek & Cactus highly recommeded. In and out in under 30 min and under $ 20 (with groupon now) for an oil change! Thanks Scott :-) –mention I sent you in when you go, thanks

I went into AAMCO today DEC, 20,2011 For a lube and oil change and to check out if I need anything else done. Which I do… I totally trust Scott Lefkowitz. I have taken my 2007 FJ Cruiser to AAMCO for the past 3 years they keep it in top condition.
The price is fair and there very Honest most of all… If your a single women you can trust what they tell you…

Thanks to Unilocal,when I had a major malfunction with my 2000 Tundra, I had a bit more peace of mind when it came to selecting a mechanic. When I searched for transmission specialists, I was happy to see that the shop closest to my house had three positive reviews. I spoke directly with the store manager, Cory, who immediately arranged for me a tow to his shop. They were able to work on my truck quickly, were easy to get get in touch with, and they got my truck running in a reasonable amount of time. No up-​sales, no nonsense, just solid mechanics. I’ll be happy to do business with them again!

Recommended. Service is genuinely knowledgeable, focused, & respectful ! Had transmission fluid changd on ’03 Toyota w/​130k miles on it. (time to change trans fluid after 50k miles.) Cost a bit lower than other places & their specialty! The gears switch smoother, more pick up-​after new fluid! Used a free coupon to «check eng light on” — found leaks. (another auto repair wanted $ 1400 to replace the cataly converter.). Aamco will put smoke thru to locate leaks in line (fee), and seal them. Makes sense.

This is a customer service review. My transmission is having problems and I called around to get some pricing. My car is already at a different shop from Aamco, across the street from this Cave Creek location. The shop manager, Cory, spoke with me and made me comfortable with leaving my car at the competitor’s shop because the other shop also does very good work at a very reasonable rate. Cory in no way tried to steal my business. He vouched for the other business and spoke very highly of them. Class act.

I hate getting my car repaired. This huge wave of dread washes over me. The cost, the hassle, the «persuasive» mechanics… ugh.
Our little truck’s clutch had kinda been acting a little «off» lately. Sometimes it was really hard to get it into gear, the next day it would be fine. The first time it wouldn’t go into gear when I was driving, I felt the wave. OMG! a new clutch? That is going to be alot of cash! I will wait.
So, we are on Forest Road 300, trucking to our camp spot and it wouldn’t go into gear… not good. Eventually it did and we had no problems getting home… so, we began calling around…
Actually J called around… he knows how upset I get when I hear the price… After hearing rates from $ 1,000 to $ 1500 ‚
He found someone who would do the replacement for a price I could live with! It wasn’t the lowest that we came across,(uh yeah, I don’t like to spend alot, but $ 250 for the replacement was a little scary) but it was very reasonable and the company reputable.
J talked to Steve at Aamco and he was friendly, professional and didn’t try to add on additional repairs. He kept us updated throughout the day on the status (which I really appreciate!) and by 430p she was ready to be picked up! They did a great job! Thank you Steve for making this experience a good one!

A brief summary of my experience with AAMCO is as follows: On February 10, 2009 I brought my 1989 Nissan Pickup into AAMCO Transmissions for an estimate. Firestone had inspected the vehicle and determined that the transmission had a «synchro problem» but could not give an estimate as they do not repair transmissions. The AAMCO representative Rob informed me he could perform a free estimate, but I would have to leave truck with him. I explained the diagnosis from Firestone but he would not give me ANY idea of the repair cost involved. He kept me from leaving AAMCO to return later by lying about a rental car pickup that was delayed 40 minutes. This was confirmed by the Enterprise Rental Manager.
After leaving the truck at AAMCO, Rob called me the next day and said the repair would cost $ 650 in total labor of which $ 395 was to take the transmission apart to diagnose. NO FREE ESTIMATE! My truck was torn apart and I was held hostage for $ 400 just to get my truck back with NO repair! He said the parts will cost $ 1300 so I asked if a rebuilt transmission would be a better choice. He explained that a rebuilt would cost about twice as much as parts for the current transmission. I explained I don’t have $ 2000 dollars when he offered to see if I could «qualify» for credit. I did not ask for, request, or accept any credit. Any information he obtained from me was not to apply for or accept any credit. In fact no paperwork was given to me regarding any credit. On the same day Rob informed me that a rebuilt transmission was more expensive I found a company that would have sold me a complete rebuilt transmission with a 12 month warranty for $ 550! I learned from Rob that AAMCO only will only give me a 90 day warranty and they will not install anyone else’s transmissions.
Rob replaced parts that he said looked new. When I asked for the parts back I never received them. When I was presented with the bill (now for even more money!), I gave him a coupon I received from
for $ 100 off any rebuilt transmission. He refused to honor the coupon from AAMCO at all.
In conclusion,
1.) I was lied to so I would not leave AAMCO.
2.) Prevented from getting any other estimates.
3.) Forced into a repair I cannot afford.
4.) I was lied to about a less expensive option for repairs.
5.) Given credit I did not request nor am able to pay
6.) Was required to keep (and pay for) a rental car longer than I was originally told
7.) Refused a discount provided by AAMCO
8.) Left with a filthy truck interior
9.) My turn signals were broken
10.) The transmission now makes a whining sound.
11.) The 1^st and 2^nd gears now stick.
12.) A knocking noise can be heard.
13.) My request for my 3 day right of rescission as outlined by the Federal Trade Commission was ignored.
I have extended an offer to pay this store owner the amount I would have been charged had by choice to obtain other estimates had not been taken away. Under this agreement I was willing to ignore the interior cleaning cost and repair to the turn signals. He has refused my offer.
I have presented this information to AAMCO Transmissions, Inc, the Better Business Bureau, the Office of the Attorney General Consumer Information and Complaints, the Federal Trade Commission, and am pursuing media outlets and any legal means available to inform others of these unethical business practices.