Tom’s West Side Automotive

This place is not a trustworthy business. Beside the fact the on here they are still masking themselves as «Tom’s West Side Automotive,» they are complete crooks and can look forward to legal action in the future. Tom was obviously a nice man who has now passed away. His business has now been taken over by these bums.
After getting an oil change and scheduling a timing belt/​water pump service, I was half way to work and my camshaft seal blew out of my engine. They insisted it had nothing to do with them and replaced it with my timing belt and water pump. I drove out of their lot and got literally 200 feet before my car died.
I know quite a bit about cars so I was able to figure out what it was and get my car back to them insisting they fix my car. I knew then and am more sure now that it wasn’t timed right OR one of my position sensors was damaged. The owner insisted that there were no mistakes made on his part.
I got a call later that day from him stating that the crankshaft position sensor «failed» and that he had a new one on the way. When I got my car back it ran for a week. That’s when it gets interesting.
I finally just took it to the dealership and this is what their certified techs told me personally: that for one, the camshaft seal would only blow out of the car if the pcv system was clogged or the car had been overfilled with oil; since they checked the pcv system for me I have to assume that West Side Automotive overfilling the engine was the issue. I actually asked the owner on a whim and he told me they put 4.5 quarts in it and it’s only supposed to be 3.5 because it’s a 1.7 liter engine. The next (by now) not so shocking piece of information is as follows: the dealership told me that my car needed (of all things) a crankshaft position sensor; the very thing that WSA just told me they replaced. So I let the pros do it and they even gave me the old sensor to show me it HAD NOT just been replaced. Well there goes another 700 dollars on top of the thousand that these rip off artists took from me.
NO STARS for these guys! The only reason they got one from me is because there is no other option! They should Not be in business. If I didn’t know so much about cars in the first place I’d still be taking my car there, which makes me so mad for people like the young woman who wrote such a great review for this shop that I just read.

Some of the best service. I am car stupid and I completely trust them not to screw me over! Reasonably priced, very efficient and great customer service!

Tom is great. He is straight and to the point and while I was looking for a used vehicle, offered a buyer’s inspection for $ 60 for a 90 minute run down on the car — and gave me a full report of items needing attention. Would recommend him to anyone looking for help with a vehicle.