Dwain's Automotive

From the moment I walked into Dwain"s Automotive office Michael made me feel at ease. I had a terrible experience at another shop. I explain to him my cars symptoms and he explained in detail what could be the cause. Michael was very knowledgeable, and courteous. Great, friendly staff who went above and beyond our expectations! The staff was accommodating and not pushy. I will definitely be recommending Dwain's to my family, friends and co-workers.

For starters...they charged me $80 dollars to just look at my car. The conclusion was that I had a fuel leak and plus labor, it was going to cost me over $600 dollars to fix. They assured me that at other places, this was going to cost WAY more. I was in college, so there was no way I could afford to get it fixed then. A few weeks later, my engine was overheating because all of my coolant was spilling out. I’m not very mechanically sound, so my sister’s boyfriend was helping me check things out under the hood. I drive a 2000 Cadillac DHS, so there is a hood that goes on top of the engine. He pulled that off to look at the leak and when he did, you could see exactly where the leak was coming from. Not out of any holes in the pipes. Not out of any other spots caused from damage. Directly out of the mouth of the pipe. The cap wasn’t screwed on tight enough. They were going to charge me over $600 for something that my sister’s boyfriend did for free and with little to no effort. It turns out that my coolant cap was also not screwed on correctly, which was the reason all of my coolant ran out. This definitely could have been an accident, but they definitely haven’t given me a reason to trust them. There is no way they took the hood off my engine and didn’t see the leak unless they are absolutely incompetent. They wanted to make an easy buck off of an uninformed college kid and I definitely will not be going back. In summary, Dwain’s Automotive is a bunch of scam artists and I advise anyone that is looking to get their car fixed at a reasonable price to run in the opposite direction. These guys are some poop faces.

Please read this review in it's entirety. I used to use these guys exclusively but a recent transaction has caused me to question both their expertise and their honesty. After quoting a repair and starting the work, they indicated that the cost may be considerably more because of a problem that they did not anticipate (expertise). In the end they were able to manage the issue without charging more but in disscussing with them the problem they disclosed that the problem they were having was related to realigning a particular motor component in the reassembly process, but that they were able to get it done in the end. 3 mo. later the part in question broke and the engine is trashed, the vehicle is only worth salvage value. At the time of the repair the questions of whether any other maintenance issues should be addressed since the motor was going to be disassembled, or if the repair was even justifiable given the miles, the response was no to other maintenance and yes to doing the repair because the vehicle had a good track record. After talking to another mechanic with decades of experience who evaluated the last breakdown, I was told that the part that failed most certainly should have been replace during the last repair, and that during that repair the part could have been damaged, further more, when looking at the details of the work done he was suspicious of both the parts used and the the price. His opinion of the vehicle based on his experience was that the initial repair was risky because the vehicle had a history of problems when it reached the mileage we were at. Perhaps this was just a coincidence and the part was going to give out anyway. But because these repairs are so expensive and the consumer is so ignorant about what is prudent and fair, we have to be extremely cautious about who we trust. Few people save for these types of expenses and earning an income w/o a car is next to impossible, so when you spend thousands of dollars on a repair and end up with trash a few months later the financial fall out is nothing less than devastating. I rarely do these reviews and this one is particularly difficult since I know the owner to be a good man, but unfortunately, is no longer involved in the day to day operation. If you read this and still want to use their services, at the very least get a second opinion. Update: The manager of the shop reached out to me, confused as to why I had written the review. In truth, it was my daughter's car they had worked on, but she went to them because I encouraged her to, and when she came to me concerned about spending 30% of the vehicles value on the repair, I told her to ask the advise of the shop and that I trusted their opinion. So when the vehicle broke down again, I felt partially responsible for her predicament and given the circumstances, and the fact that I had not done business with them in years, yet had recommended them on many occasions, felt a responsibility to at least share my experience. After talking with the shop manger, I do believe he genuinely cares about his costumers and recognizes the responsibility he holds by managing such a crucial element of their lives. Unlike many other businesses, he is not interested in quick profit but is instead playing the long game of developing a loyal customer base through fair business and shared accountability. I think these two characteristics speak volumes about the operation. Since our conversation, I learned that he reached out to my daughter and refunded her the past repair bill, minus their cost for parts. While I do not believe He was obligated in any way to do that, It does speak to the kind of relationship he seeks to develop with his customer's. My only complaint is that I paid the bill but she got the refund!

Great people. Great service. No rip off. Just true service.

I cannot recommend a better mechanic in the entire metro area! Outstanding service and professionalism will always greet you at Dwain's Automotive. Mike and the rest of the staff go above and beyond to help provide value based service. No job is too big for this capable staff of master mechanics. Customer for life!