AAMCO Transmissions
reviews and complaints

We had our transmission rebuilt in our 1996 dodge ram 1500 p/u at the Clark rd store in Sarasota Fla in April 2010. We paid $1500.00 . We chose AAmco because we were told of the nationwide warranty. Well here we are 300 miles from home and 4000.00 miles into our warranty on a Saturday no less and the front seal blows. We were able to contact a store in Gainsville Fla Spoke with a Mr. Bobby Taylor there who assured us if we paid $200.00 to have our vehicle towed to his AAMCO he would get right on it Monday morning. Well I had to contact him at 930 am which is not first thing in my book and he informed me he had to get back with the sarasota store to get permission to fix our vehicle.

Well that was about six hrs ago and I still have no idea whats actually wrong with my vehicle or when it will be fixed. I spoke with the gentleman in Sarasota and he informed me that he has to be sure what is wrong with the vehicle as these stores tend to rip each other off. We were'nt informed at the time ofservice that this was how the nationwide warranty workeld. If you are going to offer such a warranty such as this you certainly should inform the consumer and give them the opportunity to say no thanks I'll take my chances with a local.

Now I am out 150.00 for a rental car plus maybe more and I have no idea when i will be able to get my vehicle back or get back to my life 300 miles from here.

I would never allow them to change the air freshener hanging from the rearview let alone allowing them to try and do any real work. They gambled on a resolution, it failed, they lost, they kept my money and after 9 months still have my car.

Therefore, I lost.

News flash - fixing the damage does not always fix the problem. Most people expect that the problem be fixed. Consumers generally do not care about the damage only a satisfactory resolution.

If I had a flat tire, putting more air in might solve the issue - but only until all the air leaks out.

replacing a transmission might fix the problem, but if it doesn't consumers do not care that you replaced the transmission. We want a working car after thousands of dollars and months of time.

See you in court fellas.

My son took his 1996 dodge avenger into the aamco shop in mcdonough to have them do a diagnostic test on his car to find out why his car would not shift properly and would only go about 30 mph. They said they did diagnostics on the car and they needed to tear the transmission apart in order to find out where the problem might be. They charged up almost $2500 to tear down and repair the transmission, only to have the car do the same thing it was doing before they did the work.

We don't feel that they did a proper diagnostic on the car, and rushed us in to all these repairs. After all was done, they said it was the tcm module that was bad, which is an electrical problem. They said they wouldn't cover it. But they towed his car over to an electrical shop to have them run tests on it. They said the tcm module was bad (My son has replaced this part 5 times now).

If you need more information on this, please contact my son, eric rinearson. He has the address of the repair shop, and all the paperwork on this. I was the one to pay for the repairs, and we both feel they ripped us off. His phone number is [protected].

I feel that aamco should reimburse us for these repairs, since they really weren't needed and it did not solve the problem. At the very least, and I mean the very least, they should pay to have the tcm module replaced.

Please respond as soon as possible.

Thank you

Mary rinearson
[protected] home
[protected] cell

Took my 003 caddy in with ck engine light on. Jose checked the car said he needed to ck it further no charge to ck it. Ok so I left him the car.2 hrs later he called me to tell me I needed a transmission rebuilt it would cost beetween 2 and 3000 to fix it. This gu y didnt seem like the brightest person I have ever met I didnt trust him to fix it. So I went to get my car. Execpt for the ck eng light on there was nothing wrong with my car. When I got there jose told me my transmission is now slipping. It was not slipping befor wat did you do. He starting yelling at me cursing why are u blaming me I said the car was running fine befor you touched it who else am I going to blame? He then through me out of his shop. I had it towed rite up the block to lee myles he showed me where he drained thans. Fluid out of my car to make it slip. The ck engine light was on because of a bad speed sensor $97.00 he fixed my car amco and jose wanted 3000 for a transmission I didnt need. Paul at lee myles said this goes on almost everyday. So let my bad fortune be your good fortuine. Do not go to aamco linden and see jose

I went to AAMCO for an oil change and brake check. The manager told me my brakes were shot and needed total replacement, including pads, rotors, and hardware, to the tune of $500 bucks. I became suspicious because of the steep price and the fact that 6 mos earlier, the brakes had been just fine. So I got a second opinion at Christian Brothers Auto Repair. They found that the brakes only needed cleaning and the rotors needed resurfacing. The pads were fine. They did the job for $184.00!. When I called the manager of AAMCO and told him I did not appreciate that he had lied to me and I was taking my business elsewhere from now on, he did not even deny my allegations nor did he apologize! Talk about arrogance! I guess he thought if he could get away with it, he deserved and extra $400 bucks for doing nothing! :(

Janet

AAMCO Pasadena CA took over $2, 000 from me.I took my Mercedes to repair the transmission.Within months the car wouldn't shift and finally stalled, they wouldn't accept responsibility.I finally took them to small claims and won my case. The Dept.Automotive Repairs found problems with them and my car (they had failed to do a valve job when rebuilding the transmission).They have many law suits filed in the Pasadena Court House.They counter sued and I lost only because I was too drained from it all to explain my case to the new judge. The manager's name is Rob. Called AAMCo's Corp. office was told they don't get involved each shop is independent. My car never drove the same again.

I took my car to aamco in bothell and asked this guy bill wright if he could get the codes and reset my computer. he told me to bring it back at 3pm and he'll charge me $40. when i get there he tells me he only takes cash, to i walked over to the 7 eleven atm and withdrew $40(with a $2.50 atm charge). when i walked back he told me that my water pump was bad and my transmission was bad, he told me that he would be happy to do it cheap if i could get someone to get the tranny out and he would only charge me $300 to $2200. i told him that was a pretty big difference in #'s. he said that everyone does it like that and that would be $40. i asked him if he reset the computer codes like i asked and he told me he was telling me what the codes were. then he took me to where he had the code readers and told me how much all the tools cost, so again i just asked him for the codes. he told me he doesn't print them out, so i asked him if there was any way he could write them down for me, he said sure. we started to walk to the office and he started to tell me something else and i asked him if he canceled the codes on the computer. he started yelling at me and telling me he didn't appreciate what i was trying to do and that was why he always wants his money up front because of people like me. i told him that i didn't understand what he was talking about and that all i wanted to know was if he reset the computer, i told him i could not beleive he was talking to me the way he was. he told me he didn't want my money and to leave. i was confused on why he was acting like that yelling and screaming. i was getting into the driver's seat and trying to call my step father and he started putting things under my car, i didn't know what he was doing. he got frusted at something so he started comeing towards me, i told him to stay away from me, he opened my back driver side door and got in i kept asking him what are you doing i seen him trying to reach for the ignition and figured my keys were in it. so i reached in and got them before he could, all of a sudden i felt him punch me in the side of my head. i called the police and while i was waiting he decided to grab a rolling jack put it under my car, pushed it out of the bay and before the car rolled down the hill he dropped the jack slamming my car down. then closed the bay door. cops came and sayed it was his word against mine. i am a single mother that just can't beleive that employees in this company are allowed to act like this. i left a message on the company web page to see if i could talk to the owner. we will see. i just wanted everyone to know how i was treated and to be aware.

I took my 99 Mazda 626 in for transmission repairs on 9/25/09 at which time the shop performed a total rebuild for $2000. Not even 2 months later, the car had problems at which time I took the car back and they again spent 2 days repairing the transmission because they had failed to replace a part that they were 'unsure' needed repair the first time. Luckily, they did not charge me. Now, less than 10 months later the car again has transmission problems. In fact, my nanny was left stranded on an open highway unable to drive more than 50 miles from home. AAMCO of West Palm towed the car 50 miles to its location from Weston, FL only to tell me oh we just looked into and you are out of warranty. I had driven 13, 770 miles since the transmission was originally done on the 25th, but less than 12, 000 when the fixed it the second time. They called me to offer me 'another deal' of not charging me more than $1600 for the third repair in less than a year and they would go ahead and throw in an extended warranty for 18 months this time...Yeah right like I am gonna give them another dime. They have no idea what they are doing there and Jimmy who has only been working there for the last week, says that he wasn't the one that did the repairs so I wasn't giving him very much room to argue...Unbelievable. Buyer beware at this joke of an establishment. They are piss-poor mechanics. Never take your car to a place even that has a national brand identity. AAMCO is a franchise so each guy is out there to make money as cheaply as possible. Take your car to a real mechanic and never trust anything they tell you!

They prey on students and don't tell the full story just so they can get you in there. I had looked at reviews online and all were negative for this place. However I figured that if someone has a good experience they are less apt to write about it. Boy was I wrong. A 500 job turned into 2800 and when I asked for my car back they wanted to charge me another fee to put it back together. Update: not only was my car damaged on the outside, my cd player was mysteriously stolen as well. Horrid disgusting people I will never let them touch my car!‎

I recently had my car reapired by Aamco and a few days later it catches on fire.

My car was overheating and Aamco said they could check it for free. I brought the car into them, the week before repairs were made, and they told me it was one of two things, my PCM Computer or a faulty wire to my relay. They then said to dtermine the issue it would cost me around $100 and then $80 and hour to fix.

I brought my car to them on a Wensday the prior week. They fixed the car and told me it was a wire and the relay. I also asked them to fix my cigarette lighter adapter so that I could use it (I do not smoke). After the repairs before I left the lot, my car was making an extremly loud buzzing noise as soon as I turned it on. They told me it was a problem with my automatic seatbelts and said they would disconnect the module and fuse that goes to them. The buzzing noise stopped and so I left the lot.

I drove my car less than five miles the next two days and did not drive durring the weekend or that monday. On tuesday after dropping my daugther off at school I decided to head to my sisters and my car began overheating. I called the shop they told me to bring it in. I told them I could not drive it because it need to cool down and I let it cool off at home.

Hours later, I headed to the shop on the way, it began smoking and caught fire. I pulled over and took my 9 month old son out of the carand put him and his car seat on the side of the road away from the car and my sister and her husband got out to examine the fire. I opened the middle console where it was burning and put water on the fire to put it out. It kept smoking. An Orange city officer stopped to help and said it was an electrical fire and to have it towed.

I called the shop and they told me they have nothing to do with it but I could bring it in for them to look at. I brought the car into them and they told me it was the "body control module" which caught fire and that the car was not worth fixing because it was $400 for the part and about $2500 + to rewire.He told me not to drive the car and also said they were not at fault because they did not touch that area of my car.

There is no BCM for my car - they lied to me.

I had the car towed and it turned out to be the PCM which caught fire and the relay, the two things they did in fact mess with.

I now have no car and no transportation. They are not accepting the mistake they made and will not give me my money even though my car was still overheating after their repairs and then caught fire.

I have a nine month old son who has a heart condition and needs to go to the cardilolgist in orlando in a week. I am at a loss for what to do.

This is a very long story. It starts in St. Marys, GA where a very nice and competent man named Jack Allen at the AAMCO shop replaced our transmission. The total bill was 4, 661.20. I live on disability and was only able to pay for this through the one credit card I had with that much money available on it. This was on 5/7/09. On 10/6/09, while traveling through Texas, the transmission lost 6th gear. I had it towed 112 miles to the closest AAMCO which is in Odessa, Tx. That is where the real problems began. I was told by the owner there after diagnosing the transmission that a new one would have to be shipped to him. I was also told that my clutch, throw out bearing would need to be replaced or he would have my warranty voided. He also insisted on not giving me a receipt for this work as he would then have to charge me more money even though he stated the problems with those parts were directly related to the transmission.

I was told I had to get the parts to him and pay for them myself. Mind you he had my truck; I was in a place where I knew no one; I had no means to rent a car. A very nice employee at Advance Auto Parts was able to have the parts delivered directly to Ben's shop since I had no way of picking them up. I have the receipt with HIS address on it. On 10/9/09 he contacted me and told me to come pick up the truck. I did. I then hooked my 5th wheel trailer (that is what I live in) and proceeded to leave Odessa. 28 miles into my trip the same gear blew. I promptly turned around, called Ben and brought the truck back to him. This was a Friday and he wouldn't be able to do anything until Monday. Finally, the following Wednesday (at 4pm mind you) I was on my way with yet another transmission (or so he said). It turns out (I was just informed by the transmission manufacturer) that Ben put the wrong fluid in not just the first transmission, but the second one as well. Now, 2 days before my warranty runs out I have it looked over by AAMCO in Cathedral City, Ca. (I have to be where it's warm year round due to my disabilities) and sure enough there are more problems. I knew there was something not right with 2nd gear when at a stop and 6th gear when at highway speed. This AAMCO in southern California confirmed there is a problem. Regardless of when my warranty runs out or what the problem is I DO NOT HAVE ANOTHER $5000.00 to replace the transmission again. I feel AAMCO needs to not only honor this warranty but extend it in case, on my way to my next destination, I have another issue I will be able to count on not having to be stuck in the middle of nowhere because I have no money to fix what was broken by AAMCO to begin with. They are now saying that they may possibly drain the fluid out of this transmission and hopefully that will fix it; but if the fluid is wrong and has damaged some of the transmission, what good will putting the right fluid in now do? I just want to drive down the road confident in the workmanship AAMCO professes to be so concerned about. I AM NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT the AAMCO in Ga. or in southern Ca. Both shops have/are doing their best to help me. Of course, they need to make sure they are reimbursed for their time as well.

They had terrible service. I was dealing with a rep name dan. He told me several lies.

1. That my I needed to pay $20 for gas. When I picked up my car is was still empty.

2. I needed a battery. I had the same battery in my car when I picked it up. Paid $99 for and additional $100 for labor.

3. I was told since I was getting a batter I would get additional cost off the price of the repairs. When I was paying I mentioned the discount and he said he gave me a web discount but we never talked about it.

4. I was told if anything goes wrong bring the car back.

5. After I picked up my car it failed emission twice. They said it had nothing to do with them.

6. My check engine light came on and he Dan asked me what code and told me to take it some where else to get checked and if its transmission codes bring it back. I reminded him that he told me to bring the car back if it had problems and he said not to bring it that day they were to busy bring it in the morning.

7. I mentioned to him some red fluid was dripping and Dan got smart and said he told me if it starts dripping it was my responsibility to bring the car back. I told him that’s why I was calling and he said then bring it right now.

The server before I dropped my car off was alright. After they had my car at the location they treated me horrible and super rude. I am out of 2500 and now my car is still broken and they are saying it might be something else. I asked them to do a thorough inspection prior to fixing it to make sure what was wrong. They indicated it was the transmission. Now the car is having problem with the check engine light and the oil light are coming on. I am totally dissatisfied with the service. I could have had the transmission done for $1000 less from a foreign shop that was two doors down but I decided to go American thinking I would get better service. But this American company treated me like garbage. I’m out of money and out of a car.

Mark DeLeon from Aamco Transmissions helped us out on 4-14-10, with our car. He did an OBD2 reader which told us that is was a Cylinder 4 misfire. He said to bring it in on 4-15-10 for them to do a diagnosis on the vehicle. This would include just looking under the hood to see all that is wrong with the vehicle. We asked him to give us a call before they did any work. My sister and I did an oil change this morning with an engine flush. I have worked at an oil change shop where I know doing an engine flush is not going to harm the car. The car was perfectly drivable when we took it in. We took it in today, got a call back an hour later saying our car is not drivable. He gave us three different stories as to how the car does not work. First story was that it was the engine flush we did earlier today. Second story was that his mechanic was driving it and that it blew up on him. Third story was that his mechanic started the car in the driveway and it blew up. He told us that it was a Valve Seat that blew up. You cannot determine this unless you take the motor engine head off. He told us we needed to do this. How can he be so sure that it was a Valve Seat unless he looked under the motor engine. He then proceeded to tell us that the car was running horrible when we brought it in. The car has its moments, when we did the oil change the car ran just fine. He asked us how the car was running today and we told him perfectly fine. My sister called him back, he told her that we are not going to get anything free, that we broke the car, not them. This is untrue. We are in such shock because we know that our car was drivable before we brought it in. Just fine to drive. If we did not bring the car into the shop our car would be driving still. This is how sure we are that they broke our car. We also called another mechanic who has in the past worked on this car. This mechanic told us that it sounds shady. That if the car was drivable before we brought it in that we did not break our car.

Unfortunately, on April 4, '10 (Easter) my wife's 97 Toyota 4 Runner broke down due to a transmission problem. Being Easter Sunday, I had intended to tow our vehicle home and while doing so managed to get a person on the line from AAMCO Transmission. Note, I called several repair shops but being Easter most, if not all shops, were closed. Jay, the owner, seemed like a nice enough guy and being Easter Sunday, I was surprized to actually have gotten ahold of someone live. Jay informed me that based on rebuilding hundreds of these types of transmissions, worst case scenario would not exceed $2200. And, that before I authorize repairs there would be not cost. Simple enough, so I went ahead and had the car towed to his shop on FM 1960 E of 59.

Two days later, another guy (a shop lead mechanic) called and said that for $475 they would have to remove the transmission to determine what the problem is and that this would be added to the total charge if I decide to fix it. Remembering what I was told by the owner, it wouldn't cost anything to determine problem and total cost would not exceed $2200 as worst case. With some reluctance, I went ahead and allowed them to pull the transmission.

Following the next day, the same mechanic called and started to run down a comprehensive list of issues with the transmission and all could be fixed for $3700.00. When question why the owner said the cost would not exceed $2200, the mechanic said he should have not said that! Surely, the owner would be completely aware of parts and labor costs charged by his mechanics since they've rebuilt hundreds of them just like it!

OK, I'm a reasonable person, so informed AAMCO to hold the work. I started calling other transmission repair shops and all were quoting what the owner, Jay originally quoted - without the need to even having to look at it! I even called the local Toyota Dealer and they were $500 less in parts and labor with a new tranmission, not a rebuild?

When I called the lead mechanic back, I had informed him that I may choose to buy a new transmission from Toyota and would they install it (remember the $475 already commited?), he replied that he wasn't sure AAMCO would allow him to do this. But went on to try convincing me a rebuild would the same as buying a new tranmission from the Dealer. I was floored when hearing this! New vs. Rebuilt. How many times have they used this line?

Since, I plan to move my wife's truck and have it repaired elsewhere, I can't really comment on quality of
their work. But, I can tell you this feels a little deceptive in pricing and to my knowledge, could be a violation of Texas Deceptive Trade Practices. I just wanted to warn everyone to do a better job than I did and to not believe what a person tells you over the phone. Please do your own due diligence, but just thought that it would be a good idea to put this out there. By the way, Jay has never contacted me to explain the difference. I also notice that a lack of response to other complaints far worse than my experience are listed on the Houston BBB. They have a grade of "F" the lowest grade BBB assigns to a business.

They had terrible service. I was dealing with a rep name dan. He told me several lies.
1. That my I needed to pay $20 for gas. When I picked up my car is was still empty.
2. I needed a battery. I had the same battery in my car when I picked it up. Paid $99 for and additional $100 for labor.
3. I was told since I was getting a batter I would get additional cost off the price of the repairs. When I was paying I mentioned the discount and he said he gave me a web discount but we never talked about it.
4. I was told if anything goes wrong bring the car back.
5. After I picked up my car it failed emission twice. They said it had nothing to do with them.
6. My check engine light came on and he Dan asked me what code and told me to take it some where else to get checked and if its transmission codes bring it back. I reminded him that he told me to bring the car back if it had problems and he said not to bring it that day they were to busy bring it in the morning.
7. I mentioned to him some red fluid was dripping and Dan got smart and said he told me if it starts dripping it was my responsibility to bring the car back. I told him that’s why I was calling and he said then bring it right now.
The server before I dropped my car off was alright. After they had my car at the location they treated me horrible and super rude. I am out of 2500 and now my car is still broken and they are saying it might be something else. I asked them to do a thorough inspection prior to fixing it to make sure what was wrong. They indicated it was the transmission. Now the car is having problem with the check engine light and the oil light are coming on. I am totally dissatisfied with the service. I could have had the transmission done for $1000 less from a foreign shop that was two doors down but I decided to go American thinking I would get better service. But this American company treated me like garbage. I’m out of money and out of a car.

March 10, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter concerning the less than acceptable treatment and business practices of AAMCO Transmissions located at 1 Widefield Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80911.

In April of last year, at the recommendation of my father, I took my car to AAMCO because of a problem with my Volkswagen Jetta. After they looked at the car, they discovered the clutch had to be replaced. I agreed since there was no other option. At that time, I was told the repairs would not go beyond $800. The day I went to pick up the car, they told me there was some other parts and labor that were involved and the cost of the repair was going to be over $1100. I told them then that I was not going to pay for that and I would only pay the $800 I was quoted. The manager at the time said he would bring the price down and charged me $959.

This past weekend, I had an appointment to get my rear brake pads replaced, but upon driving my car didn’t feel safe. I also noticed that my clutch felt loose all of the sudden, however, my car was still driving normal. I was able to pull my car into my driveway and move it for the tow truck company. I got a call from Felix on Monday afternoon stating that the caliper, rotor, and brake pad had to be replaced and it was going to cost two hours of labor. The total cost of this came to roughly $400. I expected that amount. He then told me that my clutch had to be replaced. I received no reason why, but he told me that the clutch was still under warranty-that they would cover it and my car would be ready the following day (Tuesday, March 9) or the next morning (Wednesday, March 10.)

On Wednesday afternoon, I received a call from Gus, the owner. He told me that my clutch was 4, 000 miles over the warranty. That they were going to pay for the clutch but he was going to have to charge me for 5.5 hours of labor which would be $485. I was outraged! How could the previous day I be told that the clutch was under warranty, but now I am being charged for labor? I told Gus that the only reason I brought my car there is because they fixed it before, AND I told him that the previous day I had been told the clutch was under warranty. He said “Sorry, but when we looked into it we found that you’re over your miles, so we will cover the part but you will have to pay for labor”. I didn’t appreciate the tone that he was using with me and I told him to call my father and tell him the details. At that time he said “We’ve always taken very good care of your father. I’ve done him more favors than one.” I have to admit, I probably wasn’t very pleasant with Gus, but I told him to call my father and hung up the phone.

I received a call from my father, Michael Hubbard Sr., and he told me that Gus had told him the same thing. My father stated he would no longer be doing business there, as he took a car there to have the transmission replaced and has had to take it back more than twice with repairs that cost thousands of dollars.

I then went to AAMCO personally. I asked AGAIN what the problem with my clutch was. The technician told me that the car couldn’t even make it up the ramp. This is the problem that I was having with the car back in April when they supposedly replaced the clutch with a brand new one. How could I be driving a car that had the same clutch for more than 8 years and now this one doesn’t even last one? Also, the previous day Felix told me I could drive my car for a couple days and bring it back for the repair, but now the car is not drive-able! Gus came in the office and told me he was sorry that they gave me the wrong quote but he has to “pay his guys” and he can’t do the work for free and he had given me discounts on the brake parts, labor, and wasn’t charging me the $200 it was going to cost him for the clutch. I expressed my ill feelings about being told one thing, but then another. That they should have done their due diligence BEFORE calling me and should honor the estimate they provided. I told him about the incident last April, he blew it off as if my concern about that incident didn’t matter.

Upon taking his statements into consideration, if he is being charged $200 for a clutch kit that is the same as what he put in last April and it is 5.5 hours of labor at $90 per hour, then the cost for repairing my clutch in the first place should have been roughly $600.

In both of these instances, AAMCO is in violation of The Motor Vehicle repair act, C.R.S., [protected] which states that a repair garage may not collect any charge for labor or parts in excess of the estimate plus ten percent or twenty five dollars. In these instances, they should not have charged me more than $880 for the repair in April and no more than $440 for the repairs currently.

I did, however, tell Gus that I would pay and I will honor MY word. He obviously is not going to honor his word or the word given by his employees and I do not want any of the technicians who are working on my car to suffer for that. Personally, I was completely offended by the tone he took with me, the way he managed the situation, and his constant effort to get me to somehow thank him for the favor that he did for me.

I would strongly discourage anybody from patronizing this business. In both instances to be given some hype about labor charges, and the charges being more than quoted and OUTSIDE of Colorado State law is not ethical and is a complete disservice to any consumer, and I feel for the consumers that have patronized this business and didn’t take the time to let other people know, or didn’t KNOW that their rights had been violated.

I don’t expect AAMCO to try to rectify this situation in any way. I’m sure Gus is still waiting for me to thank him for whatever favor he thinks he has done for me. I wouldn’t expect any kind of service after the way I have been treated. I hope this letter serves as an informational tool for those that are looking for quality auto service and this complaint will be filed with the proper authorities to ensure that they don’t handle their business like this in the future. Due to this complaint being filed, I will also have my car inspected at an outside vendor of my choice to ensure the work has been completed in a satisfactory manner.