Reviewed : 06/12/2024
Comment : I started having problems with my car around January of this year. This is my first car and I had only had it for around 4 months before having issues with it. I first contacted Martins Auto on January 31st. Before reaching out to them I had tried myself to fix the issue, to no avail. Martin's Auto was a short walk from my campus, Vincennes University, so it went without saying I would bring my car to them. With mixed reviews on google, I trusted that the overwhelmingly good reviews would end up working in my favor. I saw many people saying they were treated with professional minds and punctual workers. I now know I should have heeded the warning of the few low star reviews.
I was hopeful at first, the workers seemed to really care about getting my car back as soon as they could. Fixing any problem they might find. Off the bat, I was sure I would get good news in a timely manner. As of writing this review, I just got my (not fixed) car back and have to look into a new mechanic. I started to see some issues when it seemed like no one was willing to contact me, or really tell me anything, unless I called them myself. Day after day turned into week after week, they had my car for an extended amount of time and hadn't told me anything. I didn't know what was wrong with it, or what they had done to it. Finally, I had to get my mother to help me. Only after she had called them, did they actually start to take my broken car seriously.
Despite me not knowing much about cars, I know about people. I can confidently say most, if not all, of the workers in this shop often have no idea about the state of the cars they take in. I was given an estimate with little to no information as to what was actually wrong with it. Speaking to the mechanics, it was crystal clear that none of them could get their stories straight as to what was actually wrong with my car. The first estimate was $3529.56, (charging me $1,500 for the labor alone) and was sent to me on the 29th of February. They had my car there for a month and finally I got my first estimate. Unfortunately, this would not be the last.
As I continued to figure out what was actually wrong with my car, when I could expect it back, and how I would afford to pay for this, I was still struggling to get anyone in that shop to tell me anything. If they weren't not answering their phones, there was no one in the shop who could help me, so I had to call back or wait for a call back. not once has anyone from martins auto ever called to tell me anything about my car. I actually couldn't believe this when I realized it, but going through my call logs with their shop, they never called me a single time. Every single piece of information I got from my car was from me calling them for months.
they eventually decided what was actually wrong with my car, my cylinder heads. A part of the engine that is extremely expensive and tedious to repair. The mechanic on the phone made it clear to me that it wouldn't be an easy, or cheap, problem to repair. Sending my final bill for around $4100. This was a skyrocketing blow from the estimate they sent me before. I already had the money to cover the estimate they sent me back in February. Not to mention, they sent me this AFTER they already worked on my car. This was the bill I had to pay if I wanted my car fixed. It was my mother who asked to see an itemized bill. My bill went from $4100, $600 above my first estimate, to a surprising $3100! Asking for an itemized bill lowered my payment $1000. When asked why my bill dropped after we asked for an itemized bill, they had no answer for us. Big surprise there.
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