AAMCO Transmissions & Total Car Care

"Hope you enjoy a long read and also a thorough understanding of the pitfalls you might expect if you bring your vehicle to this location. This is in no way a review I want to publish, nor is it anything I have ever felt was deserved in any dealings with businesses I’ve ever had in the past. I tried reaching out to the shop itself, as well as AAMCO headquarters, before I filed with the Attorney General. I was offered $1,100 dollars from this shop (through AAMCO headquarters) if I would drop this matter and sign a waiver, which I respectfully declined. It’s not about the money, it’s that they simply refuse to admit that in this instance, they got the diagnosis wrong! For all problems, there is a cause and effect. Remove the cause, and the effect goes away. That didn’t happen here. In addition to the amount I was charged by AAMCO, I ended up spending an additional $11,000 at a local RAM dealership for it to be repaired properly. It now operates flawlessly. This information I’m sharing is free for you, so accept it for what you paid for it. But at this point, I’m writing this with nothing to gain, as they refused any attempt to accept responsibility and try to make it right. With that being said, below is the complaint I filed with the Virginia Office of the Attorney general. “I took my truck to AAMCO transmission on 11/14/23 to change the fluid and filter and diagnose/repair an issue with shifting from gears 2-1. It has a hard downshift between those gears. I authorized the change of the fluid and filter as well as diagnostic work to determine the issue. Issue was ultimately determined to be the faulty valve body. Cost was estimated to be around $4,000. I authorized replacement on 11/20 to replace the valve body, TCM, and fluid and filter change. I was informed the truck was repaired and ready for pick up on 12-01-2023. Total cost for the repair was $4,341.97. Repair was warrantied for 12 months. On the way home I noticed there seemed to be no improvement. I drove the truck for approximately 100 miles the following week and determined there was indeed no improvement from the initial issue. I returned the truck on 12-07-23 and informed the shop that the issue was still present. Received a call from AAMCO on 12-11-23, stating there was a delay in getting it diagnosed, and they would reach out once a diagnosis had been made. I received a call on 12-14-23 stating that the diagnosis had been performed and it was determined that the issue seemed to be coming from the torque converter. The estimate for repair was approximately an additional $2,100. I informed the shop that the repair should be covered by them under their repair warranty, as they diagnosed the initial issue as a valve body, which constituted $3,000 of the initial repair and they said the vehicle had been fully repaired. They have declined to repair my vehicle as a warranty repair and only offered a $200 discount for follow on repairs. I declined their offer for additional charges/attempted repairs as it was already determined to be repaired and warrantied for said repair. In addition, I was never offered the opportunity to retrieve any of the non core charge parts that were removed for my inspection upon reported completion of repair”. This is my experience and I doubt they will attempt to counter anything I’ve stated, as it is absolutely what happened. If they do, it will go something like this: “Mr Bowdoin ended up having a two part problem with his vehicle”. Or, “we did extensive testing, and all signs pointed to”. Any technician can get it wrong and say, “well it was this, but it’s also that”. Please save your hard earned money, and take your vehicle elsewhere."

"Fast, professional service at a good price. I use my car for work and they were able to diagnose and fix my car by the next day. I definitely plan on using them for all my car needs in the future."

"Had a great experience with Daniel. He is knowledgeable and fair. A straight shooter in the car business is a jewel"

"i took my car there on december 12th to have it looked at, it’s now 10 days later and i’m still waiting for a diagnosis at the least. i took my car here cause they had almost 5 stars and i heard great things but my experience has been horrible. they only have one electrical technician and i get that, but this is getting ridiculous. it’s been 10 days at this point and my car is no where near getting fixed and they aren’t keeping in contact with me so im in the dark. and then today i was told they’re going on break until tuesday so that’s even longer i won’t have a car. nice people but horrible customer service."

"My son got into a accident and the nice tow guy recommended me to aamco, can’t express how pleased I was with them and the customer service was outstanding. I had the car back in four days. Most of all they didn’t try and take advantage of me financially! Recommended this business 100 percent"