AAMCO Transmissions
Reviews and Complaints

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.

I want everyone out there to be aware of the scam this shop tries to pull.
I dropped my car off at 8 am and at 9:30 am I received a strange phone call from the shop which consisted of "Has anyone been messing around with your car?" well no except for Jiffy lube and pep-boys for repairs here and there. Why the question with no reason to ask I thought? I also thought is there something weird you have found I should know about? Well this will make more sense toward the end of my story.
I recently had a situation where the check engine light came on and the car had trouble accelerating and shifting out of first or second gear. I was told it was the transmission by another mechanic and he suggested taking the vehicle to AAMCO or to the dealer. I chose AAMCO because they specialize in transmissions. I was informed by AAMCO that they had checked the car diagnostically and the codes were for the transmission however they were not ELECTRICAL codes but rather MECHANICAL codes and the trans would need to be taken out of the car, taken apart and possibly overhauled costing no less than $1500. When I said no thank you I will be in to pick up my car I received a phone call from the store serviceman about a half hour later offering me a "feasible alternative" which he was "confident would have the car problems solved". The story suddenly changed as far as what was causing the trouble with my car. It was no longer a mechanical problem located on the inside of the transmission but rather a problem with the solenoid sensors on the outside of the transmission. But the catch here was the solenoid sensors are located (according to him) in a panel on the outside of the trans which requires the trans to be removed from the car in order to access these solenoid sensors. Seriously? Suddenly went from mechanical to electrical but this would only cost me at least $800. I politely declined and proceeded to drive 15-20 mph all the way to Lincolnwood Illinois where the car dealership is located.
It turns out the car dealership said I do not need a new transmission nor new solenoid sensors nd the transmission. The car has some wore out wires which run along the underside of the vehicle that had been pinched are spliced and corroded and need replacing. Fixing it at the dealership did not even cost 1/3 of what the AAMCO shop wanted to charge me. The dealership price also included a new O2 sensor and installation along with the price of the diagnostic workup.
I wonder if the AAMCO noticed these wires and that was the reason for the question regarding has anyone been messing around with your car? Even if they did not notice this I believe they are incompetent and do not know how to properly diagnose a vehicles transmission problems or just plain crooks out to take as much money from consumers as they can by pretending to conduct unnecessary repairs on vehicles. It is a shame thet someone would try to take advantage of another person like this. This shop lives up to the stereo-type given to auto mechanics regarding ripping people off. I want to share my experience so hopefully this does not happen to anybody else.

My husband's transmission went out on his 2004 Subaru WRX. We had it towed to AAMCO where they told him that it was a clutch problem, which my husband knew was wrong. They told us they would take it apart and look at it, then call him the next morning. My husband ended up calling them the next afternoon because they never called like they said they would. After days of them telling us they would call and us having to call them when they never called back, they tell us his front differential went out but they couldn't get the part. In the mean time, my husband found a Subaru shop to work on his car, so he had AAMCO box up all the parts and we once again paid $100 to tow the car to the new shop. As soon as we got the car there, the owner looked over the transmission and said it was not the front differential that was out, but the center differential, which is an easy fix and you don't even have to take the transmission out of the car! Also, they spilled transmission fluid all over the front fender and left big, greasy hand prints on his matte black hood (impossible to clean!) Since they completely destroyed the transmission, we still ended up having to replace the entire transmission. We called AAMCO about a possible refund for what they charged us to take apart his transmission and all they could offer was a credit toward a future repair. Like we would ever bring our car back there for them to destroy!

After two vehicle inspections, new brakes, a tune up on my truck, and an oil change, I was informed that there was an issue with my transmission. My truck was sounding like it was getting stuck in gear. I was told one day before taking my truck in to AAMCO that I had a non serviceable transmission. I called Aamco and told the guy the problem and he said that it sounded like the differential and not to drive. He sent a tow truck out at no charge. I backed my truck out of the driveway for the tow man to drive it on the truck. Once the car got there, it was confirmed that it was the differential and the cost would be $3056.29. It took me almost 6 wks to pay the total cost. I picked my car up and found that it was riding exactly the same, with the exception of the ABS sensor light now on in my truck. I called back and was then informed that there were 2 problems with my car and the one I had complained about hadn't been fixed. They stated that the rear end was locked and they had to fix that first and if I wanted to fix the problem that I had complained about, I could bring it back in. I asked for a detailed list of everything that was done on my car and the name of the tow company so that the tow truck driver could verify how my truck got on the tow truck, proving that my car was drivable. I am still waiting for that response.

Well i took my truck there to get a new Transmission. Well after $2100.00 dollars later my transmission is still leaking. The Manager there had my truck there 11 times and they still can't figure out why my truck is still leaking. The mechanics there have no idea what they are doing. And they are very RUDE and Nasty to there Customers. BEWARe I ask them for my money Back and they said NO. Talk about RIP OFF. Well my truck still leaks. Vero Beach BEWARE.

Transmission failed while still on warranty. Took the car to Rubens AAMCO in Moca, PR. They have had the car for 37 days! During this time, after a full month, the car was returned to me with the transmission "fixed". I drove the car to the store, and the transmission failed again the same day. I had to have the car towed back to them. The manager of the repair station, which is an AAMCO branch center, rarely returns my phone calls when I inquire as to what is happening with the car. He constantly comes up with lame excuses as to why it is taking so long. This is a ridiculously long time to repair a car. Oh, and the center keeps changing phone numbers. The number shown above is the latest one.

Took 3 days to tell me they did not have a part and charged me $200 in labor that included
re-installing the transmission, but when I got there it was still on a table. When I first arrived there I heard a Tech named Michael telling a lady on the phone how good women were in taking care of their cars and how bad men were in the same regard. I should have left right then. When I told Michael that I needed my truck no later than Saturday( three days earlier )he initially said that was not possible, but when I said I told him I would call him back after I spoke with some other repair shops, he called back within one minute and said " I called someone and we can have it ready Saturday." He then called Friday afternoon with the "no part story." The dealership I called quoted me $300 cheaper than Aamco's quote for the exact same repair. I sent a tow truck there to pick up my truck after paying the unjustified fees. I believe these people are dishonest and unethical.

In February 2009 I took my car to Aamco to replace my transmission. The gears were slipping that caused the car to jerk. They put in a used transmission and assured me that my car will be in complete working order when they are done with it without any problems. About a week later I received my car back and it seemed to be working good until the next day I felt the jerking in my car again. I called them and they said to bring it back and later said that it needed another used transmission. So I was stuck without a car for another week and had to rent one. When I got my car back for the second time, the SAME problem happened. But this time I took it to my original dealership to get their advice on what was going on with my tranny. This is Audi by the way. Audi said that the tail shaft of the tranny that Aamco had put in was leaking! So I took it back yet a THIRD time and they said they just had to adjust some things in the tranny to stop the jerking and leaking.
Now for the third time, I had to rent a car for a few days again. When I got back my car, the leaking was fixed but a few days later...the jerking starts again AND my starter was making a buzzing noise when I started the car. I was so furious when I had to go back a FOURTH time. This time, they blamed the jerking on the computer in my car and its not their fault. They also said that my starter is going bad because my car is an old car. Mind you, it is only a 2000. I was fed up when they told me all this and told them that I am reporting them to Aamco headquarters which I'm currently in the process of. I am also getting a lawyer to get all my money back hopefully. I paid then $4, 200 for this crappy job! NEVER GO TO AAMCO, PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE!

This man here will lie to and tell you that you have a transmission problem and charge you top dollrs like if you was getting serviced at the dealer. Half the time he does not replace anything on your invoice. He will give you such a low price for any service. But thats just to get you in the door. Once you authorize him to do any thing he has you hanging by a string. Again beware especially if your car does not move. He awlayz staes its a tranmission problem without doing a complete extrenal diagnostic. How do I know this. Lets just say a lil birdly that used to work there told me... Beware beware beware he is a snake... And especially if u have a newer car. For price he chrges you, you might as well go to the dealer and you'll get a better waranty.. Trust me... Beware... Beware... Beware... And becareful he will fool you « hide