AAMCO Transmissions
Reviews and Complaints

My 21 year old daughter, a Arizona college student that also works full time, found herself stranded when her Honda Civic started to jerk and she pulled over to try and figure out what the problem was. She called a mechanic to describe the behavior the car was displaying. The mechanic advised her it was most likely a transmission problem. After researching repair services in her area, Aamco advertised "financing available" for repairs. Knowing she had no immediate funds for a potentially expensive repair, she called Aamco in Tempe and spoke with Anthony. Anthony was made aware several times during the phone conversation that she would have to finance the repairs and she was assured more than twice the towing, inspection and possible repairs would fall under their "financing" option. Darcy agreed to have her vehicle towed to their location on a Saturday morning, knowing per "Anthony", the car would be inspected on Monday. Three days later after working 6.@8 hrs on the inspection, they asked her to come in and complete paperwork for "financing". Darcy promptly went into their office. This was the first time "Anthony" asked if she was the owner of the car. She replied no, and they proceeded to have her fill out paperwork to apply for financing. After being denied credit, she was advised they had not diagnosed the problem but she owes $786$ for inspection costs. That's when I got a call from my daughter in tears not sure what to do. I was out of town at the time and I happen to be the owner of this vehicle. I NEVER authorized verbally or in writing any work to be done on my car by Aamco. I immediately advised them to not do ANY repair or "inspection" on this car. I spoke with "Ben", the manager and told him to prepare my car so I can immediately pick it up. After you pay the $768.00 we will release the car. Unexceptable! The opportunity for this business to take advantage of a young girl that was not advised the owner had to approve any work on the car prior to getting approval verbally or in writing by me has left her walking in Phoenix to try and fulfill her responsibilities for work and school. Despite the dangers of having to walk at night alone. I have emailed the owner over a week ago and have not had any response from him. DO NOT take your car there . The process they follow to " fix it fast and pay slow" is a advertising catch to go about making sure they can take your money first and then run a credit check after you already owe money. It sounds like Aamco has a unethical manager and service team at this location. Next step for us us going to 3 on your side. The owner and manager have still refused to release the vehicle .

My wife & I just spent over $6000 for transmission repairs @ your Bear, DE shop. She picked up the vehicle on 9/19. While driving back to work she stopped at a store & the vehicle would not turn off. She immediately called the shop & was told some one would call her back. She never received a call. The vehicle eventually turned off by itself.
I called the shop @ 0815 on 9/20 & was told by Larry he never received a call. He said he would arrange to have the vehicle towed.
My wife then called to finalize the arrangements & was told by Larry since I turned down the option of having a tune up done there would be additional charges.
What really up sets me is that your mechanics had to have the ignition system apart because I was told the spark plugs were dirty & some type of coil was dirty but it wasn't necessary to replace. I turned down the option because I had just spent over $6000 for work that I was told would be around $3000 when I paid my deposit.
Needless to say I am less than pleased with the customer service after spending such a large amount of money. Another case of just collecting the money & not worrying about customer service.
We will take every opportunity to tell everyone we know not to use your services in person & on the internet.

One of the under managers named Marty promised me that the $ 891 repair he "said" my chevy truck required, would absolutely fix the problem of not shifting into 1st gear and into the drive gear. After my truck was returned to me and $891 was paid, the problem REMAINED. He then stated giving me fast talk and expected me to believe thaty the 891 bucks spent was for things "I needed" and there would be an additional charge to fix the only problem I wanted repaired in the first place. Marty...youre in for the suprise of your life...YOU RIPPED OFF THE WRONG WORKING STIFF !

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012: Contacted Mark at Aamco at 12:30 p.m. with our approval for rebuilt transmission.

Friday, August 10th: We picked up the car from Aamco and balance due paid in full. The check engine light came on during the drive home with the transmission slipping between 2nd and 3rd gear.

Monday, August 13th: We dropped the car off at Aamco after hours; used the drop box.

Friday, August 17th: We picked up the car from Aamco. Check engine light came on while driving home, transmission again shifting hard and slipping between 2nd and 3rd gear.

Monday, August 20th: Dropped the car back off at Aamco after hours; used the drop box.

Tuesday, August 21st: Contacted Gregory with customer service for Aamco. He stated that he would contact them and then follow-up with me. Gregory called back stating that they were still troubleshooting and following advisement from technical services.

Monday, August 27th: Contacted Gregory. He stated that they were obtaining a new core and would install the ‘rebuild’ this week.

Wednesday, August 29th: Mark of Aamco called to say the car was finished.

Monday, September 3rd: Picked up car from Aamco (Labor Day they were closed). Drove one mile and brought the car back due to the steering wheel being grossly out of alignment.

Tuesday, September 4th: Notified Aamco as to why car was returned to them. Said they would complete front end alignment.

Tuesday, September 4th: Picked car up from Aamco after hours.

Thursday, September 6th: Car noted to be leaking transmission fluid.

Sunday, September 9th: Dropped the car off at Aamco after- hours; used the drop box. Continues to leak transmission fluid.

Monday, September 10th: Contacted Mark with Aamco explaining the leaking transmission fluid.

Monday, September 10th: Contacted Gregory with customer service to voice dissatisfaction with Aamco. A message was left asking to return my call. (Call was never returned.)

Monday, September 10th: Contacted by Mark at Aamco letting me know the car was finished. He stated it was a cracked sensor. I asked Mark for a copy of the paperwork for the transmission replacement (core change-out). He stated he would contact the corporate office and have it mailed to me. We picked up the car after-hours.

Nineteen days in the shop at Aamco over the course of five separate visits.

Thirty-nine days without the car.

Dropped car off four different times. (Not counting the original tow to Aamco.)
August 13th and 20th
September 3rd and 9th

Picked the car up five different times.
August 10th and 17th
September 3rd, 4th and 10th

UPDATE

Sunday, October 14th: Daughter reports transmission slipping.

Monday, October 15th: Transmission failed. Aamco contacted.

(*Original service paperwork never rec’d from corporate office as promised*)

I was lied to 5 times on one repair. I brought my Dodge van in for a tranny repair for the 5th time. It goes out about every 20k. I told Damien the last time I dropped it off I had to wait 2 weeks to get it back. He said no way 2 days tops. First lie. So I called to see if it was ready he says no Ive been trying to get a hold of you to sign a paper.Second lie. They hadnt even started to work on it yet. He says I need you to sign a paper so I can start work and as soon as you do it will be done next day. Third lie. So I go down to sign paper and he said yep Ill have it to ya in 3 days.Forth lie. I said what you said one. Well its a hard torque converter to locate. Fifth lie. I call 3 days later. He says it will be one more day and laughs. We will see what happens tomorrow when I call. I guess Im low man on the totem pole because its a warranty claim and doesnt pay alot.

My air conditioner made this clunking sound when we turned it on. And didn't work so I brought in my 2002 chevy tahoe to their location and 1st rob the mgr called me after having our car for 3 hours for an estimate and says the tahoe was in perfect working condition after they ran it through their 5 point inspection I said no no no I had to explain what was wrong with it again? He then calls us back and says nothing is wrong I asked him if I had to physically show him myself rob says I would. I physically had to walk back into the shop and show him he then told me it would cost between 400-500 dollars for the repair, labor and parts. And this was just the free estimate we were there on and instead of a formal written estimate I received a handwritten estimate on a scrap piece of paper. We decided to make an appt and schedule a rental car due to the fact it would take an entire day for the repair we were upset but we figured it was the best way to go we have 3 kids and 1 on the way and couldn't afford to have no car at all if it broke down. So we had them fix it it not only did it take an entire extra day but he then said it would cost about 700.00 and that's if he orders used parts we said that would be fine as long as they insured us would still be under their 90 day warranty rob said it would. Well we got vehicle back and mind you this was on 1/29/12 winter time where we wouldn't use our air conditioner (Our mistake was not making sure it worked right there before we paid aamco almost 700.00 cash) we made sure the clunking noise ceased but not that the air conditioner cooled the vehicle). Well recently in western washington we had some 70-80 degree weather where we decided to turn on the air conditioner and it didn't work we called aacmo and rob and they said its 11 days beyond the 90 day window but bring it in and they would look at it.. My husband did so and rob says a screw was loose and fuse for air conditioner had blown and it would cost 87.50 for labor to fix it. My husband agreed to allow them to repair tahoe so my husband waited in the waiting area and while waiting he heard a telephone conversation between rob and another customer and rob was advising him his 600 repair would now be 1100? Rob then comes back to my husband and says the fuse blew again and not taking charge says it would now be 175.00 and on top of that my engine was making a rattley noise and he figures it is the spark plug or plug wire? My husband advised rob he's full of # and that they didn't do the job right to begin with and now trying to charge him for their incompetence 2 times. And he also advised him he heard his phone conversation and it seems to be a normal practice to over charge or misquote and charge more. My husband advised rob he believes they are scamming people rob got angry and didn't want to hear him and acted as if he didn't know what my husband was talking about. This place is a complete ripoff! ~avoid aamco and rob and their scamming ways get second estimates other then them and make sure the problem is truly fixed before paying them anything~

I had a transmission service in AAMCO, Olympia on Nov 11, 2011. After 4 months, I found its leaking. I went back to them on April 17, 2012. The store manager said it was not their responsibilities. After checking records, I found the mileage AMMCO put on my transmission service was wrong. So It looks like my car ran 110, 000 miles in 4 months. Later, the manager said my has a 'small leak' and the technician had tied the gasket for me. But in fact, they did not fix the problem. In 2 days, the transmission fluid dropped from 3 qtr to 2 qtr (small leak?) Today I had to spend $120 to ask another store to fix it for me.
AAMCO is the worst place to fix car. I have other stories about them and will publish them later. Never go to them - expensive and bad

On February 27, 2012, I brought my 1998 Honda Passport in to AAMCO for a diagnostic check. My vehicle had been jumping from 1st gear and having difficulty starting. I met with Randall who stated he was the Manager. He said he would call me in a day or so and provide me with the results of their findings.

On February 29, I spoke to Randall and he informed me that I had two issues. One was that my transmission had leaks from the transmission to the radiator that caused damage to both the torque converter and valve body. Secondly, I had vacuum lines that were cracked and in need of repair and that this resulted in my hard starting issues. At this point in time, per Randall’s verbal quotation, I was already indebted to AAMCO for $300 for their removal and diagnosis of the transmission.

I then asked Randall to provide me with a quote of how much repairs to these items would cost. A few days later, having not heard from him, I called him and he told me that he was having a difficult time finding a valve body and torque converter for the car. He did not like the prices the dealer provided him. A week later, he provided me a verbal quote on the costs to repair/rebuild my transmission and vacuum lines. To follow:

1. Remove, Rebuild and Reinstall Transmission Labor - $1100.00 (remove/reinstall – 6 hrs.
rebuild – 7 hrs).
2. Overhaul kit - $244
3. Filter - $23
4. Fluid - $32
5. Torque Converter (remanufactured) - $292
6. Valve body - $291
7. Vacuum line repair - $100

Grand total - $2000

After hearing the quote, I informed Randall that as I had only $800 to fix the car and due to unemployment situation, I would not be able to fix the car for quite some time and would see what other quotes I could get. I asked Randall if I could let the car remain with him for some time as I needed to gather money up. He stated that would be fine, and that he would not charge me storage fees. I asked him how much notice he would require if I changed my mind and wanted to take it elsewhere for repairs. He stated that it would only need the transmission pan put back on to have ready to leave the garage.

On March 20th, I received a lesser quote from a mechanic in the amount of $1200 to replace the transmission and repair the vacuum lines. On March 21st, I called AAMCO and asked to speak to Randall. A lady answered the phone and informed me that Randall was no longer with that location and that she was the manager and her name was Linda. I inquired about my car and told her that I wanted to take it to another mechanic for repairs. She told me that the car had been okayed for repairs and that it was ready for pickup. I was shocked as I had not authorized anything to be done to the car. I asked her for Randall’s phone number and she would not provide me with it. She stated she would try and reach him and hung up with me.

A half hour later, I had not heard back from her so I called her again. She then told me without apologizing, instead laughing, that she had mixed my car up with another Honda Passport that was in their shop and my car was not repaired already. She then began a long diatribe about Randall being a “con-man” and her losing a lot of business since Randall came to work there. She also wanted to know why I could not let her have the repair job as she would “repair the car for $500 or whatever I could afford”. After much rebuttal on my part, she stopped trying to sell me on her doing the work. I told her that I was coming to have the vehicle towed to my mechanic.

A half hour later, I drove down to AAMCO to meet the tow truck driver at 11:00AM. I asked the gentleman, one of the mechanics, that was at the lobby desk to please let Linda know I was here. She never came up front and when I asked him again, he said she was working on a car in a bay. I asked where my vehicle was and he informed me that it was being finished to bring up to the front. Another ½ hour passed and I asked what was taking so long. At this point, I was very frustrated and walked around the side of the building to see where my car was. Through a door entrance to a bay located up on a hill, I could see my car up on a lift and Linda and another mechanic were in the bay with my car. I could not see all of what was going on as they had the large bay door closed. When Linda saw me, she said I had to leave the area. I told her the tow truck driver was waiting over a ½ hour now to hook my car up.
Finally after another 10 minutes, the bay door opened and the mechanic was backing my car out of the bay. I heard a horrific knocking noise coming from my car as he backed it down the hill around to the front of the building. I asked the mechanic driving it and he said that noise was the drive shaft. I recalled that such a noise was not coming from my car when I had brought it in to AAMCO. What I am about to describe then answered my question as to why the car was making such a horrific noise.

As the tow truck driver was hooking my car up, two AAMCO mechanics started bringing pieces and parts of a transmission and asked me where I wanted to put them. I was aghast and could not believe what I was seeing. MY TRANSMISSION, IN PIECES AND PARTS! They placed the parts in the back of my car where they have remained to this day (I am taking pictures of all of the pieces). I did not know whether all of the parts were there or not and I would soon find out that they did not give me everything. On March 23rd, a phone call came from my mechanic telling me I was missing over twenty five bolts that held everything together as well as a mount that the transmission went on. I then made another trip back down to AAMCO that day and after waiting fourty minutes, a mechanic walked a box of assorted bolts (estimate of 20 bolts and mount to transmission) in to me and I left. Today, I received a call from my mechanic telling me that they are still missing 6 bolts and will have to charge me an additional amount for them (quote to be provided).

In addition to receiving my car back with a transmission in many pieces, before the car was pulled up on the flat bed tow, I looked inside and realized that the faceplate to my car stereo was missing. I went inside and asked Linda why it was missing. She told me that they (AAMCO) remove them as a safety precaution. She then opened a drawer with a few other stereo faceplates in it and asked me what brand mine was. I took one that was a JVC and then realized it was not mine when I compared it to the paperwork I had kept from the purchase of the stereo. On March 22nd, I brought the faceplate back to her and again asked her where my faceplate was. She then stated that my car must have been one that was broken into a week or two previously and that it must have been stolen. She told me she would give me a copy of the police report (Athens-Clarke County Police Dept. Incident Report#[protected]) but as of this date, she has not and I am getting a copy today myself. Along with the stereo faceplate, I discovered other items missing from my car to include CD’s and a remote control unit that went to the stereo. I am in the process of itemizing a list and will forward to AAMCO corporate if need be. I have to stress this one fact. Why did AAMCO not have the mind to call and notify me that MY VEHICLE HAD BEEN BROKEN INTO WHILE IN THEIR POSSESSSION? Very WRONG!

This whole incident to now include a break in to my vehicle while it was in AAMCO’s possession has been a nightmare that is still in progress as I will not know for sure what else may be “wrong” with my car until I get it back from my mechanic again and drive it. I have used two full days of round trips back and forth to AAMCO to get parts my vehicle that belong to me back. I have suffered loss of use, tow expenses, loss of time and extreme emotional duress from this whole situation.

I believe that…First, Randall had told me that only the transmission pan needed to be put back on the car, why then did I receive the car back with a transmission fully removed ? Having a bad feeling about Linda and the way things were being run there, I believe that this was done intentionally after I informed Linda that I was not having her do the job. Thus, why else would I have had to wait almost an hour with the tow truck driver for them to release my car?

Secondly, I never received any paperwork with the release of my vehicle, showing anything to include the diagnostic that was performed. Third and foremost, Linda exhibited the most unprofessional mannerisms I have ever experienced in my life. I have had my run of dealings with suspicious mechanics in the past but her behavior and the way she changes her stories from moment to moment along with her ways of trying to “get the job” leave her extremely suspect and untrustworthy to me.
I do not know of another way to settle this matter but through due diligence and civil action and will take this matter to my local authorities for resolution.

I had a transmission issue and took it to the shop on Golf Links. They would not give me any estimate. Could be something minor, they told me. They claimed they had to take out the transmission and inspect it though which was five hundred bucks, before they could tell me anything even though they are the "transmission experts". The five hundred was not to actually fix anything, just to sneak a peek. I was desperate so I agreed to it. Then they come back and tell me oh geez, it will be three thousand dollars. But don't worry - if you don't want to pay we will put it back in your car and off you go - minus the five hundred bucks. Total scam! these guys have this system down to scam desperate people. Beware!

I went in for a main seal replacement which cost $600 + and when I drove the car home it was makin loud sounds when the auto transmission shifted gears. I was leaving town for two months so I called aamco and they said I could take it to a miami aamco and I did. they told me it would cost $4-500 to fix the broken motor mounts (which weren't broken until Iwas leaving aamco in new port richey). So i called Mel in NPR aamco and he said to bring it in and he would take care of it since the motor mounts weren't broken until they initially worked on the seal. Bottom line, Mel charged me $524 and scoffed at a discouint even though he knew that they had caused the problem to begin with. So aamco has me for $1100 and the car still isn't right. These people need to be looked at by Chris Hansen of MSNBC.

my reverse went out in my 98 explorer took to aamco they said i needed a new trans 2900 dollars so i agreeed to rebuilt one for 2 thousand from day one when i took it home there was problems leaking fluid first i told them where it was leaking they didnt believe me so they replced a bunch of unnessary items until finally they replaced the pan gasket like i said fixing the leak then check engine light stated coming on code was range sensor took it back all they did was reset codes never really did anything this has happened at least 7 times it has went back for the light now they say if it comes on again it will cost another 80 dollars for part but they arent sure that is it the trans is supposed to be covered by a warranty but they just make stuff up to get your money.they dont stand behind thier work all they want is your money, im looking in to another shop that tell me they get alot of work because of ammco they hopefully can fix my problem then im calling a lawyer

Mike here at Aamco seemed such a nice man and promised to give me an honest price for repairing my transmission.Once they had opened up the transmission($399 charge refundable if you pay for repairs), he claimed that he couldn't get spares and would need to completely replace it with a new one.That is a lie, the dealer confirmed parts are available.The estimate? He wanted $2844 for a transmission that the main dealer in Boston would charge ME $2100 retail for. With his discount off the retail price that makes a profit of over $1000 on just the transmission alone, not including the profit on $95 per hour labor charge! I told him to put the transmission back in and I took it to another garage that charges $2650 parts and labor to replace it with a new dealer-bought transmission.He claimed he needed to charge extra for overheads.They have no receptionist, not even a photocopier, so that is not true. Highly disreputable and cost me the loss of my car for two weeks and the $399. The best thing I did was take it away from them. They should be closed down.

I called Aamco because they were the only transmission shop within 60 miles of my residence. I spoke with a guy over the phone who asked what my car was doing. I told him that the vehicle was driving normal, had never had any transmission issues whatsoever, the fluid was normal level and suddenly the overdrive light started blinking, about 30 seconds later the vehicle began to rev up, jump and shift into the next gear everytime it would shift. As I said I had no prior warning of this happening because my car hasn't had problems. The Aamco employee told me that it sounded like my car (98 Ford Contour) had gone into something called fail safe mode and it sounded like it was probably a sensor or something that had gone bad because transmissions usually don't just go out with no warning. He told me I could have my car towed in the following Monday. I went to this Aamco because on their website it says they will approve you for financing, no credit checks. I did this just in case I needed to have work done and it was something more serious then a sensor. At 11:15am Rick who claimed to be the manager at the store called and told me that they pulled the codes PO732 and PO734 from my car and that those codes basically meant that I had no 2nd gear. He told me that he can not further diagnose my car without taking out the entire transmission and just for removing the transmission and the diagnosis it would be 675.00. He then quoted me prices. He said if there was a minor problem inside the transmission or a sensor (why cant you get to a sensor without taking out the tranny?) then it would end up running about [protected].00. If there was a major issue and they needed to rebuild the tranny then it would run [protected].00. I told them I didnt have this kind of money and the only way I could do it is if they financed me through the program they advertise. "Rick" told me he would call me back. I got a call back again saying that this particular Aamco doesn't offer the financing with no credit check and that I would have to apply for GE credit to have the work done. Needless to say during all of this I found out that three other people I know recently were told the SAME thing about their cars (one of who just had bad fluid/filter) and luckily none of those people approved the repairs either. The day after I refused the work I got a rude call from "Rick" telling me my car is bottlenecking their shop and I need to get it out of there.

I saw on the outside of the building that it was Aamco but nobody was wearing Aamco gear and the "manager" appeared to be some guy off the street. I also noticed the permits on the walls for for a Pacific Coast Transmission not for Aamco. These people did NOT try to help me, they falsely advertised their financing options forcing me to use a AAA tow that I wouldn't have used if I knew and now I am without a car thanks to them and their outrageous ways and prices.

We bought the first liner from AAM, Co it was so mis measured that the liner had to be replaced. then the second liner came and there waswrinkles on the step under the diving board. We had asled them to smoth out the walls and bottem of the pool before the liner was installed but they didnt, then when the liner was inatalled they didn't have a continuas run, this is what seals the liner to the coping. When they came out to look at the wrinkles that I showed them they said the water pressure would push them out. And the liner wasnt sealed to the coping. This isnt our first liner its our third liner sence we had the pool installed. Mark came out and took pictures and said the wrinkeling on the step was dew to the floating clorinater, we have the same clorinater for 25 years, when our grand kids come over it gets put out on the side and doesnt get put back in for weeks. The liner is almost a year old now and the vinal get's brittle and cannot be taken out and fixed . Please help us if you can Kerry and Sharon Maiden