Long story, worth the read.
I honestly hate leaving bad reviews, but this was by far the WORST experience I've had with a car needing repair. I understand business's have off days and I'm not perfect either but damn.
I hit logging debris on 60, busting my radiator and damaging front bumper. An officer called for a tow, Auto Towing & Repair came around 11:30pm, hooked my car up & gave me their card. Admittedly I was naive to think they would contact me with an estimate. After a week I call them, they seemed confused but said they'd take a look and asked I call the following day, I did, to which they're like "oh yeah" call us again in the morning we'll have looked at it. Unfortunately another day went by before I was able and called them a 3rd time. Kenny asks I call back in just a bit and they'll have looked at it. (I call other mechanics at this point comparing options) call Kenny back and finally get an estimate for $1,500 with used parts including labor, I try to clarify if the estimate includes everything like body work and towing, "yup thats everything". Well cool! I make a few phone calls and discover another mechanic needs to know if my vehicle is a turbo, I call Kenny to see if they can check, he says yes but asks me to call back in a bit to which I finally say no and insist they give me a call. They do call me back later with what I needed -- this is the ONLY time I received a call from the actual business. I tell them I'll keep in touch about getting it fixed. Unfortunately with it being finals week and finding insurance info. I don't call back for another week giving them the green light to make repairs to which they inform me that I need to drop off a deposit first and give me another number. Uhg. Again not the best on my part, a few more days go by before I call this other number and leave a message. (Getting ready for a 10 day trip figuring at this rate it'll take the 10 days to fix it) then by some miracle I answer a random phone call, not the office number they gave me. Nicole informs me that the car is already done and the total will be $3,920!!!! I'm in shock and she just tells me to contact my insurance and file a claim to cover the "storage and recovery fee". confused I ask for a break down of the charges. Apparently they charge $75 a DAY the moment it arrives at their place. She brushes it off saying something like, 'well it would've only been 5 days but it took so long to hear from you, its now 21 days.' After some back and forth about my insurance not covering because I only have liability she asks if I have VA plates, no I have CO plates. "Oh yeah they won't cover it then". wtf. She then asks if I can pay $1,000 or so for storage and recovery. I finally just say I LITERALLY can't pay what you're asking and she offers to talk to someone about the price. Finally in their office Nicole says she was able to talk it down to $750 but also took off the admin fee so it would only be $450 totaling $1,707.75 with tax & repairs. She hands me an invoice for what would've been charged revealing an admin fee for $395, storage fee of $75 for 21 days (Nov 29 the night of the accident - Dec 19 the day I'm picking it up), and a towing/recovery fee of $250 quantified to 3 equaling $750! I ask about the high towing rate and she says that when an officer orders a tow its a standard $750. Right. I pay her and am directed to some driveway with scrap piles a locked garage and no car. With minutes before they close they have 2 mechanics break into the garage to get my car and have to jump start it because the battery is dead. I get OUT of there only to have my vehicle overheat on the way home completely dry of coolant. TOTAL scam.
After speaking with Kenny later he tells me that he was reluctant to do the repair since he doesn't do engine type work and intended to do a coolant flush the following day but since I "demanded" to have my car back... oh well. Kenny sounds like an honest man but I would not recommend this company or service. Seems like a poor tow/repair combination with bad business and customer communication. read more