This is the best mechanic in Hamden, and they are worth paying extra in tow costs from other towns. Bob is the most honest mechanic I know, and I happened to stumble into him being my mechanic. I feel incredibly fortunate to have someone that does great work at a great price. I drive by the shop at all hours because I live nearby and Bob works incredibly hard and really long hours. I ended up coaching his sons basketball team as luck with have it (he's a great player) and it was an honor for me to let his son know how hard he works to provide a great life for his family. Take your vehicle here for service, buy a used car from him, or sell him a vehicle. 10 out 10 read more

Bobby is fair and thorough. He recommends what needs to be done. My car is 16 years old and I don't want to pour a lot of money. He understands this and works with me without taking shortcuts! read more

My Son is in College in CT, far from home and his car needed immediate repair due to flashing check engine light and running ruff. Bob from Cappella was great to work with me over the phone and offered to drive my son back to campus while car being fixed. Car was repaired quickly and issue explained well with no upselling. I will be back for future service and would recommend to others. read more

I've been looking into buying a new(er) car for a few months now. My father took me car shopping in early December 2016 and we stopped at about 4 or 5 places. Cappella's was one of them. I noticed he had a few cars in my price range ($2,500-$3,500) so I called him about a couple of them when I got home that day. I spoke with him for only 5 minutes on the phone, but in that time I got a really good vibe from him. I had a feeling almost immediately that when the time came to buy something, I would probably buy from him. Driving home from work 2 nights ago, my Chevy Astro van overheated several times. It had never done so before. I had to stop three times on the way home to let it cool down. I filled up the coolant reservoir and watched it pour out of some leak from underneath. As a puddle gathered and worked its way over to my shoes, I had a feeling the water pump went. Though the van was still running and likely fixable, I was ready for something new and decided to scrap the 1998 van with 135,000 miles. It had a multitude of problems and rust had practically made it as brittle as a fallen leaf. I just wanted to get rid of it. My roommate dropped me off at Cappella Auto Repair at 8:15am yesterday and despite the fact they didn't open until 9am, one of the guys was there and let me in to warm up. Within 5 minutes, Bob Cappella pulled in and immediately went to work doing whatever he could to help me out and sell me a car in my price range. He fired up one car I was looking at and we drove around to a bunch of different places he needed to go, even to his parents' house to pick up his dad, where I was invited in and offered a beverage. After test driving the car and signing some paperwork, Bob Cappella himself drove me home (15 minutes) and went to work fixing a small oil leak on the car and setting up my registration. He told me he'd pick me up around 4pm. When 5pm rolled around and I still hadn't heard from him, my roommate took me back to Cappella's. No one was there and the place was locked. I was getting nervous. Within 10 minutes or so, Bob pulled in and we completed the sale of my new(er) car. He told he he was going to come all the way to my house to pick me up around 6:30pm or 7pm after he'd finished working with other customers. They close at 6pm and he was still going to come pick me up at around 7pm, to go back to his shop to complete the sale so I'd have a car to drive to work today. I love the car. Mileage is a bit higher than I would have liked but the car looks pristine and practically brand new all around, and Bob says he knew the guy and he took excellent care of the vehicle. For $2,300, I'm only hoping for a car that'll last 2 years and he seemed very confident it would. I know VW engines can rack up the miles and still keep going, so I feel I got a great deal for a great price that Bob was willing to work with me on to fit my budget. He even called the wrecking company for me to set up the appointment to scrap my Astro van. My first impression of Bob Cappella was that if you can't trust him, you can't trust anyone. I liked him almost immediately. He went above and beyond what I would have expected from anyone in the industry and I'm very appreciative of that. Excellent experience all around! I will definitely go back for repairs and probably my next vehicle purchase. I highly recommend Cappella Auto Repair to anyone! read more

Stupid truck died on me. A reliable source told me to check out Cappella. This guy is the biggest car snob I know, so I listen when he dispatches wisdom about cars cuz the dude is studious. I called and Bob picked up and told me a story about calling a New York supplier and giving them his credit card number. The guy was talking to me like I was his best friend. I don't know about you, but these are my favorite kinds of people. To get the dead car to the shop, Bob recommended Wheelers Tow. Shout out to them too. The dude who towed me (I wanna say Jeremy, but I might be wrong..anyways, he was a cool dude too). We talked about the differences between east and west coasters (I grew up in CA, said his dad grew up in NorCal). He was telling me that Cappella was no joke and that he tells people when they're heading to a bad garage. Yet another unsolicited endorsement for this familiar stranger, Bob. He dropped me off and left me in Bob's capable hands. Bob eased my mind and told me it was a routine job. About four hours later, job was done and I'm a satisfied customer who got a square deal on the price. Bob even directed traffic for me as I backed out of his Deep Dixwell location. Bob just got a customer for life... read more

Best auto repair shop I have ever come across. This is a father and son shop run by Bob Cappella who is honest, loves cars, and offers great customer service. During a road trip, I had car trouble and was looking for someone to fix my car. Even though he was busy and it was 2:30 pm on a Friday, Bob agreed to take a look if I could get my car to his shop. Two other shops told me the earliest that they could look at the car was Monday. Bob's mechanic gave it a test drive and put the car on the lift as soon as he heard the bad sounds the car was making. I know nothing about cars and had no idea what the problem was. Turns out that tire was about to fall off. We had recently had the tires balanced and an alignment job by another shop and they did not attach the tire properly. The tire only had 1 lug nut left holding it on loosely. The wobbling scored the rotor. Bob fixed the scoring, put the tire back on, checked all the other tires and had me back on the road in 1 1/2 hours. I thought I was going to have to rent a car and go back to pick up my car on Monday like everyone else was saying. Bob advised that I should get reimbursed from the other shop (which I did). While I was waiting a steady stream of customers came and went. They were clearly regular customers who trust Bob. One guy commented that they are the best in town. I only wish I had a repair shop like this near my home. read more

Probably the best and most honest auto repair shop in the greater New Haven area. The place has an awful lot of repeat business and a great reputation-rightfully so! They outgrew their old location - making it necessary for them to get a much bigger facility. The owner - Bobby is probably one of the nicest, honest and most flexible people you'll ever meet. Lots of integrity! He tells it to you straight, tries to save you $ whenever possible - even if it means that he looses a buck or two. read more

Bob and the guys really took care if my car. 270,000 miles and counting. Honest repair shops are hard to find. Found one here!

My experience with auto repair was almost uniformly negative until I found this business. They seem to care about long term customer relationships more than making an immediate profit. It's a family owned small business, and the owner is very friendly, personable -- and honest. Two months after my car warranty expired, I was told by a local Toyota dealership that I had a $1500 problem, and I decided to seek a second opinion. After taking a look, Mr. Cappella told me it was a very minor leak and should be monitored, not fixed right now (and even if fixed would cost less than half what the dealership quoted), then tried to charge me $0. I feel very lucky to have found someone I can trust to service my car. read more

This place is great! They are really accommodating. It is a family business and while there they treated me like I was family. They seemed less concerned about making money and more concerned about ensuring I had a positive experience. The owner is very busy.. while waiting on my car, he went out of his way to help multiple people out of a bind. Definitely what I look for in a mechanic. read more

I can definitely relate to many of these posts. My experience with him was that he was a very honest and sincere person until fairly recently. About a year ago, I couldn't close my trunk so they "fixed" it, but I can no longer open it. I told him the problem, but he can never seem to fit me in to get it done so my trunk remains unusable. Last summer, I needed to have my air conditioning adjusted because it wasn't cooling the car enough. I got it back and not only was my air conditioning no cooler than it ever had been, but my radio no longer worked. I spoke to a friend who has a lot of car knowledge, and he told me not to let anyone fix my air conditioning unless they really know what they're doing because they can sabotage a lot of other things if they don't know what they are doing. So I never brought it back. I had noticed that he hadn't been giving me itemized invoices, and sometimes no invoice at all. He once did a job for me without giving me the price first, as well. I've since found a better mechanic with more knowledge and I've been much more pleased than I ever was with this guy. He tends to take advantage of you once he has gained your trust. Beware! read more

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus! What a refreshing experience, honesty, caring, concern, not only will you car or truck be repaired properly, promptly, your faith in humanity will be restored. The service is so good that it may reduce the stress of car repair. read more

Bob has been taking care of my family's 5+ cars for the past five or six years now. Always courteous and knowledgeable. Just had major front end work done which included axle,ball joints, tie rods and hub bearing. He stayed late to make sure that we got the car back that very day. I won't say what it cost but it was probably half of what I expected. You should bring your car there for any repair or maintenance read more

Bobby is the best! You will not find anyone more trust worthy or honest. He cares about each and every customer whether first time or long time. He is always out to save you money no matter who you are. He stands behind his work and will never leave you hanging if there is a problem. This is why he is so busy and has so much repeat business. read more

I'll probably have to update this review once I've actually driven my car to see how it performs, but in terms of first-time customer interactions, Cappella's gets a C+. The biggest problem was they never called to let me know the diagnosis for the car. When I called to find out what was wrong, Bob had already ordered the parts. He also failed to itemize exactly what he was going to do to the car (I only found out when I got to the shop to pick the car up), including the replacement of a thermostat that had just been replaced three months ago. This shop is busy, so it's understandable that Bob forgot to ring me, but he should have been more detailed about what was on the table so I could have said no to extraneous work. Let's hope the car performs well. read more

Cappella's was much better when they were "hungrier" and new to our neighborhood. I've since taken my business elsewhere to find a more thorough and detail-oriented auto mechanic who actually meets deadlines, returns client calls, etc. Caveat emptor. read more