Halfway into a suspension upgrade on my BMW Z4 (E89), I realized that I didn't have a large enough torque wrench to complete the job. I needed an oil change and some other work done, so I opted to farm it all out.
Carr was recommended by several acquaintances. I've owned BMWs for ~20 years and picked a Z4 up a little over a year and a half ago here in Greensboro. Since then, I have been looking for a local independent european car shop in the Greensboro area. Due to poor experiences with the Greensboro dealership, I had been driving to the dealer in Winston for service. It's probably worth noting that Carr is the third independent european shop that I've used or tried to use in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area.
The initial phone interaction was stellar. I'm pretty sure that every person on staff there has to be technical - every person I spoke with was a level above the "service advisor" or "reception" person that you would see at a dealer or independent. I was able to get down to business quickly as a result, they provided an extremely competitive phone estimate, and my car was an unscheduled dropped off at lunchtime the same day. By 5pm, it was ready to go (and the total matched up with the phone estimate - no nickel and diming here!). I came by the following morning to pick it up and spoke with Tom Carr. Tom is just as friendly and customer focused as his staff, from his sage advice regarding walnut blasting the intake valves of my BMW N54 engine (money saving and technical advice), to his appreciation of our four legged co-pilots (that aided in the initial drop-off).
As an enthusiast owner, fastidious probably doesn't even begin to accurately describe the level of detail I demand. I usually prefer to do my own maintenance and repairs because of this (everything except fluid changes). When a third party works on my car, I check behind everything that was touched when it rolls back in the garage. I've literally asked for missing zip ties after service work by the dealership, if that gives you any idea... After getting the car back home and up in the air, I was thrilled to see that the quality of work and attention to detail exceeded my expectations (a first in the Greensboro area). I also was impressed with the shop's default choice of fluids and filters here - Liqui Molly w/OEM filters and gaskets.
After a year and a half of searching, I've finally found my go-to shop. read more