Alan and Nancy welcomed me into their shop. Alan and Ken knew the particulars of a Subaru and talked me through their process of a head gasket job. It was also helpful that most of the cars in front of the shops had Subies in front. Another cool thing was Fry, their sons dog, welcomed me in the office when i first went there. Good mom and pop shop, the techs do the job to make it right, and the prices are reasonable. They are willing to work with you on the job within reason. BTW I brought in the 2008 Gold LL Bean limited 2.5NA read more

Foreign Auto Excellence - Fry, Alan and Nancys sons dog. - Auto Repair Near Me - Frederick, Maryland

Whoopdi Do 2007 Subaru. Proprietors Nancy and Allan clearly believe in their business, their workmanship, and their customers. They delved through years of records to establish a part warranty claim so that I could receive a cost-effective repair and drive a safely operating vehicle. Foreign Auto Excellence is the kind of Repair shop whose quality and customer support brings back customers. read more

Alan and Nancy are top-notch. Whatever Spiderwoman says in her one-star review, the opposite is true for me. The only regret I have is that I work in Frederick but don't live there, so it's not possible for me to go to FAE for all repairs. When my alternator blew on my Focus, I had it towed there. If you own a Subaru and don't go there, you should have your hipster card taken. They thoroughly diagnose problems, drive a car until they are comfortable it is resolved, and always always always strive to make things right. When the CVT transmission issue I was having turned out to be a design flaw that Subaru had to address, FAE did not charge for the return visit that uncovered this problem. My dad always told me that the keys to happiness wherever you lived were a good deli and an honest and capable mechanic. They don't serve pastrami at FAE, but they are fair, expert, and unfailingly honest mechanics. I had to laugh at other reviewer upset at $100 spider repair. They found a spider was the source of why your gas was blowing in your face. Your problem was fixed. Looking for a needle in a haystack, they found a spider. They could have recommended a new gas tank, a bunch of stuff that didn't need to be done. You would have been none the wiser. They did not do that. $100 is the entry fee for any expert trade- electricians, HVAC, plumbers, and mechanics, included. In my most recent experience, I went in for a tire rotation and AC check because I tried to recharge my own AC. I feared the worst. Did I blow the compressor or seals? Alan put the AC on a vacuum after draining, and then recharged and had his his tech drive it twenty minutes during lunch to make sure it was fixed properly. He also told me not to waste money on my tire rotation because the tires were wearing perfectly even and it wasn't necessary. $145 later my Subaru (209K miles) is ready for family vacation. I've known them and brought my cars to them on and off for 12 years. If it's a hard problem and I know I could get soaked elsewhere, I drive 35 extra minutes each way to have my car fixed. If you are more local and in search of a trustworthy garage, I highly recommend FAE. read more

Addendum: FAE did work with me to resolve the issue reviewed below but I made no revision to my original message Feeling a little 'near-robbed' right now, but as Alan and Nancy have all of my money, Foreign Auto Experts can also have my public opinion as well and you may weigh it as you wish. I communicated with FAE prior to having my car serviced (they're friendly), dropped it off after hours with a note re-describing the problem I was having in filling my gas tank up properly. In the note, I explicitly requested to be provided a quote prior to costs accruing, and that didn't happen. This resulted in a big problem. I'm a med student living off loan money and I dropped my car off thinking my current problem to be inconvenient but highly unlikely to be very costly, especially considering this shop had just serviced my 2003 Toyota for its 150,000 mile check and they hadn't found any problems. (Communication that visit was appropriate hence my I return, swallowing the $830 for maintenance on my car running without issue aside from brake pads needing replacement.) Snarky side note: my car had never had a gas input problem until the moment after I picked it up from FAE following said check up. Long story short, today they had to explore the gasoline input line and fuel vent to find a [spider web] occluding my fuel line, the culprit of my challenges with gas input. I arrived to pick up my vehicle expecting a 30-50$ charge at most, especially since costs hadn't been a subject broached. This may be a family business, and maybe I've been spoiled by excellent and REASONABLE mechanics where I have lived in Texas, West Virginia, and New York, but to pay $115 to have a spider web removed from my fuel line WAS A GREAT SURPRISE. The icing on the cake was Nancy's reaction to my surprise at the service charge with "at least it didn't require parts, some of those can be a couple hundred dollars" and Alan saying 100$ for "an hour of labor and we didn't know what we were looking for" and "I have to pay my mechanics what do you expect" - these statements didn't reassure me that these costs were appropriate or the owners were aiming to resolve any concern. Looking forward - I won't be using this shop again, and unless you don't mind paying top dollar for automotive services, I don't recommend others do likewise. After my first servicing where they aptly pointed out to me my tires were near bare - well Alan and Nancy, you're right, but thanks to how today panned out I can't afford to buy the all season tires my car needs [for safety] until my Spring semester loan money is disbursed in three months. Had you communicated with me prior to charging me 115$ for spider web fuel line cleaning, I would have requested we hold off so I could afford something that is much more important than having my patience tried while pumping gas. I feel swindled and though they acknowledged realizing I felt that way they offered no actual explanation as to why I was charged so much. In my experience, a decent and fair mechanic won't expect I be blindly grateful that the charge wasn't more (for problems that were not present...), they would explain what their search to resolve my problem entailed and report the actual reason why the labor was so prolonged to accrue so much cost. Instead, they sent me a picture of said spider web cleaning and called it a day after they made me pay $115 with poor explanation offered. My impression from this interaction is Nancy and Alan simply aren't afraid to take advantage of people. I hope I'm wrong and other reviews that lead me to their services in the first place say otherwise but given tonight's interaction, I feel compelled to say my experience was at the other end of the spectrum. read more

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I could not give them a a better review the man and his wife are the nicest people I have ever met. they have worked on all my families car amd have never had a problem with anything!!! they are willing to work with u on prices I have never met an honest mechanic till now and his wife /office manager does anything to help I have looked around for prices and he always comes out $100's of dollars less than anyone else i wish I could give them 100 stars read more

I took my Subaru forester here for a check on the wheel since Subaru Frederick failed to diagnose the issue initially. They did a good job finding out that the lower control arm need replacement and quoted over $600 for repairs. I took it back to Subaru just to find out what they would charge me and they quoted $440 approximate for the repairs. Aren't these folks supposed to be cheaper than the Subaru dealerships and the primary reason why people choose them would be to save some bucks. I paid them $50 for the inspection which to my mind is expensive as well for lifting the car for an inspection of the wheels that don't take more than 30 min. read more

Foreign Auto Excellence - Quote for repairs - Auto Repair Near Me - Frederick, Maryland

Don't go anywhere else. My wife and I have been bringing our Elantra's in here for years. They tend to be busy, and there's a reason for that. These are some of the nicest, professional, caring, and honest mechanics I've ever dealt with. They constantly make a commitment to understand your needs and regularly go out of their way to explain any issues with your vehicle. When they can repair a part, they repair it--they won't try to replace something that doesn't need to be replaced, unlike most other shops and dealerships. I hope to be bringing my car here for service for many years to come. read more

Having been taken in by several disreputable mechanics in my younger years, I tend to be rather cynical and hard to please when it comes to having my car repaired. And it is this same hard-to-impress attitude that has prompted me to recommend Foreign Auto Excellence (FAE), in Frederick. These folks are the best! I needed a bunch of work done to the engine and cooling system of my Honda Civic and the first quote I received (from another mechanic) was "Probably somewhere around $1800." I then had the car towed to FAE on my brother-in-law's recommendation and owner Alan and his team were polite, communicative and very thorough in their summary of the work needed and the cost. To make a long story short, I got all the repairs that were needed, none of the bill-padding work that wasn't necessary, and the bill was $400 less than the first mechanic's "estimate." In the future, I will be taking my Honda exclusively to FAE. They are very honest and their prices are more than fair. One word of caution: their stellar reputation makes FAE a very busy garage, so repairs may take a couple of days longer than other shops. read more

I've been going to these guys for a decade, and love this family shop. Alan and Nancy are good humans who have always done good by me for all of the cars in my own family. They've always done consistently good work, speak to me as an equal, communicate SUPER well as to the best and most cost effective way to deal with issues-- but moreso-- they pay attention to what you actually NEED to do to a vehicle-- not upsell you on services you don't need. At one point-- i had a truck that was driving a little noisily-- but continued driving it for about a week. I eventually thought 'I'd better bring this in'- and did, even though I was in a less than optimal financial position. I got a call later that morning saying 'You have a bad bearing on your drive shaft.' Yikes.. I got the quote, and it wasn't horrible, but I didn't have it. They did the work anyway, and said 'You're NOT driving this car off site for YOUR safety. You can take it today, but we're doing the work first because you shouldn't have it on the road- especially with an 80 mile commute.' I paid them immediately anyhow. This is the people they are. They know my cars, and they know how I drive them, and they know I'm not a rich guy. This is clearly not some commercial chain pushing for sales goals and treating you like 'a service unit'. I have many stories over the years of the commonplace laugh shared just shooting the breeze about our dogs, to calling them on vacation to ask about problems from 400 miles away, to them cussing out a recalcitrant reese hitch mount. If these things don't bespeak trust, I'm not sure what does. I really value these folks and the service they do, and I'm really thankful they're around. read more

Awesome Service. Second time back and highly recommend. If you're a member of the mom's Honda Odyssey club (kidding), they take care of these vehicles with specific attention to quality. read more

10 years later and I still trust Foreign Auto Excellence to fix my car right the first time and always at a fair price.

Alan, Nancy and the folks at FAE are as nice and honest as the day is long. I've been going to them for years (through 2 Subarus and 1 Acura). I teld to keep my cars for a long time. They'll eplain what's needed, give you an estimate (not a wild guess) and call if if they find something unexpected that will add to the bill. And, FAE will fix you up with a loaner while your wheels are in the shop (reliable but not the lastest model). When Subaru #1 hit 240k Alan said it was time to consider a new car. What mechanic does that? Don't hesitate to call FAE...they'll take good care of you. read more

If the Yelp system would allow me to give this foreign auto repair shop 10 stars, I would do so! However, Yelp currently only allows a maximum of 5 stars, and so, at least for now, 5 stars will have to do! A few years ago, I managed, through a series of mishaps, to blow the engine on my older Toyota Corolla, which by that time had somewhat over 150,000 miles on it. I tend to purchase cars (usually Toyotas) new, and then try to use them till they literally die, which has usually been at 200k miles or higher. In the case of this particular Toyota Corolla, its engine had a well-known factory defect peculiar to its year (and a couple of nearby years) of engine manufacture that caused it to burn ever-increasing amounts of oil from about the 50k mile mark onward, and this meant that I needed to be extremely vigiliant in checking the engine oil level on an almost daily basis, due to the ever-increasing rate of oil burning. Well, over the years, after the car's engine had passed the 110k mile mark, I made a mistake a few times and forgot to check the engine oil level before driving, and ended up driving the car with essentially no oil in the engine; this happend not once, but several times! For some odd reason (teehee....!) this eventually caused the engine to blow up, well, more accurately, it caused some of the moving metal parts of the engine to sieze up! So, I eventually ended up with a Toyoto Corolla with somewhat over 150k miles on it, a mere baby in terms of Toyota Corolla lifespans, but with a blown engine. I was not ready to give up, since, to me, 150k miles is not a whole lot of miles for a foreign car such as a Toyota. So, I decided to have a rebuilt engine installed in the car, and I started to do some very serious research, both online and in "real life" (you know, like talking to living humans and getting their opinions, etc.), regarding the best foreign auto service shop in the Frederick MD area to choose for doing this rather major piece of work. In the end, after all of my research was complete, I had only one candidate repair shop on my list that had met all of my rather stringent criteria, and this was a shop on Tilco Drive called Foreign Auto Excellence. So, I called the shop and introduced myself, and explained the problems that my Corolla had suffered, and asked Alan for a quote for replacing the blown engine in my old Toyota Corolla with a high-quality rebuilt engine. I also, within a day or two of calling, dropped by the shop in person so that I could meet Alan and his staff, and s that I could get a first-hand sense of the place. Well, I was very impressed with what I saw of the shop, and I was very impressed with Alan and his crew, and in short order Alan gave me a great, and extremely reasonable, pirce quote. And so, a week or two later, on the appointed day, I had my car towed to the shop for the engine swap-out. We had agreed in advance that I would leave the car with them for about two weeks (I was in no rush) to allow them time to do the job right, and they replaced the engine and had the car ready well within that agreed time frame. As they worked on the car, Alan and his crew also noticed a few other long-standing problems with the car that I had been blissfully ignoring for years, including the fact that the heating/AC fan had, for the previous two years made a lot of noise when it was running, and did not run at full speed. With my permission to "investigate and repair as needed", they investigated and discovered some dead mice, and the remains of a mouse nest, in the fan housing, and so they cleaned out the housng and replaced the fan blade assembly. During the car's 2-week stay with them, and with my encouragement to "look for anything else that might need a bity of fixing" they also found about six other problems with the car of which I had been aware but had been blissfully neglecting over the past four years, and, with my happily-granted permission, they repaired all of those problems as well. The amount that they charged for all of this happily-authorized extra work was negligible, and, in the case of each "extra" repair (i.e., the additional repairs that were above and beyond engine replacement), was well within the telephone estimates that they had given me for each extra item. BTW, the quality of the rebuilt engine that they installed in my Corolla, and the quality of their work in installing it, was excellent! I say that in hindsight, a few years down the road from the time that the engine was replaced! They did great work! This an an amazing family-owned business that delivers only the very highest levels of service and customer satisfaction, and they are also excellent at communication, at meeting deadlines, and at making very reasonable and accurate estimates. And their prices are very reasonable! I will always return to this shop, and only to this shop, for all future maintenance work on my Toyota Corolla! read more

The best place to take your Subaru... This is an honest family owned company, and they are very easy to work with. I ended up here after several referrals and I will never go anywhere else. read more

I can't recommend FAE enough. After moving here from Hagerstown, I wanted to find a local shop to do the post-warranty work on my 2006 Subaru. Yelp led me to the folks at FAE, and I couldn't be happier with their work and prices. They're honest people who don't try to do unnecessary work and charge you extra money. Trustworthy mechanics are sometimes hard to come by, but FAE definitely fits that bill. read more

As others have said, they are an honest family run business. I know they are honest because they had the opportunity to take advantage but the did not do so. They do what they say, when they say it. They are friendly, helpful, and I wouldn't hesitate to take my Subaru there again. Great shop; highly recommend. read more

Absolutely top notch. Took a 95 Subaru Legacy there to have the AWD solenoid replaced and it was completed promptly. Went back a couple months later because I was in urgent need of a crankshaft pulley for the same car and they just happened to have a good used one laying around which they gave to me and let me borrow the tool I needed to put the part on! read more

Alan and Nancy, who own and run FAE, are the best. They are wonderful, honest people. Their prices are more than fair, and their mechanics are terrific. (Ken takes care of our cars.) We have been taking my husband's Honda Accord and my Subaru Forester there for nearly 10 years, and I first started going to them in 1995 with a Subaru Legacy, when the struts broke. They charged me hundreds of dollars less than what a dealer had estimated. We drive out to FAE from the Washington D.C. area, and it's well worth it. I cannot recommend FAE highly enough. read more

This is a family-owned operation which has great customer service and provides honest recommendations. I have a 1995 Subaru Legacy wagon with roughly 200k miles on it. They have helped me with regular maintenance items given I drive roughly 16-18k miles per year. Recently, I hit a deer on I-270 which caused minor bodywork and headlamp damage. They were able to fix car my car and get me back on the road quickly and very cost effectively the same day I had the accident. They do have access to spare parts which is a plus for keeping these older cars on the road. We also have a 2014 Crosstrek and I think I found our regular maintenance shop for it. read more

These guys are fantastic. Always great service, super reasonable. We always take our Subaru here. Best mechanics we have worked with. Honest, easy going, and good quality repairs. read more