I moved into the area about 3 yrs ago, and began going to MD Automotive when I purchased a $50 coupon book from walking solicitors in my neighborhood. Initially, the shop seemed very friendly and honored all the coupons in my coupon book. Joe, the front desk attendant was always friendly and answered all my questions as well as he could. I have since brought two of my vehicles here on numerous occasions for little repairs and scheduled maintenance tasks.
Since then, within the last year, I've noticed that Joe has left the shop and my experiences with MD Automotive have gone downhill. I brought my vehicle in for routine maintenance one time and while it was in, they recommended changing the serpentine belt. I told them to go ahead, and when my vehicle was returned to me I noticed squeaking from the new belt (which it hadn't before). I took the vehicle back and they told me the wheel bearing was going bad on the alternator and that I would have to buy a new one for over $300. Weird, there wasn't any squeaking before hand but after they put the new belt on, my alternator all of a sudden needs replaced. This bugs me because I know alternators can be rebuilt for cheaper and a bearing can be replaced as well. They also quoted me over $1000 dollars in repairs needed in addition to the alternator. I told them to forget about it.
Later, when I took the vehicle back in for an oil change and a wheel rotation, they quoted me over $1300 dollars in repairs that were "needed" with no indication of level of necessity. Amongst these repairs were different ones from the original list of repairs detailed to me during the last visit. Again, I left with a bitter taste in my mouth and declined any further repairs. A couple weeks after leaving, I called MD Automotive to get the list of repairs so that i could get a second opinion. They asked if they could call me back to which I said sure. They never called back, so I again called them to which they said they couldn't find anything and that the needed repairs must have never been documented.
My neighbor had also visited MD Automotive when his brakes went out. He was quoted nearly $1100 in repairs and declined service. He went to another guy who got his car back on the road again for less than $300.
Recently, I've noticed some new members of the team, and a lot of renovations to the shop (inside and out). Although, I understand the need to "professionalize" your business, I feel that they are trying to pull in all kinds of revenue at the customer's expense to update the look of the shop. And just like a previous reviewer wrote, the staff is very friendly, but to a point where it's toooo friendly. They act like you're a long-time friend, in a way that is too obvious and almost uncomfortable.
I'd rather go to a hole in the wall joint who fixed the things I needed to get fixed and did not find a laundry list of other repairs on a vehicle with 77,000 miles on it. I'm obviously not a certified mechanic so I'm always real skeptical when I take my car to the shop. I don't want to get "hosed". I will most likely not go back to MD Automotive. read more
