Ups: Honest, fair, high-quality and economical repairs. All monetary-value goes to repairing your…read moreautomobile.
Downs: No frills waiting room and garage (read: dirty). No monetary-value goes into a fancy waiting room or coffee machine.
Summary: If you wish to pay for honest, economical and high-quality automotive services Gilman Auto is for you. If you wish your hard earned cash to pay for gourmet coffee machines, a fancy waiting room and a premium garage (with potentially inferior service), go to a dealership.
Full Review:
Welcome to one of the best and respected local mechanic shop in Scarborough Ontario. Raymond Lee has over 30 years of experience in automotive repair, maintenance, performance modifications and customizations at fair prices. In fact at first sight you will be turned off by the humble industrial unit, crumbling tiled waiting room floor, and half-naked calendar girls hanging on the walls. As you peer through the door marked "customers cannot enter work area" you will be shocked by the mass of car parts stacked on shelves and the floor, the hanging florescent lights and the foreboding presence of mechanical chaos. If you have the stones to refrain from judging this book by its cover, you will not be disappointed.
Gilman Auto has a large "fan-base" of intensely loyal customers throughout the Greater Toronto Area consisting of import enthusiasts, club racers and performance fanatics. The reason these folks and yours truly respect and admire Raymond is due to his honesty, high-quality work and the pride he and his staff put into their work. Not only does he provide quality service for a fair price, he stands by his work. Unlike the dealerships Raymond's bread and butter is repeat business and word-of-mouth recommendations to friends and family.
Additionally Raymond doesn't just fix cars, he also competitively road races (in a recreational capacity) his own race prepared Honda Prelude as evidenced by the numerous trophies displayed in-store. He knows his stuff, from common (but often expensive) maintenance to full out performance builds on both imports and domestics.
Bottom line is that Gilman Auto offers high quality, open and honest automotive services at very fair prices. Keep an open mind and look past the facilities, you'll be glad you did. Oh and for the record no one knows what he says when he picks up the phone ... could be "Gilman" or "good afternoon" or "Mel Lastman". Don't ask, just tell him that Jerry from the Prelude Club sent you :)
