What clients say about Hampshire Auto Works Inc in Hampshire (IL)
Don't take your car here unless you want it smelling like an ashtray afterwards.
I was selling a 2012 Toyota Sienna and a prospective buyer paid for a pre purchase inspection here. I dropped the van off and it took them about 2 hours for it to be done. Honestly, that seems pretty thorough, so I'm not going to fault them for that. I have a dash cam and it showed them driving for close to 25 miles. That seems excessive, but I'm also not going to fault them for that. If I was a buyer, I'd want them to inspect a car I was buying just as thoroughly.
What I will fault them for is the stench of cigarette smoke that they left in the car. I doubt that they actually smoked inside it, but they smoked near enough to it (maybe in the garage while it was being inspected) to where it took days for me to get it aired out. Luckily I have an ozone machine that I ran inside it to get the smoke smell out, but that's definitely not something I should have to do.
The owner didn't owe it to me to tell me what was wrong with the van (since I didn't pay him), but he felt the need to condescendingly say that he wouldn't pay $3,000 for the van (KBB was $8,500 and that's what I sold it for). I'm sure he told the buyer the same.
I do want to give credit where credit is due and say that they seemed to do a thorough inspection (whether or not it was accurate). But the guy that runs the place was definitely not professional. The prices may be cheap here, but add the cost of an interior detail to your bill.
We used to take our cars here when it was Bungees and it seemed better. Do yourself a favor and take your car to Childress next door.
I came in again because they did a great job diagnosing my wife's Town and Country about 8 months ago. Bob was up front about what to expect and did a good job of managing my expectations then. This week I took my Jeep in to have a gear shifter that was stuck and to have a leaky power steering fluid issue fixed. Bob and Mike discovered my gas tank was missing a strap and called me to give me an estimate on all three to repair. He gave me a high number to expect for the gas tank as that quickly became the most pressing issue. The number was more than I expected and would mean that I couldn't get the power steering fixed. He explained to me that it was unsafe and told me that he was going to be sure they got it done for less if they could, but he didn't want me to have any surprises. With the port workers going on strike there are delays in getting parts, he gave me the option to request these to be overnighted for a charge and without; and told me how long to expect things to take. He said 3-5 days. I took the car in Monday morning and by noon on Wednesday they were calling me to tell me that the work was done for $300 less than estimated. He was able to very inexpensiveley diagnose the problem with the gear shifter, which was also causing problems in another part of the car (brake switch). I know what to expect for the charges for my power steering and we agreed I would call ahead so that Bob could order the parts and then I'd be able to schedule a time to bring me Jeep back in. If you want an honest local mechanic, I highly recommend giving Bob and Mike a call at Hampshire Auto Works.
Layers of service to appreciate here! Our only car was virtually undrivable due to a bad ball bearing, rotor, brake and sensor. We brought it in on a Monday and told they were busy so it might be Wednesday before they could get in there and take a look. Not only did they have it looked at and diagnosed by Tuesday morning, it was completely fixed by Tuesday afternoon. They called us twice with updates along the way as things were discovered, which we weren't expecting and really appreciated! The car feels like it drives better than when I first bought it. We definitely recommend this shop!
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