What clients say about Shady Grove Auto Care in Rockville (MD)
John and the mechanics at Shady Grove Auto Care are fantastic. Our family has been bringing our cars to SGAC since years before the move to the current location and we will continue to do so.
I've been bringing my cars to Shady Grove Auto Care for 15+ years. They've always done quality work for me, and I have recommended them regularly- and never once heard anything but positive remarks. If a repair is optional, or if you're like me and bring in older cars, John will let you know whether it's worth it. It's a really fair price for quality work.
This was the first but certainly not the last time I took my car for repair to Shady Grove auto service. John and his staff were very knowledgeable and advised me what was needed to fix my car which had check engine light on. John called me to explain what the problem was and it was fixed at a very reasonable cost on the same day. John was highly recommended by my neighbor and I am so happy that I took my car to his repair shop even though it was a 30 min drive. Totally worth the drive. I would highly recommend Shady grove auto service for a hassle free repair.
Great attitude, great service, fair price. I've had my car repaired there a couple of times, and both times they were fast, friendly and I felt like the price was right. The best thing you can say about an auto repair place is that you trust them - and that's how I feel about Shady Grove
Shady Grove Auto Care is a fantastic place to take your car for maintenance and repairs. I had the pleasure of working with John, and he was both friendly and extremely knowledgeable of what my vehical needed. From the moment I walked in, he made me feel at ease and was able to clearly explain the issues with my car and the steps that needed to be taken to fix them. He also took the time to answer all of my questions and made sure that I understood everything before moving forward with the repairs. The work was done in a timely manner, and my car runs like new. I highly recommend Shady Grove Auto Care and specifically John for all of your auto needs
There is a reason that it is sometimes hard to get in for routine maintenance, SGAC is trustworthy, fair priced, and always goes the extra mile. In other words more than worth the wait. Hopefully the new location can get more cars in.
10/10 would go back again and again. My car window had been shattered and I couldn't get a Safelite appointment any earlier than a week out! My colleague recommended Shady Grove Auto Care. I dropped my car off and they patched up the window so I could drive and replaced it by the next day AND at half the price Safelite was quoting me. On top of the excellent service, everyone was kind and easy to talk to.
I needed a two days prior appointment, left my car for one day and got charged $98.00 for running a code and a quote. I don’t think that is justified. Please stay away from this place if you value your time and money
Quality and timely service with prompt attention to detail. Radiator had started to leak and they identified it quickly and had the truck back in service within 1-2 days. Definitely recommend
This person, John, is a big liar. I brought my car in after hearing a little noise. He charged me more than $450 to "replace front brake pads, front brake rotors, service calipers and replace brake hardware". Soon after the service, my A/C didn't work properly, he said "A/C Condenser is dead" and he charged me more than $1,200 to replace A/C Condenser. But after picking up the car and on the way home, I noticed the exactly same problem was still there. I called him immediately, he said "it may have some additional problems" and asked me to bring car in again. I brought car in next day on Friday, he said he was too buy to diagnose until Monday and asked me to park my car in front of the store. I went there w/ my husband next day on Sat (the store was closed) to drive my car to our friend's house, who is a mechanic and used to work in auto dealer. I said nothing to my friend about Shady Grove Auto Care already repaired my car. After we went inside my friend house w/ his wife, just a couple min later, my friend came in, he said he fixed the problem and he said "you must already bring your car to a dealer, someone purposely did some thing in your car, your A/C doesn't have any problem". The news shocked every one of course. Recently, after replacing front brake pads and front brakes rotors by Shady Grove Auto Care in less than 2 years w/ about 15,000 mileage, the noise came back, I brought my car to another dealer who was referred by many of my friends. I have been told and showed that front brake pads and front brake rotors need to be replaced b/c totally wearing down w/ all rust.
Been here 3 times already in less than a year. I either have a target draw on my truck or people around here got their driver license on a cereal box. Whatever the reason, my cars still look like brand new thanks to shady grove auto care, fast, efficient and really good on their art. I would recommend this place to anyone in the area.
My car is my only source of income right now. I hit the curb trying to dodge some jerk speeding down the middle of narrow lane behind a restaurant. I heard a noise. Didn't know what it was but figured I better check it since I cant pay my rent without my car. John charged $530 to replace the bearing and hub assembly. There were no dents, scratches, etc on the outside of the car, though they totally missed the dent in the wheel. The noise still hasn't gone away, even with new tires, so I assume the dented wheel is the issue. While I've told so many people out it (two Honda dealers and four autobody shops), NO ONE thinks hitting the curb can affect the bearing and nothing else. Nothing else was wrong, like the suspension or something, but John charged me $530. By the way, with 35,000 miles, the bearing? Yeah right. But do I really know? No, I'm not in that line of work. We can't all be car experts or there'd be no one else doing any of the other important jobs. So instead of reminding me that my bearing is covered under the powertrain warranty, he scammed me for $530, ruined the past 3 months of my life because I've been so damn worried about the noise, and I still don't know what it is. Tire noise? Half the people I talk to say yes. The other half say no. The wheel? Sure, depends who you ask. A bearing? I've been told that's still a possibility but I'm rarely told that. One Honda dealer told me that while driving with me and then flatout lied to me after we got out of the car, saying he never said that. Maybe Honda will eventually tell me it's the bearing once the powertrain warranty expires. Another 18,000 miles until that happens.
Honestly, I'm at a loss and no one can tell me what this is. I just want it to go away, but I can guarantee that John at SGAC will be first on my list if I'm ever working for a consumer watchdog or have the ability to unilaterally shutdown businesses that commit fraud. When the noise didn't go away, he told me to "turn up the radio." I swear...he's a smooth talker, but it's a scam.
I went to NTB today, yet again trying to figure out what's going on with some mysterious noise in my car, and they rotated the tires for free, drove around with me for free, did a free inspection, even showed me the car while it was on the lift and used a flashlight to point on everything--I felt like I was in a class learning mechanical engineering. No charge for any of this, and it was more than an hour of actual time spent with the car.
This is an amazing family run operation that truly cares about their customers. If you want an honest mechanic, which are very hard to find, you found it! Very different than the dealer experience of trying to upswell everything.
Love Shady Grove Auto! My husband and I have been taking our cars here for years. John is kind and fair. He does great work and is always fair on pricing. He's a gem and I can't recommend him enough!
An Honest Mechanic is a priceless Mechanic.
Out of of five guys, John is the 3nd most Honest Mechanic I know.
#1 Is a tie between my Son & I: SW/HW Engineers
#2 "Nacho95": USCG - Flight Mech: Rotary Wing
#3 John: SGAC - Automotive
#4 TInker: USARMY - Armored
#5 Avi: NASA - AST/SMS
I've been going to SGAC for the past 20 years. They are thorough and their prices are fair. I have never had an issue with any of their repairs and John is very professional about providing estimates and options. Finding a good honest mechanic is not always an easy thing so I'm happy that I found SGAC a long time ago.
Be careful! This place is not as good as before!!!
When I moved to Gaithersburg a few years ago, I found out that Shady Grove Auto Care is a place everybody loves. I used to like this place: John appeared very friendly and they have been providing the service I needed.
Things drastically changed sometime last year (maybe coincide with the economy?). I was trying to change my tires with them late 2013 and John said he will provide a quote within 2 days. You know what? It takes him 10 days and multiple phone calls to just get a quote. Well, he was very busy because he had to deal with all customers who are fans of this place. Fine. Let me tell you another story which just happened last month. My fuel pump needed replacement, and I called in to inquire what would be the cost to replace the fuel pump. John refuses to provide any quote before he inspect my car. Fine. I tow my car there immediately and John promised a quote the next day. Again, that quote will not arrive until the next week--almost 10 days later. Had he told me he would do that in 10 days, I would have other options. Then, I learned that he has found out exactly the same problem as I have found- the fuel pump need replacement. He told me it would be more than $1000 to fix that. Of course I wouldn't repair my car with him, because I know other place which can repair for less than $800. Then I requested to tow my car away from Shady Grove Auto Care, directly to the alternative mechanic shop. I had to pay $110+ to him just for him to inspecting it. Fine. I spent an entire afternoon at Shady Grove Auto Care and trying to get AAA tow my car. Before AAA came, John still pretended to be nice and told me that they will deal with it. Then AAA arrived. He then changed his face (probably knowing he has lost a customer- permanently), he told AAA that the car need 30+ min to be assembled, and he turned to me with an outrageous look (almost yelling to me), "he arrives on time. We cannot get your car out. You have to wait and take your responsibility". Fine. (BTW, I will never forget this face-- it is striking to see how people change faces from pretending to be nice to something when they lose money!) I just wanted to tow my car away from this place and get rid of this place forever. Of course, AAA would not wait for 30min and they left, asking me to call AAA again when the car was out. Surprisingly, the car was out almost immediately after AAA left. I then called AAA again, waited another 2 hours and finally get my car towed away to another repair shop.
You know what, John, my car got repaired for $720. I strongly regret that I spend $110+ with you to inspect it. I regret that I have been a loyal customer with you for years. You have done a very good job, John. You have lost one customer- permanently. You will lose more. Good luck.
I needed a bodywork for my new Honda Accord.
I have being and owner of the old car all my life before, and had to deal with body shops for more then fifteen years.
After checking out couple other places I brought my car to SG Auto Care, where I did have completely different experience: first time I was treated as a part of the family.
Dave checked my car, explained it details what needs to be done, advised on the best option and gave a very reasonable estimate (much less then other places). He did not try to sell unnecessary work. I felt very comfortable to live my car there.
Just picked up my car yesterday, looks better then new. I got everything repaired as promised in time and was surprised that final bill was significantly less then an estimate.
Dave and everybody I met were extremely professional, honest, friendly and hard working professionals.
Thank you to everybody, who worked on my car!
Highly recommend this shop!
Victoria
My car broke down near Shady Grove auto care. I was so lucky, as it turns out. I was just about exactly halfway between home and work --over 8 miles each direction. However, I was in the hands of a professional auto repair shop which treats all customers with integrity. In the waiting room I was reassured by two customers who were there to pick up their cars. Both told me they had been coming to SGAC for some years, one for almost 20 years.
At the very start, it looked like a well-tended shop. It was neat and the front office was orderly and professional. The repair work was diagnosed on the schedule the shop owner gave me, performed efficiently and on time. I was billed fairly. I felt treated like a long-term customer.
I may even make the trek to repeat having any large repairs done there.
First time in a long time I got a "good feeling" from an auto repair shop. John was very nice and when it was found my brakes needed no work he didn't even charge for looking at them. That's a first. I plan on visiting the shop again for my wife's car and as this car will need some work if they do a good job I'll be a customer for a long time. I don't even care about the costs--owning a vehicle costs money period---but it's easier to pay high car repair costs when you trust the repair shop NOT to rip you off. That's the "feeling" I got when speaking with John. Seems like a trustworthy and reliable shop.
The service section of this place is run by a guy named John. He is very honest, and does a very thorough job (oil changes involve a multipoint inspection). You end up paying about 20% more than other places for normal services but given the standard of the work I think it's worth it.
I haven't used the body shop that is attached to this place, but I did once get a quote to fix a dent that seemed a little high.
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