If I could give them a 0 I would and should have read the reviews before going there.
Don’t ever go to Alan’s, I just stopped by for a state inspection and the rudest person ever. I just walked into the garage because no one was there in the office and the owner was like go into the office I’m talking to the mechanic and I’m like no one is in the office and he mumbled it 3 times to me. And as I was walking back to the office he was “does she not understand English”. I walked away after this. So rude, how do you expect to stay in business.
I got the state inspection done today. I called to ask if they have an availability and they said yes just come in with registration in the passenger seat. It was done within 5 minutes. They were polite and got the job done. Will be back!
Clearly should have read the reviews before coming to get an inspection here. No clear instruction on where to go. A woman instructed me to have registration ready as I was next. I assumed this meant pull in. As soon as I started to do so a miserable old man came out to berate me stating that unless I want to work here he would be pulling my car in. As I complied and went to sit in waiting area I could here him continue to complain. Woman told him I didn’t know and he followed up with “she knew…she was trying to cut in front.” What? Time for him to retire. I feel bad for the employees. Would not have stayed if I didn’t have a full schedule. Will never return. STAY AWAY!!!
We had one tie rod replaced, and two days later, the tire broke and the steering wheel was off. After repairing the tire, my husband and I asked about alignment (which is always required), and the owner was rude, yelled at me on the phone, and used inappropriate language. He never informed us that alignment was needed. We later had it done by a certified technician, who confirmed that alignment is always required after a tie rod replacement — and even said that for the high price we were charged, it should’ve been included or at least discussed before the work was done. Unprofessional and overpriced. Don’t waste your time here.
For an inspection sticker, walk in, hand the guy thirty five bucks, walk out fifteen minutes later good for another year, assuming your car is in reasonable condition. Completely hassle free; just what you want for a car inspection.
Alan is great! I have been coming here for my inspection sticker and now oil change. He gave me great advices about what needs to be done with the car and what is priority.
Thanks Alan!
Fran
I come here for State Inspections. No nonsense.
Show up, listen to instructions, and wait in the waiting room.
They've only got so much space in these shared lots, so customers are expected to be ready to pick up their car and head out as soon as possible.
STAY AWAY ! You’ve been warned. My son brought his car here to get an alternator installed. Because the car is a show car and is from Japan the steering wheel is on the right side and my son purchased the alternator because actual parts from Japan are hard to get- and my son was willing to pay more because he knows mechanics make money from the mark ups on parts.
Al called my son at 12 saying the car was ready but that he had put a “small scratch” so he would take $100 off the $300 bill.
I am livid and will be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau because Al is shady, lying, dishonest and aggressive.
When we got there my son’s car had more than a “scratch”. Al had attempted to cover up the damage by using SPRAY PAINT- which ended up all over the fog light. My son immediately called his father on FaceTime to show him the damage. My husband is an autobody painter and knew IMMEDIATELY it was far more than $100 in damage. I asked my son to wait outside while I went into the shop. I walked in to find Al screaming at my husband on speaker phone (and of course my husband yelling back that Al was trying to take advantage of a 19 year old kid).
After 5 minutes of the yelling on speaker phone my husband hung up and Al came over and started yelling at me, pointing his finger towards my chest and saying his wife was mad at him (not my problem) and that he wasted 2 hours of work fixing the alternator.
In my whole life I have never had a grown man yell in my face. This business is a sham, Al is shady and dishonest and doesn’t deserve anyone’s business. EVER.
And the fact that he thought it was appropriate to yell in a woman’s face at top volume should tell you everything you need to know.
The least expensive estimate to fix the damage Al did to my son’s car- $900.
Do I think he will ever pay that?
No.
I just REALLY wanted to warn people- there is a reason this business has such terrible reviews- heed the warnings of all the bad reviews. Seriously.
I took my brand new car to this place to get the inspection sticker, despite the low reviews. When I arrived, there was no one to guide me and no clear place to park. I started to drive into the open garage, thinking it was okay, but a man inside started yelling at me rudely to leave. As soon as he started yelling, a woman came out from inside the garage and told me to park outside. I decided I wouldn’t stay where the service was so disrespectful and will be getting my inspection done elsewhere. Terrible customer service.
If you're reading these reviews, you're smarter than I. I've waited a few weeks so I could leave a fair review. I knew I needed a new heater core, and Alan gave a much better quote than my go-to place. Three hours after drop-off he called me to say that he broke a nozzle off my radiator. He would charge $1500 to replace the radiator, or $240 just for the diagnostic, in which he broke the nozzle. He refused to inspect/address the issue I brought it in for. It cost me $1100 to fix his diagnostic. I leave 2 stars, not 1, because he was honest about breaking the nozzle, which I verified myself when opening it up. Maybe he's fine to get a sticker, but I'll never go back for a repair. He's gruff, but that didn't bother me.
Had one ABS wheel sensor replaced on 2010 VW TDI Cup Edition Jetta. Quickly diagnosed with computer to right rear wheel and installed new sensor in less than 1 hr. Also got inspection sticker day before. Good work at reasonable price.
If you see a beautiful Jaguar riding around in the Melrose with a big black R on the windshield it came from Al. I needed a $92 part he tried to charge me $800. I gave him $100 that he asked for for the deposit for the part. When I told him how much the part was after calling the dealership, he got really mad. I asked for the money back. He is rude , a liar, disrespectful, dishonest. Shame on you Al .Do not waste your time or money .if I could’ve given him a zero*I would have. Will make a report with BB I hope the hundred dollars take you a long ways in life. You’re welcome.
Went in for an inspection sticker , don’t go on the first of the month because the owner was pretty grumpy, muttering under his breath multiple times “well these people can wait all day”. I called a week in advance too for an oil change but I decided to go elsewhere after I watched him berate people (2 left because of it)
Do not take you car here! I asked him if he could fix my son's air conditioning and he said he could take a look at it. He called me an hour later saying he could not fix it I need to take it to the dealership and he charged me $90. How can you charge someone for not doing anything? He said it was for a "diagnostic fee" he did not diagnosis it or tell me what was wrong just that it is not an electrical problem.
Alan is a very honest and caring mechanic. Took my mercedes there and treated like hi own, he updated me all the way of what the issue was and what he can do and how he can save money on stuff that really did not need to be fixed or maintained for now.
A very honest person... A+++ shop and person.
Avoid this place. Visited for the inspection but ended up paying several hundreds of dollars in repairs. They 'identified' problems in the car and put a big red "R" on the windshield (without warning me) so that I was unable to drive it, and had no choice but ask them do the repairs. Other reviewers reported similar scenarios so this a regular trap that I fell into.
I took my M3 there for an inspection last week. As i watched from outside, about 100ft from where they were doing the inspection down in the bay, i thought to myself wow he's fast at finding that jack pads as he jacked it up. As i watched him do the other side i was like, no way he's on the jackpoints. Sure enough, he carelessly just threw the jack under and proceeded to dent inward the underside of the car. You can feel the bumps under the carpet on each side of the floor boards. If i can't trust them to jack up a car, i surely won't trust them to do anything else.
Bad customer service. No one was in the lobby area to answer questions. Due to time constraints I went to ask how long the line and where I am in queue and was yelled at for going into restricted working area. If they had someone in the lobby, then I wouldn't have to go in the no customer area.
Waiting area is old and dirty.
Service is fast.
They have a cozy waiting room. The guy appears to have done this for many years. Trustworthy service. Opens at 7:30am for inspections, even though it says they open at 9:00am. Gets the job done fast.
Awful. Took my car to get it inspected, needed a new e-brake cable an O2 sensor. Fair.
This guy throws a red “R” on the car, making it illegal to drive on the road. He rings me up $1400 for the repairs, said “you aren’t going to find anywhere cheaper for that work”, took my chances with the red sticker, brought it to another local mechanic. Same work done for $700, new sticker.
He then did same thing with my mother’s car. All it needed was an O2 sensor. Red “R” again. Took the chance again with the red sticker, luckily got it to another local mechanic who, again, was able to do the work for almost half the price.
Two episodes with this guy throwing on an unnecessary red “R”. It seems his model is to trap customers into his services with that. Do not go here, huge rip off!
DO NOT GO HERE FOR STATE INSPECTION! Not a big public reviewer, but this was the worst customer service experience I've ever had. I felt threatened, verbally abused, and patronized.
Got yelled at by an older white haired man, who, according to other reviewers, may be the owner. He took all his frustration out on me that the state inspection sticker system is down. He spoke with an angry tone of voice, which rose as I prepared to leave upon learning I would not be able to get a sticker today. He was adamant that I should leave my name and phone number so he could call once the system was up and running again. I did not feel comfortable doing so given his behavior. I said thank you, cordially let him know I'd be trying somewhere else later, but he followed me out of his office to my car yelling, "Don't walk away when I'm talking to you! Do you have any idea what it's like to turn away customers because of [the system being down]?" He blamed me, saying "It's your fault you didn't come in on Friday [before the system was down]." Calmly, I let him know I'm sure it's very frustrating, but it's not okay to take it out on a customer (which he definitely lost), and that he was being perceived to be very rude. He kept yelling, but I was too uncomfortable to stick around for anymore and got in my car and left. I will never take my car here for anything, ever.
He seems like a very angry man. I hope he can find peace someday for the deep anger and hurt in him that is evidently out of control and overflowing toward other people who have never done anything to him.
I've never had any work done at Alan's but I've gotten inspection stickers there many times. I always get right in and out very quickly. No hassles or games and he's never tried to sell me anything extra or talk me into a repair I didn't need.
I came and had a good experience with Alan doing an inspection. He went through my car thoroughly and promptly, interrupting what he was doing to accommodate. It was less than ten minutes after I walked in the door that the sticker was on my car. This place seemed to me like an honest family run business with very nice employees who were all in good spirits and didn't mind smiling and saying hello. I did not have anyone try to tell me that my car needed things it didn't like some of the other reviews (and it's a ten year old vehicle).
Went in for a state inspection and they failed me because they said my headlights were dirty and needed to be rebuffed and glossed. He also said I needed new windshield wipers which I had JUST replaced. Took it to another place without changing anything and even mentioned to them what he had said and they said my lights looked perfectly fine and passed my car. Wasted $30 at this place!
I have been going here for several years for my inspection on all my vehicles.
Bottom line: if the younger guy is there he will give you a proper inspection in a timely manner and he is a pleasant person.
If the old guy (owner) is there, there is a good chance he will fail you for something petty. I saw him fail three people in a row including me. Each one he aggressively tried to convince to come back to get the work done at his shop. He told me a hole in my exhaust pipe (which did need to get fixed but was not a big deal) was a "major problem" and that it was a "serious safety concern" and there was no way he could give me even an approximate estimate until it was "up on the lift". I am not as concerned about his high failure rate as his high pressure sales tactics afterwards. I fixed it myself and got it re-inspected when the kid was in.
I still go when the young guy is working because I want him to have a job, but feel bad because I know that criminal of a boss still gets some of the money.
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