Christian Brothers Automotive Roanoke — Attraction in Roanoke

Have had multiple bad and extremely frustrating experiences in at this shop. Took my 2017 Subaru for oil change + TX safety/emissions check in April of last year. Called me to come pick it up, and as soon as I start it up it's immediately apparent something's horribly wrong, driving it out of the parking lot would be suicide. Keep in mind this is AFTER they did the TX safety inspection. Passing me on that, then giving me a car that would kill me to take on the highway is fraud. Guy says (direct quote) "Ever hear of a coincidence?", when I tell him my car is seriously fubar, i tell him i just want it in the condition i brought it in at, he scoffs but says they'll take a look at it. Hours and hours later they call me apologizing and told me a new tech overfilled and used the wrong oil, and that they've remedied it and my next oil change would be free. I ask if the small amount of driving around the parking lot with that wrong oil could have damaged anything, they say 'probably not'. Decided to give them another shot at it this year. Called them recently on a Thursday, am told I can get in Tuesday 7am. I say that works, ill be there Tues at 7. Fast forward to Tuesday at 7am and when I arrive they have nothing on the schedule under my name. He fit me in, thankfully, and i sat until it was ready. When it was, he called me over, had me pay (they did not cover the oil change cost they promised last April), and that was the extent of the conversation. Just got a follow up email to the inspection; 3 recommended fixes, benign stuff, but more importantly 1 'requires attention' about my transmission pan is leaking and they took pictures and everything but NONE of this was mentioned when I was checking out in-person. In short, this shop made a major mistake handing a car that would blatantly fail the TX safety inspection back to me saying it passed after I paid, and, instead of doing better by me this time it seems more like they just wrote me off as a loss...

A MUST READ REVIEW!! I'm only 43. I'm not that old, but I'm old enough to recognize when people genuinely care and aren't trying to rip you off when it comes to auto repair. Honestly, it was just luck and a little bit of grace that landed me at this facility. I was in the city for about a week and ran into a little car trouble. When I had the vehicle towed in, I was greeted in a timely manner and my concerns were genuinely addressed. Costs were laid out to me up front and realistic expectations were set in regards to when I should anticipate a follow up call. When I received the call, I was given the diagnosis and it was also explained to me that there might be some unforeseen things that could present themselves and eventually lead to an increase in my repair total. Ok. No big deal. Gotta be fixed, right? I approved the repairs and was contacted a few hours later in regards to some brittle hoses that failed during the removal and reinstallation. They could have just installed new hoses since they had already made me aware that the failure of those hoses was a possibility. Instead, they chose to reach out to me one more time to make it known that those parts were needed, so I would not be shocked when I got the bill. My car was ready when they anticipated, and I was notified.

It truly is remarkable to read some of the reviews that this facility has gotten. There is such an unbelievable staff led by such an incredible management team. It's a shame that most negative reviews come from customers that just simply can't deal with costs. Cars are going to break down. That's what they do. I can tell you this though,.... When my car breaks down, I am never going to hold a repair facility responsible, because I either don't want to pay the money or simply don't have the money. That's just ridiculous.

Thank you, Christian Brothers Roanoke. I appreciated everything. Especially the laughs shared through the process. You...

Went in for a simple alignment. I watched the tech take 20 minutes to complete the alignment, before he finally pulled the truck directly out of the garage and parked it. A few days later I take the truck on a cross country trip, the first real driving I did in the truck since the alignment. For 400 miles I held the steering wheel to the left to keep it from driving itself off the right side of the road. The printout provided by Christian Bros showed things generally in spec.

I brought it into a well rated shop in Amarillo and had another alignment completed. Their pre align readings were much different than C Bros, and they completed another $130 alignment and got it right. Truck drives straight as a laser beam now. Before I left for the trip I checked the bolts underneath the truck and noted no tool marks or disruption of road grime on caster/camber bolts.

I called after the alignment, and Edwin answered the phone. I described my issue, and how I had to resort to purchased another alignment. I stated that I could provide printouts that shows C Bros alignment rack is probably out of calibration, because my “in spec” alignment pulled badly to the right. Edwin proceeded to argue with me that I didn’t follow their “warranty” and shouldn’t have just driven around and gotten alignments at different shops, that he would “check security cameras” and even lied about seeing the tech drive my truck for a test ride (until I told him how I actually watched it drive off the rack). Long story short, Edwin said he’ll call me back after I requested a refund, and offered to supply alignment printout from the place that did the job CORRECTLY. At this time; NO refund, NO call back.

If you need tires rotated, or battery replaced, this place is probably okay. If you want competent work with quality customer service,...