Matthews Tire & Auto Services — Local services in Hampstead

Looking for an honest & fair mechanic? Don't look here. I have to say off the bat their prices on services and tires were higher than their competitors in the area but I believe in supporting small local businesses so I wasn't going to turn up my nose at an extra $20 or $40 here or there. Here's where they went wrong: I needed two new tires. They quoted me on Coopers. I was concerned because the tread pattern, speed rating, and a few other specs were different than my newer Bridgestone tires I replaced because of a road debris incident on vacation. No one could really answer my questions or give me guidance on what the speed rating difference would mean and if it was a big deal to have two different tire types on my car. After doing my own research, I decided on the same Bridgestone tires. Their prices were $15/tire more for the Coopers and $30/tire more for the Bridgestones than their highest priced competitors in the area (exclusive of the install cost which was $25 higher than other shops). Here is where my blood boils. I called to see if they would be agreeable to allowing me to buy the tires elsewhere but still give them the business to install them. They would still get the labor income and I wouldn't over pay by $60+ for the actual tire. They agreed on the phone and just as I was wrapping up the call the guy said to me on the sly said it would be $45 each to install. This isn't a fancy install, its mount and balance - I'm not even sure it included the valve replacement. That's almost TWICE the price for the install they quoted me the day before. Look I'm 100% aware that they have a business to run and I'm more than willing to pay for their services but the way that was handled was WRONG and DECEPTIVE. Honesty goes a long way and had I not questioned his last sly comment on our call I wouldn't have know until it was too late. If the guy had been honest and upfront with me and told me "we have to charge more because of xyz" I would have gladly returned for my future car needs. Its in terrible taste to DECEIVE you customers never mind to unfairly price gouge them. Needless to say I'm going back to doing my own oil changes and repairs until I can find a honest mechanic. Outsourcing something you can do yourself is a Choice - Overpaying a dishonest mechanic...

I did not have a good experience. I took my car in because it would overheat after driving the car and then bringing it to rest and idling. They troubleshot the problem and claimed that they could not reproduce the issue. They of course charged me for their labor.

What puzzles me is that the car consistently demonstrated the issue whenever I drove it. It would take less than 20 minutes for me to reproduce the issue myself. For instance, the very next day after picking it up from them I experienced the issue as I drove to Towson.

I called them to explain that the issue was occurring again and that I did not understand how they did not find anything given the amount of "troubleshooting" that they did. I asked for a refund and it was denied. He told me that I could bring it back to them and they'd continue to troubleshoot it. I declined that suggestion as they had already failed in troubleshooting it the first time. If they thought that they could figure it out they should not have asked me to come pick it up in the first place. They should have continued troubleshooting while they had it. It is not very convenient for me to drop off and pick up the car. So why would I take the chance of doing that again?

So for me... I had an easily reproducible issue that they claimed they could not reproduce. They charged me for labor and told me they did not know what was wrong and that I should come pick it up. Then after I picked it up and experienced the issue AGAIN, the very next day, they tell me I can bring it back to them a second time for them to troubleshoot again.

It seems to me that they either did not actually do much to troubleshoot the issue but charged me anyway or they are incompetent. I'm not sure which it is but I do know that the issue was persistent and quite easy for me to reproduce simply by driving it for 15-20 minutes and then idling.

They got me once but they won't get me again and I would not recommend them to anyone...

I brought my newly-purchased used car in for state inspection. There’s hundreds of things you could SAY a car this old needs, but Matthew’s only gave it new brakes to meet MD spec.

Plus, when I brought it back in for that brake work, a tire was going flat because I had skipped it over a curb (oops). Matthew’s replaced the inner tube and told me NOT to get new tires yet, when I was ready to go in on a whole new set then and there.

I’ve been coming to Matthew’s for years and they’ve never seemed to pull one over on me....