Circle D Transmission — Local services in Houston

My 2007 Ford Explorer needed help. We took it a well-known and well-respected chain near our house. They diagnosed the need for a whole new transmission at the cost of over $5,000. Given that price, we sought a second opinion. I received one or two recommendations from friends, but I decided to Google for transmission repair places instead.

A shop in town that I had heard of my entire life -- and I could still sing their jingle -- came up toward the top of the list. But, a friend who happens to be a mechanic advised against them. Also on the Google search was Circle D. They were conveniently located to our home and my work, so that helped. But also, I noticed the very high ratings they received from other customers. So, I took a leap of faith and gave them a call.

From the very first phone calls, Patricia and Glenn were helpful, clear, and honest. They arranged for my car to be towed from the other shop, giving me one less hassle to deal with. They explained what they were going to do to diagnose the problem and how long it would take to do so, not leaving me in the dark. Glenn called with great news that they thought that it was NOT a serious issue and that I would NOT need a new transmission. Without going into details, it was going to cost me less than $1,000 for the repairs that DID need to be made. He asked if I still wanted the transmission to be serviced while it was there, and I gave him the green light.

The next day or so, Patricia called with some bad news. While servicing the transmission, they came across some other issues that weren't apparent the first time around. As it turned out, I did need a new transmission. She explained in great detail what all was wrong, what they did to double-check the diagnosis and so on. Yes, a lot of it was over my head, but I could tell that they LOOKED at my car thoroughly. She gave me a break down of the options before me, the pros and cons, and the costs for each one. I had everything I needed to make a decision without feeling pressured or uninformed.

When I picked up my car, Sherry took the time to go over with me -- almost line by line -- a detailed printout of everything that they looked at and did to the car, including recommended fixes for a general mechanic to look at and recommended timing for when the transmission should be looked at again. (Their email prompts will remind me!)

And by the way -- all of this was for just over $4,000, a $1,000 savings over the chain shop we first went to. And, Circle D did exactly what the chain shop had recommended doing in the first place.

I hope I never have to go back to Circle D. Car problems are not fun, especially in Houston and with kids to shuffle around here and there! But I'll be back if my other car or future cars ever have transmission issues. If you need work on your transmission, go straight...

Circle D has been doing great work on my chevy muscle cars since the 90s. Both the transmission shop and their sister companies' converters are great.

I brought in my 2015 Camaro ss after having a vibration about a month ago, and my driveshaft bolts were loose, and they fixed it right away. The "other" well-known performance shop that I had do my work didn't do it correctly, and sure enough, they fixed it right away.

Then, this week, I brought in my 2015 Camaro SS again as my 6l80 transmission was getting too hot. The other well-known performance company put in a smaller transmission cooler that wasn't mounted in the right place. Circle d diagnosed what was wrong right away, put in a larger trans cooler and made custom brackets to mount it where it needed to be in the first place with proper airflow getting to it.

Car went from 240° to now 170° in 105° Texas heat and that is driving it hard with the circle d 3200 stall converter that is in it.

Bottom line is if you need transmission or drive shaft related work in Houston do it right the first time. Learned my lesson. These are the guys to get the job done. They are the best in Houston for sure and all of the guys and the owner, Sherry , know exactly what they're doing. Yeah, maybe you can find a shop to do things cheaper but the level of customer service and quality of work is the best. 100% recommend if you want the best most knowledgeable people to work on your...

2006 Dodge 2500, transmission seemed to be slipping from 1st to 2nd gear, a friend recommended calling circle d transmission, he had his dodge transmission rebuilt there about 2 years ago. I called & after talking to glenn decided to let him do a diagnostic check, showed no codes, but was shifting from 1st to 3rd, computer was asking for 2nd, but mechanically was skipping 2nd, so glenn called & asked if he could pull pan, i agreed. After pulling pan, they found problem, bands were burnt up. I had this transmission rebuilt 3 years prior because of same exact problem at another transmission shop, bands burnt up at 104k miles & then again at 204k miles. During 1st rebuild i paid to have a lot of expensive upgrades & glenn acknowledged that i had a lot of good upgrades already in place that did not need to be replaced again, but suggested that since bands failed, upgrade to better bands since this was my problem area (other shop didnt suggest upgrading bands), also told me i could use my torque converter, although i chose to replace with new converter. Glenn, who is extremely knowledgeable & professional didnt hesitate to keep me totally informed throughout the whole process, he didint do anything without first consulting me, he didint try to sell me a lot of parts that i didnt need. Well, transmission problems dont happen that often, but i bet you know where i'll be going from now on,...