Minnesota German Autowerks — Local services in Montrose

They charged me over $400 to install a relay that was good and $200 to diagnose a faulty computer. They broke a hood latch and damaged my radiator in the process. In their response to this review, they state that I damaged the radiator trying to replace a relay but I didn't. There were fresh saw marks from a cutting tool they used to take something off. It was surprising. They cut right into the radiator for some reason. I had to buy another hood latch, install it and have the car towed away. They took the distributor out and blocked it in so I had to ask them to unblock it, buy a new distributor online and move it to a spot where a tow truck could hook up to it- they lost the distributor too! I had to buy a new one. Their one mechanic can't remember what he worked on and told me they likely wont work on my car anymore. When I came back to fix the latch; the mechanic told me that a cop had been parked behind it earlier that week doing something for about an hour. It must have been because I asked them to write up an invoice. Very politely I should add- I'm not one who raises my voice or likes bad relations- I think they could sense this and took advantage of my meek nature. Possibly even told by the Wright county deputy that I was nuts or something.

(another disheartening tale after I caught a window peeper on video and the police said they wouldn't need the video footage) Seedy wright county sheriff. Vandals and window peepers.

The police were parked behind my car after I discovered they withdrew almost $650 from my account without telling me what they did or writing up any type of invoice and asked them to print up an invoice- adding that a lawyer may need to ask for the receipt instead of me. It was there for 4 months and they kept getting more uneasy each time I returned to see if it was ready- telling me they had more important cars to fix. In all, one should be very wary about these swindlers. Dealing with cops- possibly encouraged by them to frustrate the customer. Maybe ensured by police that they will not be held accountable should their practices be a little shady. They will take money out of customer's accounts without explaining why. Breaking things on the car, inflated repair costs. They are a seedy bunch. All they have are old junkers on the lot that will need repairs almost immediately. They even could be stealing good parts off your car and replacing them with parts that will need to be replaced. Stay away and buy from a...

The previous owner of this shop once ran a store called Kirk's VW. If you know, you know. Following a repaint, I entrusted my 1971 VW Bus to have it pieced back together at Minnesota German Autowerks. I should have known better. When I was dropping it off, the customer ahead of me was picking up his bus and it was needing to be towed out of there. He was not happy with the prices and the services. I still gave the shop a chance and had them do my work. It was months and months behind schedule and thousands of dollars more than I expected. I finally was finished and I got to pick it up. Upon attempting to drive home, I encountered a myriad of issues stemming from shoddy or incorrect assembly. I broke down and had to have it towed back to my house. This is where many issues were found. The engine wasn't installed correctly. Breather lines blew off. Gas pedal kept falling off. Despite purchasing heavy-duty pop-top hinges for installation, they were substituted with old stock ones. Where did my expensive hinges go? Additionally, my tool kit, jack, and spare tire were nowhere to be found. Eventually, I sought assistance from Further Performance and after investing further thousands, my vehicle was finally reassembled...

I found out about Rob last year when I shuttled a friend out to pick up his car. I was considering selling my 2008 Passat wagon as I had lost faith in it. There were some mystery sounds that started after having repairs done at the dealer. The car also had an engine oil leak that the dealer said would cost $1500 to repair. Rob performed a free inspection for me, and was able to identify 4 major issues from the dealerships shoddy work He was able to rectify all those , address all my open issues and diagnose the engine leaks and repair it it for a total of $900.

He also informed me that my car was eligible for warrantied rust repair even though the dealership in the cities told me it was not. On his own time he took pictures and sent them to a dealer in St. Cloud who then put in a warranty claim with VW and then performed $4500 of rust work on my 11 year old car for no cost to me.

As long as I own a VW I will always have it serviced by Rob. He is honest, fair, experienced, and he always takes the time to explain what is going on with my car in a way that I can make informed decisions. Best...