Great Bear Tire & Auto Repair Center — Local services in New York

I knew I needed brakes and some work on my 2013 CRV and wanted to get it done before shipping my car to Florida. However, I was very hesitant as I've had horrible experiences at the dealership and reviews of the local private shops were all over the place. I reached out to Tommy at Great Bear as his shop was a couple hundred feet down the road from my apt.

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive meeting Tommy as I read some poor feedback on here and was hoping he wasn't a jerk like the reviews make him sound like. Once I met Tommy in person, I quickly realized the feedback was way off base and clearly the reviewers don't understand how to communicate and treat people. You get what you give in life, especially with new relationships. Tommy is the type of business owner that will bend over backwards for you if you speak to him with some common courtesy and respect. However, if you don't know how to speak to someone Tommy will gladly have you go elsewhere for your car repair and I don't blame him.

I knew I needed rear brakes, and to have my engine bay cleaned as I had a lovely problem with NYC rats using my engine bay as their toilet/home. My CRV also wouldn't start, so he gladly sent one of his mechanics down the street with me to jump start my car as I could get it into his shop. Within 10 minutes of getting my car into his shop, he was texting me with photos and explaining the work I needed to have done. It was 100% honest, straight forward, and the pricing was great.

Unfortunately, I couldn't afford all of the work that my car needed due to my finances and shipping my car to Florida the next day. However, going forward Tommy will be my only go to guy for repairs in NY. I honestly cannot recommend him enough...just be a decent human and you'll have your go to shop for life. Thanks again Tommy, I appreciate how fast and professional you were. You...

I recently purchased a rim and tire package from a well known company, once installed began experiencing vibration. Took the car to my local dealer who due to the rims being aftermarket advised me to replace them with the original because they experienced issues balancing them along with two other service centers.

I contacted the company I purchased them from, stating the issues requesting a replacement or refund. As with any company they required a specialty test to be preformed from a shop of their recommendation, Great Bear was one such location. My first thought was this would be a waste of time zero issues would be found.

I checked the reviews some favorable and some negative human perception, with this in mind I made an appointment with Tommy. My first impression of him was curiosity, from what was posted, our interaction was positive and courteous the appointment was for 8am, I was 10 minutes early and he was opening up and directed me to a lot across from the shop while he moved cars around.

Once my car was in the shop and on the lift the wheel tech took special care with the rims, never using an impact tools but manual removing the lug nuts avoiding an unnecessary scratches or damage, greatly appreciated. Tommy kept me advised throughout and, documented the results also texting images of the Hunter machine results for the claim, for some this may seem trivial but I consider good customer service important to building confidence for future business.

I wanted to say thank you for the assistance and correcting what should have been satisfactory sale at purchase. I can say that I am greatly satisfied with the car. I would also like to speak well of the tech, who name I'm embarrassed to say I forgot his meticulous efforts to protect the rims from damage was reassuring and would make me a...

Avoid these thieves. I went in because they were close by on Queens Blvd and able to see me immediately as my battered old vehicle was leaking transmission fluid very badly. This should have been a huge clue to stay away as it is frequently noted that when the shop is empty there's probably good reasons why no one is going to them, and they are very tempted to cheat you - which is what happened to me. Tommy charged me $25 to lift it to take a look. Tommy and another mechanic said they were very sure my new radiator of less than 2 months is defective and wanted $650 to replace. I had Tommy talk to my mechanic who put it (in another city, had charged me $350) but he was skeptical, so I left. Other than this "oversight" everything seemed normal and Tommy was very calm and nice. The next mechanic that looked at it a few minutes later took one quick look and said a nut holding the hose was very obviously just loose and tightened it for free (which took maybe 30 seconds altogether.) Both he and my mechanic said "of course he would try to cheat you - probably wouldn't even bother replacing the radiator since its new." I waited 4 months to see if its not leaking, so obviously theres nothing wrong with the radiator. Grossly incompetent or dishonest? I think they were trying to pull a fast...