Motor Car Mall — Local services in Peralta

Definitely do not take your classic car to Motor Car Mall for a wheel alignment. I will say I have had good luck with this shop in the past, but they really did me wrong this time. I brought my freshly restored 72 Duster to them for a wheel alignment. The front suspension had been put together a year ago, but was done with high quality Moog parts and had no miles on them since it was waiting to be painted. First problem was they told me up front I was getting charged extra since it was a 'classic car'. My 72 Duster? One of the most simple cars to do an alignment on that exists is getting the same extra fee an old Porsche would get? I think its strange, but tell them fine since I'm already here lets do it. After a test drive and about 30 minutes they tell me they can not align my car because I need new upper control bushings. I ask if they are sure since I know they are new parts. They say yes and hand me a $150 bill. I think oh well, I do remember having trouble getting one of them installed, I'll just change the bushings under warranty from Napa and come back. Since I didn't want them to do the work they then tell me it will be another $150 to align with the new parts since "they already tried and that's not their fault". ANY OTHER SHOP will inspect your suspension first and not charge you again. Call around, this is unheard of in the industry. Even the dealer will allow you to come back for any reason within the warranty period to be realigned. Their own receipt says the alignment comes with a 30 day warranty. When I asked the owner about it he rudely said "that's only if you hit a pot hole or something" and then mentioned that they had just bought a brand new alignment machine. What is the difference? Feeling like I had just got scammed, I went straight to another shop in Albuquerque. They aligned my car in less than an hour for 80 bucks on an alignment rack that looked 50 years old and my car now drives great. I asked them if they saw any issues with my parts and they said no. They didn't charge me any extra fees and of course they said if I had any problems within 30 days to bring it back. I have driven it now close to 3000 miles and it still goes straight as an arrow. Motor Car Mall was trying to get me to do additional work that was not needed and I think the extra 'classic car' fee was because it has fresh paint. I don't think they remember, but they did a lot of work on a Dart Swinger of mine years back including multiple wheel alignments. They should really rethink their policy on this. In my opinion, this is a classic example of a shop that does too much insurance work. They start to believe that over charging for everything is just normal. I would recommend finding a shop that does not do insurance work if you are paying cash. It keeps things more ethical I think. Sorry Mike and Brandon. Just my two cents...

If you want to avoid delays and excuses, do not take your vehicle to this place.

I dropped off my truck, and they assured me it would be ready in two weeks; it ended up taking six weeks. During that time, I kept calling for updates, but all I received were excuses: that parts hadn’t arrived, that the insurance wasn’t responding, that there were additional damaged parts not included in the estimate. I understood that unforeseen issues can arise, so I waited.

In the fifth week, they called me to pick it up. When I arrived, the truck was parked outside. Upon inspection, I noticed several loose parts, especially on the tailgate, which combines metal and plastic. Some plastic pieces were just loosely placed. When I pointed this out, the person in charge told me it was normal because “the truck is old.” I disagreed because if they broke something during the repair, they should have included it in their estimate and taken responsibility.

Additionally, a damaged taillight that was included in the estimate had not been repaired. I refused to accept the vehicle.

Five days later, they called me again. This time, I signed the paperwork at home, with no expectations that the work had improved. But when I checked, I found more issues: • The cord attached to the gas cap was broken. • The plastic pieces were still poorly installed. • The gap in the taillight was still there, but now they had stuffed some foam inside, where I could see water drops trapped.

To me, this is not a long-lasting repair; I’ll likely have to replace parts to prevent moisture from getting in and causing rust. They even tried to charge me extra, claiming the insurance didn’t cover all the labor costs, although they ultimately didn’t...

My parking brake light was on and I needed it checked before travelling out of state. Initially, I didn't want to entrust my car (Ford Fusion 2011) to local auto shops so my first option was the ford dealership. The quote from the dealership didn't fit my budget so I started looking into local auto shops. Motor Car Mall had great online reviews so I decided to give them a try. Based on my experience, they are one of the few local auto shops who have certified mechanics that know what they are doing. The mechanic who worked on my car, John, was able to diagnose the problem in few minutes to about an hour and then ordered the part that I needed to get the car fixed. I didn't have to pay anything upfront except the final diagnostic fee (initial diagnostic fee was free). He got my car fixed and ready to go as promised in about 24 hours. The secretary, Ashley, was also very friendly and efficient. She offered to give me ride back and forth all the time my car was being checked. The fun part was that I even got $25 coupon which reduced my total service cost. Overall, I am very satisfied with their service and I will highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to deal with the dealership or...