Bonfe's Auto Service & Body Repair — Local services in Saint Paul

TRUE STORY/EVENT

I had a clean 97 Toyota Tercel 2dr (project car) that I was going to put away after fixed at this Bonfe's. It had 238k miles on the original motor. After they fixed it that costed me $500 and then the check engine went on. Tom did everything he could to understand what was going on. They used their compressors that would cost me $200 more but he did it for me for free because he didn't know what was going on with the car (liability or something on their end). The conclusion was that it so happened the motor was just going out. Two of the four of my pistons read at 50 psi and were supposed to be around 125-150 on each cylinder. Tom led the situation and how he explained it, I SINCERELY believed him. I drove in the car normally with no issues (I mean, it's an old car, it doesn't run perfectly) and after the service, I drove it home with the motor going out. It truly was nothing they did that affected anything on the compression (I even had my uncle check it out and everything. He also saw that it wasn't anything they did that would affect it). It was just going out at the crazy coincidence timing, but the point to all this, Tom was absolutely sadden and literally offered me that if I get an engine, with this crazy situation, he was going to do me the favor of actually helping me swap the motor, which they don't do that there. That's REAL caring for their customers in this situation!

On 2/29/2024 Intoxalock tried to charge me $600(!!) for something they messed up on! It was probably the callers first day as it seems like that. He told me what was the code saying. I said it was saying Error 2 and 1 and all that. We couldn't figure it out but he already insisted on sending out a new device to reinstall on my car. Later on, Intoxalock's technician said it was because of my battery, yet they already had sent all these devices and being late while I had no car for a week and a half because of their delays. Then they tried to charge me saying it was because of my battery. Bonfe, Marlin called them and took MY SIDE and if it wasn't for that, I would have had to pay $600 so I can get my car back. IM SO GLAD THAT BONFE ARE FOR WHAT'S RIGHT!!! If it was anywhere else, they'd just want to get paid from whoever and INTOXALOCK would have bullied me! THANK YOU, BONFE! I WILL FOREVER reference this place to everyone who asks me where to go for oil change and such, which many of my friends, coworkers, and cousins were referred there, been going there!

Reason it took me this long to rate them was because I've been busy and I didn't think about it until the last visit for my calibration. Thank you, Bonfe, especially Tom and...

AVOID. And read all the other 1 star reviews and believe them this time.

Bonfe's line is "CAR CARE BY PEOPLE WHO CARE." Heck yeah, especially when they are making a ton of $$$ off car insurance companies!

Well, it took me over 4 years to calm down before writing this review... but we had a horrible experience with Bonfe's Auto Service & Body Repair. Both our car/trucks were hit while parked legally in front of our house. My Subaru was stuck at Bonfe's for 4 weeks later ($9K in repairs, while my husband's truck was stuck here for over 8-9 weeks ($14,000 in repairs.

At the initial time of the auto accident, my husband reiterated he was concerned that the truck frame was bent and it required MASSIVE repairs; he didn't think it was fixable. Bonfe's told the insurance company they could fix it. Well, over 2 months later, after picking up his truck, the truck died within 24 hours. So much for fixed by "lifetime warrantee" by Bonfe's. They took it back, and "repaired" it. Within a few days of getting it back, the steering column completely froze up while my husband was driving; it couldn't turn and we could have been severely injured in an accident. We had the truck sent back to Bonfe's due to our concern about safety of the truck.

5 visits to Bonfes, 3 months of rental cars, 1 near-death "freeze up" situation, and our car insurance company FINALLY towed our truck away from Bonfe's after months of "body work;" they towed it to their preferred auto repair where it was fixed 1 week later and 100% back to normal thereafter.

I should clarify that my husband's blue book value was $17K; for the 5X that the truck ended up being at Bonfe's for 9+ weeks, the total was $17K (to the insurance company). So, Bonfe's made out great - almost 20K later, no truck to have to deal with for the "lifetime repairs," and the most shady, unethical place I've had to deal with. Our customer service experience with Michael was terrible. When we escalated it several times, we finally had to threat legal action to get resolution. I actually consulted with my lawyer due to the terrible work that was done here.

AVOID.

Updated response based on Bonfe's reply 8.6.2019. Per our insurance company, "Bonfe's" didn't request that the truck be fixed by the dealer. This was physically removed from Bonfe's VIA our insurance company due to THEIR frustration with Bonfe's - the insurance company felt Bonfe's was incompetent to fix it after all these visits. If Bonfe's had fixed the truck appropriately - or known when it was over their head - it wouldn't have jeopardize our lives in...

Customers Beware!! Dropped my car off at 8:30AM to get an oil change, alignment, new blinker bulb and a new connector piece for my headlight since it was fried. I started getting a bad feeling once 1PM rolled around and I had gotten no word about my car. I called them for an update and Tom told me he wasn’t sure how it was going since most of his guys were on lunch. He said all he knows is they took a test drive but hadnt figured out if they could fix it yet, and said he’d call later in the afternoon. 3PM rolled around and I finally got a call saying I needed 4 new tie rods because mine were shot, but they couldn’t find the parts for my Saturn since Saturns aren’t being made anymore. But what I know about Saturns is that they have the same undercarriage parts as a Chevy Cobalt. (Which any knowledgeable mechanic SHOULD know) Anyways he still wasn’t able to get me a price for everything. He said they were able to do the oil change and replace my blinker bulb . I asked about the other light again and told him AGAIN that the connector piece was fried and that’s what it needed. He said he’d take a look. I told him I’d just come pick my car up by 4. I showed up at about 3:40 to get my car and it was still up on the lift. I got the bill and he charged 65$ for a diagnostic test drive and $20 for a part they didn’t even put in my vehicle (since they didn’t have the part needed.) I asked about the charge and he said it was the charge for looking at it. So in total I paid $164 for an oil change, fluid top-off, a light bulb and his test drive. His estimate for 4 tie rods was $850 for parts and labor which is outrageously high. He did say he rotated my tires because they were bald In the front but in the process of that he put an even more ‘unsafe’ tire in one of its place. Immediately after I left Bonfe’s I took my car to a different mechanic who looked over my car and told me my tie rods were fine and this guy was most likely trying to scam me out of more money, as I figured.

I recommend to everyone to beware before going to this place of business. They are crooks and will try to take advantage of you, like they tried/did do to me. He got very rude once I called him out on all of this. I will never give this guy my business and hope you don’t either. There are plenty of actual honest shops that will do the work for cheaper and for the same...