Anonymous
map-marker Washington, District Of Columbia

Awful care, awful mechanics

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full

This is a little rip-off joint masquerading as a neighborhood shop. Fake friendly crap from the "service advisor" and then rip off city begins.

You come in for one thing (truck had a rattle) and they gauge you for something else.

I am sorry I ever pulled in to this joint. It's my first - and last -time here.

View full review
Loss:
$2000

Preferred solution: Apology

User's recommendation: You can do better! Wish I had.

Anonymous
map-marker New York, New York

Glad to see truth exposed about this place

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full

I moved from downtown Chicago to downtown Palatine for my new job and needed a new mechanic. This place was close to the train station, and I still needed to commute back and forth to work sometimes, so I thought I would try it out.

I took my car in to this shop for basic maintenance right before COVID first hit. They were polite and seemed professional. Then they called and said I needed about a half dozen expensive and complicated repairs on my car (it was running fine, just needed an oil change and some basic things). I took my car to a different place that my roommate recommended.

Turns out I needed absolutely none of the expensive repairs they had tried to get me to purchase. What a bunch of crooks!

Needless to say, the more I have talked to other people now that I live in downtown Palatine the more I hear horror stories about Advanced Auto. There are a lot of really good and honest mechanics on Colfax street - just not this one.

View full review
Cons:
  • Elevated pricing
  • Taking advantage of customers
  • Dishonest practices

Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution

User's recommendation: Beware - this place is not a good one

1 comment
Guest

My family had a simular experience we live nearby too. Liked it a little more than you did but still it is overpriced and yes they wanted to tinker and charge us more than our old truck in reality needed.

Anonymous
map-marker Palatine, Illinois

Shady practices and crooked business

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full

AATR spends a lot of time and $$$ on managing their social media and BBB ratings. We have been nothing but disappointed with them, though - and after speaking with our neighbors and friends about them, it seems we are not alone.

Could be that they are taking down all the bad reviews, so we wanted to let our community know to be very wary about them. We practically live across the street and so this business is very convenient for us. But, they are not honest. They overcharge, invent "problems" that hmmm other mechanics do not see, and find every reason in the book to make you part with your money.

Not the best mechanics here, either. We were clients for a few years but after an experience this summer that was clearly a rip off (we went to three mechanics after getting a quote about apparent "fake" issues our truck had from AATR) we will not be back. Again, be careful what you read.

These crooks hire social media management teams and so they look unbelievably good online. If it looks too good to be true - haha then it is.

View full review
Loss:
$2900
Cons:
  • Dishonest practices
  • Taking advantage of customers
  • Poor customer service

Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution

User's recommendation: Avoid at all costs.

3 comments
Guest

You are right - I tried this place out. It totally sucks.

Guest

Agree - yes! Thank you for sharing this here. This place sucks.

Guest

yass! agree wit u.

View more comments (2)
Anonymous
map-marker Palatine, Illinois

Shady business

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full

Ok, this place is widely known for having experts take down bad reviews, which is why they have a "wonderful" (e.g., fake) internet presence. My mechanic warned me about this place (he is an insider, but unfortunately broke his arm and so is in recovery).

I took my truck in for a repair and wow - the BS was flying. There are multiple owners and I guess they all need to rip people off so they can live high on the hog. When they told me what was "wrong" with my truck I laughed (inside, of course).

I later found out that this is how they do business. They pretend to work on the issue you brought your truck in for and then "find" things that are "needed".

View full review
Pros:
  • Location
Cons:
  • Dishonest practices
  • Elevated pricing
  • Lying to customers

Preferred solution: I would like them to know that not everyone is a moron when it comes to knowing a "real" from a fake repair and change their practices. I have told everyone I know about this place and many of them already know it is sketchy.

User's recommendation: DO NOT USE PALATINE ADVANCED AUTO AND TRUCK REPAIR ON COLFAX THEY ARE CROOKS!

1 comment
Guest

I could not agree more - thank you for writing this! I used them for awhile but found out that not only were the things they did to my minivan and charged me a lot for unnecessary - but also that they have been doing this kind of thing for years.

I am a single mom so being charged for stuff I don't need is especially painful. What I want to know is how on earth do they manage to get all of the bad reviews off of Yelp and other sites (I posted a few last year - they must have some inside knowledge of how to look amazing on the web while performing *** work in reality).

Just goes to show you not to believe most of what you read online. Glad to see some honest reviews on this website.

Why Trust Reviews on PissedConsumer?

  • Professional auto and live moderation
  • 100% user-generated content
  • Equal opportunity and protection
  • Zero tolerance for fake reviews
  • Verified content
  • PissedConsumer is on the Inc. 5000 list

For more information read Blog article