While things got off to a rocky start - with significant delays on a transmission rebuild, in the end, Hightstown AAMCO and its corporate parent company were able to provide an acceptable solution and get me my Ford Transit Van back with a remanufactured Ford transmission. Thank you AAMCO taking the high road, and I also appreciate owner Mark Balkovic providing me a ride home from the shop. To prospective customers, I would suggest clarifying with this business the details of the repair, costs, anticipated date of repair completion, and any possible risks to that timetable. read more

AAMCO Transmissions & Total Car Care - AAMCO repaired this Ford Transit Van - the trans failed at ~ 70,000 miles - Auto Repair Near Me - Hightstown, New Jersey

AAMCO Total Car Care, 400 Mercer Street, Hightstown, N.J. Great New Owners! Manager Mark V. and master mechanic Paul are owner and expert mechanic respectively at this quality auto shop in Hightstown. Best service I have ever had on my vehicle. Their most recent service for my car was to do all the fixes for a 90,000 mile maintenance. They completed all the work in super fast time, having local access to car parts that other services would need to send out for. By the way, the cost for their maintenance service was less than half the estimate my Dealership was going to charge me. Their prices are competitive and very reasonable. This shop is honest and fair. Highly recommended. If you have been disappointed previously (by the old managers) you might want to give these new owners a try. I think you will be more than satisfied. read more

Mike and his team really take care of you! They were able to quickly diagnose and repair an issue with my Audi exhaust that I feared would have turned into a crazy expensive bill at the dealership.. I'm taking my vehicles here for all issues from now on! Thank you for the great service. read more

Honesty is the best policy, and you get it with these guys. Friendly, upfront and knowledgeable. I had a hollow sound coming from the bottom of my car, which I was afraid that it was something coming from the engine. Drop it off, next day done free of charge. It was only something hanging and scrapping against the ground when I drove. Fixed and noise no more. Thanks you guys. read more

Long review so I will cut to the chase for those that don't like to read. We all have had That cringe feeling that comes about. This is whenever there's a possibility that includes (CRC) cars, repairs, cost. So in short--Great customer care- in My opinion is So Lacking in our world today patient, and responsive, kicker is -- Honest. Okay Longer Version--I bought a used 2019 Equinox from a dealership. In which I previously bought a Kia Sorento, from them , that was nothing but problems. I Returned that one and I got the Equinox in replacement. I found no issues with my Equinox.. Car ran good. Then my engine light came on. I brought it to my local Auto Zone. They offer the free diagnosis. They run the test right there it's a quick convenience. Tech there said it was my battery. Although he checked it out and said it looked semi new he didn't see any signs of corrosion. So the light went out and all seemed fine. Until my long trip from SC to NJ. My car was giving me a feeling of slip of some kind. Not major slippage, just slightly to cause concern. My engine Light appears again. So I pulled over and looked at my engine. Why? I don't know why! It's the thing. We all do it, well most people do it. -Ya know what I'm talking about. You have cause for fear. So you pull over. Ya Do the old pop the hood open thing. and then you just do the stare. We all have seen some poor person pulled over to the side. Hood opened up. Then both hands on the hip stance. Then comes the blank stare. As if it's going to tell you something?! Right? But I did take note that I saw fluid of some kind underneath puddling, if you will, from where I had pulled aside. I also understood that I was in and out of the many rain storms I was driving through. So I decided to pull my vehicle up some to see if it would show up again in a new spot. Allowing time for it to. So After shoveling some of my stuff in my car I took a look. And I noticed that there was a small stream like that seemed as if it were again, from underneath my vehicle. Understanding it had rained- but this was new-wetting on top. It did resonated enough with me. The slightest slip and then engine light appeared perhaps fluid of some kind. I had to have some kind of concerns. I Made an appointment with AAMCO in Hightstown. I spoke with a gentleman representative named Mark who was helpful and polite. I explained my experience and concerns with him. I agreed to take it the next night. I Dropped off my vehicle overnight. Next mid-morning I received a text message from Mark asking for a call back. Anyone who has ever had to drop off their used car in a shop for any repairs or problems - knows that -cringey feeling- you get in your stomach when you have to drop it off and then you wait. It's like waiting for the hospital to call and give you the news from your test results. You get the "Cringey Feeling " when either having to receive the call or make it for that report, (Bad News). I called Mark back quickly after. Mark had answered, He gave me the good news, bad news comment. There goes that cringe feeling again. He gave me the good news first. Nothing wrong with my transmission! Whew! He throughly explained to me what Ryan the mechanic did. He gave me the diagnosis run down of the test performed. ( All jibber-est to me Lol) He said It all seemed electrical to which they don't provide that type of service. Ugh! He instructed me that I needed to take it to the Chevrolet Dealer to have it serviced. I asked them, Mark & Ryan, did they see any evidence of other potential problems? He addressed my question with a straight answer that no issues other than which he told me about. I asked the question (cringe feeling) what was the damage, cost? He told me that there were none! Listen, I understand that most engine light diagnostic test generally, ..in most repair shops, ..not all, ..are free. At least that's for reputable ones. But in today's world, unfortunately , A lot of shops try and take advantage of their customer. Some dishonest repair shops try even with a simple oil change, to trick customers into some type BS that's needed for them and subsequently ended up being an unnecessary expense to them. With that being said. Here is where to take into consideration what I refer to as "That cringe feeling factor in the stomach from those such experiences; explains as to how it was formed and born. With all all that whew! Right! You only had to read I had to type it! Seriously. I don't do it often. Only when I can provide positive feedback I give my review. I would highly recommend the shop. If there is anyone who can relate to my memoir or autobiography that I've just written. lol.. I would give them the opportunity and consideration to provide you at the same type of service that I received. read more

I brought my vehicle in to Mike after the local Ford dealership told me I would need a $9k transmission replacement. After diagnosing the noise problem it ended up not being the transmission at all rather a suspension issue. My vehicle was fixed promptly at less than a fraction of the cost. Mike and his team are amazing! Definitely go and see them! read more

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Would give this place negative stars if I could. With the kind of ripoff I've experienced over the past few months (yes, you read that correctly - months), I would advise other customers with transmission issues to steer clear. One check engine light led to a $2,000 repair. Sometimes that happens. However, to get another check engine light a few days after your car has been "fixed" should not happen. After repeated requests for an update on the status of my repair, they began to not answer my calls and act as if I'm bothering them. All the while, I am spending $50 for a one-way Uber to get around while they keep my car for weeks. UNBELIEVABLE! After several weeks and them fixing my transmission, I get my car back only to get my check engine light yet again. I've contacted their corporate office. They said they will take care of it. However, when I call the shop, they are ignoring my calls, or attempt to humiliate me all because I ask that they fix a repair that was not done properly. read more

My transmission in my Nissan 2012 Rogue AWD, started to slip, I took it to AAMCO in Hightstown New Jersey 400 Mercer St. 08520, Nick diagnosed the problem and fixed it, both Nick and Mark are great guys who care about the customer, when my car was ready they picked me up, and gave me ride to pick my car up, great service and Nick and Mark are great guys whose main concern is the customer, will definitely be going back to them if I need work done on any of my cars. Absolutely a reliable shop, go with confidence!!!!! AAA+ A very satisfied customer, John P. Branco read more

Thugs. You want nothing to do with AAMCO of Hightstown. My Dodge minivan, 6 years old with 20,000 miles, was leaking transmission fluid. We took it to our local mechanic, who said he could do the job for $1,800. That is a significant financial event for our family, so he recommended we take it to a transmission specialist to get a better price. We offered to pay him for his time diagnosing the problem but he refused all payment. That should have told us to stick with him, but money is tight. We called around to transmission specialists to get a rough estimate over the phone. AAMCO of Hightstown gave by far the lowest number: "a couple hundred dollars and a couple hours." Later they would tell us that their minimum charge just for diagnosis is $685 and that even they consider the punk who answers the phone to be just that. Drove the vehicle to AAMCO. (Note that we did not need to tow it.) After 6 hours AAMCO mechanic Nick called and said we were "looking at $1,000, maybe more." At 24 hours he called again, told us we had destroyed our own van, and recited a litany of vehicular sins and technical mumbo jumbo. He closed with a punchline: the cost of repair would be $2,900. I told him that was too much and he said, "Well I don't know what you're gonna do, because you can't drive it." I told him that I needed time to think about it and would get back to him. We called Nick back and asked if we could pay cash and get $400 off, for $2,500. That's when he claimed he never said $2,900; the price was $3,500. I repeated that the price was too high, and he replied that they offer financing. And I thought, Yes, I'm sure you do. Then he said I needed to pay him $3,500 so he could get started on the repair. Nothing in writing. No offer of anything in writing. No repairs done. But he wants my $3,500. I was actually relieved when he went that far, because that was when I knew beyond all doubt that this was a racket and that I needed to tow the vehicle away from Hightstown AAMCO. I also knew Nick would not want me to take the vehicle elsewhere. I formulated my plan. (1) Go to the Hightstown police and seek their advice. (2) Go to AAMCO, pay for diagnosis, and notify them a tow truck would be taking the vehicle to another shop, so please place all parts on my tarp inside the vehicle. I might not know if everything's there, but the next mechanic will. (3) Hire tow truck and take the vehicle back to our honest local mechanic. Meanwhile, Nick called again seeking my $3,500 up front. My partner, who is no poker player, spoke to him. Nick must have scented what was in the air, because the following morning, as I prepared to drive to the Hightstown police, Nick called again. In an uncharacteristically perky voice he said that the van was all fixed so he just needed to get my credit card number. I said, "You fixed it?" Nick said, "Yeah. Well, I'm almost done. It'll be ready in a couple hours. Actually maybe by the end of the day." "I see. But I never authorized the work." Nick feigned outrage. Later that same morning I arrived at AAMCO with two of Hightstown's finest in tow. They were "not there to pick sides; just to keep the peace". Nevertheless, the AAMCO owner looked like he was going to have a heart attack he became so nervous. I told him I needed to pay for diagnosis and that a tow truck would come for the van. Panting, he said the van was--miraculously ahead of Nick's schedule--all ready to go... And I could have it as soon as I paid him $3,750. I told him the work had not been authorized, and that Nick's demands for money before work had made me decide to take my business elsewhere. That's when the owner said that they "always get paid before any work." I replied, "If that's the case, why did you do the work on my van?" In this crowded office, with owner, mechanic, two cops, and big-talker front-desk punk, you could hear a pin drop. The owner finally found his line, "Because we trusted you." Please, Mr. AAMCO, I beg that you do me no more favors. Owner, mechanic, and senior boy in blue go into the next room for some undisclosed purpose. Five minutes later the cop comes back and tells me that he "can see both sides" and if I remove the vehicle without paying I could be charged with theft of services. In case I didn't get the message, he added, "And I don't think you want that." Owner comes back in and says he'll give me a discount to $3,000. What could I do? I ask for a warranty in writing and agree to pay. Then he says, "Plus $200 tax." I pay $3,200, processed by front-desk closet case, and my partner drives the vehicle home. We are left to wonder what evil lurks inside. read more

AVOID AT ALL COSTS! RIPOFF ALERT! GO ANYWHERE ELSE! Had my vehicle towed here for diagnosis and estimation. Mechanic said the transmission needed to be rebuilt. After given a rather expensive quote, I said I needed to shop around for other pricing and would call back to confirm. I called back 2 hours later and left a voicemail that I was sending a tow truck to pick the vehicle up the next morning and did not want their service. The tow truck gets there and THE TRANSMISSION IS ALREADY OUT OF THE CAR!!! They claimed that they recorded voice authorization to begin work during that first call. NO! I said I would call back to confirm and now I'm stuck paying their overpriced labor with some of the worst customer service I've EVER EXPERIENCED! I asked to hear the voice recordings and they have yet to produce them. I'm seriously considering legal action as this is blatant theft and fraud. NEVER BRING YOUR VEHICLE HERE!!! read more

I've seen the other YELP reviews and my experience was better than others. They are ok but know your car. Went to have a leaking line replaced and Nick told me that a second line was leaking. I knew it wasn't but, in the end, they did what I asked at a fair price. Mark is great. Nick seems like he is always ready for a tussle... but I'll go back. read more

I wish I checked Yelp before I committed to have repairs done. We haven't had use of our Jeep since mid June. We got it back yesterday October 9th. We were told to take it to a Jeep dealer to calibrate the transmission. The Jeep has oversized tires 31 inches as opposed to the 29.5 inch stock tire. This requires the computer be recalibrated to compensate. The issue is from 2005 on the software to perform this is property of Chrysler Jeep. So your repair shop can't calibrate for tire size. This causes the transmission to shift improperly or go to neutral at highway speed. We returned to the shop under the useless warranty six times and as of yesterday October 9th its still not fixed. Also check pricing on rebuilding your transmission. I found that a complete rebuild for the NAG1 transmission costs $2300/$2800. Aamco East Windsor charged $3701.00. Avoid these people at all cost. read more

I have used them several times. This time it was for an Acura MDX and front end rattling. I called, dropped it off and checked in the next day. They were busy but I was happy to wait...the next day it was ready. Fixed at a reasonable price. Worth the wait... read more

Aamco of Hightstown gave me an estimate, picked the car up then doubled the estimate, then tripled the estimate to almost 7k I said I don't have that kinda money for a car that was only worth about 4K just give me the car back with out a transmission I'll tow It home and charge me me just the labor, but to them that's not good enough so idk what I'm gonna do read more

This company is the WORSE!!! They are unprofessional!!! They change their fees and they over charge for their services. They LIE and STEAL. They have my credit card number on file from a previous transaction so they decided to go into my account a take money that I did not authorize. Mark was okay with his actions of theft. He insisted I owed them money. I told him if any person owes the company money the law states they have to take them to court. He continued to justify his illegal actions!! DO NOT trust them and do not take your care here for service!!! read more

I wish there was a negative star I can give them.... I also fell victim to Aamco .... I took my car there to have the transmission repaired and the price increased from 1100 to $1500 to $2000 to $3000 to $3500 to $4000 and then $4800 they had my car for over two weeks... The price kept increasing on a daily basis Every time I called in to see how the progress was going. Aamco got to the point with my car they sent it out to the car dealership to be repaired .....when I found out I sanctioned the car dealer to do the final repair and when they dismantled the transmission to see what the problem was they Were flabbergasted to discovered that Aamco had put the whole transmission together with rusty old parts That they claim we're new and the parts that they didinstalled were damaged because they were installed incorrectly. The dealership charged me $2200 to redo the entire job that Aamco is charging me $4800 for and when I reached out to Aamco about refunding me my money for the fraudulent job They refuse so I had a contact my Credit card company and also the headquarters of Aamco in Pennsylvania's to file numerous complaints they still insisted I pay ... they are straight up bold face Liars and you should stay away from them as far as you can. read more

I'm giving this place 1 star for actually finishing the job and the car working so far without any problems. Here's why I'm taking off 4 stars though: We brought our car in because the transmission in my Acura had a leak. When we brought it in they told us they would do diagnostics and get back to us. That didn't take long and they presented us with a proposed bill of about 3.6k, which while it was expensive, was the cheapest in the area. They told us it would be about a week and that they would call. They never did and when we did call, they told us they would need an extra day to diagnose something or take it for the final road test and they would call when it was ready. No one ever called. Everytime we called that "next day", and were told that it would be "one more day" we had to rearrange rides until we decided to bite the bullet and just rent a car. 4 weeks later we finally picked our car up. When we went in to pay we asked Josh if we could speak to the manager about some kind of discount because of the extra money we had spent on the rental for 2.5 weeks and the inconvenience of being told it would be ready the next day when it never came. Josh told us they had already discounted us by giving us a couple discounts here and there and that they would give us a free transmission service. We didn't want a free transmission service. We wanted some sort of monetary compensation and asked if we could speak to the manager. Josh told us that he would have the manager call us. The manager never did. We called 4 more times over the course of the next couple of weeks and were always told that he would call us but he never did. We aren't greedy people. We just wanted a small discount, anything and would have felt satisfied with even an offer of a hundred or so dollars off the total. We aren't unreasonable or impatient, but we want to know when our vehicle really is going to be ready. If they had just old us from the start it would be a complicated fix, we could have arranged our transportation to work and home everyday to correspond with this inconvenience. We just wanted to manager to call so that we would feel like customers who just spent 3.6k and 4 weeks of our lives dealing with this particular franchise of Aamco. He didn't even have the decency to call and tell us he couldn't honor a discount. We aren't demanding people. He had nothing to lose by just calling us. We were kind to Josh since we felt that he was just doing as he was told. We didn't' huff and storm out. I hate writing negative reviews. I hate complaining, but when customer service at a place sucks, I want others to know about it. Go there at your own risk. read more

These guys are the WORST. They gave me a base price around 1900$ and the total came to 4300$. My car is a 2010 Dodge Caliber with 200k miles on it and as soon as they took the transmission out they refused to stop working on it. My 80 year old grandma gave them her debit card information & they refused to listen to me and stop working on it. It's a car worth 1k and she payed 4K to get I fixed. BUT, they didn't fix it. They replaced my transmission WRONG leaving multiple codes on my engine. They left my transmission tube OPEN and EXPOSED to oil gas and water, and let me drive for weeks while it was exposed. BASICALLY A WASTE OF 4K. They BROKE my speed sensor in my wheel & are denying that they broke it. Ever since I picked up the car my ABS light has been on which causes my car to deaccelerate and now my cruise control doesn't work. It always worked before I went to them. But they are denying breaking anything? Ok... Bottom line , NEVER COME HERE FOR ANY REASON. I WILL BE BRINGING THEM TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT. read more

Horrible service -- overcharged for what they said was wrong with the car and after going back and forth with these guy, I got frustrated and ended up selling the car as is to a mechanic a few weeks later -- Wish I had either found another AAMCO or different shop - I would never go to this shop again. read more

This AAMCO has a new owner, who seemed to really care about the customer. I went in for a transmission drain and fill, and Lou, the owner, did not try to oversell me. I did call around to a few different places to get prices, and they all tried to tell me I needed more than what the owners manual stated. Service was fast, and Lou said that if I should ever have any concerns or issues, to call him and let him know. read more

Entered without notice on a Saturday morning for basic maintenance & service. The service tech was very pleasant and advised that he could work on my auto almost immediately. I sat comfortably waiting in the lobby for the car to finish. It took about two hours, but I believe that it's because I didn't schedule ahead. I didn't feel cheated at all with the cost, as I would expected to have paid the same at another local 'chain'. read more

My car had a rattle, and I was about to drive it across the country, so I brought it in to Aamco to get the rattle fixed and to see if anything needed to be done before the drive. They fixed the rattle, said they couldn't find anything that needed maintenance, and didn't charge me a cent. I will definitely be bringing my car back here in the future. read more

Stay far away from this place if you have a transmission problem or any problem. In the hole $3,700.00 for a rebuilt transmission along with 2-1/2 months rental fees $2,300, total $6,000.00. They didn't fix the car, completely incompetent. They will lie and say the car has to get used to your driving if you car is violently changing gears. Brought car to dealer and was told none of the gears were catching. Ended up having to buy a new car. NEVER GO TO AAMCO. If you feel you been cheated as I have than please visit this website https://aamcolawsuit.wordpress.com/demanding-a-refund/ and put a stop to these thieves. read more

This morning I stopped to check my transmission. They wanted me to leave my car for 3 hours. After 2, 5 hours they called me and said that my air conditioner does not work and serpentine belt making noise. I said that just 4 weeks ago I serviced air conditioner system and installed a brand new compressor. They started again now my engine is having a lot of problems. I said that 4 month ago I put new engine from the GMC factory. Not rebuild but NEW. They started with my transmission - my car on the lift and they disconnected all wires and ready to put down transmission for internal diagnostic. They said that it will cost $1700 - $1800 just for parts. They even did not check transmission yet...I did not want them to fix my car and remove the transmission. They said no you cannot take your car it is not drivable. Interesting and how I drove it with "no air and broken engine" to them in 94F??? Now I'm removing with my Snap On scanner error codes ABS antilock brake system. I have no idea what they did to my car, but my rear brake cylinder is locked. Please read other reviews about this place. DON'T GO NEAR THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more