Very thorough! Had a leaking power steering pump. Fluid had sprayed out all over the engine…read morecompartment. They quickly diagnosed the problem . Beat the repair estimate of a National auto repair chain, with six locations in Gainesville, by over $100 by eliminating an unnecessary part. When my car was returned the engine compartment was completely cleaned making it look factory new. Prompt, reliable!

In one of the brief warm spots between cold fronts that we had during February, I noticed that my…read morecar's air conditioning was no longer pushing out cold air. Sad days, though I had had some issues with it about a year prior, so not necessarily unexpected. I have been to Dad's before, and they had done good work on my brakes for the car, so I figured it was reasonable that this would be a good one for them as well. I was able to set up an appointment just a couple of days later, and brought the car in there. No issues on getting it checked in, and they worked on it that morning. Sadly, they were not able to find the leak in the system. I was going to have to take it to a specialist. However, they also did not charge me for the diagnosis, which was very nice of them! In the future you can bet that I am going to be going to Dad's for work on my vehicles, because they are an upstanding group that know how to treat customers.

Courteous, knowledgeable, and communicative. Broke down after 9.5hrs driving in town I knew no one…read more I called using Yelp as guidance. He sent me txt's when tech was assigned, when parts were picked up, when tech was en route (w shared location). Invoices via email and payment made via Zelle. At first I thought $825 for a mobile re-manufactured alternator and drive belt job was high BUT turned out on par with what AI suggested. Afterall, I'm stuck and had no other options. These guys came through for me and my family in a tight spot. Thanks Jay and Nilo. I was back in the road 3 hrs from when I called.

Replaced a harmonic balancer on a c5 corvette. Not an easy job. Did great. Kept to his price. All…read morearound good experience.

I have a 2001 Mustang that was having problemas starting. I took to these folks (thanks AAA!!) and…read moreleft it in their hands. A few days later, I come to pick up my baby, and she has been cranking up like she usually does, finally! She has about 249,930 miles on it, so it was crucial to me to get her back in the road to cross this milestone!

Stopped in on Monday to schedule a time to replace a power steering pump. Spoke with Brian, and as…read morewe talked, I mentioned that I would like them to check my wheel bearings, and as long as I was at it, would they also check my air conditioning. We talked about how the A/C had gradually stopped working . He said that a diagnostic test and check with fill of A/C would be around $ 200. He told me they would replace the power steering pump and check the wheel bearings. He said that the power steering pump would be around $ 420 total.... The wheel bearings would be expensive because they had to do a bunch of work and they are press on bearings. He said they would check them first before tearing into them. I made the appointment for Wednesday....because I had their assurance that the power steering pump would be there and the installation and the other work would be completed that day. I dropped the vehicle off on Tuesday afternoon, gave the keys to Gary. Wednesday afternoon, Gary called to tell me that "good news"...the wheel bearing all seemed good and made no odd noises so they did not have to be replaced. He then told me that there was a problem with the delivery of the power steering pump and they would not be able to finish the job on Wednesday. I then had to rearrange my schedule... I understand that sometimes things happen. Thursday, they called and said that my truck was finished and i could pick it up. I arrived at 4ish....they said everything was all set. I paid the bill....$ 667 which is what I expected for the pump and the A/C service. I left their garage and drove all the way to Twin Lake and got nothing but hot air blowing on me. I turned around, went back to see them and asked how long I had to wait until the A/C started blowing cold air. Brian, the original conversation guy, said he didn't remember talking about the A/C. I then looked at the bill and the only thing they charged me for was the power steering pump and didn't even check the A/C. So...they only missed the estimate for the pump by about $ 250 and didn't fix the A/C at all. On the plus side, they did check the wheel bearings and were honest about their condition. However....making me wait an extra day because they didn't order the part when I made the appointment, and overcharging (in my opinion) for the power steering pump left a bad taste in my mouth. They had 1 chance to leave a good first impression and they didn't. They dropped the ball and I won't be back, nor will I recommend them to anyone else.

I hesitantly went in to get a quote for my car that was having issues, and Wendy was so kind and…read moretransparent that, even though, the repairs were as costly as I had feared, she made me feel at ease. I was confident in paying that amount because I knew I was in good, honest hands. Her and her husband are good people. I will continue to go there for all my car needs for as long as they are open.

I would not recommend Ahren's-- especially to university students-- based off of my experience with…read moretheir team and their extreme upcharging of parts. Their pricing is not honest at all. I took my car in with serpentine belt issues. For my make and model, this part generally costs $30-$50. Ahren's priced this part at $80. Their diagnostic examine also found belt tensioner issues. For the serpentine and belt tensioner replacement combined, they quoted me $512 of repairs. This is extremely high and gives me the inclination that this is another mechanic in town that is trying to take advantage of college students who are not as informed on car repairs. I do not think the presented quote is fair by any means so thanked them and let them know I would not be having service done their. I was presented with an $85 fee for a half-hour diagnostic look. This fee was not disclosed beforehand at all, was not mentioned verbally, and I did not sign anything agreeing to this fee. Take your car elsewhere. I took my vehicle here just out of convenience of location, but have previously had much better service at the Firestone off of Archer and with Billy's Auto Repair & Towing. UPDATE: I went in to pick up my car and wish I could leave a negative review. If you take your car here and leave without even having any work done, you will be charged an $85 minimum. I asked why I wasn't informed of this in anyway (no signatures, no verbal inform) beforehand and the woman working the front desk had the owner come out. He raised his voice and started asking why I hadn't taken my car to Billy's or somewhere else. In his rant he referenced other reviews that I have left on Gainesville for miscellaneous places which was unsettling. He lied and said he listened to my phone conversation, saying that I was informed of all fees beforehand-- I certainly was not and he wouldn't play the recording. I have lived in Gainesville for many years and can say assuredly that this is one of the shadier places in town. They use deceptive business practices and their prices are anything but honest.

My 2006 Silverado overheated on the freeway. The first shop it was towed to misdiagnosed the…read moreproblem. Smitty's got it right off and had my truck fixed in one day. Good friendly people. Working folk. The kind I grew up with. Truck is running fine and I only wish that I didn't live almost 2 hours away because I would go there again.

WOW! I had my 1992 Ford F-150 towed to Smitty's Auto, and what a mistake that was. That was…read more04/09/24, I mentioned to them that I was a disabled veteran who has been fighting cancer since 2013, and I needed my truck to get to my doctor's appointments. No problem they said. Then Wednesday they called and said come get it and when I got there I climbed my truck and it wouldn't start. After about 10 minutes I finally got it started and Smitty's Auto had closed. When I left it kept dieing on me and was hard to get started again. Well it died again in the middle of a large intersection, and 3 lights later it started long enough to get me into a convenient store. It seemed to idle okay so I took off praying that I make it home. I did make it home barely. I had paid Smitty's Auto $637.05, and the truck will not start up after getting it home. I sent it back to them the next day Thursday. When I called Friday to asked if it was ready he asked me if I could wait till Monday and that he would look at it Saturday and in the same reath said that he would look at it Monday. Well when Monday came around he said that it needs a new computer, and it would take another week to get it. Well after already paying them $637.05 and it is running worse than when they got it I decided that they didn't know what they were doing or just outright ripping me off. So I told them that I was going to have it towed back to my house. He called me back and said that they had some paperwork for me to fill out and I just told him to give it to the wrecker driver. When the wrecker driver got to my apartment with my truck he had another bill for $352.22 and it said for a computer that was installed after just telling me over the phone that it would take another week before they could get one. Now this is what they had been telling me that was what it needed. Obviously not if they actually installed one that they told me they didn't have. You would think a disabled veteran fighting cancer could get a break, but Smitty's Auto repair though that I was an easy target, and took advantage of me. But this old veteran isn't going to let it be. I'm taking Smitty's Auto repair to small claims court. I don't think that they will look very well stealing from a disabled veteran. Sincerely, Jim Burtnett

Read all the worst of the reviews. IMO, they are spot on, everyone of them. Whatever you do,…read moredon't go here. I am a mechanic. I drove to Gainesville from the W. coast w/o any tools. Needed trans work to get back home. Don't go here. Run from this place.

I took my 2009 Dodge 1500 to get a shift module replaced this guy never completed the work during…read morethe timeframe. He stated needless to say even after he did complete Truck still was doing the exact same thing getting stuck in fourth gear. Also noticed that my transmission fluid was overcharged with fluid. It took several tries to go back to get some of the fluid drained. I didn't even want them to work on the vehicle anymore so I never asked him to do anything more with the transmission, this place is a total scam.

I purchased a car here and the prices were non negotiable which was a plus for me. Several friends…read morerecommended this business. The purchase process was straightforward but also kind of odd. The salesman met me inside with his sunglasses on and did not introduce himself? He was very vague when I asked him questions about maintenance and warranty. I needed a car because mine had been totaled and this place was recommended , but still I think they take no pressure to the extreme. It seems you can still be polite and friendly.

My A/C was fixed and works like gangbusters. I was given a list of my car's functions that are…read moregetting marginal which I was well aware of. I will probably have these guys fix stuff in the future.