Auto Engineering

If I could give Rick and Auto Engineering 10 stars, I would. My wife was driving my RS5 Competition on a Sunday afternoon when the tire punctured, leaving her stranded at a local Starbucks with 0 psi. I rushed over to meet her and see what happened. By pure coincidence, Rick, the owner of Auto Engineering, happened to be at the exact same place. Even though he was off the clock and clearly busy spending his Sunday with his family, he still went completely out of his way to help me safely swap out the flat for the spare tire. That is the kind of unmatched integrity, customer service, and genuine care for the community that you just don't find at most repair shops. This level of dedication perfectly matches the excellent experience I had when I originally brought the car in for its 20k-mile service, a brake fluid flush, and to get an APR Stage 1 tune flashed. The team is incredibly knowledgeable, and I was really impressed by their fair pricing and transparent labor rates—which can be hard to find with European specialty shops. The service was handled flawlessly, and the tune completely transformed the car. The power delivery is incredibly smooth but pulls relentlessly, and you can really hear the intake working now with the increased boost. They helped me get exactly the reliable, OEM+ feel I was looking for. This brings me to a ridiculously fraudulent 1-star review left recently by a "Jim Parolisi," who claimed the shop doesn't specialize in specific brands, isn't certified, and lacks dealer knowledge. As Auto Engineering already pointed out, Jim is actually a service advisor at the Audi Burlington dealership trying to smear a successful independent competitor. It is incredibly pathetic and perfectly illustrates why I avoid the dealership. While dealer service advisors are apparently busy writing fake reviews online to protect their overpriced quotas, Rick is out here on his day off, taking time away from his own family to physically help a stranded driver, and his team is flawlessly executing specialized performance upgrades. If you want an honest, highly skilled, and reliable mechanic who treats your car like his own, skip the shady dealership tactics and go to Auto Engineering. I highly recommend this shop for both routine maintenance and performance upgrades!

Auto Engineering is the ONLY place I will ever bring my 2023 RS3. Period. They have my business for life. The mechanics who have worked on my car, including Rick who is also the owner, take pride in their workmanship and have earned my trust. These are both rare commodities. Rick is fabulous and a superstar. He is gracious, passionate about his trade and has patiently listened and responded to my dozens of questions, which are purely to satisfy my curiosity. I have asked for his opinion/advice and he has offered his suggestions without an undertone of a pushy salesman. With lack of concern of stealing Auto Engineering’s limelight, I would like to comment on Jim Parolisi’s disrespectful, inarticulate and baseless rant. It appears to be an attempt to dissuade potential new AE clients in hopes of attracting clientele to Audi Burlington. Ironically, I’m a former customer. Audi Burlington damaged my grill and trunk on my 2 month old RS3. Needless to say, dealerships are not always the best option. Even if you haven’t experienced issues at a dealership, bring your car to Auto Engineering. I’m a strong believer in supporting an independent business. AE does not over inflate costs, they provide better service, they actually care about the car as well as the driver and they have personally exceeded my expectations. If your standards are higher than mine, color me impressed!

Updated Review: I thought my other one was too much of a "rant" so I've cleaned it up a bit. I recently had a repair done with Auto Engineering on my 2012 A6, they overcharged me on labor time for spark plugs so I left a 3-star review. The owner, Rick, then invited me to share quotes showing how much less other shops charged for labor. I sent over the first one from a private shop, and it was ignored because it was in NH. I sent over a second from an Audi dealer in MA, and it was once again rejected because even though the labor was cheaper, the overall cost was higher (due to pricier manufacturer parts, which was irrelevant to my point), this is the dealer mentioned in Rick's comment below this review. I sent over a third quote ($390.14 total) for another private shop in North Chelmsford, which not only met Rick's criteria but even showed the exact, significantly fewer labor hours required to install spark plugs. Then? He stopped responding 💀 After he stopped responding, Rick left a dismissive response on my review that evaded my complaint. I sent three quotes all showing you don't need 3 hours to replace spark plugs. The first two got denied due to exaggerated criteria that the owner did not communicate to me, and the third (first one to meet all his criteria) was flat out ignored. The only singular thing Rick wanted to address was the higher overall cost of Audi Burlington's quote ($690 vs $602 total, which was $402 vs $504 in labor, cheaper) - not the other 2 quotes, not the cheaper labor cost on all three, just this one quote's higher total cost. This place charges you for more labor than they actually need, and won't take accountability for it. I understand that my 1-star is hard to believe/matters with all the 5-star reviews, so all I can do is just encourage you to compare your quotes with AE to other shops in the area. You will see plain as day that these guys charge generously for labor hours. If there are any returning customers seeing this, I suggest do the same and try it out, your trust needs to be checked every once in a while. Honestly, I'm glad the owner sent me on a goose chase for other quotes- they all reinforced how much I just got fleeced. I hope future customers will make the same comparisons and push back on AE's labor the way I should have to begin with.

My Audi was running low on its special engine coolant, so I stopped by Auto Engineering to buy some. Shaun came outside, topped up the reservoir, and then gave me the remainder of the container. Shaun and Auto Engineering are wonderful!

As a former diehard VW Audi enthusiast who had been away from the scene for a decade this is the only place I would bring my new to me turbo blue S5. They have handled everything from post purchase inspection to getting all service up to par to the level this car should have been maintained since new. I am extremely picky with who touches my vehicles and there is no one else but Auto Engineering. They handled all of my requests and even helped me fix a broken license plate holder from the dealer I bought it from - sometimes it's the little things! Rick and team go above and beyond. A++ Looking forward to doing some performance mods soon- and more!