Meineke Car Care Center

I had to give one star because I couldn’t give zero. AAA towed car to Fitchburg, MA Meineke in an emergency for a bad clutch. Diagnosis was bad clutch and it was fixed, along with several other issues on the brakes. After picking up and driving approximately 100 miles, the transmission failed completely in the middle of MA. As I live in NY, I had to tow the car myself and started working with Meineke in Fitchburg to figure out what to do because there were no problems with the transmission when it was taken in for service and the transmission was dropped to replace the clutch. Their recommendation was to tow it to Meineke in Kingston, NY, closer to where I reside, and if it was a workmanship problem, any Meineke would honor the warranty. Meineke in Kingston couldn’t find an issue but were quick to give me a quote for a new transmission at over $3,000. When I declined, they were even quicker to call me back offering me a used transmission they found for $1,500. They assured me even high mileage transmissions are bullet proof in these cars and wouldn’t be a problem. That seemed odd because the one I had was now garbage after Meineke worked on it. I then asked if they could again look at the broken transmission to see if it was a workmanship problem and they said they could, but that would cost around $400 in labor to do that work. I declined and went back to pick up the car on the U-Haul, one-way rental car carrier that I held onto because I was unsure if anyone would repair the car. While loading the car, Kingston Meineke handed me the bolt that fell out of the transmission bell housing from the work that was done by the Fitchburg Meineke. I was assured this was not an issue, but they recommended I call the Fitchburg Meineke and tell the owner about it and see if they will do anything about it. I was under the impression that was why I brought it to “any Meineke” that would honor the warranty. I promptly took the car to a local shop because it needed to be repaired. After less than a minute of observation, the mechanic noted exactly what was assembled incorrectly without taking anything apart or charging any money. Bolt falling out, bolt shimmed with ad-hoc nuts, dowel pins missing...all obvious things that cause transmissions to fail. Photographs were taken and I told the reliable mechanic to just fix the car because: (1) I can’t trust that Meineke would do it right even if I went through the pain to fight it and (2) I highly doubted they would do anything anyway. I was exactly right! Because this was such a mess, I called Meineke directly to file a concern. I told the entire story, and it was documented, with photographs, seen below. The person taking the information was good and certainly understood this “sounded like a problem.” Meineke does have a line you can call, and they open a case. It seemed really legitimate like they were interested in helping. Well, it turns out that is a useless endeavor as well because all they do is call the shop owners and then call you back and tell you there is nothing they can do. They do say they “are sorry” a lot, but that does nothing. I shouldn’t be surprised they’re doing nothing to cover for their poor workmanship, but this situation was truly egregious. Neither the owners nor the company stand behind their work or their warranties, no matter which location you go to.

3 stars because they did a good job with the service and offered me a loaner car, but they were so overpriced it’s insane. Let me explain. They charge $90 for every item on the list of things you give them to check out. Like if you needed them to look at your brakes, and nothing was even wrong, they still charge you $90. And then if you needed them to take a look at your alignment, that’s another $90. There was an instance where the solution to one of my issues was LITERALLY the click of a button (pictured) and they still charged me $90 because that was a separate line item I needed them to investigate. How asinine! Overall they did a good job but won’t be back. GO TO MONRO INSTEAD, IT’S DOWN THE STREET

I found Joe and his crew about 2 years ago. I have to tell you he has gone out of his way more than once to help me. He has shown me kindness, respect and concentration every time. I trust him with my truck, my wife’s car, and my son’s car. I needed to have my son’s car fixed before he went on a long trip. He got me in the shop with in an hour, got all my breaks done, mounted and balanced his tires, and aligned the front end. So not only same day service but less expensive then other shops. I did not have to compromise my son’s safty and he did not have to change his plans. Things are expensive and there is no way getting around that, so go somewhere where they won’t take advantage of you, your situation and your budget. Joe is someone who cares and it’s obvious, you will grow to love fast!!

We came to the shop after some unexpected car issues while visiting Kingston, and definitely made the right choice. Everyone we worked with was professional and prompt in responding, and even managed to quickly order uncommon parts. The repairs were thorough and priced less than what we expected! Would highly recommend for any service needs.

Meineke was able to beat out all other quotes for significant repair work. They loaned me a car while mine was in the shop, which saved me hundreds in rental car fees. The guys at the front desk really helped me out when there was confusion over the quote, and ultimately got my quote down by $1100. I am now a loyal customer.