Lone Star Bavarian, Inc.

Terrible owner, terrible attitude! Would not recommend this place. I have taken my car here prior and had no issue, however this last time was not a good experience. Took my car in for a error message that popped up. Was told it would be x amount of dollars to fix it and we decided due to the amount to fix and age of my car we would look at getting a newer car. Not one time did they tell me my car would drive "off" because it is now lopsided because my air springs wouldn't fill up with air. They just handed me my keys and I paid my diagnostic fee and left. My drive home was terrible, I received it back worse than when we brought it in. When my husband called trying to get answers Trent immediately went on attack mode insinuating we wanted him to fix this for free. That was not the point of this phone call, a simple explanation is all we were asking for since our car is now lopsided. Trent was a complete hot head during the phone call and ended up hanging up on my husband when he was trying to ask questions. It really is a shame to have the owner be such a jerk to their customers when questions arise. Only positive they have the cutest office dog!

If only negative. stars were a thing…. Two times I called to make an appt. (1st one they “scheduled” me on a holiday, then were closed.) 2nd “appt,” I arrived and they had no idea what I was doing there as there was never an appt scheduled. Both calls, I was told that an 034 PCV hose would have to be purchased by them in order to warranty work. (We own the car, it runs great, and my son wants to do some cool aftermarket stuff. We had the brand new part from 034 but returned it so Lonestar Bavarian could re-order.) The young lady at the front said “Well, we don’t do that but I can go ask the owner.” Owner comes out and asks me what we are wanting to do in a very condescending manner. “We don’t do that.” He said, which is totally fine…however I wish I had been told that during either call when I explained what we were wanting. I tried to explain to the owner, that when we had spoken to Steve, he told us we needed to let them order the 034 part. The girl I spoke with the 2nd time, also told me this. His tone was disrespectful from the beginning. He asked me “So what is wrong with the car?!” I replied, “Nothing. It’s perfect.” His response, “So you want to put an after market part on a car that runs perfect?! Uh, I’ll pass.” He interrupted and spoke over me numerous times and was incredibly rude for no reason. I totally understand him not wanting to do this type of work, truly, but if we own the car, we can do whatever we want to it. A good company with good customer service would have explained nicely, and then maybe offered some options, vs talking down to a potential customer. My son was in there with me, and I was embarrassed for this owner at his lack of character and speaking to a mom this way. He should be ashamed of himself and if I were the 2 ladies in the front, I would have felt like crawling under the desk and hiding. That’s just not how you do business and treat other people in general. They may be fine at regular work on cars but their customer service and life skills need a major overhaul. It’s gross that a grown man would talk to a person, especially a female, in that way. Learn some manners. It’s embarrassing. Also your office stinks like cigarettes or cigars.

If you’re handy enough to turn a wrench on basic maintenance items for a German car you might save a lot of money, but not a lot of time. If you take it to a competent mechanic you’ll save a lot of time but not a lot of money. Pick your poison but also know when to say when on your shade tree abilities. In that spirit I brought my 12 year old Audi for a checkup as it will soon be handed down to my oldest child to start driving so I needed to make sure it’s safe and reliable, and I knew The battery was on its way out. left unaddressed it would surely leave a body stuck at the worst place and time. So knowing an Audi battery replacement is gonna run $500 at least I figured I’d have the vehicle given a once over and began looking for an Audi focused shop. Turns out those are rare on this side of DFW but I found Lone Star here in FTW. Of course I read the reviews here on Google (enjoyed the 1 stars!) and could immediately tell this shop is legit. How? Well When the owner personally responds to each 1 star explaining in detail the issue for all to make their own judgment and conclusion, you know he cares about his reputation and the quality work it reflects. Trent’s shop is clean, welcoming, spacious and organized with excellent parking. His Mechanics are clean and not covered in grease, so you know your interior won’t be covered in spots when you get your car back. The techs will take time to answer technical questions in detail to address concerns on recommended repairs and service to help you decide, and sometime you’ll get a free “pro tip” if you’re not a dick. The $195 fee to run diagnostics and inspection is reasonable as their time and tooling to do so is not free so I’m not sure why some people are grumpy about it but whatever. Good luck finding a shop that doesn’t have that. The guys who run the shuttle to drop you off at work and pick you up are friendly, and they made the short ride to work enjoyable with pleasant conversation and no awkward silence, unless that’s what you want. Even Trent himself was kind enough to give me a ride to the office. The only bad part was the trip was too short and I didn’t get to chat as much as I’d want… (professionals can teach you a lot) He seems like the kind of guy who I could talk shop with for hours and learn about cars… Anyway… the Bottom line is that you get what you pay for from Lone Star Bavarian: quality service backed by decades of experience, an established reputation and at a reasonable price. They do not cut corners so don’t expect a “deal…” (also, you bought a German car and thought it would be cheap to fix???) There’s plenty of fly by nighters out there if you want a discount. And while they clearly specialize in BMW and Mercedes Benz, they know their way around Audi (VW) without issue and likely have the tools and experience to handle most European imports to boot. Thank you LSB for treating my car with the same level of care that I do. I will definitely come back (if the work is out of my league)! Bravo.

Honesty and Integrity are not words often used in the same sentence for repair facilities lately. Lone Star excels at both. They were open and honest about what it would take to resolve my issue and pointed me in the right direction. They could have sold me services I didn’t need, but they chose the long game of doing the right thing. This has been my experience over and over again with Lone Star. And that’s why I’ve been coming to them for over 15 years.

Called last Friday (May 2) and made an appointment for Wednesday (May 7). I arrived at around 8 am and spoke with Nicole at the front desk about my appointment and what service my car needed (transmission service). They provided a ride home and shortly Nicole called and gave me a price for the service needed and I agreed. She stated that my car 2007 BMW 550i would be ready later in the day. I received a call around 1 or 2 pm to say that my car was ready. Nicole sent the driver to pick me up. The driver arrived quickly and I paid my bill and left. They had washed my car and vacuumed the inside (very nice Thanks for that). Nicole was very professional and made everything a smooth transaction. JH