A & E Tire

location
Unfortunately, my family’s experience with this shop was not very good. A good friend who uses them a lot recommended them, and he has been pretty reliable with other referrals. I went to get an estimate on several issues with my Mazda. I worked with Wayne and he was very helpful initially. When I picked up the car, I was told that it wasn’t really worth fixing and I should trade it in. The problems were not mechanical (air compressor, struts and a problem with the gas tank). I was kind of surprised, but he didn’t charge me for the estimate. Since then I was able to find a shop who were able to fix it for a reasonable cost.
I then referred my daughter to them with a Subaru that had a check engine light on. She took it in and left it. They gave her an estimate and she agreed to the work. When she went to pick it up, they charged $150 above what they had quoted. They said they repaired some oil leaks and that was causing the check engine light to go on. They refused to honor the initial quote. A week later the check engine light went back on. She brought it back in and they looked at it again and said it seemed ok and couldn’t find the reason for the check engine light. She asked if it was OK to drive it up to Aspen and they said yes. On her way back the car started having trouble and she took it directly back to A & E. They told her that she had blown the head gaskets due to oil leaks and that it would be a $3200 repair. They refused to credit her the $600 she had already paid them. She talked with Matt mainly but also the owner. Since that seemed outrageous and perhaps dishonest, she took it to 2 other shops getting a quote of $1800 from one and $1300 from another which was a Subaru dealer which would normally be high.
The entire situation really smells of someone taking advantage of a young woman who doesn’t know cars and was not respected by the person she works with at A & E. This has put her in a bad situation financially due to their handling of the repairs. What a shame that people still behave this way. SO, WATCH OUT! I feel badly I recommended them. Better to find a more honest shop.