AAMCO Transmissions & Total Car Care

AAMCO in Walnut Creek did great on my Transmission service replacement work that I needed done on my Chevy Tahoe. I was quoted from three shops and AAMCO came in with a great price and took more time than others to educate me on the source of their parts and the work that needed to be done and why.

Once I authorized the work the actual price came down a bit from the original quote so they over delivered there when it came to price.

I was on a tight time frame and AAMCO delivered the finished work much faster than originally planned.

I was able to get the car back and in time to take the family for a special memorial day trip.

With a bigger ticket item like a transmission the price tag is never fun to look at, but they quickly offered me financing options to pay with no interest over 6 months so that made the whole thing much easier to take in.

Overall Derek and his team were amazing with price, speed and service. My Tahoe is running great and should be for some time now. I'll be going to them for any future repair needs.

Honestly, I was hoping that would be a great place where a single woman coming to an auto service would be treated with honesty. I agree the owner and his partner seem nice, pleasant and polite. Until it comes to pricing unfortunately....

I am currently having a horrible experience with this place. Last week I got a quote for the job on my car for $1065 for changing solenoid pack on the transmission. Prices on the Internet are various but usually range from around 450-$650 or this type of work (including labor) After this research $1065 sounded steep, but I accepted as I know this is the Bay Area and it's more expensive here. This was last week. I called to check in today. everything sounded wonderful. The car is ready to be picked up.

Only after agreeing on the pick up time they sent me a text message saying that my invoice is ready and it is $1665. I called them immediately and said that there must be a misunderstanding because the price we agreed on was $1065.

And that I would have remembered if it was $1665 because I would have not given permission for a work that expensive!!! And trust me 1665 sounds very different and more much longer than 1065 :(

instead of calling me back Jay for the first time asked his female employee to give me a call back. Which is another weird thing why would you delegate someone to communicate your final decision? She basically said that there's nothing she can do, the price is fixed and it is going to be $1665. Oh, and she did offer me a "very generous" 10% discount for "the inconvenience".

I'm curious why they choose to text me the price only after the job was done. Why did they not text me at the time when we were discussing the price and agreed on $1065???

But the only thing she kept repeating, maybe even 10 times is that the price was agreed upon by me "VERBALLY" during last week's phone call. IF they base the price on a phone call that happened in the previous week, my OTHER question is WHY there is no recording of the phone call available????

WHY there was no text message to confirm the exact amount that was agreed upon?? In other words WHY there is no proof of the price that they said that needed to be paid? It is soo CONVIENIENT for these places to "overlook" such "detail" as texting or emailing the agreed sum before the work started.

Now they can basically say any prize they want. And of course, 1665 is "close enough" to 1065.

And a silly woman like me will not even notice the difference or even if she does notice the difference then you can just tell her :" well we agreed on that last week on the phone call. "Well where is the proof of the phone call where is the recording of the phone call?" "Oh, We don't actually record those phone calls."
"Did you text me the price"? "No we don't text the price before the work is done"

And I know that they don't care about my review because with the amount of cars in the Bay Area and with the they have abundance of clients anyways.

Ps. For the record, even if I count full 5 hours of work (which I highly doubt they did) on the car x $196 which she and he quoted that comes to $980. The cost of solenoid from car dealers is around $250. I am attaching four or five screenshots of different dealers offering this in this price range. That would mean that the final cost would come to 1350.

Had my AC compressor fixed and nine months later the AC was not working. Brought it back in and got an estimate for over $2000 to fix the AC because it was related to another part of the system so the warrantee on the compressor would not cover the repair.
Got a second estimate and the issue was a simple reloading of freon from a small leak...total cost $125.
I would get a second estimate before committing to this aamco.

Professional, friendly service from Derek, Jay, and Araceli. Surpassed expectations with quality of work and thorough communication throughout the process from estimate to final repairs. Highly recommend.

Second time using these guys and still very pleased. My Jeep was having an issue and they were able to accommodate me very quickly. First spoke with Eugene and worked with Derek again which they both were awesome. I was honestly anticipating my car to be there the whole week since I didn't have an appointment or anything and they had a really quick turn around time which made me very happy. Communication was thorough all throughout. Luckily what my car ended up needing was not anything too major. Overall very very happy with this team. Can't stress enough how happy I feel to have a shop out this way I know I can trust and plan to continue to use these guys. Thanks again Derek and team!

Derek is the man!
After being burned multiple times from a previous mechanic I gave AAMCO a call for a problem I thought I was having in my car. Derek couldn't have been nicer or more helpful! He gave me a rough diagnosis over the phone and was even texting me after hours helping me get the car dropped off by a tow truck around 11:30 pm! I thought it was a transmission issue and but he found it to be a busted axel. Constant communication and updates on the car the whole process made the process so much smoother! I dropped it off on a Tuesday at 11:30pm and I they had it up and rolling again by Thursday night! He even told me he would stay late if I wanted to pick it up that night but I just got the next day as he had already done more than enough to help! I've been back multiple times and they have gone above and beyond to help me! I don't even live that close but I will always have my vehicles worked on here! If you're having reservations about coming here for work, don't. You won't find a better place with nice and helpful people to get you back on your way!

If I could I would rate this business with ZERO stars. I was ripped off and I advice anyone going somewhere else for car repairs. I went there for auto repair and they damaged the initial problem I came in to have repaired.

I am very pleased with my experience at AAMCO in Walnut Creek . Derek and his team were very nice and professional. Derek figured out what was wrong with my transmission and he was so nice to offer me a complimentary diagnostic. Highly recommend !!

I started to notice a 'shudder' when driving my 2016 GMC Acadia. The dealership told me the torque converter was failing and recommended either repairing just the torque converter or doing a full transmission rebuild ($$$$). Since my vehicle was still drive-able I decided to give myself some time to think about all options and obtain other recommendations/costs. AAMCO recommended trying a fluid change with an additive first to see if it helped. Not going to lie - I had relatively low expectations on the outcome but decided it would be best to go this route first and to my AMAZEMENT, the shudder has significantly gone away.

AAMCO was the first and only transmission shop that suggested this as a option to try before going to more extensive and expensive options. I highly recommend this shop if you are in need of transmission related service or repair.

These guys area amazing. They really know Subaru transmission very well! Very supportive and explained everything.