Mobile auto repair service near Middletown, CT

It began well. Staff was personable, location clean and well kept. My second visit to Torello as I was pleased with my initial tire rotation and oil change service. Skip ahead a few months and I bring in my truck which has a leak from the transmission fluid cooling lines. After diagnostic, I get a call with a quote for dealer parts and labor to replace which is high at $1200. I check with my brother who has been a mechanic for 40+ years and he looks up the parts and they come to less than 200. I call back and speak with Mike and he tells me he quoted dealer parts. I explain that truck is a 2009 with 276K miles and there’s no real need for dealer parts and he tells me he can save me a couple of hundred dollars by going aftermarket. I authorize the work based on that discussion. I get a voicemail 5 days later telling me the truck is done and when I call back, the cost is $1650. One of the cooler lines was frozen to the cooler and they ordered the part and installed it without informing me first, so I have little say in the matter at this point. Tell him I will pick up the truck that same day. Their website and signs on the front door give 5 PM as closing time so I have time to pick it up after work. I arrive at 4:30 and my truck is nowhere to be seen and the doors are locked. I knock as I see someone inside and ask if they are closed and I get a nod before they turn around and go back to whatever they were doing. Now I have to take the next morning off from work so I can pick up my truck now that I know when they really close and that I cannot make it in time after work. The next day when I pick up the truck I see that the pricing still reflects dealer pricing to the tune of $750 vs the original $400 quoted for dealer parts (even though we agreed on aftermarket) Mike’s not there and Ashley can’t answer any questions. I pay the $1650, She hands me the key and says the truck should be on the side somewhere. Turns out, it’s blocked in by other vehicles in the fenced in area. Ultimately they pull it out and I leave. I’m pretty livid at this point and I look up the dealer parts and my cost online and find that I could have purchased them all OE for just over $400. So they almost doubled in cost. As if that weren’t bad enough, I go and look at the labels on the parts they actually installed and they are aftermarket. To sum up, they were friendly enough, but ultimately not straight with me about anything but the cost of labor.

Had car trouble on 84, and they quickly fixed the problem with no hassle, and they were nice!

SOUTH ST. AUTOMOTIVE INC. Has moved to 54 Cody St W. Htfd. (around the corner off shield st./ June 2006)ASE Master certified technicians. 860-953-6727. check us out at SOUTHSTAUTO.COM...