AAMCO Transmissions & Total Car Care

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Good Morning,



As of December 1st Aamco Peoria is under new ownership and management. My wife and I are the new owners and have been with Aamco for 19 years at another location in North Glendale. We are excited to bring our family to this new location. We plan to extend our same customer service promise too all of our new Peoria Aamco customers. While we specialize in transmission, we also perform total car care for all of your auto repair and maintenance needs. Stop by for your next service or maintenance and give our friendly crew an opportunity to earn your business!!



Thank You,

Scott Dregne

On March 26, 2012 my husband and I brought our 2007 Chrysler 300 in to AAMCO Transmissions located at 14131 N. Rio Vista Blvd, Suite #16 Peoria, AZ 85381. We made the manager, Larry, aware that we would like to have a check engine light diagnosed and a tension strut replaced. He agreed to have both issues checked free of charge. We left the vehicle with the shop and approximately 3 hours later we received a call from Larry in which he advised us he needed us to come in. Once we arrived, Larry explained to us that we had a severe leak from the case connector on the front of the transmission, and that it needed to be addressed first and foremost because it was such a major issue, and that more than likely great damage had been done to the transmission. Larry never disclosed to us how low the fluid may have been, but pointed out a single drop on the shop floor. We expressed to him that even our assigned parking spot in our apartment complex had just began to show a drop of fluid and that our vehicle had just been serviced for an oil change and there was no concern by Chrysler of a low transmission fluid level. He insisted we move forward with a RDI (remove, diagnose, and inspect) fee, which be applied to cover any repairs, if necessary. This fee was verbally given to us as $595. We agreed at that point to move forward with the inspection to ensure no components were damaged internally. At that point, our vehicle had approximately 67,000 miles on it and had never exhibited any signs of transmission issues, to include slipping, grinding, or hard shifting. On March 26, 2012 Larry called us back and stated in order to fix our transmission it would cost us $4300. Astounded, I told Larry that we would be in to pick up our vehicle, pay the original $595 for the RDI fee, and to please reassemble our vehicle so that we may obtain a second opinion. He assured us that it was not in the company policy to simply put the vehicle back together without charging us $700 for a "kit" needed to reassemble the transmission and an additional $1000 in labor, for a total of $1700. This total did not include any parts necessary to actually repair the issues he had stated they discovered due to the severe leak of transmission fluid, but merely reassembly of the transmission into the vehicle. My husband, at that point, took the phone to speak with Larry. He stated to Larry that we would be in to pick up our vehicle with a flatbed wrecker vehicle and to pay the originally agreed upon $595. Again, Larry assured us that the vehicle could not leave the premises in a tore down state, but reiterated the $1700 fee to reassemble our vehicle. My husband advised Larry that we simply do not have $4300, nor did we wish to be charged $1700 for the vehicle just to be reassembled when this was not disclosed to us prior to removal of the transmission. Larry stated to us that as customers, we should have full well expected that it costs money to reassemble a transmission after tearing it down. He stated “you should know that.” Larry informed us that he would call back after attempting to "get us a better price." Larry called back about an hour later and quoted approximately $3700 for the repair. Again, we advised Larry that the amount was not in the realm of possibility. He said he would try further to obtain a reasonable amount. He called back one last time and informed us that he could cut corners in certain areas and would address the check engine light as well as repair the transmission (since at that point it was not possible to simply have our vehicle reassembled in order to obtain a second opinion, which he made VERY clear several times) for a fee of $3216.

We felt we had no other option at that point other than to move forward with the repair. Larry then called us approximately a week later to inform us that they could not address the check engine light issue, being the part required was on national back order, so our new estimate would be $2750. Larry then called us on April 6, 2012 to inform us that the vehicle service was complete. We stopped in the shop to pick up our vehicle on April 9, 2012. We began asking Larry for an explanation of the parts breakdown, services provided, and to see a service invoice of the dealer they took our vehicle to, without consent, to address the check engine light. Larry became angered that we presented to him the idea that we believed we had been taken advantage of. Nearly the entire conversation that took place on April 9, 2012 in the Aamco shop was also recorded by my husband. Larry would not allow us to see the list of services performed, the service invoice from the dealership, or a price breakdown until we paid him the new total of $2650. He insisted that since we were being "smarta**es", he in turn was going to be one. He refused to accept the payment in the form of cash, which we set on the counter. He ordered us to take the cash to a local bank and obtain a cashiers check because that would be the only form of payment he was going to accept now. Once we argued that he could accept cash from a paying customer and were belittled for several minutes, Larry proceeded with the payment. My husband and I at no point raised our voice or used vulgar language towards Larry. Again, the conversation lasted nearly 30 minutes and was recorded in order to protect ourselves if a need arisen. Only then, after accepting payment in full, did Larry present us with a list of services performed and a service invoice. I addressed the matter with him that the service agreement states in the very first line that "I have the right to authorize the additional cost, or to request reassembly and reinstallation of the unserviced transmission for a labor charge of $450 which includes the cost of disassembly, examination, and reassembly." This is exactly what we asked of Larry on March 26, 2012, in which his response was "it will be a total of $1700 to reassemble the vehicle." Larry even stated again that for the $1700 reassembly fee that our vehicle would have barely been able to leave the parking lot under its own power. We were not made aware of the service terms of the invoice prior to paying in full, so we had no way of knowing we were victims of fraud in which our vehicle was held hostage for services provided, for a lack of a better metaphor. At no point was there ever a written estimate or breakdown of service needed, nor was there any communication by Larry to keep us informed of progress. We feel as though we have become victims of fraudulent business practice, and now have a major emotional and physical toll taken on us through this experience. We have a copy of the service invoice we were provided, that of which we were not entitled to see until paying in full, audio recording of the conversation that took place on April 9, 2012, and photos of our parking spot which is assigned by the apartment complex. This spot is numbered and the number is visible on both our copy of the lease agreement, as well as in the photos showing no significant leak or buildup of transmission fluid. If the leak was causing such a detrimental loss of fluid, due to the thin viscosity of transmission fluid, there should be a substantial amount of fluid buildup and loss present where the vehicle resided 80% of the day.