TL;DR: Charged way too much and didn’t even diagnose the repair correctly. I recommend VW dealership in Meriden if you have a VW vehicle, NOT this place. Full story: I really wanted to like this shop and support a local business. I had a warning light on my 2016 VW Golf S, that read “Error: Transmission” and would go on and off intermittently as I drove. I took it into this shop and they said that it was error code 22944, due to solenoid valve 2. It would have cost over $3000 to replace the entire valve body, where the solenoid is embedded. I was pretty upset at the price tag, of course, and searched around for a better deal on that part. I found it at a discount from a VW dealer in CT. When I asked Automotive Excellence if I could buy that part and bring it, they said it was against their policy. That was a little weird (even the dealership allows you to bring your own part), but ok, policy is policy. However, they had also tacked on some filter replacement to the quote. At this point, I called the VW dealership in Meriden to get a quote. Theirs was lower, and they would accept the discounted part. I retrieved my Golf from Automotive Excellence, paid the inspection fee ($155) and then drove to Meriden. It turns out that the diagnosis from Automotive Excellence was wrong!! There was a loose wire that was causing the warning. It cost me $500 to get it replaced and fixed at the dealership. Steep, but much less than $3K for something that wouldn’t have even worked. Maybe I was unlucky, maybe they’re bad with VW, but based on my experience Automotive Excellence is not at all excellent.
Hi Arina, I apologize about your experience. It sounds like the dealership removed the transmission pan to inspect the valve body and found a faulty wire. We made a judgment call without incurring additional diagnostic charges to deem the valve body bad as internal wiring issues are incredibly rare on your vehicle. If we were given the chance to perform the repair we would have seen this. It is against our policy to accept customer supplied parts as we offer a 2 years / 24,000 mile warranty on most repairs (this included). Nevertheless we were wrong. Automotive is complex and we are human, however we always do right by our customers; and an unhappy customer is a rarity here. I will reach out to you to refund your diagnostic cost. I'm happy your car is back on the road and take cake. Tom
- Automotive Excellence