Christian Brothers AutomotiveReviews of cbac.com

Horrible, Horrible, Horrible experience!!!!!!!!! I should have read the prior reviews (1.9 and honestly it should be about .5) prior to coming here for a simple oil change and inspection. I schedule an appointment and over 3 hours later, they still haven't contacted me as to what is taking so long. Then, another hour later, I finally get a text with a "Vehicle Inspection Report" I said no extra work will be performed. Please let me know when my vehicle is ready. So, long story short, if you go for an oil change/inspection, be prepared for a 4-6 hour wait. God help people that need to have actual vehicle repairs done. Never again.

AVOID Christian Brothers Automotive in Bradenton AT ALL COSTS - or it may cost you thousands! It’s a long story - I’ll make it short. My son took his car in for an oil leak, they supposedly fixed it by replacing the engine oil cooler, manifold gaskets, oil and filter. On his way home from the shop it was running hot and rough. He took it back to the shop - they told him he needed new plugs and an injector flush for more than $1,000.00. He picked the car up again, 2 miles down the road his temp hit 245 degrees and still ran rough - he stopped, let it cool and made it home another 3 miles. Discovered the car had no coolant in the engine. Called them. Christian Brothers Automotive had it towed in - they noticed the new engine oil cooler they put in was installed incorrectly - put in a new oil cooler and changed an injector. Still overheating. Back to the shop again - bleed the cooling system - back to the shop again, and again, and again. They had the car 20 days! My son paid them over $2,700! It’s not over - further down the rabbit hole they went now at their cost - new thermostat, new heat sensors, new radiator cap, more cooling system bleeding, another oil cooler etc. For days and days, telling my son that 230-240 degrees was ok - we kept telling them it wasn’t. But they kept sending him out the door with an overheating car. Eventually the temp reached 255 and the radiator blew leaving him stranded on the side of the road. They towed the car in again. New radiator, more cooling system bleeding more lip service and no fix. Still overheating. We finally pulled the car from them and had it towed to a real mechanic shop who determined in 30 seconds that the head gasket was blown - and the heads were warped. Parts melted under the hood. At the very least, needs a new engine if one can be found. Just offered $1,000 for us to go away - claiming they are not responsible - now we’re on our way to court.

This was my first time leaving a review for any business, but I feel compelled to share my experience at Christian Brothers Automotive on East Arapahoe Road in Aurora. 1. Pricing far above other quotes We were charged $558.31 (before a 15% discount) to replace a single front wheel lug stud. For the exact same repair, I later received written quotes of $228.80 from an independent shop and $381 including tax from a Subaru dealership. That means Christian Brothers’ price was about 2.4x the independent shop and about 1.5x the dealership for the same job. Christian Brothers told me they used an ALLDATA labor guide to calculate the bill and charged 2.1 hours of labor, while the other shop quoted 1.0 hour. I understand different shops can have different labor rates and methods, but this felt significantly out of line with other reputable options in the area. 2. Response to my concerns When I raised these concerns by email, the owner’s reply came across as dismissive. I was told that “complaining about the price after the fact is moot at this point” and that if we did not like the cost, we should have gone elsewhere. I had hoped for a more constructive conversation about why the price was so much higher than other quotes. My wife and I chose this shop largely because of the “Christian Brothers” name and the expectation of fair dealing that came with it. Unfortunately, based on this experience, we would not return and cannot recommend this location to others.

Back in April of this year I took my wife's car to Christian brothers. I had the coils and spark plugs were placed with parts I had purchased from Ford. I understood that they would not warranty the parts themselves, but I did expect them to be installed properly. My wife's car had 103,000 miles on it at this point and within a month of Christian brothers replacing all the coils in spark plugs one of the coils burned out. I had a reputable mechanic replace it thinking it was just an oddity. Within a few more weeks 2 more coils were dying. My wife thought it might be transmission problems and took it to a reputable transmission shop they ran the OBD2 and it showed that the coils in a couple of cylinders were going bad. Within 10 minutes of that diagnosis my wife had the car to Christian brothers. at this point there ws 107,000mi on the car. She showed them OBD2 the report and they basically thumbed their noses at it and said they had to run their own even though it's the same report. This cost I believe around $160, for the exact same test. They were rather curt about it to her, at this point she was exasperated and took it back to the other reputable mechanic who looked at the report and said, yes I see. I had him just go ahead and replace all the plugs and coils again. When I went to Christian brothers to discuss this matter with them they said because I provided the parts they have no warranty even though on the Christian brothers invoice it clearly says “Christian brothers automotive guarantees proper installation of guest supply parts that are designed manufactured and suitable for the guests vehicle in its current condition.” I provided the parts Ford sold me and CB agreed that they were the right parts. They (CB) failed to gap the plugs. My wife’s car requires a 0.031 gap and CB left the gap at 0.060 and said not gapping is “industry standard”. While that is a standard excuse maybe, the mechanic should have been astute enough to check to make sure that he was properly installing them. The over gap caused the coils to work twice as hard or more than they would have if properly gapped the new plugs, thus burning the plugs and damaging the new coils. Gapping is basic engine maintenance practice. When I used to do my own maintenance, way back when, that was the first thing I did…gap the plug properly. Christian brothers does not want to honor this warranty. I am only happy that their mistake did not destroy my wife’s car engine. If CB as a company really stands by their own warranties, they should refund their charges and the cost of having them all replaced again because of their improper installation.

Radiator spewed hot water. Rusty owner said it needed $2,000 in repairs and might be more. Had car towed elsewhere and it was just a radiator cap I needed. Nothing more. I'd had the oil changed there just before and I think they left something loose so the radiator cap would blow.

Three strikes and your out. brought my car in for a simple shock/strut replacement. they performed a "courtesy inspection".. stated and showed me that the internal water pump was failing and gave me an inflated price. But thats not all. they attempted to tell me my brake fluid was bad and had a burned smell. they also stated that my battery was not holding a charge. what these knuckleheads do not realize is that the battery was replaced 8 months earlier. it gets better because i two weeks prior taken my car to the Ford Dealership for routine service where the brakes, battery, belts etc were inspected. My first review was on Yelp. where the manager responded and wanted to give me a call to discuss. i gave him a time and date and two weeks have passed and still no phone call. A business is only as good as its leadership. so in this case you have horrible leadership and also horrible as well as unethical and dishonest employees.

I had to take Christian Brothers Automotive to small claims court, for them to do the right thing. The bottom line is, I prevailed in my lawsuit against Christian Brothers Automtive. Christian Brothers Automotive are crooks. CBA had my car for 3 weeks to repair a coolant leak, and I didn't even make it home. Within 30 minutes my car died after I picked up my car. My car was immediately towed back to Christian Brothers Automotive shop, the very same day CBA released my car. Sixteen months later, the leak in coolant re-appeared. I didn't take my car back to CBA, because I didn't trust CBA to work on my car for a 3rd time, for coolant leak they claimed to have repaired. I chose to take my vehicle to my manufacturer, to repair the coolant leak. The best free advice I received from an auto mechanic is, get a 2nd opinion if your car repair estimate is over $1,400. ~K.C.M

Stay away. This garage charged us over 1,600 for a repair that didn't fix the issue. Before approving the repair, I asked the technician if the car was in good shape outside of the repair, and he indicated it was. I brought the car back the next day after the engine continued to misfire, and they told me I needed a new engine. The technicians disassembled the engine to service the spark plugs and coils, and somehow didn't find coolant leaking into them until "after" I paid $1600, at which point they told me my engine was toast. If the garage had a shred of empathy and any desire to keep a valued customer, they could've reimbursed "something" from the previous repair. Instead, they preferred to keep $1600 over a loyal, repeat customer. The manager of the garage refused to reimburse anything. They were within their rights to not reimburse me, but I was hoping the garage valued their reputation more than $1,600. Now we need to purchase a car with no down payment. The manager of this garage is short-sighted, and if Christian Brothers, as a whole, values their reputation, they may want to reevaluate if this garage is in alignment with their values.