I had to replace two tires I discount tire. After the tire replacement my steering was not the same. discount tire wanted to rule out an alignment needed and sent me to Austin automotive specialists. If it was not an alignment they would replace with different tires. I was greeted by JT Matteson. after explaining what my car was doing before having tires put on and then after he was sure it was not an alignment that was needed that it had to be something within my tires. why the technicians checked my car JT was so informative and educated me on basic information everyone should know. From fuel levels to how rotating tires is so important and why you should rotate them. And so much more information. I my recently deceased husband always took care of our vehicles I know nothing about a vehicle repairs or even maintenance other than an oil change. JT educated me invaluable information that will help me in the future with my car. Although my car was a little out of alignment they found the reason for my steering problem. There was an air bubble in one of the other tires not the new ones. I had to go back to discount tire and purchased two more tires as I don't buy one tire at a time. Normally we always purchased all four tires at the same time. However with the current circumstances in my life I was just buying some time to get the other two replaced..but had I not gone to Austin automotive specialists I could have very well had a blowout due to the air bubble separating my belts in my tire. I now have a new auto shops take my car to that I can trust and know I'm in good hands. Thank you JT and all the mechanics who took care of my car that day. I am truly grateful and much more educated about my vehicle.. great quality service and trustworthy.

Always friendly and professional

TL;DR Only because I can't give them six stars for their professionalism and customer service. Enthusiastically recommend. Short version: Professional advice and work, reasonable prices, lengendary customer service. Because of their knowledge and advice, I have saved over $5000 in expensive repairs. They will be my go-to repair shop until JT and Doug leave. Long version: 1st visit-- 2012 VW Sportwagen needs shocks and front brakes. Because Austin Automotive Specialists [AAS] had just opened in Leander, they were running a first time visitors special. After calling other shops and getting quotes, found that AAS prices were in line so the coupon was going to save me about $100. Cool. Scheduled the service, talked to JT who explained all the options and his recommendations and answered ALL of my questions. left the car with promise to get back tomorrow. Following day, I get "the phone call"-- you know the one where the shop has "found something else"--EXCEPT this wasn't like that. JT is calling to let me know that after looking at the strut mounts, there is no need to replace them, so he put them back in the box and LOWERED THE REPAIR PRICE ANOTHER $100. Now, we had already agreed on the price, AAS could easily have just put that money in their pocket, but their focus is on always doing right by the customer. [total savings so far by using AAS instead of another shop-- about $200] 2nd visit-- 2015 Honda Fit. Wife's car is making a rattling noise on start up. I've looked at everything I know to no effect, so I bring the car to AAS. Hour later, I hear from JT that the variable timing valve controller needs to be replaced. I ask if they can do the service and JT lets me know that there are specialty tools that his shop doesn't have so they can't do it. Then he says, "By the way, I think this might still be covered under your warranty. The car is 5 years old, but you only have 33,000 miles on it. I pulled the technical service bulletin [which JT printed for me] and the part should be part of the powertrain warranty which goes to 60,000 miles. I also looked up the vehicle in service date and if you will want to get the car to a dealership this week before the warranty expires" I look over the information, thank JT, then ask how much I owe for the diagnosis. "No charge". ( Most shops in the Austin area will charge you $80-100 just for looking at the car) Two days later, take the car to the dealership who first tries to charge me a $95 diagnosis fee. Nope, I have the diagnosis already in writing hand the service advisor the technical service bulletin to go with it. They agree to do the work with the diagnosis and will get back to me with an estimate [I had told them the car was under warranty on the phone] Dealership calls and says the cost will be $1,900+ dollars to which I remind them the car is covered under warranty. They try some BS to say the in service date was 7/17 so not covered but I SHOW them our delivery papers of 7/25 so yes it will be covered. [Remember, JT had looked this up for me so I ALREADY KNEW it was covered]. Car repaired next day, no charge. [total savings so far $2,100 +] 3rd visit-- Wagon has a check engine light. Googled the code and found it needs intake manifold replaced. Called JT, asked him to take a look. They use their knowledge to dig deeper into the code and come back with a laundry list of other things including a warranty covered software update which they printed up for me Since this is a more specialized repair for diesel engine, car has to go elsewhere. I had brought the car in hopping on a bad ankle, so JT offers to call VW specialist shops and deliver the car to them! Who does that? Take the car to the dealership and ALL the repairs on the car end up being covered because of that software update. Intake manifold, exhaust gas recirc, and diesel particulate filter would have cost $3,500 if not for the advice and service from JT. [Total savings $5,600+] They do great work and treat customers fairly. Why go anywhere else?

JT and crew are very thorough in diagnosing confounding issues with my older truck, and they make it easy for me to understand the problem and possible solutions. Thanks!

I have been going to Automotive Specialists for over 7 years now and have always had a good experience with the service and the quality of the work, so it is surprising that I have to leave 1 star after my recent experience. I brought my car in to get its 100K mile service done. This included changing shocks, struts, spark plugs, trans oil, and a few other small things. I told the manager there that I would be driving the car to Canada and needed to make sure it was in proper working condition for the long trip, and those where the recommended items to change. Since I was a long time customer of Automotive Specialists and trusted their knowledge, I proceeded to get the work done. It cost roughly $1800. The same day I got my car back, after only driving 10 or so miles, to my surprise, the check engine light came on. I called Automotive Specialist to tell them, and of course they insisted I bring it back for them to take a look. What they found were 3 codes all pointing toward the catalytic converter system. This seemed odd to them as the car was running perfectly fine and showed no signs of a catalytic converter failure. They cleared the codes, said it was probably some bad data, and told me it would be fine to drive. The next day, as I was driving, the check engine light came on again. Now I'm getting frustrated, as I just spent $1800 to get my car serviced for our long trip to Canada and the check engine light keeps coming on. It was not coming on before I brought it to Automotive Specialist. I brought the car back and the mechanic there told me that the whole Catalytic converter system needed to be changed and it would mostly likely cost a few grand. Obviously, I was shocked and could not believe that all of a sudden, after I have you guys work on my car, I now have a $2000 catalytic converter system that needs to be replaced. This did not make sense to me and I explained that maybe something one of the mechanics did could have caused this issue to occur. They explained to me that they did nothing to cause this problem and these things just happen sometimes. I could not accept that answer and left. I did my research and found another company that does catalytic converter repair for a fraction of the cost it would be to replace the whole system. It would be roughly $250 - $350. I called the manager of Automotive Specialist and explained to him the service I found and asked if they could meet me half way with the cost, as I just spent $1800 for them to get my car perfectly running and got it back with a check engine light...plus news that I may need to spend an additional $2000 or more to fix a catalytic converter system that was working fine before I brought it there. I was told that they could not pay for services outside of Automotive Specialist and all they could do is run more tests if I like. At this point we've already ran a bunch of tests and I don't trust them anymore. They were not willing to help with any further costs nor refund me a small portion of the previous work done. It just really disappoints me that these mechanic shops hold no accountability for problems that arise after the work they do. I wasn't asking for much, a mere $100 or so to put towards the catalytic converter system cleaning. A small price to pay. It feels like they would rather me spend an additional $2000 or more to replace the whole system without even trying to help me with a cleaning of it first. I don't trust them anymore and will be seeking further legal action. UPDATE: 04/26/2019 After speaking with the manager again on this issue, we were able to resolve the problem without having to change the cats. He agreed to run cat-a-clean through the system and had Cadillac come out to update the car software. We drove the car to Canada with no issues.

The mechanics were pretty quick with the oil change. They were upfront of what the vehicle needed done and what required most attention. Most mechanics are pushy when it comes to vehicle maintenance but never felt pressured.

JT the manager went above and beyond to help me understand the work that was needed on my Tundra. He answered all my question and gave me understanding while also presenting some great options to choose from for the maintenance I was looking to have done. Thank you JT and staff for your help and dedication to great service for your customers!

Repair and replacement of hoses, belts and fuel system and wiper arm in 2 hours.

This shop is just fantastic. JT and his team provide the absolute gold standard customer service experience. Totally professional, unwaveringly kind, going above and beyond any shop I’ve ever dealt with in the past to help make my life easier. Dealing with car problems is stressful. Worrying about the costs and being taken advantage of can put you on edge anytime you have to get repairs. Finding this shop has eliminated this problem for me. Their honesty, integrity and excellent work have earned my complete trust and I can not recommend them highly enough. And I just got lucky in finding them... I didn’t have any idea when I first took my car in how great their service is. This company and in particular this store are a total lifetime find in terms of automotive shops. Do not hesitate for a second to try them - they will do everything possible to provide you with quality, affordable work and outstanding service.

Did an oil change cost not bad at $40.