Is There a Trustworthy Calgary Mechanic?

Where can I find an honest mechanic?

This question seeking a Calgary mechanic gets asked online on Calgary Reddit and Calgary Facebook groups every week. It seems that there are a lot of people in the city who feel it’s impossible to find a Calgary mechanic shop that isn’t trying to take advantage of you, who is good at communicating, and who does decent work on vehicles at reasonable prices. I have only lived here since spring and have already tried 3 different mechanics getting various maintenance and service done on our vehicles. 2 of the 3 automotive repair facilities were just downright not good at all.

Montgomery Auto Service, located along the Transcanada highway on the West end of the city, shortly before the Luge at Calgary Olympic Park, is the most recent shop I took one off my vehicles requiring some mechanical repair work to. The junky Jeep Compass that I bought when gas prices were sky high saved me a lot in fuel, but it had a knock in the front end anytime I would drive off a curb or over a speedbump.

I knew I needed to get it fixed before winter arrived and actually did take it elsewhere unsuccessfully trying to get it diagnosed and repaired. Before I detail my Montgomery Auto Service experience, here’s a bit of the vehicle history and my bad luck trying to get it repaired at another Calgary mechanical repair shop.

Calgary Vehicle Inspection

I bought the Jeep and it had the knock in the suspension right from the start. Right away, I had replaced the tie rods at another Calgary mechanic shop (which I won’t name here) and it didn’t solve the issue despite that being their diagnosis of where the noise was coming from. Subsequently, after being disappointed in their inability to find the knock, I discovered by my own inspection that the steering control arm was also worn, so took the vehicle back there again (i know, bad move right?) and had that replaced. The knock was still there, they didn’t find or solve the problem, so I gave up on them at this point. Overall they were about as unorganized and unprofessional as I have ever seen from a shop, and it’s pretty bad when their mechanical skills are less than my own farm boy maintenance abilities..

Top Reviewed and Rated Mechanic

I had driven by Montgomery Auto many times and they came up on the Google map search with good reviews from customers so I decided to stop there. Within 10 minutes of waking in the front door they had my car up in the air on the rack and a young guy underneath it identifying the problem as a worn stabilizer linkage. Total cost of about $44 for the diagnosis. I asked them to order the part in and that I would bring the vehicle back that week.

Reasonably Priced Mechanic in YYC

The next day I brought the Jeep down at 9am, left the keys and walked over to the adjacent Tim Hortons (terrible place btw, see my review) for a snack and to wait for a ride. I expected the vehicle repair to take about 4 hours before they got to it and had it done. However 90 minutes later to my surprise they called and said it was finished. Original quote for the repair $180, actually amount billed with taxes and fees $188. That’s about as accurate as any place I have ever used. No add-ons or extras, no bullshit extra charges, that is appreciated.

I have one more repair left to do in that vehicle in the next while that they found when diagnosing my front end vehicle noise. I will definitely take the car back to the guys at Montgomery Auto as they were quick to get the repairs done, didn’t try to upset me or do unnecessary extra work, and they were accurate in their cost estimate. I would recommend them to others in need of an honest Calgary mechanic based on my good experience there.

Thanks for reading, following, and sharing.

~ King Calgary

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