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June 2024 by Antonio Rebelo, AIA
I have been bringing my cars to Paulo and the great team at Auto Centro for over 25 years for both regular maintenance as well as necessary repairs. I have always been impressed with the honesty, professionalism, integrity and experience of this place. They are like family to me. They take the time to analyze and assess what is wrong and what is required to be repaired, and they do fantastic work. I absolutely recommend this shop, if you want peace of mind on a job well done.
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May 2024 by Jeff Council
I had a transmission cooler, and fuel injectors, as well as other repairs done to my Volkswagen Euro van Rialta. I highly recommend them! A+++
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April 2024 by Harley The Great
Excited to receive the 1992 Diablo today they searched long snd hard to find for me. I’m a picky client and wanted a perfect and low mile example. Took less than a month to locate and prep before personally dropping off today. These guys are experts and true professionals!!
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February 2024 by Peggy Cook
My Audi A3 was having intermittent problems after I had just moved all alone, to Washington DC. A neighbor recommended Auto Centro in Rockville MD.
After repairing the initial concern (fuel pump), another problem with the fuel tank was identified after countless hours of investigation. Auto Centros' owner Paulo, kept in touch with me as he tirelessly searched for answers. The Audi dealership was mystified but Auto Centro relentlessly worked to solve and repair my vehicle (including waiting for weeks for a part to arrive from Germany)..
Countless hours of research were spent solving my cars fairly unique problems. I cannot express how grateful I am to Auto Centro, the owner Paulo, the customer service staff and the entire team, for all of their time, energy, tenacity and communication.
P.S. Props for having the coolest collection of exotic cars!
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January 2024 by Barbara Friedman
A number of my friends have been customers of AutoCentro for many years. I busted my side view mirror and at my friends’ suggestion, I called Paulo, the owner, at the end of the day, and he told me to come by. He basically dropped what he was doing and fixed my side view mirror perfectly, for which the dealer was going to charge over $2000 to replace (insisting it couldn’t be repaired). In 15 minutes Paolo fixed the problem, saving me $$$$$. I’m so pleased! He’s got a new customer for life! A very nice guy too! I could not be happier.
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January 2024 by Tamara Meyer
I cannot say enough good things about Auto Centro. Paulo has kept my ten year old Audi in excellent condition and is always fair and wonderful to work with. I will go the extra mile to bring my car to Auto Centro even for an oil change or tire rotation as well as more extensive work.
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November 2023 by Ira B.
My family has used Auto Centro for foreign car maintenance for over 30 years. Auto Centro specializes in foreign cars, so unfortunately, they do not work on domestic vehicles. They have maintained my family's various Nissan, Honda, Toyota, and Subaru vehicles. Paulo and his team do great work and I have found them to be extremely honest. I occasionally would have some work done at another shop for minor stuff such as oil changes and often the folks at the other shop would tell me they found something wrong with my vehicle and it needed repairs. I always told them not to do the suggested repairs and then took the vehicle to Auto Centro for a second opinion. At least 90% of the time, Paulo's team at Auto Centro would tell me that no repairs were needed and they saved me a lot of money that would have been wasted paying for unnecessary repairs.Over the years many people asked Paulo if he could help them find a reliable used car. This gave him the idea to start buying used cars and fixing them and selling them to his customers. Auto Centro added used car sales to their business many years ago. My family has used Auto Centro to buy four used vehicles since 2011: one Toyota Sienna minivan, two Toyota Prius sedans, and one Honda Odyssey minivan. We recently replaced the 2006 (!) Toyota Sienna that had over 264,000 miles on it with a 2012 Honda Odyssey. The reason we replaced the Sienna was because after Auto Centro raised it on a lift to do maintenance work, they informed us it was no longer worth investing any money in repairs and maintenance. Instead of taking advantage of us and charging us for repairing a vehicle on its last legs, Auto Centro advised us to get rid of the vehicle and save the money. To be clear, they did offer to do the repairs if we wanted to spend the money, but they advised against doing that.Auto Centro has earned our loyalty and trust over the last 30 years and we would not dream of entrusting our foreign cars to any other auto mechanic.
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October 2023 by Melody Crutchfield
I can't say enough about Paulo and his team!!! I recently had a "rattling" noise coming from the bottom of my car. Not sure of what it was and feeling a bit concerned, Paulo assured me that my car was in good hands. He informed me after doing the diagnostics that the alternator needed to be replaced. He worked closely with my extended warranty company to cover much of the cost and kept me in the loop every step of the way!!! He doesn't cut corners!!! He is a rare breed and a person of honesty and integrity!!! He treated me and my car with personal care! I'm so thankful and grateful to have Paulo/ Auto Centro...Services: Auto engine diagnostic
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October 2023 by Malcolm B.
Paola and the team are always welcoming and considerate of my time and wallet. Best shop for euro cars ind the dmv
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September 2023 by J C.
WORST SERVICE EVER!In short, Paulo the mechanic is a scathing liar. Do NOT trust him.I brought my BMW here to get a major service done and asked about getting a new BMW key. In the end, I paid a total of $1609 ($1234 for a 65k service and $375 for a new BMW key). Problem One:The day after I had the service done, my low coolant light came on. Paulo overlooked refilling the coolant after they performed a coolant flush. I had no coolant in my car which can be damaging if my engine overheated (fortunately, it did not overheat as I didn't drive it much). I had to go to BMW Alexandria to get coolant to refill the coolant myself after I just paid $1234 to Auto Centro. This is NOT acceptable. Paulo tried to make it right and refunded me the cost of the coolant which was $30 but didn't account for my time or inconvenience that this is something they should have handled but were incompetent to do their job. How could a mechanic overlook refilling the coolant? That's a very careless mistake!Problem Two: I bought a new key (this is my backup key for context) from Auto Centro with the understanding that they could install it. After buying it, Paulo said that I had to go to a BMW Service Center to get it installed and that he couldn't install it for whatever reason. If I had known, I would have ordered it directly from the BMW.This is where Paulo is a crook. He told me to go to BMW Rockville to get my new car key installed because he knew the Service Manager. I went there to get it installed and they didn't install it properly. My brand new key was installed wrong, the comfort access doesn't work on the new key. I had to go back to BMW Rockville the next business day to get it fixed and they wanted $225 for a diagnostic and $225 to reprogram the key. I called Paulo to tell him the situation and he said "It's not my problem" and now I'm stuck with a key that doesn't work properly. Because I didn't order this key directly from BMW Rockville, they were no help. Paulo, take accountability for the customer experience. Don't send me to BMW Rockville for a key that I paid you for, and then when the key doesn't work properly, you tell me it's not your problem?! Paulo, you lied and charged me $375 for a new key that doesn't work when you should have told me you couldn't do this service. You're dishonest, unhelpful, and ultimately a crook. Your future and current customers need to be aware of this story as it's a reflection of your bad and dishonest business acumen.Lastly, your shop looks like a shit hole. If I known how disgusting it was in there, I definitely would have gone somewhere else.- The last customer you screwed over
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September 2023 by Tori Doehr
I bought a car from the owner and it was a fantastic experience. Went above and beyond to make sure that everything was squared away and good to go. Exceptional service, will take great care of you!
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August 2023 by Marshall Kass
Auto Centro has been our family mechanic for more than 30 years, servicing and maintaining several of our beloved cars for decades over hundreds of thousands of miles. Family-owned and operated since 1977, they still maintain the same stellar service, candor, integrity, and a dedication to excellence. We've bought and sold cars from and to the team there with great success. Moreover, they've always stood by us providing quality care and good value, and going above and beyond to make sure our repairs and maintenance were performed with our best interests in mind. We'd happily recommend them for car service, sales, and/or advice, and truly appreciate all the hard work and care they've invested in helping us for so long. Paulo and family really are some of the best around!Services: Transmission
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August 2023 by Amy B
I've been bringing my cars to Auto Centro for about 10 years. I found them through my husband - whose family has been coming here for decades! While they are always busy, they treat you like a person and not a number, asking you how are and genuinely caring about the answer. I love that this is a family owed business with three generations represented. Above all, they are honest and believe in doing the right thing. Just today, I had brought my car in after being involved in a fender bender that damaged a wheel. The insurance company's estimate included a refurbished wheel. Paulo instead ordered a brand new wheel from Mazda but got it for less than the estimate. Even knowing that this was covered by the other driver's insurance and not out of my pocket, he was upfront about the cost and passed on the savings. Such integrity seems rare in this business. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them!
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August 2023 by Madeline
Great customer service! They helped me get a new transmission into my classic car :)Service: Transmission
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June 2023 by Preetam Gandhi
I just want to take a moment to share an experience from an industry that has created a sense of frustration and skepticism based on past experience and how truly refreshing and eye opening my experience has been with this phenomenal family run business.I was experiencing extreme frustration with getting to the root cause of my car issues and despite this shop being backlogged and understaffed graciously offered to help me. From the moment I walked in and witnessed the staff and its owner Paulo…..it just felt different. I noticed the owner taking the time out of a busy schedule to speak to an elderly man who was a loyal customer talking about the things we care about most….family and life! When finished he took the time to talk to me despite having never met me and told me he would help and laid out a plan to make that happen. Keep in mind that this shop is so busy with servicing its loyal customers that they don’t need my business …. But that didn’t matter. Since that day I have spoken to the entire staff and they have all been amazing. Tony comes to mind but I am sure I am missing others.This shop should be recognized for changing the perception of a very complicated industry and they came highly recommended to me and I will go out of my way to highly recommend them to others! Such a high class group of not only amazingly knowledgeable car personnel but just amazing people.
