Business ProfileforUniversity Auto Center

I took my car to University Auto Center for an oil change and routine maintenance. The car has been in excellent condition prior with routine maintenance every year. After the maintenance, ****, one of the garage's managers told me that the car would have no issue driving another “40,000 miles”. Four days later, my car suddenly stalled on the middle of the road and heavy smoke began appearing from under the car’s hood. The car’s engine didn’t turn over and became undrivable. Immediately, I had my car towed back to the garage. **** told me that the radiator is heavily broken because the car’s radiator fan was damaged. He said that it most likely broke down from bad luck. I followed his direction and replaced the radiator system. As I was driving my car a few hours later, I noticed something was wrong: my car’s acceleration was faulty, a check engine light that would come and go, and abnormally large puffs of white smoke coming from my car’s exhaust. I then took my car to the garage again. **** told me that everything was fine. The next morning, however, I had tried to drive my car, but the engine failed to turn over. I called Triple A. A technician arrived and inspected my car, he told me that there was serious issue with the engine head gasket, and it was died. My car was towed to the garage again. they told me that the car had a blown head gasket due to the coolant going inside the engine; I needed to replace the engine and I need to pay for the full price of the engine replacement along with car storage. I am very shocked at this poor service. They were very irresponsible and negligent in their job. Because of their series of malpractices and mistakes, my car went from having no issues to becoming a stone within a few days. During this period, they did not show any responsibility for his unprofessional service but instead only gave excuses to escape any accountability. They not only lack professional skill but also have no responsibility for their job.

We have provided services in Davie and surrounding areas for over 23 years. We take pride in our work and our excellent reviews reflect it. At University Auto Center, we use a DVI (Digital Video Inspection) with every serviced vehicle. You are correct, a scheduled maintenance service along with a complete digital video report for your 2015 ***** Accord was performed on June 30th. Six days & 295 miles later, the vehicle was towed in. Your son was present and advised us that the vehicle overheated and wanted the radiator to be replaced due to a large hole. This is where you get upset due to the timing of the incident and apparently, we did not let you know that your vehicle had a problem and/or will overheat.
The digital report that you received shows a picture of the proper amount of coolant at the time of the maintenance service, the fluids were checked, and the coolant level was within the minimum/maximum range. ****** will not allow me to place pictures in this response, but I will upload a copy of the full digital inspection report in the public photo section that was provided to you at that time of service in case you delete your copy.
It was unfortunate, your 8-year-old vehicle with a plastic radiator failed as all radiators do in time. As you stated in your review above, your vehicle stalled while driving, the engine was smoking and would not start. You failed to mention in your review that while you were driving, you did not notice your instrument panel gauge showing that your vehicle was running hot and continued to drive until it stalled from excessive overheating.
You stated in your review that we provided poor service, or that we are very irresponsible and negligent. No part was installed or misdiagnosed. You were advised that overheating an engine can blow a cylinder head gasket when you overheated the engine. Yes, your son came in after complaining a few weeks later about the cars engine light turning on and off and intermittent acceleration problems While he was in front of us, we stopped what we were doing and checked for any stored diagnostic code for the engine light. No codes were stored, the cooling system was operating in the normal range, and the coolant levels were within the manufacturer's guidelines. We even test-drove the vehicle with your son, and it was running fine then. It was unfortunate that we could not duplicate his concern.
Unfortunately, the head gasket was damaged when you first overheated, and it took 400 miles of driving for it to finally show symptoms. We did feel bad for you under these circumstances. When we quoted you for an engine replacement, we deducted the total amount you originally paid for the radiator repair. We did this not because we did anything wrong, but because we at University Auto Center genuinely care about our customers. You were upset and we indeed attempted to assist you.
Since the engine replacement, your vehicle is working great, and we are truly happy for you. We did our best to accommodate you and your family. Its very disappointing because, after everything we did, you still found the time to leave a one-star review to attempt to hurt our business with false claims. Your car overheated, and unfortunately you failed to notice and continued driving causing the damage. In the best-case scenario, if symptoms of a blown head gasket were present at the time of the radiator replacement, we would have brought it to your attention. But there were no symptoms, and the vehicle was running ok. Imagine if we recommended a motor even though no symptoms existed, then we would be called thieves recommending something that wasnt necessary at that time. You also disputed your credit card charge for the radiator repair even though we refunded it. We are genuinely sorry you feel the way you feel, and we hope you find another shop that will accommodate you.