Dealership Alternative

Just tried calling them at the listed number, it’s been disconnected.

I went back to DA about a year ago and had an abysmal experience. I went in for a brake job and to have my cigarette lighter replaced. It took at least 4 visits for them to get the correct part for the cigarette lighter. When they installed it, they somehow managed to reverse the connections of the seat heaters and one of the buttons doesn’t sit properly. They also didn’t properly machine the passenger side front rotor when they did the brake job. There is even more to add but I’ll spare you the details. I am having another shop correct these items as I won’t allow them to touch my vehicle again.

Wow, in my last exchange with Bill, he let me know I needed a new battery after my 4runner had been towed to Dealership Alternative. — I can’t remember the reason, but I bought a new battery from AutoZone before Bill had the chance to tell me they sold batteries AND that their batteries will actually last a lot longer than the ones you get at AutoZone (something about cheap junk from China versus the ones DA sells which are made in Pennsylvania or something like that).
Regardless, Bill had the battery I bought elsewhere installed and when I asked him how much I owed him, he said «NOTHIN’» in his raspy, kind voice before he sent me on my way.
Sad to hear Bill has passed away and DA Austin has closed. He was a good man.

I loved this place but it seems they’ve closed. Anyone got a great mechanic for hybrids?

Because of the respectable service I received over the Thanksgiving holiday, I’m giving this business four stars. My car was making an awful sound and began to worry me in terms of reliability. D.A. was quick to find the problem, fix it, and charged me below quote for the repair. I will definitely bring my vehicle back to this business if needed.
A note to those who may think I work at Dealership Alternative: I live nowhere near Austin! I drove here to visit family for the holiday and went to this business because of the Unilocal reviews. I was very happy!

At the time of this writing, 31 out of the 36 reviews for this place gives it 5 starts. I have had my car worked on by this place, and it is not 5 star service, which leads me to suspect that it is the people who work here that might be writing all these favorable reviews.
My car had hit 100,000 miles, I just took it in and asked for them to look it over and give it a tune-​up. The check engine light was on. They charged me $ 700 for a new water pump. When I took the car home, the check engine light was still on. Not long after, I took my car to get state inspected and it did not pass because of the catalytic converter. I understand asking for a tune-​up is vague, but they handed back a car that didn’t have fixed what was triggering the check engine light and could not even pass state inspection.

Less than a year after replacement, my transmission started having trouble again. I had moved to Dallas, but took my car back to Bill and he put in another used transmission into my vehicle, free of charge since it was still under warranty. Bill extended the warranty to a year from the date of the second transmission replacement.
The car ran smoothly for a few months before giving me trouble again. The Honda dealership in Dallas advised me to go back to Bill for my warranty. At this point, Bill unsuccessfully attempted putting in multiple transmissions. He suspected that the computer chip and/​or other parts in my car were the culprit behind the failed transmissions.
It would cost me more money to fix the car. At this point, I asked Bill if anyone at his shop wanted to buy the car. We settled for $ 2500 for the car. The Kelley Blue Book value was about $ 3500, so I think it was a fair deal since the car needed further major repair.

I’ve been taking my cars to Bill at Dealership Alternative since I moved to Austin in 2002. When I started going there, I drove an old Acura with tons of miles on it. Needless to say, it had a lot of problems, so I was there quite a bit. Bill has always been extremely honest and priced fairly.
A couple of examples: In 2003, I took my car in b/​c the air conditioner kept going in and out. Bill called me the next day and said, «Eric, the a/​c is working. I know you said it’s going in and out, but I can’t fix something that isn’t broken right now.» He didn’t charge me a thing and told me to come pick up the car. About 6 months later (the car was really on its last leg) I took it in b/​c the transmission had lost 1^st and 4^th gear. Bill called me and advised me, «Eric, it’s really time for a new car. It’s going to cost you more to fix the transmission than the car is worth.» in both examples, Bill could have made an easy buck by giving me bad advice, but instead gave great advice that wasn’t in his financial interest.
Since then, I’m luckily not driving beaters, so I’m in there for regular maintenance. Their pricing is always competitive, and I know I’ll get awesome service.

WOW! These guys are the real deal — very honest and they do the RIGHT thing for their customers, even if they have to admit their mistakes! Here’s what happened to me… I took my car there for a problem in spring 2010. The problem kept coming back so I went back for a couple adjustments. The odd thing was that the symptoms only appeared when it was very humid or raining.
After the final adjustment, I thought all was well and I relocated to Seattle. All summer the weather was dry and I had no symptoms, no problem. Then when the rains came in Seattle in the fall, the exact same problem re-​appeared! Boy was I annoyed. I had to take it to another repair shop and pay to have it fixed again in Seattle. And then I discovered that the Austin shop had actually installed an incorrect part and broke something while tightening things to make it fit. I then contacted Bill and gave him the proof of what happened.
Now here comes the happy ending… Bill made the whole thing right! It takes a LOT of integrity and honesty to run a shop like this. I heartily recommend Dealership Alternative to everyone in Austin. If I ever move back to Austin, they’re the repair shop I trust and will go back to.

I am one of those who does a lot of research before taking my car ANYWHERE for service. After calling a handful of places, including the Toyota dealership, I settled on Dealership Alternative and have no regrets.
I went in to get a check-​up on my Rav4, replace the cabin and air filters, and replace the transmission fluid (something Toyota told me I needed at my mileage). When Bill called to tell me it was ready he said they checked the manual and because I drive a stick, the car didn’t need a transmission fluid change for another 10,000 miles, so they didn’t do it. They didn’t do anything unnecessary! I know that if I had taken this to Toyota they would have done it no matter what, but Bill listened to me & my request to only do what’s needed.
Amazingly honest.
Bill may be a busy man but he took the time to explain everything to me — I agree that he is a Superstar :)

I am a young female living on my own and I do not know anything about cars. The man working at the desk was gruff and took advantage of that fact. He diagnosed my car to need a new transmission (true) and said it would cost me $ 2200 to get a junkyard replacement closer to $ 2800 to get the current one rebuilt. Horribly depressed I went home and did some calling around to some other places.
I found two other mechanics who diagnosed the same thing and quoted me $ 1000 to rebuilt the engine in my car (not get a junkyard replacement)… with a two-​year warranty.
Needless to say the price that the man at Dealership Alternative gave me was enormously inflated and I will not be returning to this place, ever. If you’re looking for a guy who will give you good service and a good price, check out my review on Adam’s Automotive.

I have been a satisfied customer of Dealership Alternative for several years and as the name implies, they are the opposite of a dealership. Case in point – I dropped off my car at the dealership where I bought it for Honda service recall. The service dept. of the dealership in addition to recall service took it upon themselves to list a bunch of problems including a leaking steering fluid seal (cost to repair ~$ 1000 for seal) that needed to be attended to. I was not sure but this sounded bogus. I took my car to Dealership Alternative and told Bill about this and he correctly guessed the dealership. He and his mechanic checked it out and FOUND NOTHING WRONG WITH IT. So this dealership lied at least twice (to me and to another DA customer).
Dealership Alternative does the work that is needed at a reasonable price. Higly recommended!!!

Damn good.
Did what they said when they said the would do it for the price they quoted. Didn’t push me to do service I thought I needed. Offered superior advice to previous shop I used. It’s only been 3 days, but I think Bill is the genuine article. Swedish Auto svc is right down the block and I love them, too for my Volvo. Must be something in the oil on way way North Lamar.

When you’ve got $ 800 worth of repairs to be done, you want to know exactly where your money’s going. And Bill, the proprietor of this fine establishment, went out of his way to explain exactly what was wrong and how they were going to fix it.
When I got my car back (in record time), I noticed one of my headlights wasn’t turning on. With 15 minutes to close, Bill spent the next half hour diagnosing the problem as a burnt out bulb, and then replaced it – for free. A few days later I brought it back when I noticed a power steering fluid leak. Bill was quick to admit he had made an honest mistake that caused the belt to rub through the reservoir, promptly replacing the whole thing.
For fast work, quality parts, very reasonable rates and most importantly, honesty in a notoriously crooked industry, I can’t recommend Dealership Alternative enough.

I took my car here because of all the good reviews on Unilocal,and the fact that I called several places for a price quote on replacing an alternator and this place was the cheapest (well, it was tied with another place, but I ultimately chose this place because of the good reviews and also because it was a little closer to my house).
I dropped it off at 11 and it was done by 3, so even with my limited car repair experience, I consider that fast.
Short and sweet, just adding my good experience to the pile here and agreeing with all the other posters who give this place 5 stars!

3 years after the Toyota dealership told me that they couldn’t fix my car and I’d have to buy a new one I brought my ’95 Toyota Corolla into Dealership Alternative to check out a strange noise.
My experience was great and consistent with what other Unilocalers found. Professional, fast, thorough, pleasant to work with, and a great value.
If you have a Japanese car, take it to Bill at Dealership Alternative.

Today was a typical day when (a) my car is having transmission problems, (b) want to get a fair deal on repair © make about 10 phone calls to various repair shops & Honda customer service (d) drive to 4 different places to have my car looked at…
I ended up at Dealership Alternative because of the great reviews on Unilocal (Thank You fellow Unilocalers!!) Long story short, Honda is going to cover about a $ 4000 repair under warranty. (Thank the Good Lord, Jesus) But Dealership Alternative did all the diagnostic work for FREE! (supposed to be an $ 85 charge) I insisted on paying but the wonderful owner said, «nope, just come back and see me next time you need a repair» Now, that’s what I call customer service.

I’m here now.
I love these guys… Bill is the shiz-​knit. I’ll keep this brief. These guys use factory parts, are honest, do good work, and are cheaper than the dealership.
And WiFi, couches and a TV if you need to wait. It’s not fancy, but it works.
I’ll save the long review for the evil dealership (highlights: car returned with grease smeared on my upholstery, buttons left off of my dashboard, and an empty beef jerky wrapper on my seat… not mine)

So Unilocal went down this morning for a bit. And it was the same little of bit of time that I had decided to take my car in to get fixed. And I remembered the one review I had ever saved as a favorite and managed to remember the name and search for it the old fashioned way (google it is!)
They were great. I explained that I thought my car needed an oil change. I tried to make my voice sound like I was a worldly woman who knew allll about cars and how they worked and I would not allow them to screw me over like the toyota dealership did.
I went in. Dropped off my car. They said it would take between thirty and forty minutes. And then 35 minutes later, they were done. What did it need… I asked them? An oilchange they said. Thats it.
Thats it! You mean you didnt do a five gazillion point inspection to find 10 things that are «wrong «with my car?
I paid my thirty bucks and left. Happy.
We’ll see how they do with regular repairs or mysterious car problems, but right now, they delivered five star service.

It’s not the prettiest place, but it’s the diamond in the rough.
Georgette is right! Ladies, these guys are really cool and they won’t snow you over.
I drive a 98 Toyota Camry and was shopping around for a mechanic to replace my timing belt. The price was great and much cheaper than any of the dealerships.
Bill is a really, nice guy. He listens to all of your rants and he tells you (honestly) what needs to be done. I had a long laundry list this morning, and he told me there were only certain things that had to be done. Seriously, what mechanic does that???
This place was a referral from my best friend, Unilocalers and people from my church. I truly trust this place and they are the nicest guys. I will definitely be using them in the future.
TIDBITS:
It’s right across Chinatown. You can’t miss it.
Have someone pick you up when you drop off. I think they have a shuttle, but call first.
Try to schedule an appt online, so they know you are coming.
Don’t be scared of the shabbiness. They fix cars!!!
Bill is the man!!!