Rutgers Auto Center

In hindsight, after dealing with other mechanics, I don’t love this place. The mechanic and his wife are very sociable, yes. However, in the midst of the chats, I was charged over $ 60 because he put in a new signal light (which was burnt out, yes, but I told him not to change as I could do the same fix for about $ 8). They admit they charge for diagnostics, which is fine and legal since they put up a sign, but I’ve yet to come across another mechanic who charges. Overall, fine if you’re at Rutgers and are in a bind for service, but you could get better service elsewhere at a cheaper price.

I rented a uhaul in new York and was supposed to return it here when I lost the key to the padlock for the gate of the truck. I called them to see if by chance they could save me from having to call a locksmith because all my stuff was locked in the truck. They invited me to drive the truck down there and one if the techs was able to quickly break the lock for me. I was so relieved and glad to not be charged for it.

David c
East orange nj
I have known Tony and Barbara for almost 20 years now. They are the most reasonable and honest shop around, they offer so many services that most shops do not offer.
Weather you a college student or work in the area rutgers auto center is the place to take your car for service and needs

Let me just preface this review by advising everyone to always go online and do some research before you see mechanic.
This place is the reason I never feel comfortable trusting a mechanic.
First of all the place is dirty and messy. The woman who I assume is the wife of the owner was friendly but otherwise profane and unprofessional using vulgar language seconds into my conversation with her. I went in for an oil change and when I picked the car up the guy showed me that the boot on one of my cv joints had torn and that it would be about $ 125 plus labor to get it replaced. I was broke that day so I said I’d come back. I went online and bought the part to avoid the markup and brought it in and asked him to put it in for me. He asked me a few basic questions about my car that I didn’t really know and started basically laughing at my lack of knowledge with his wife only to tell me that to install the part that I brought in would be $ 200 plus labor.
This is classic predatory mechanic behavior. I ended up going to Varga in North Brunswick and got a fair price and a timely repair.

If your looking for a classy business this is not the place, but they do a good job and are very prompt with there repairs. Not the greatest communicators or customer service people but they do understand the hardship of having and broken car and do they’re best to fix it fast.

Dont go here!!! Yeah they’re friendly and all, but I recently dropped my car off there for atleast 3 days for a blinker problem, and also because my car was making a weird noise when driving. Tony, the guy who runs the shop, said he would check to see if the noise was there after he worked on it. After three days nothing had been done. The blinkers still didnt work, and he never even test drove it to see about the noise. Brought it to a way better place, Brothers Auto, and they said that my wheel was about to fall off because of stripped screws and loose lug nuts!!! Tony charged me 100 $ and didnt fix jack! Granted, the electrical problem with blinkers can be tricky, but he never called me or anything for updates. I am glad I took it back when I did, he probably would have charged me hundreds for his supposed ‘hours of work”. Also, he lied and said he put in a new relay when actually he didnt! Such bad business. Dont go there!

This is an auto repair shop that has either changed management recently or has recently opened (as of Summer 2011), because I lived in this area and started to notice opening signs around that time.
I usually do my own car work unless it involves any suspension work, especially for something as simple as changing break pads. It was really cold out and I was planning on making a long trip but my brake pads were definitely worn and I wanted to replace them before I started damaging the rotors. I bought two sets of pads for the front and rear brakes from a local car parts store, then visited this place to have them changed.
The people behind the desk were really friendly, they even offered to give me a ride to my job which was a few miles out from the repair shop. I had called ahead for a price, at time of writing I was quoted $ 80 for the job since I already had the parts. Later in the day I received a phone call about my tire rod being worn and it needed replacing, which I knew was true because I only had one of them replaced recently.
In the end the cost came out to a lot more than I expected, which is part of the reason for my three star rating. The brakes turned out to be around 300 on paper, despite the fact I had brought the parts. Changing the wheel links and tire rod was also pricey, more than standard. I was happy they returned the car quickly (within 5 hours), but they did charge a large amount for labor (it shouldn’t take an hour to change brake pads, especially if you aren’t replacing the fluid. I believe they charged me 2 hours for brakes). My car’s ABS light has been coming on afterwards along with the traction control being off, I don’t have an ABS code scanner so I can’t see the problem but I’m guessing the connector from the new hub to the brake system is either faulty or not connected all the way (and hopefully not because I don’t have a faulty new hub assembly!)
However, the service was really friendly and my car was returned promptly. This is also a mechanic directly in the heart of a college town, where I have heard countless tales of horrible ripoff stories. So I would rate this above those in the immediate area, even though I would probably not return again. To be fair, I also didn’t call to follow up on why my lights were out or to complain about the price.