Compton's Automotive

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Shame on me, I the owner went against my own policy of not giving phone estimates. Our policy is to have one of our technicians verify the concern and document what actual parts are needed so that we can give an accurate quote. When estimating repairs over the phone without inspecting the vehicle, we could run into variables when it comes to part fitment and labor. We also like to be able to inspect/evaluate the customers concern to verify the repair is actually needed. As the owner, I take the full blame on the pricing that was given over the phone as I expect my staff to follow the correct procedure. Shame on me, I deserve the 2 star review.

Business reply on Google

David, Thank you for taking time to review Compton's Automotive, after reading your review, I can understand why you are frustrated with the chain of events. However before you discount us as a top service provider, lets brake this down a little and hope that I can help. First time we serviced your vehicle was 01/08/2025 it was brought in for a brake inspection, upon findings we found that the front and rear brakes had 0% usable brake pad material remaining, along with rusted rotors, the vehicle needed a complete front and rear brake service. We serviced the front and rear brakes. The next time we serviced your vehicle was 06/04/2025 and was brought into us for a check engine light and a brake pedal that felt hard to push, at this time was the first time we charge for testing, we found that the engine was running lean and this was due to a vacuum leak coming from the power brake booster, the booster uses engine vacuum to assist in brake pedal pressure. Brake boosters have rubber diaphragm that is sealed to allow vacuum to be held, being the vehicle is 13 years old, rubber components wear out, this internal piece is impossible to gain access too, and totally unrelated to performing

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After reading this review of my company several times, I realize there is a lot to unpack here. The first comment about not bringing your vehicle here and how we encourage shady practices. When Mr. Dowd called in the first time, he informed us his vehicle had stalled and would need to be towed in, we informed him of our initial charge of $155, he agreed to that charge. The vehicle arrived at our shop around 1pm on Tuesday (Christmas Eve) and on that Monday after Christmas, the vehicle was checked in, we sent a digital link that the customer needed to sign before we started any work on the vehicle. This link also had the Diagnostic/testing fee, and Mr. Dowd signed it. At this point we attempt to start the vehicle, vehicle starts and runs, we then scan the entire computer system of the vehicle to look for any trouble codes. We then test-drive the vehicle, bring it back, let it sit, and test-drove it again. We then checked for any Manufacturer service bulletins and for any recalls; none were found. Some of these engines are bad as far as collecting carbon in the combustion chamber and throttle body, so a BG Three Part fuel system was recommended. https://www.bgprod.com/reference/kia-h

Business reply on Google

Looking at some of the other reviews this person has posted, we also have told him not to return, after phone conversations and in person conversations, being blamed for things we did not do, being cursed at, we felt we did not need this customers business anymore and we were not going to put up with it. I imagine even Firestone has told him not to come back. We were always respectful to this customer, even when he was dropping F bombs and multiple other four letter words, we still tried to work with him. Until he got beligerant and accused us of putting oil on his battery, he stated that we did unauthorized repairs to me on the phone, I asked him he must be confusing us with another shop, he stood at my office door and he and I went over everything we were doing to his truck, he even added additional repairs that we did not recommend.

Business reply on Google

Alexa, We want to be upfront with any pricing that is charged, we would much rather you know what the cost is upfront rather than getting the vehicle in and giving another price. With two separate concerns, one being a fluid leak and the other concern of the door not closing all the way, these are two separate concerns that need to be addressed by our technicians, we charge $155.00 for each concern, this is the cost of time. We have, on occasion, used this time to go towards the repair as long as the repair can be made within the evaluation/testing procedure. However, if we can not repair the vehicle within the evaluation/testing procedure, an estimate will be given with our diagnosis to repair the vehicle. Be careful of places that state they will remove the Diagnosis fee if you buy the repair. We have seen that in many cases, the diagnostic time is loaded into the repair.

Business reply on Google

Mr. Mane, Please check the name and address of the shop you reviewed. I am the owner of Comptons Automotive in Charlotte, I am sorry to hear you have had a bad experience with a automotive repair facility. The pics of the documentation and the software for the documentation I am familiar with, however we do not use that software/invoice type in my business. I would like to ask you kindly to remove your review from my business and post a new review on the correct one. I would greatly appreciate it, if I can be any assistance to answer any car trouble questions, please reach out to me. Todd 704-357-0008 I do apologize, this is one of our invoiced from over 3 years ago, I do not have much to respond on, due to the length of time and that both employees that worked with this customer are no longer employed at my shop. I will say that right at 3 years ago we did change our estimating software and have but better procedures in place.

Business reply on Google

William (Bill), thank you for taking the time to give us a review since your visit six months ago. Since this concern was not fresh on my mind, I took time to read over the notes and phone call. As the owner I take every bad review or experience very seriously. After reading the information from our notes and phone call records, the customer certainly did ask us if we work on front differentials, and we do, we also have a long customer list that owns Lexus products, it isn't foreign to us and we are very comfortable servicing and repairing these vehicles. We were asked to diagnose a noise coming from the front end of this vehicle, it was disclosed that the vehicle had been sitting for over two years. We presented our "noise evaluation" to the customer, explaining that the technician would use this cost to pin point the area of the noise and determine what repair is needed. Customer agreed and signed the document. Technician then test-drove the vehicle and performed a necessary tests on the vehicle, recorded videos. The technician was able to pinpoint the noise to inside the transfer case. Technician also noted that the transmission would not come out of first gear, indicating a pos

Business reply on Google

After looking through all the notes and listening to all the phone calls, I will address the concerns. Let's start with why the vehicle was brought in. Customer states vehicle cut off while driving, and the check engine light is on. In our initial evaluation, we found several trouble codes that indicated an issue with several solenoids that work off of oil pressure and one code for the battery charging circuit. At this time we also heard a engine noise, we checked oil level and found that no oil was present on the dipstick. We also found the alternator belt was so loose that you could almost take it off by hand, at this time we looked at other fluids and could not see any coolant in the radiator. We also found the battery did not fit properly in the battery tray and the battery cable was extremely loose. So how did we scam her for over $400? We went over all the information that we found and presented to the customer, we explained the issue of no oil, the loose belt and the low coolant along with the battery issue. We recommended that we perform the oil change, tighten belt, and perform a coolant system evaluation along with the testing fee. The customer wanted to do the oil change

Business reply on Google

Lowell, I think you may have clicked on the wrong company, Comptons Automotive is a repair facility and not a car sales lot.

Business reply on Google

We performed the testing for the inoperative backup camera; the testing procedures we used were factory procedures, which led us to a faulty backup camera itself. We recommended using a factory backup camera part, however, it was back-ordered and did not have an estimated time that we could get one. The claim that we could not fix it is correct due to the unavailability of the parts. To say we did not do anything is not a correct statement, we performed the necessary testing and came to the conclusion of the proper diagnosis. The customer declined to have us order the part. As for recommending other things, the vehicle was 6k miles past due for an oil change, oil level was low and looked very dark, we recommended performing an engine clean due to possible sludge and an oil change. The other recommendations were spark plugs that were due at 100k miles and a fuel system clean. These last two items were presented as recommendations if they had not been done already since we did not have any service records of the vehicle. Vehicle was dropped off and checked in at 8:40am, vehicle sent to dispatch at 8:47am, technician started work at 9:16am. Vehicle was diagnosed and repair order was s

Business reply on Google

Brian, thank you for your feedback. When we drive vehicles into our shop, our policy is to have the driver side window down to prevent having keys locked in the vehicle. In this case, we pushed the down button on the power window switch and the window went down. We have had customers in the past inform us of a window problem before we work on the vehicle, and in that case we will put the passenger side window down. If that does not work either, the technician knows to either leave the door open or remove the keys. However in this case, we were not informed of the window issue. We do apologize for the radiator cap, although the technician does not recall needing to remove it. We do have pictures of the coolant level being low when your truck arrived. As far as the running problem, this truck was brought to us with parts missing from the exhaust. You told us you had taken parts off the truck and tried to diagnose and repair it yourself, leaving parts in the bed of the truck. We could barely get the truck into the shop. The testing we did verified that the exhaust is completely stopped up and cannot flow. The vehicle would also not get above 2k rpms. All recommended repairs were decli

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Mykyta, I'm not sure what happened specifically, but I hope we can make it right. Our team is trained to treat all clients with respect and professionalism. I looked for your name in our system and couldn't find anything. Please call our office and ask for Todd -- I want to understand what happened. -Todd C., Owner

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Remi, we're not sure why your second opinion produced such a different diagnosis. What we can say is that our team is competent, reliable, and very experienced. A mechanic reported a grinding noise from inside while test-driving the truck, and then confirmed the location again while the vehicle was on the lift. We stand behind our work but are more than happy to answer any specific questions you have about our diagnosis. Feel free to stop back in or give us a call. -Todd C., Owner

Business reply on Google

Karen, Thank you for taking time to leave us a review, even though it is a 2 star, we appreciate the feedback. We are always learning on how to improve. I do want to say, yes we dropped the ball on the time commitment and not meeting your expectations. It was totally our fault that we that we did not communicate with you properly on the time. We perform digital inspections on every vehicle, regardless if it has recently been done, we take pictures of things we see that need attention as well as pictures that of things in good shape. We sent you the inspection which indicated you had torn wiper blades and a cabin air filter packed full of dirt, we also took pics of your tires, brakes, battery and a battery test that all tested good so that you know what shape your vehicle is in. The oil change price was our mistake, when our tech looked at the oil specs, he did mistakenly thought it was synthetic oil and therefore wrote down what he used on the repair order, when you questioned it ( We are glad you did) we corrected the mistake. We certainly were not trying to upsell you on synthetic oil, this was truly an honest mistake, which we do make. In your case we made several, 1- not unders

Business reply on Google

I'm sorry to hear about your frustrations, but I think you may be thinking of another shop. The team would never ask for $99 to take your tires off and look at your brakes. I hope to welcome to our shop for a better experience. -All the best, Todd C.,Owner