Branford Auto Repair

This place is one of the best shops in New haven county. He’s is extremely honest, I’ve been a very loyal customer for a while now and he does the best work around. Very precise , fair prices , beautiful waiting room as well. I highly recommend Tom and his team.

Fantastic service , most of all trustworthy!

friendly , affordable and always gets the job done correctly! o

I've been using Automotive Excellence since 2009. I credit them with helping me get my Volvo XC-90 to 300K miles. Excellent service and workmanship. Never any "advice" for unnecessary work unlike other automotive service centers.

Very responsive. Pleasant to deal with. Feel I am treated fairly.

Very good company and trustworthy

So glad I took my car here. They were thorough, honest, and helpful. I feel like I'm driving a brand new car after their work! Very friendly service and so fast! I was only without a car overnight for some extensive work, and they even provided me with a loaner car. I am so glad to have them to call anytime I need anything and can rely on them for an excellent job well done.

Great work

TL;DR: Charged way too much and didn’t even diagnose the repair correctly. I recommend VW dealership in Meriden if you have a VW vehicle, NOT this place. Full story: I really wanted to like this shop and support a local business. I had a warning light on my 2016 VW Golf S, that read “Error: Transmission” and would go on and off intermittently as I drove. I took it into this shop and they said that it was error code 22944, due to solenoid valve 2. It would have cost over $3000 to replace the entire valve body, where the solenoid is embedded. I was pretty upset at the price tag, of course, and searched around for a better deal on that part. I found it at a discount from a VW dealer in CT. When I asked Automotive Excellence if I could buy that part and bring it, they said it was against their policy. That was a little weird (even the dealership allows you to bring your own part), but ok, policy is policy. However, they had also tacked on some filter replacement to the quote. At this point, I called the VW dealership in Meriden to get a quote. Theirs was lower, and they would accept the discounted part. I retrieved my Golf from Automotive Excellence, paid the inspection fee ($155) and then drove to Meriden. It turns out that the diagnosis from Automotive Excellence was wrong!! There was a loose wire that was causing the warning. It cost me $500 to get it replaced and fixed at the dealership. Steep, but much less than $3K for something that wouldn’t have even worked. Maybe I was unlucky, maybe they’re bad with VW, but based on my experience Automotive Excellence is not at all excellent.

EDIT: went from 1 star to 3 stars because they refunded me the money and responded respectfully to this review. TL;DR: Charged way too much and didn’t even diagnose the repair correctly. I recommend VW dealership in Meriden if you have a VW vehicle, NOT this place. Full story: I really wanted to like this shop and support a local business. I had a warning light on my 2016 VW Golf S, that read “Error: Transmission” and would go on and off intermittently as I drove. I took it into this shop and they said that it was error code 22944, due to solenoid valve 2. It would have cost over $3000 to replace the entire valve body, where the solenoid is embedded. I was pretty upset at the price tag, of course, and searched around for a better deal on that part. I found it at a discount from a VW dealer in CT. When I asked Automotive Excellence if I could buy that part and bring it, they said it was against their policy. That was a little weird (even the dealership allows you to bring your own part), but ok, policy is policy. However, they had also tacked on some filter replacement to the quote. At this point, I called the VW dealership in Meriden to get a quote. Theirs was lower, and they would accept the discounted part. I retrieved my Golf from Automotive Excellence, paid the inspection fee ($155) and then drove to Meriden. It turns out that the diagnosis from Automotive Excellence was wrong!! There was a loose wire that was causing the warning. It cost me $500 to get it replaced and fixed at the dealership. Steep, but much less than $3K for something that wouldn’t have even worked. Maybe I was unlucky, maybe they’re bad with VW, but based on my experience Automotive Excellence is not at all excellent.