Hawkes Bay Automatic Specialists

I took my car here for a transmission diagnosis and was initially quoted $250. Later I received a call saying the price would be $300, which I accepted. However, when I went to pick up my car I was charged $440, which was a big jump from what I had agreed to. I understand costs can change, but I would have appreciated clear communication and approval before the price increased that much. Unfortunately this left me feeling misled and disappointed with the experience.

Click on lowest and read the other bad reviews this outfit has got. Here's another one: When I was having a graunching sound starting, I took my car to Williams Autoelectrical, who said it had nothing to do with the starter motor, which had nothing wrong with it, but it was the ring gears at fault. HB Automotive accepted the job and said there's no replacements in the country, but they could get the old one built up. They did this, but it was still faulty. They then advised me that it must be the starter motor at fault. I took it back to Williams Auto Electrical, and they replaced the stater motor, at Colin's insistance, even though they still said there was nothing wrong with it. It was still faulty, so I took it to Bay Ford. They got a new ring gear in from Japan, put the old starter motor back in, and it worked perfectly after that. The whole time, HB Transmission Specialists refused to even look at it again. The cost for the ring gears was over $2000, and the starter motor almost $500. Over numerous emails and even in his submission to the Disputes tribunal, Colin said nothing about getting a new ring gear from Japan. He never told me to get one. Nor did he tell me to replace the stater motor until they rebuilt the ring gear, and it still wasn't working. Yet in his written emails and submission he went on and on about the starter motor, that he's told me to replace it from the start, even though it had been proved there was nothing wrong with it, and he also verbally in the tribunal hearing said he'd at the outset advised me to get a new ring gear from Japan! It was only after he saw that was Bay Ford's solution he brought that one up. So he won the tribunal hearing by lying through his teeth, and, like all good con men, he knows how to lay on the charm when he needs to. I wish I could give them no stars, because they did no good for me. In fact, I'm down the drain $2500 because of them.