A-1 Transmission & Auto Air

I have lived here in Panama City Florida all my life and have used many Repair Shops over the years and this one has to be the best out of all of them. I have been ripped of by many other shops in this town but these guys are the best. They are honest as the day is long. They also know how to fix a car right the first time they work on it. I would highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for a good shop to work on their vehicles.

Called Jeff on phone and asked about a possible transmission issue. I told him that Mr. Transmission had the car and was giving me a quote. Jeff said "Oh, they are high". Turns out they were actually cheaper than Jeff at A1 Transmission. Jeff offered a free tow to his shop and called me saying that I had 2 problems. Catalyitic converters needed to be replaced and a transmission issue. I had already told him that if the total fix was going to be under $3000 that I can do it. He said that the new transmission and the catalytic converter swap would be way more than that. I told him well, tow my car back to my house because I can't pay that much for a 15 year old car with 209,000 miles on it. He said "Hold on let me talk to my shop forman (Chester)". He called me back and said he can do the catalytic converters, a transmission flush, timing belt change, A/C servo motor in my dash that was making noise. He said he can do all of this for $3200. I called mad hatter to get a quote on all the same work and it came out to $2300. I called Jeff at A1 Transmission and told him how cheap Mad Hatter was and he said he can do it for $2800. So, I let Jeff work on the car. He ordered the catalytic converters and timing belt and put them on. When I got the car back, I noticed that it INTERMITTENTLY had a poor acceleration issue, the same as before. This only happens ever once in a while. I took the car the next day back to the shop and drove with Mark (The super Lexus tech) and I couldn't make the car do it and I had to get to work. Upon leaving work that day when mashing the acceleration the car barely moved. The next day while taking my son to school, I heard a grinding noise, then a whistling/whining noise when the accelerator was pressed. It gradually got louder. I went to make a turn and the steering went out. This was 2 days after I got it back from Jeff at A1 Transmission. He picked up my car and charged me for the tow ($75) this time and put in a new power steering pump. Jeff from A1 transmission said he can get me a used steering pump for $60 to help me out because he charged me for a transmission flush ($169) but didn't perform one. That power steering pump had the steering wheel barely turnable. I told him that this wasn't right and they said that's how it is supposed to be. Utter incompetence. So, they said if I wasn't happy with that stiff, un-usalble steering wheel that I can get a new pump from Oreilly's and pay for it and have it delivered to them. I was told to get my old pump back for a credit from Oreilys. A1 Transmission refused to give me my old pump for a credit with Oreily's because they needed the pulley which makes no sense. Oreilly's didn't want the pulley. I caught A1 in multiple lies. A1 Transmission put on the "Brand New" power steering pump and steering was still extremely stiff and every time you turn the wheel there is an awful humming noise. Chester said that is normal. Gave me the car back and you could barely turn the steering wheel. Chester said that's what happens when you install a new power steering pump. It also makes loud hum every time you move the steering wheel that I have never heard before. Chester that that is normal too. My car wasn't right still after all of this and I just left A1 Transmission absolutely mortified as to how I was treated. That same day, I took my car to a master mechanic at Bay Lincoln. He and his colleagues saw gross errors in the work right away. A fuel induction hose was used for the power steering pump. There was a kink in this incorrect power steering hose that was installed causing the stiff steering. When we straightened it out the steering stiffness went right away. The clamps used on power steering hose were all loose and can spin them with your fingers. Wrong bolts where used during the catalytic converter swap. Some bolts have been tightened down too far and stripped them. My wheels were damaged somehow while in their possession. A1 transmission did my brakes but put NO brake fluid in my car. A1 transmission replaced my catalytic converter and left my heat shield off which could have caused my car to catch on fire. (with my 12 year old in the car) These are just the issues that were seen within 20 minutes.

THIEVES, LIARS, AND INCOMPETENT SHOP! Jeff Martin will advertised used transmissions on craigslist. The number he uses to call him for this amazing transmission deal is: show contact info Jeff Martin is a liar and a thief. Charged me $2800 for a hesitation issue on my Lexus. He said that new catalytic converters would fix the issue. Nothing was fixed and Jeff Martin did nothing to fix. Every word that comes out of his mouth is a lie. Chester, Mark, and all the techs are incompetent and can't even install a power steering pump. A $50 Mass Air Flow Sensor fixed my issue and a real mechanic solved it. Jeff has stolen from my family and has taken food out of my son's mouth. I will never stop until satisfaction is attained. I will do whatever I need to do to make sure A1 Transmission and Jeff Martin personally is destroyed.

Crooked, overpriced service. The bottom line - Slow service: took A-1 Transmission 7 days before they even took my transmission apart - Expensive: charged $810 for a job that takes approximately 5-6 hours. Other shops quoted $350-$550 for an 8 hour job of similar scope (old transmission out, new transmission in). - Evident lack of expertise: A-1 Transmission's solution to any problem is to buy a rebuild kit and swap parts, even if the rebuild kit is not required. The experience I rebuilt the transmission on my truck myself but was having an issue with one of the clutch packs. I called their shop, per a friend's recommendation, and asked if they would mind taking a look at my issue. The shop happily sent over their "free" towing service, for which I was later charged $50. Jeff, the owner of A-1 Transmission, said that he would have one of his mechanics take the transmission apart to see if they could find the issue. For the next 7 days, I never received an update call. I called the shop every day, and every day, Jeff told me that they had not yet disassembled the transmission. On the 7th day, the owner told me that they had finally taken the transmission apart and it needed a full rebuild. He said that they would need to purchase a full rebuild kit and that the repairs would cost $2800. I knew this was unnecessary since I had just rebuilt the transmission and the clutches and steels had 0 miles on them (I later found that my problems were because I had put a reaction plate in the place of a pressure plate. The fix was very easy, took 5 minutes, and required no additional parts.). By this point, I was not comfortable with the shop's competence. I told the owner to stop all work, pack up the parts, and that I would pick the truck up and do the repairs myself. I asked Jeff to figure out how much I owed him for their work so that I could pay him before I picked up the truck. He told me that I owed $810 for the work and the "free" tow. Knowing that the amount of work his shop performed could not be more than 5-6 hours, I asked the owner how much time they had spent on my truck. He said that they did not keep track but that he estimated 10 hours: 6 hours to pull the transmission, 2 hours to take the transmission apart, and 2 hours to box up my parts. I know from experience (backed up by many internet sites) that it takes approximately 4 hours to pull a transmission, 30 minutes to an hour to disassemble a transmission, and less than 10 minutes to place a few items in a box. To confirm my suspicions that I was being grossly overcharged, I called a few shops in the area and asked how much they charge to remove a transmission and then install a new transmission. This is approximately an 8 hour job - 4 hours to take out the transmission, 4 hours to put in the new transmission. Panhandle Transmission quoted me $350 and Bill's Transmission quoted my $550. This means that A-1 was charging me 370% of the local rate. I brought this information to Jeff's attention but he refused to drop the price. Since the truck is my daily driver, I had no choice but to pay the excessive $810. On the day that I scheduled to pick up my truck, I contacted the shop to make sure my vehicle would be ready when I arrived. Jeff assured me many times that the truck would be ready. Of course, when I showed up, my truck was still in the back and my parts had not been boxed up. I was made to wait an hour before one of the shop's employees was free and could retrieve my vehicle. In all, I was extremely dissatisfied with the quality of the service provided and the outrageously high prices. I will never take any of my vehicles back to A-1 Transmission and I strongly discourage others from making the same mistake.

Would never go here again and would strongly recommend that anyone reading this does not take their vehicle here either. We had a complete transmission rebuild and then we had to have a replacement transmission 6 months later by a real garage. They are a dishonest garage and a bunch of crooks!!!

I HAD MY CAR TOWED TO THEM BECAUSE IT WOULDN'T START RIGHT AND WHEN IT WAS RUNNING IT WOULD SKIP AND SPUTTER.THEY LOOKED AT THE CAR AND SAID ALL IT NEEDED WAS A GOOD TUNE UP.THEY SAID IT WOULD BE 472.50 INCLUDING TAX TO REPAIR IT PROPERLY. THEY HAD IT FIXED THE SAME DAY AND I WAS ABLE TO GET BACK TO WORK WHEN I NEEDED TOO. I WOULD TAKE MY CAR BACK TO THEM BECAUSE THEY WERE GREAT TO DEAL WITH AND WERE HONEST WITH ME.I WILL TELL ALL MY FRIENDS TO GO THERE.

I agree with the other reviewers about the poor service and the dishonesty. I was also told that diagnostics would be free but later charged for the "free" service. The owner said he offers a military discount and when asked to show me an itemized bill he refused. I would not go back for any services and I will advise anyone else from doing so.

My truck broke down on me at the beach and i called them to help me.They were very professional and nice. They towed my truck in and looked at it and called me to tell me what it was going to cost before they did the work like he said he would. The price was cheaper than other places i had talked to so i was happy about that.They had my truck fixed in 2 days and that was great cause i needed it to go to work. They also repaired my brakes while it was there. I would take my vehicle back there if i need anything else done. They were great to deal with.

I had him do a diagnostic test on my truck to check why it was not running after it ran out of diesel. He told me on the phone that it would be free and I had a coupon for it to be free. He called me the next day to let me know that the sending unit was not working. I called the dealer and they told me that the sending unit has not thing to do with the truck turning on or off. So, he was lied and tried to sell me something that was needed (dishonest). We did more research on the internet and told him to put in more diesel and it worked. The truck turn on. When I went to pick up the truck he told me that I have to pay for the diagnostic test (when he didn’t even fix the problem). I showed him the coupon for the free diagnostic test and he did not honor it and he also lied when I called him if there would be a charge. I ended up paying because I wanted my keys back… Don't use them!!!