Arlington Global

Your car deserves better.
The Good: He tries to save you money.
Abe is a great guy and has saved me in the past. He will try to find the least expensive solutions to your car problems, including doing some work for free, purchasing parts at significant discount from junkyards and not pushing unnecessary repairs on you.
The Bad: Scheduling/​organization and communication.
Abe will need to keep your car for at least one day, often more. He doesn’t have parts on hand and does not appear to organize his time well. It will take one day for diagnosis and part ordering/​delivery and another day to do the work. I recently left my car for three days while I was traveling for what Abe said was a 1 day job and it wasn’t ready when I got back.
The Ugly: Mis-​diagnosis
Abe completely misdiagnosed an obvious and significant issue with my car. I brought it to him three times complaining about the same symptoms. He never found the cause. I just left Newton Automotive Services who quickly and accurately diagnosed the problem which could have caused major damage if gone unfixed. Newton Automotive not only found the issues, they are taking only a few hours to fix all of them… on a Saturday afternoon!
If your car is a beater or you’re about to sell it, bring it to Abe to keep it running or resolve immediate issues on the cheap. If you drive something with life left in it’s bones and want to actually maintain it for the life of the car, take it someplace that can accurately diagnose and reasonably recommend appropriate repairs. Unfortunately I no longer trust Abe for this.

So hard to find a good car mechanic around Boston, but Abe is one! He gets things done about as fast as humanly possible, and is extremely organized. He understands the difference between the professional repair and the quick fix, and is willing to do the whole range. I really don’t know how they get so much work done with so few people, but their work ethic is noted and admired. I lived nearby for over 25 years, and have known him ever since my first Excel, which was probably in that shop every other weekend while I had it. Now that I live farther away, I find myself going out of my way to come back to Abe!

I have gotten my car fixed here on one occasion. They were very uncommunicative about the process of leaving the car behind for service, and it took them forever to come out to even greet me as a customer. I wasted 15 minutes of my day standing around due to their lack of communication. I ultimately had my AC fixed because it was a hot week, and this was the closest shop in town that could fix it that same day. On a separate occasion, I also went there for state inspection, and I had a similar experience. I ended up going to the BP down the street because I was not certain if the people at Global were ever going to greet me. At the BP, I was promptly greeted, and my car was inspected quickly.
This shop does get an additional star for having the cheapest gas in Arlington, so I will keep coming here for gas, but never again their automotive service.

He charged me $ 450 for the same fuel pump I could have gotten online for $ 220, and $ 430 for labor that for the same job recently at a Saab mechanic cost $ 95. The fuel pump from Global lasted 1.5 years before it died, whereas the original lasted 14 years. He may be friendly, but certainly fleeced me.

Abe is awesome. My friend recommended me to his place to do state inspection. He is helpful. He did not only replace the brake light, change oil for my car but also filled up the empty windshield water. Nice job and the price is reasonable. I will definitely come back again for the next year.

I’m always paranoid about getting ripped off by mechanics, so I want to share with as many people as I can when I find a great one! Our trusty honda was making some crazy noises the past few weeks, and we finally took it in to have it checked, and it turns out that the front break pads were worn to nothing!
Abe didn’t try to upsell us by telling us to replace the back pads, and he also helped us put in an air filter free of charge. I looked up the prices for the work done, and it is on the low end for this area. The job was done quickly, and the car has been problem-​free since.
I really appreciate a good, honest mechanic, and we’ll definitely be back with any future repairs.

Friendly and helpful service. One of the best places I’ve taken my car to in a long time. Highly recommended

Honest quick and great price– as the guy who picks up the phone always says, ‘no problem’

Still a fan, though Abe charged me 150 for the hose repair which required a leak test. Still he got my car to pass inspection. My check engine light came back on a week later though, not sure if it was related to repair or not…

Great mechanic!
My car needed some exhaust repairs recently, so I took it to Abe — following good advice from friends — and he fixed it perfectly, and on a short time table. He’s great, honest, fair prices, and good work.
I’ll keep taking my car there, and recommending the garage, cause they’re really solid :-)

This place is amazing. Honest and knowledgeable guys who work hard and take care of your car like you are family or a long lost friend. Abe runs a phenomenal shop.

I wish I could add stars to this review.
Last week, my car started shaking violently. And the smell: awful. Then the dreaded ‘check engine’ light.
I took my Volvo to Abe the next morning. He immediately recognized the problem (and confirmed it with the computer). And then he shopped for parts informing me of the different options, the associated price, and his recommendation.
He is an expert and I trust him completely. And I appreciate that he guides my decision according to what is right for me: my plans for the car and the budget for an unexpected expense.
Abe also suggested that we approach the repair in 2 phases to ensure that I wasn’t replacing parts unnecessarily. I am so grateful for that suggestions since the repair was complete with Phase 1.
So, years later, I am still a happy and loyal Arlington Global client.
There’s a reason why Abe and the team are so busy!

I’m writing this review because mechanics like Abe do not exist — he is truly a gem! He worked on my old 1999 Jetta a few times. The first time I called him was before 8am on a Saturday morning last summer. I was literally about to drive up to Maine when I was heard the most horrifying sound coming from my rear tire. I raced over there and he said my rear breaks were completely shot and it was unsafe to drive anywhere — let alone 4 hours north where cell service does not exist! Abe got on the phone — with me standing there — found the parts and gave me prices as the person on the other end of the phone told them to him (note he’s not inflating anything!) He had me on the road by noon and showed me all of the parts he took off the car — explaining everything as he went along. The next time my car had a major problem — another horrifying sound — I had the tow truck take it straight to Abe. He had the part sitting in his shop! It was used, off of another job he had done, and he didn’t charge me for it — he just charged me for the labor. Honest Abe … my mechanic! Now I drive a new car, but I still go get gas from Abe, just to say, «hi!»

I rolled up on a Friday asking if I could get an oil change done. All three of their garage bays were full but they finished up on one of the cars and had mine inside within 5 minutes. The guy told me to come back in 20 minutes so I walked over to Dunkin Donuts (ugh) to figure out how to use the gift card that my boss regrettably gave me. One awful poorly made hoity-​toity beverage and a trinity of sausage ball cakes or whatever the hell they are later, I walked back and my car was done. Did I mention this was on a Friday afternoon and they had other cars that they stopped working on to fit me in? Yeah. Awesome. Even more awesomer was how inexpensive it was. So inexpensive that I wanted to tip the guy the difference of what I was expecting to pay, but I was unsure of the protocol since I am used to the cold faceless dealership mechanics.
I’ve gone here for inspections before and try to get all my gas here, and all the guys have been exceedingly friendly every time. My car is only 2 years old, but when the warranty expires you can bet I will be taking it here to have all the maintenance done.
On a totally unrelated note, over the summer I’d always see a squirrel running around in the garage and once asked the gas attendant what the deal was. Apparently it lives in there. Awesomerer.

I love this gas station. How could you love a gas station? I have a lot of reasons to be smitten with this place. They have the best prices on gas in town. The guys who work here are friendly. I always forget not to tip the owner, he just smiles and wishes me a good night. I never go any where else in Arlington for gas.

Great place to get gas and car maintenance. Abe is great, as well as the other gentlemen who work there. Very friendly and trustworthy. The place has a great vibe — I recommend it to all my friends.

…signed up just to write this review…
my friend Marco pointed me to this place, said they guy Abe was a great guy, very honest and does a good job. Confirmed 100% true… I just moved to boston and back home I used to always take my GTI to the dealer for servicing (always an exercise in frustration)…this was my first time just taking it to a «car dude” – Abe was very professional, and even opened up my car and showed me the different things he was going to fix and what not… most fun i’ve ever had taking my car in for maintenance :)

Very disappointing results. Stopped by to get my windshield wiper motor fixed. He said it would take an 1 – 1.5 hr. I dropped the car off at 11am. He didn’t finish till 5pm. I guess he was doing other things at the same time. Instead of 1 – 1.5 hr of fixing the part, he spent 2 hours and ordered a new part costing me double what he quoted me. I wanted to give this guy a chance but check somewhere else.