Firestone Complete Auto Care

The guys that work here are so nice. The service is great. They remember you and try to find the best deals for you.

When I went for an oil change at the Nissan dealership, I was told I needed to change my front and rear brakes. I only had ¹⁄₃₂ left on my brake pads. They gave me a quote and the next day I called around for quotes from non-​dealers. My fiancé talked with Mark Brown, Assistant Manager, at Firestone. He was so helpful and patient. He explained everything in detail. Firestone quoted me at the best price and they provide a lifetime warranty on the pads and 24 months/24,000 miles on the labor. They also provided discounts on the parts and labor. It was a great deal. While I was waiting in the lobby, Mark tells me he needs to show me something. I thought he was trying to upcharge me, but he took me back to the garage and showed me my front rotors. He and the mechanic named Douglass, who was also very friendly and helpful, suggested I have the front ones changed and he said they could turn the back ones. I called my fiancé and had Mark talk to him. At first my fiancé thought Mark was trying to upcharge us too until I texted him pics of the front rotor. After seeing the pics, he told me to have them changed. And Mark gave me an additional 10% of the rotor change. The rotors are warrantied for 12 months or 12,000 miles. I was out of there in a little less than 3 hours and Douglass test drove my car before returning it to me. Long story short, Roland (another employee in the front of the business), Mark, and Douglass were very friendly, helpful, and more importantly, very PROFESSIONAL. Another customer and I were in the lobby commenting on how impressed we were with Mark and Roland because even when other customers were acting nasty toward them, they kept it professional. I would definitely go back to this Firestone.

Friendly staff, but I’m convinced this place is instructed by management/​owners to upcharge customers for unnecessary work. The mechanics recommended that I have my brake pads changed due to wear. It was going to cost an extra $ 400. I went to another mechanic to see if I could get it done for cheaper, but was told my brake pads were in «great» condition. I took it to a 3^rd mechanic just to confirm who also said my brakes were fine.
Furthermore, I believe the mechanics are less than smart even about car matters. I was told by one of the mechanics that I had an oxygen sensor issue after trying an hour to get a ‘warning’ light to turn off. The ‘warning’ light was an indicator light for my running defroster.

I needed my thermostat replaced– a simple job that should cost between $ 100-​$ 150, or $ 175 on the very high end. I called to ask for a rough estimate– $ 300! I’m female– I don’t know if that’s why they thought they could get away with charging more than twice the actual price, but I’m staying away!

Not only was I sold insurance on the tire without permission, but I was also overcharged and had to return for a $ 15 refund that tied up $ 300 in my bank for the week. Why not just offer me a gift card for $ 15 to keep me coming back in? I will not return there’s plenty of competition on Howard.

For what they charge they could at least get decent toilet tissue, it feels like a Brillo pad. No Essence or Ebony magazine in the waiting area. This place is not female friendly at all. But nonetheless they always take care of my car and offer me the option of applying for their credit card and obviously using it as a form of payment.

Do not give these people your money! They nearly took me for TEN TIMES what my regular mechanic charged me. TEN TIMES! They ran the diagnostic on my car and then never, ever looked under the hood. Told me I needed four new spark plugs and four new ignition coils plus a myriad of other junk totaling twelve hundred freaking dollars. Turns out I needed one coil. One. Uno. It was a one hundred and twenty dollar job (done by Jr. Lala’s three blocks away on Lafayette, who I love and who has always been nothing but fair and honest with me, but that’s a whole ‘nother review). In conclusion, just don’t do it. Seriously. Don’t.

Worst place ever. My car was suddenly dead while running and so I towed it to this Firestone and fIrst of all they took 2 days to figure out what was wrong with the car. Adrian, who works there calls me and tells me that cylinder 1 misfired and hence you need to change the ignition coil (all 4 recommended) and gave me an estimate of whopping $ 1000. Ridiculously insane. I got 4 ignition coils and 4 spark plugs for $ 200 from advance auto parts and fixed it myself. These people just tried to make money as I sounded very desperate to get my car back. NEVER GO THERE.

My bf scheduled an appointment online for air conditioning service on his mercedes c32 amg. We rushed over during lunch after being told on the phone that we could come on and get the car serviced. Despite having entered the exact make and model on the car, and the need for AC service prior to this, when we arrived, they told us they couldn’t service the car because they didn’t have the right equipment!
Why didn’t they tell us this when we 1) first made the appointment or 2) when we talked with them on the phone? What a waste of time!!! Don’t come here if you have a foreign car!

This was a little disappointing of an experience. I went here last year because my AC wasn’t working. They investigated and came back to me with two pieces of information: 1) You should have your refrigerant replaced, just under $ 200; and 2) your compressor (I think that was the part) was literally unplugged for some reason, so we plugged it back in.
Let’s pause here for a moment — they plugged it back in and that fixed it. Problem solved. AC works again, nice and cool. Why, then, pay that almost $ 200 if it is already fixed? Thank goodness I noticed that slight of logic and said no thanks.
I also asked him to show me. He opened the hood, and there, we found a cap just sitting on the engine. Someone had forgotten to put a cap back on.

I made an appointment for 10am on a Friday, and actually showed up 15 minutes early. I sat in the waiting room facing my car which was still just sitting there after 45 minutes – they STILL hadn’t taken it into the garage. However, a couple of customers pulled up to the door, laughed with the cashier and suddenly their car was being pulled into the garage! At 11am, my car hadn’t even been moved from the parking spot. I decided Firestone on Howard totally sucks unless you’re related to the cashier. I will never go there again unless I want to waste my time and get horrible customer service.

Made an appointment a few days in advance for tires listed on their website. Showed up with plans to have the spark plugs swapped and get new tires. Plugs and a fuel line cleaning for $ 250. Tried to charge $ 22/​each for platinum plugs. These should cost about a third of that. Also tried to tell me my belt was worn and needed to be replaced. I made them open the engine and show me the wear; it was minimal and indicative of a belt with about half its life left. Quoted a $ 50 belt, should cost less than about a third of that.
Finally, the reason I came in the first place, to a TIRE SHOP was for TIRES. They didn’t have ANY tires for my car, a 2008 Toyota Yaris. Not exactly a rare exotic. They said they could order some, but there is NO chance I’m sticking around here. Wasted my morning and money. Never again coming to this waste of space.

For what they do, they’re good enough for us. Our Cav had to be looked at because it was overheating — it turns out that the head gasket’s leaking, so it’ll be a 2300 dollar repair. Seeing that we only paid 3k for the car itself, definitely not worth it. It was news that I was obviously not happy to hear, but at least the guy was honest about it. He didn’t try to upsell or bullshit us, which is a huge positive.
They took a couple of hours to look at it, but there were a LOT of people ahead of us, so as far as I’m concerned, that was also a positive. They only charged us 50 dollars for the diagnostics and an oil change (which they did correctly), so it was reasonable enough.
A star off for the absolutely horrendous coffee. That coffee was an abomination. I think I could have drunk the sludge from the bottom of the Inner Harbor and it would have tasted better.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to patronize this place, but it’s okay for what it is and I’d use again if I had a need.

Took over 2.5hrs on a Sunday for an oil change w tire balance and alignment. Definitely wont be back.

Disclaimer– Jennifer S. is my spouse! So– lump her review in with mine! (Ain’t our little Peke cute? HA! Esp. when you aren’t the one cleaning up the ooopsy spots on the carpet…)
I though– eh, they do what they are supposed to do, they did a fine job with my new tires— how bad can an oil change be?
So– I got an oil change!
Thanfully, I decided to re-​check my oil once I got home– It was dark when I picked my car up, and the ‘hood this place is in is not exactly conducive to standing outside checking under the hood of your car.
THEY OVERFILLED MY OIL BY ¾ QUART!
THAT IS A BAD THING! It can cause oil to foam, clogging up all sorts of stuff in engine, basically destroying it; it can blow seals, etc.
Luckily, the RAV4 can handle that much extra oil, at least for the short run– I had none of the classic overfill symtoms (Blue smoke from exhaust, rough running– the foam thing thankfully didn’t happen!) But if I hadn’t caught it until next oil change, it would have shortened the life of my engine considerably due to the excess oil pressure.
Pure sloppiness. Ain’t hard to check a dip stick. And be warned– lots of places use automated dispensers for oil– and they are not always accurate. ALWAYS check your oil level after a change.
I took it to a service station near my home– they drained the excess out for me. Free of charge. I didn’t want to risk damage driving it back to Firestone.
I know where I’m going for service from now on – and it’s not Firestone. Firestone, I’m done with you.
Don’t care about your cheap credit one bit.

The only positives are that they actually perform the work they charge you for and offer 6 months credit with no interest. Recently my service engine light went off during monsoon season, so I took my car to this location near my job. They tried to charge me $ 2,000, but my husband was able to prove that we received transmission service recently which lowered the bill to $ 1,500. Most of the charges were for routine maintenance such as fuel flushes. The engine light came on on the drive home so I brought it back the next day to be told that I’d need to shell out an additional $ 1,400 for a NEW COMPUTER if I wanted my car to have «optimal functioning.» I drove off fearful of my car breaking down on I-​83 only to have the engine light turn off after the weather cleared. From now on, I plan to travel to Howard County for all future car repairs (a co-worker’s husband is a rarity A TRUE HONEST MECHANIC who owns an auto repair shop in Elkridge, MD.)