Southwest Auto

If I could give 10 stars I would. I have been doing business with Jon and Maryjane Howes since 1989. They are my «go to» people for anything «car». Above and Beyond is the best phrase I can come up with to describe their service and attention. If they can’t do it, they figure out how. They are always friendly, helpful, interested, competent and FAIR! I have bought 4 cars from them over the years (2 Saabs and 2 Volvos) and they have serviced them all expertly. The sad news is that I have recently moved to Virginia and have had to leave them. Yet… Jon was able to refer me to a personal friend doing the same work here in Springfield — so the service continues… I can’t say enough good things about them and all the employees — their daughter Julianna, techs Jerry and Rick — all friendly, expert, and reliable. Thank you Southwest Auto for 26 years of excellent service and friendship.
Michele.

I will not go back. Would rather spend a little more and go to the dealer where you get good communication and customer service.

Received a flyer in the mail so I decided to try them for service on my Mini. Called and made an appointment for 8am drop off on Friday. Dropped off the car at the promised time and their computer was slow/​out so left my key and phone number with a guy behind the counter who told me they close at 6pm and will reopen in Monday but there should be no problem getting the car done before 6.
I went about my day but no call or status from them so I called them at 3a and a woman who answered says that there is nothing on the worksheet and as soon as she hears from the mechanic they will call me. By 5:30 still nothing so again another call. A guy answers this time and says «hmmm, I can’t find your car on the list… Oh wait, here it is… Something about a leaking thermostat, but hmmmm this is odd. Oh, can I call you bak in a few minutes? Let check what’s going on.» Well, this is now 30 minutes before they close for the weekend and I am going out of town on Monday and my daughter needs a car. No return call at 5:50 so I jump in wife’s car and head over there (fortunately the are only 10 minutes away). I drive up and the already had the garage door closed and was in the process of closing up the office. I find the guy who I talked to and he says «oh, this is real strange, you have a leak in the thermostat housing. Follow me». No explanation as to why he didn’t call me back. So I say «What? Why didn’t anyone call me??? You had all day!» Well, we go back into their shop and amongst maybe about 20 cars in there, sits the Mini with hood up and various hoses and bolts strewn about. Now, there is no one around, they can’t give me a loaner car for my under-​25 daughter, hadn’t given me a repair quote, and I can’t drive the car out of there. The guy promises to get his mechanic out on Saturday and give me the car back then. So I go home and get a call an hour later to pick the car up– it’s been put together. So finally at 6:30 I gems key from their lock box and drive back home. No thank you Southwest, I will go back to the dealer for service.

Deceived, disappointed, done here.
After moving was looking for a new repair shop. this ain’t it.
I do NOT schedule an appointment for «when [they] can get to it» so they bump me BEYOND the quoted «day or two» INCREDULOUSLY BEFORE I EVEN GET A DIAGNOSIS — MUCH LOSS A REPAIR. NO REASON/​excuse PROVIDED! Nor apology. Just some $ 15 rental car credit while the car was costing $ 34/​day AND the bill was no bargain. For what was done maybe they offset it here? Whatever, it gets worse when there’s then a claim that my not cheap K&N air filter has a tear — problem, I just cleaned it before service as I’d done a few things to see if it solved things. Reason for doubt: 1.) I neither saw the tear (and was pretty much on top of it with cleaning). 2.) They replaced the heat shield screws w/​non-​factory. Not a biggie, but when the filter is a bugger to get to someone losing difficult to reach screws would fit a more likely type to tear the filter in the process.
Meanwhile eating up a rental car fee when I could have had a loaner HAD THEY BEEN TRUTHFUL IN THEIR ESTIMATE (loaner was expected to be available by the time they ended up getting to it 5 days later)! «Fair» is covering what their errors cost me — and I don’t know how they can refute that — I simply would not have brought it in, nor incurred rental car expense, if I’d been told they couldn’t get to it until later. Clearly they bumped me to squeeze in other car (s). Or how about being told I’d get a call with an estimate FALSELY about 3 to 5 times? And when I think about it it gets worse — I did not get the quote/​problem UNTIL I CALLED the afternoon it was done. So if I was later it would have been a full week for a ‘1 or 2 day’ repair? WTHeck didn’t the mechanic or someone finally call? When I told owner/mg’r I just got «hard to believe» — what’s hard to believe is WHY I HAD TO GO TO THIS, AND EVEN CLEAR TO HIM WHEN HE HAD TO HUNT UP WHAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED. Seems to be a pattern here.
Believe I’ve got filter tear fixed, but the tripled repair time and ZIP for excuse or apology, combined with a no bargain cost repair adds up to an unpleasant untrustworthy experience. I’m NOT the one who was 4 days late — why am I the one out without even an apology?

I had to have my car towed off the side of the road after getting a message about needing an urgent transmission service. They were quickly able to get to my car and gave me options that they thought would keep me from needing a new transmission. They were very communicative and helped me go through my insurance.
I also appreciated they sent me cookies after I got my car back!
Overall I was very pleased and will use them for routine maintenance on my 2009 Volvo S40.

Honest, fair and capable independent shop better than any dealer I’ve ever dealt with. We’ve been bringing our cars here for 8 years, recommend friends, family and they always make things right. I would not deal with any one else for repairs, and have sold several cars with their help. I’d buy one anytime from these folks. Great people.

Replaced my AM radio in my Volvo C-​30 for $ 310 whereas the Volvo dealer wanted $ 1,300! Awesome service by providing regular updates as they had never replaced a radio in a C-​30 before

My husband and I came by here the other day to look at a used VW GLI. The owner was nice but exceptionally passive and seemed indifferent about our presence or interest in the car.
Upon taking the GLI for a test drive, we discovered a major mechanical flaw on deceleration (something you think one of their mechanics would have noticed when it was checked). It’s a classic transmission issue in those cars, but very fixable. When we took it back and explained the concern, they took little interest (owner and mechanic included) and despite us still wanting to purchase the car, didn’t seem to be willing to drop the price or fix the issue.
It would make sense to me that a business as tiny as theirs would want to work hard to help their customers out — or at least acknowledge the problem and agree to do something about it. Whether that be for us or someone else.
Needless to say, we left, didn’t buy the car and unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

Last year, I brought my S40 to the Volvo dealership for its 60k-​mile service and was quoted a price just under a $ 1,000. So, I called up Southwest Auto and got the same service for $ 246.75, and I got to experience their fantastic customer service.
Today, I brought my car back for another service, and received swift and courteous service.
They have definitely earned my business for the life of this car, and I’ll go out of my way to recommend them to anyone with a Saab, Volvo or Volkswagen.

When I moved to Dallas from Los Angeles, I was a bit concerned with who I would get to service my classic 1967 122 Volvo. The Southwest Auto Team exceeded my expectations. They are pro service all the way around and know the intricacies of all Volvos! Their work is amazing. I highly recommend them to anyone. Their prices are reasonable and they are very on time with what they say they will do.

Great customer service on my VW Jetta. Truly a family business. If you call in advance, you can even arrange a rental car while yours is being repaired. They explain the repairs clearly, and I trust their recommendations.
The only drawback is that they are not open weekends, so you have to be able to get there Mon-​Fri for service.

Very enjoyable experience. The owner Jon is very nice, and very knowledgeable about Volvos. The work was a little pricey, but still much cheaper than the dealership.
The only downside is that it’s slightly out of the way, and when you search for the place, it gives you about 4 different address’.
The correct one should be:
11 353 Mathis Avenue
Dallas, TX 75 229