Shepherd Square Tire & Auto

Updated to correct location

DO NOT COME HERE — Mike and Tom no longer own it. I’m trying to locate them and find out where they are currently at as soon as I do I will post it.
I came in found out they were gone, decided to give the new place another try and it’s horrid, corporate, nickle & dimeing you, hidden costs, surprise registers, smarmy snake oil sales.
Mike and Tom always told you straight out, your specific car needs this. Now it’s playing a tango trying to find the real price. They asked me if I wanted my tires rotated. I said I bought my tires here, they always get rotated. Well unless a oil change is bought, no longer the case it appears.
I really tried to give this place a go. Now I’m sitting waiting as if I went to Jiffy Lube, miserable waiting for the next round of «would you like to purchase…»

I came here after Jiffy Lube said my car was too heavy for their lift (I know right?) I needed to get my tires rotated. I was in and out in about 30 minutes. Very friendly guy at the counter. was there on his day off, but helped me anyways. I asked if they could put a sticker on my car to remind me when I’m due for my next rotation, they said only w/​an oil change. That makes sense. I would have gotten an oil change there, but I still have 1k miles to go! He said to come back in 10k miles. I’ll be back!

I originally called to get the price of their oil change, which is $ 32.95, I little more than I was willing to spend, but the guy on the phone told me it would only be $ 19.99 with a coupon from Randall’s, which is right across the street. Well I didn’t to to Randall’s, but I did print out a $ 10 off coupon from their website. When I got there they printed up the receipt BEFORE the service was done (which surprised me), I told the guy that I had a coupon and he was slightly hesitant at first, but was nice enough to accept it (he didn’t give me a hard time about it). I was told it would only take 30 minutes and they owned up to it, didn’t take long at all! They didn’t hassle me about any extra services either, it was a great experience!

Hey Gang I am late on this one but they did have a recent change of ownership. I still did some business with them (minor stuff) and had no complaints.

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.
Said the diagnostic fee (to be applied toward repairs if chosen) was $ 59.99 (verbal when I dropped the car off by the girl at the front desk and then on the phone TWICE by owner). However when I declined the poorly itemized, incredibly over-​priced labor and parts, they charged me $ 69.99 as a «discount» from the «real diagnostic fee of $ 79.99». When I questioned the change face to face (suspecting the price increase when I declined repair), neither could provide me any explanation whatsoever. They just looked at me. As if the prior discussions had never even happened. I can afford $ 10, it’s just bad business. *Dishonest and unprofessional**
This is clearly a built in, fluctuating scam that when repairs are performed they can minimize the amount the consumer can apply toward them (59), but can maximize profit by charging a higher fee when repairs are declined.
Additionally, when I picked up the car (declining repair because of astronomical overpricing), I asked where the specific «leak» in the AC system was that has caused the freon escape (and subsequent AC failure). The owner told me that he only injected the diagnostic dye into the system and did not wait to see where the specific leak was BECAUSE I declined to have the repair fixed. I only declined after a conversation with him in which he told a price under the assumption it was diagnosed. Apparently diagnosis only comes with repair… HOW THEN my friend did you quote me on a total price broken down by (1) PART AND (2) HOURS OF LABOR TO INSTALL, IT IF YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT PART IS BROKEN.
*************This is definitely how I approach my job in medicine. I took any xray, something in your lower leg is broken. I will charge you for a tibia repair, but I really don’t know what’s actually broken. But if you don’t pay for the tibia repair, I won’t check to see if it’s really your tibia or your fibula. Let’s hope for me it’s the cheaper fibula repair so I can pocket the difference. Let’s hope for you that it’s the tibia repair, so I actually charged you the correct price.***********
Disgusting and shameful.
Do not go here.

My husband worked for this company a few months ago and they are very unethical and dishonest. Seems like when it came time for payday, the owner or manager accused my husband of breaking something on a car and took money out of his check. Or the guy said he didn’t have the paperwork on what to pay him (just an excuse always when it came time to pay) and my husband has yet to receive his commission and still is out that money. Furthermore, on the last check he took half of his check and put down «parts» and the deduction on it (which should be illegal). If you are considering working here, beware and do not start working here until you get what you are going to be paid in writing.

I do not write reviews but after today I won’t be able to relax until I vent this experience. I set up a 10:30 a.m. appointment for an «Express» Oil Change. I was told 30 – 35 minutes (which was surprisingly long considering they were not busy and it was a simple oil change). Finally, after over an hour and 20 minutes they bring my car around. I was not upset but concerned what took so long and politely said to the guy at the front desk, «I’m sorry but I need to ask, why did an express oil change with appointment take over an hour and 20 minutes?» His response, «When you make an appointment at a doctor’s office you have to wait, too. Right?» SERIOUSLY???
I have had thousands of dollars of work done at this establishment AND have referred countless people to them. I am not hard to please and a simple «I’m sorry, it got a little busy» would have smoothed everything over for me. This guy must be crazy to think that I will be coming back here after this kind of service. In a city that has auto shops on every other corner you must realize there are other places to go. It is a shame because when I am your customer, I am loyal.

After noticing I had a flat tire, I took my car into Shepherd Square Car Care. After an hour or so and $ 20 later, they told me the tire was plugged and ready to go. I asked if it needed to be replaced soon and Joe said no, it should work as well as the rest.
A couple of days later I noticed the same tire was flat once again. It had enough air to drive it across the street so I took it in to this same location. Since I live relatively close by, I decided to walk home instead of waiting. They called me a couple of hours later saying the tire would need to be replaced. Unfortunately, it was a tire they didn’t have in stock and would have to special order. I walked back and they showed me the damage to the tire –a huge gash on the inner portion.
Now, this surprised me for a few reasons. I hadn’t driven the car more than 4 or 5 miles since they repaired the flat tire the first time. Also, the tire had enough air to be driven across the street; it would have been completely flat if the gash was present to begin with. I’ll be the first to say that I don’t know a whole lot about tires, and the gash could have occurred during their testing process. But if the tire was plugged the first time and was deemed safe enough to drive, why wasn’t that so the second time? Where did that gash come from? The tire itself was also brand new, as it belonged to a new car, driven only about a thousand miles.
Although the staff is friendly, their customer service skills are terrible. It took 7 days for them to receive the replacement tire. After numerous calls, I heard many excuses: «the tire has been shipped», «the tire will be here tomorrow», «the tire was sent to the wrong location», «someone else is working on your tire and he’s out.» On the seventh day, they asked me to come in to replace the tire. When I got there, they said someone went to pick it up, it wasn’t there yet. Of course it wasn’t.
When the man returned, he complained that he had to go through traffic to get my tire and that the original tire was sold to another customer. The replacement tire, including service, was about $ 350. I was not compensated for any lost time, or given a refund for the first plug since the tire was replaced anyway.
Honestly, it would have been a better experience if they just kept me in the loop.
TL;DR: Tire wasn’t fixed the first time. Took a week for tire to be replaced.

Zero star… I referred my boyfriend to this place since he needed a tire patched.
He called and asked to confirm that they patch tires for free. The person said yes. He goes in and they then said they only do plugs (a lesser quality than a patch) and it’s not free. He told them he had called earlier to confirm, but they just denied that. The issue is not the charge but changing the story and refusing to honor what they said by phone. Plus the charge was $ 20 for a plug when everyone else charges $ 15 for a full patch.

The Montross /​Hyde Park area has a ton of construction. As a result, lots of nails and screws have been giving me near flats. They don’t push a brand new tire on me, which is the average move in other places. Get my tire replaced, no problem. Waiting room is clean and there is a convenient Starbucks across the street, too. The service managers are clean cut.

I dont know WHY this place has good reviews. Maybe for an oil change but nothing more. Went in because I needed brakes and my car was making a weird rumbling sound. When I received the phone call I was told I needed new brake pads, new rotors, and new drums on all 4 wheels. In addition the rumbling was a belt and tensioner that needed to be replaced. PLUS supposedly my battery was bad and leaking acid and the battery and whatever it had leaked on and corroded needed to be replaced. All total over $ 2000. I called B.S. When I went to pick it up to take it elsewhere, the guy working the front desk was rude about the fact that I was taking my car and not given them business and told me it would take an hour to get my car down and put everything back together because the guys had other cars to work on. I was polite but made it clear I didn’t like the tone, I felt it was bad customer service, and I was sorry for the inconvenience but I didn’t sign anything and was told up front they would do a complementary check of everything. THERE IS A HUGE BANNER OUT FRONT THAT SAYS «FREE BRAKE CHECK».
So I take it to RMS Auto down the street. They have been good to me for years and through 2 vehicles, but I went to shepherd square thinking it would be faster because sometimes RMS gets backed up. Neil at RMS was awesome. I told him everything SSA had said and he told me he’d check everything and call me back. In short, drums could be machined & did NOT need to be replaced; rotors DID need to be replaced as well as brake pads, but I could wait on the back wheels for about a month with the mileage I do. Also told me tensioner and belt could go out at any time and told me to be aware of that but no damage is being done to the car, and if I needed to wait because of $ to just do front brakes now, tensioner & belt next paycheck, and back brakes last. I loved that he prioritized everything for me, understanding that I’m on a teacher’s salary and breaking everything down so I could understand. I left with new front brake pads and rotors for $ 369.19, plus peace of mind that I’m dealing with honest folks, which is worth it’s weight in gold. Their quote was right up there with most mechanics for the work I got done.
I know SSA says they guarantee their work and others don’t, but I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them. Sure, it may be IDEAL in a perfet rich man’s world to get all of these things taken care of now, but shoot straight with me and don’t try to rob me blind.
In short, I suggest you pass SSA and head about 3 blocks down Westheimer to RMS. They actually quoted me $ 50 more on the belt and tensioner than SSA, but the good service and honesty is worth that and then some. I regret that I strayed and gave myself this headache today. OH! And they had me out of there in about 3 hours… and that was a busy day.
— Claudia

Great service. good prices, and quality work. I moved to Houston in September of 2011 and didn’t have a clue where to take my care when I needed maintenance. A friend recommended Shepherd Square Car Care and it turned out to be great advice. Even when I just go in for an oil change, they inspect the entire vehicle and let me know what maintenance is coming up and what I can wait on. It is very helpful.

Brought my bf’s car here after reading reviews on this place in jan and made a mental note to come here if we needed one… Wish I would’ve re– read recent reviews. We brought it in after knowing the alternator was bad (I grew up around cars I don’t know much but what I do know I’m *sure* of) they agreed a new alternator would need to be installed and attempted to mark the alternator up by 200 extra dollars, so we had one delivered from napa… The fact that it’s been here since 9am and we were told it would take an hour and a half tops plus a customer service guy at the front desk that can’t «speak mechanic » or translate it into laymens terms. Tried telling us a «connector thingy» was out… But when we asks for details he says hes taken care of it… Shady… I’m going to take my car to downtown radiator on fairview from now on…
edit: this happened in december 2011, not sure why there was a delay on Unilocal.
When i left my alternator still wasn’t working.

I took my Lexus here for a front-​end alignment because it was pulling to the right and this place had great reviews.
I’ll start out by saying that all of the guys here are really nice and helpful. I have no complaints about how they run the business.
The reason for the below average review is because the alignment was not up to par. They did not show me the report and the car continued to pull to the right.
I’m guessing that these guys are great for certain services, just not alignment.

These guys trump the stereotype on mechanics. They are honest, reasonable, and not full of dooky, which to me is the correct long term business plan. I’ve been having electrical problems and they installed a new starter for me and even came down on the price. My car then had some connection issues and THE GUYS CAME OUT TO MY HOUSE TO FIX IT AT NO COST. I don’t need to say anything else.

This place was my first choice for a mechanic when I moved to Houston because of the Unilocal reviews I read. They were right! I appreciate the thoroughness of the mechanics, their straightforward prices/​quotes, and the ease of getting my car in there for service. My last oil change and checkup was a bit surprising when the manager told me there is a new recommendation to replace certain (expensive) parts every 50K. I am not a «dumb woman» who will just fall for anything. I think the manager picked up on that and kept saying it was «just maintenance» and to look at my budget before making a decision. As much as I appreciate that suggestion for maintenance, it wasn’t necessary on my older vehicle. At least he mentioned it and assured me it wasn’t a big deal if I didn’t do it.
The other guys in the garage were very polite. They offered me water and coffee as well as the remote for the TV (first time for a guy to do that haha). It seems like there is a new manager and team since my last visit. All in all, the quality and service has remained the same. I highly suggest them for your car needs.

Let me start by saying I don’t know anything about cars and am fairly new to Houston. When my truck began to have idling issues, I jumped on Unilocal and found that I lived close to a few highly rated repair shops.
Initially, I took my truck to AutoDoc on Montrose. But, after spending $ 700 on a new idle regulator, my truck was still idling hard. A month or so later I took my truck here, and after a few hours they had fixed the idling issue, narrowing the problem down to my A/​C system. My truck runs great now, only wish I would have came here first.
— One additional note — I recently stopped in when I ran over a nail. They took the nail out and patched up the tire; as I was pulling out my wallet to pay, Mike shook his head and said «don’t worry about it». Ask yourself this — when’s the last time you went to an auto-​repair shop and they did anything for free? It’s that kind of great customer service, great repair work and just an over-​all great atmosphere which has earned Shepherd Square Tire & Auto my business anytime I have an issue with my truck.

I cannot say enough good things about these guys. They are always friendly, helpful, fast, and most importantly, honest!
I had a car issue that I had taken to 2 other mechanics before, spent hundreds of dollars, wasted many hours, and it was still happening. $ 40 and 30 minutes later, Shepherd Square had it completely solved. I was so grateful, and it really says a lot about the other mechanics. How could they not have fixed it after multiple trips, but it takes these guys 30 minutes? It’s ridiculous!
There have been times where, if the issue was minor, these guys didn’t even charge me for their time. They really do seem to understand that with something like auto repair, it’s the repeat business that counts in the long run. They really go the extra mile for their customers, and I feel so lucky to have found them. It’s local, family-​owned businesses like this that make Houston a great city, and they’ve earned a customer for life with me!

These guys are the real deal. I brought my car to Shepherd Square Tire and Auto Ltd to get my car ready for inspection and it had a whole lot of work to get done… or so I thought. First, I got there quite late and they were getting ready to close, but told me I should come back the next day and they’d check things out. I told them I had work that day and I couldn’t bring it in. What did they do? They offered to drive me to work! Yes, this kind of thing is offered at dealers, but they usually have a shuttle that you have to wait for and sit with a bunch of other people. Not here. They personally drove me to work and even offered to drive me back once I got off.
While working, I got a phone call from Mike, telling me about ALL the problems with the car, what needed to be fixed in order to pass inspection and what didn’t. Some of the things that didn’t were really expensive while the things that were required turned out to be rather cheap. In the end, it cost me $ 90 to diagnose the check engine light, fix what was required while another place tried to charge me $ 100 just to diagnose the problem and told me it’d be at least another $ 300 to fix the things I knew about that they said were required. Not only did Mike, Tom and the rest of the crew offer me great customer service, they were honest, upfront and did exactly what I asked — all for a very good price. What more can you ask for? I have officially found my auto shop here in Houston. It’s a bit of a drive for me, but well worth it for an honest and fairly priced tech.