Platt’s Performance Plus, Inc

This is a long review but if you’re thinking of going to Platt’s take the time to read it, it will help you deal with Ed more effectively and may save you some money.
I’ve had Ed work on my 2 of my cars 4 – 5 times over 2 years. Overall I think he and his guys are competent mechanics but each time the repairs cost considerably more than the initial estimate, with the most recent time being pretty spectacular:
When the emissions on one of my cars was expiring, Ed offered to run it through his machine for free to let me know if it would pass. He did that and told me it barely passed on hydrocarbons when he did the test. I felt bad that he did this for me as a favor, so I told him to go ahead and do a private emissions test on it for $ 70, rather me risking the free test at the DMV. I also told him, in front of a couple of his guys, that given the age of the car and the fact that it is rarely used, I could register it as a historical vehicle for $ 40 and never do emissions on it. So it should have been completely clear to him that I did not want to spend over $ 70 for this work.
As a sidenote, he also ended up identifying a couple of other things that needed to be fixed on the car such as changing a few belts and a replacing a missing nut which I agreed to pay for, these delayed the process and cost more than I expected as well, but they are beside the point.
Back to the emissions work, Ed did several tests including a smoke test and a compression test to try to get it to pass, despite the fact that when I gave it to him, he told me that it had passed at least once. He did not tell me that these were intense time consuming tests, he did not tell me I was being charged for these. When I called to get an update and asked about the tab, he said he’d add it up later and explicitly did not tell me that hours were being added for this work. I think this was deceitful. Be careful if you have him do work for you, get him to commit to a number of hours for a task or a budget and have him call you the minute it exceeds to try to mitigate this risk.
The most egregious charge however, was that Ed decided to do an oil change on the car despite the fact that I did one a few hundred miles prior. Still, what’s the big deal, this is just a mechanic going the extra mile right? He charged me $ 108 for this oil change because he used racing oil. I have never heard of racing oil, I have never heard of a $ 108 oil change. There is an oil change price board in the shop, none of those prices approach $ 108. I asked Ed and he tried unsuccessfully to fold the numbers ($ 11/​quart, 5 quarts, ~$ 10 oil filter) into $ 108 but could not. I think Ed tried to reallocate some other costs to this oil change. I think doing the oil change without asking me was wrong, but trying to charge me $ 108 for it was infuriating.
He did the same exact thing with the spark plugs. On the recommendation of a shop that specializes in these cars, I very recently installed Bosch platinum plugs. Ed took those plugs out, with only 100 miles on them, and replaced them with copper spark plugs that he thought were better for the car. Maybe it’s a matter of opinion, so I just asked him to just undo this and put mine back. He did not do this before I picked up the car and billed me for the plugs.
However, I will also say that the shop works longer hours than almost any I have spoken with, Ed is always reachable, he picked up the phone once when I called at 11pm to leave a message that i dropped off the car, and they seem to treat cars with respect, using paper floor mats and he got my car washed once when it was very dirty (as part of a $ 600 bill so I’m not sure it’s chivalry, but it was a nice touch).
Now to the bill, Ed flatly refused to tell me the price over the phone despite the fact that I intended to pay over the phone and pick up the car after they closed. He demanded that I come in person. So I drove an hour each way to the shop and started walking through a bill that appeared to at least 10x what I agreed to pay for the emissions work. When I argued the points above, to his credit, Ed did right by me and reduced the bill to the $ 70 emission work plus the belts and other unrelated work that he did. However, I think he did this because it was crystal clear that I did not authorize him to do any of the other work he was trying to charge me for. If this wasn’t the 4^th time I got a very big bill for not very much work, I would have probably bit my lip and paid it though.
The bottom line — be vigilant with the scope of work and tab, this place cannot be cheap. I do think that they do good work, but Ed is a shrewd guy and he will figure out a way to make you pay up. My advice is if getting a good value on your repairs is near the top of your list of priorities, go somewhere or else be on top of the costs as the rack up and scrutinize the bill very carefully at Platt’s

If I were you I wouldn’t believe the huge number of positive reviews for this shop, especially those from a popular search site or the web. It could be they are generated by a marketing company, which may do who knows what, when showing the reviews you actually see. Do a web search for Platts Performance and Demandforce or Intuit (parent co.) and you will see for yourself.
As far as the shop goes, they don’t stick to their estimates and their prices are sky high on most everything. The actual repair work is good for the most part, but it’s just not worth the out of control prices or dealing with the difficult owner. Next…
The above review is my opinion.

Edwin Platt took advantage of me, as a female senior citizen, who foolishly trusted him. Platt’s took my car apart for an entire weekend and charged me $ 295.00 but did nothing to fix it. I basically paid to have my car taken apart and be inconvenienced not having a car. Fortunately after my costly and unpleasant experience with Platt, I was able to find an honest mechanic to actually fix my car for more than half the price that Platt would have fixed it for and the diagnostic was included… Seniors beware– don’t be taken advantage by Platt.

These guys were great! AAA shop and had to stay overnight in the area due to a bad alternator. Ed waited past closing for the car to get to the shop and had his son take me over to a hotel I had for the night. Fixed next morning and made it back to Baltimore. Car is spinning like a top. Thanks, guys!

Just want to thank you for the quick turn around on my car. Considering all the problems it had I thought it would of cost so much more to fix and taken a lot longer to get back. Its running great now. Thanks.

Been going to Platt’s since 2009. Ed (shop owner) and his technicians Tony, Brandon, and Frankie are all ASE-​certified and professional in the field – they know what they are doing. I’ve been to other places, and none of them give me anywhere near the comfort I require when my car is not in my hands, which is vital to me. One major Plus (pun-​intended) about Platt’s is that Ed allows me to provide ALL of my own parts – otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing this review.
I am also allowed to be a part of the experience and be around my car when it is being worked on to ensure it is to my taste – another big plus for me.
There is no custom or traditional job that Tony can’t handle, believe me – he is extremely valuable and mechanical, and simply has ‘it’ in him. Brandon is spot-​on in alignments, and always gets a precision alignment to a specific spec, also allowing me to sit in vehicle and assure the wheel is perfectly straight to my taste – he’s also very patient and friendly. Frankie is a friendly gentleman of few words that also knows his stuff.
The job is done right the first time, always. You won’t be disappointed.
–John

I say2 stars because while they have done incredible work on my car and that I can not dispute, I have experienced other factors that are extrememley disturbing.
the first being that I dropped off my car a day early so they could work on it first thing in the morning. They did not advise me of their work load. at 2 pm the next day I still had not heard from them. I called and was advised that they were very busy and they would get back to me. I stressed that I needed my car the next day. It was still running fine when I dropped it off. At 4 I received a call saying the car was on the lift. I did not hear back. At 6:30 I called again… they were gone. I text the owner… he did not respond until 2pm the next day. I was now out a car rental that I did not expect consider my car still ran and the only reason they didn’t get to it was they were too busy for the appointment I made a week in advance.
At this point I asked for a quote. I was quoted $ 1300. and the car would be repaired that day. I agreed. A t6:30 I still had not heard from them. I called and talked to the owner at which point he told me the car was almost done. When I went to pick it up it was now $ 505. over the original estimate for the same parts and work that he had quoted me earlier. apparently he had quoted me on solely the cost of the parts and not the labor. This is a considerable difference and not the first time this happened to me there.
Previously walked in with a quote of $ 225 for a brake job and walked out with a $ 2000 bill. Work gets done without being advised as to the cost. Unfortunately consent is signed after the work has already been done. As a consumer there are no ways to fight this since your vehicle is now in his possession and the work has already been done.
I also had one incident when a sensor was replaced without my approval for the sum of $ 600.
I think Platts performance does amazing work but the mystery on the prices is so disturbing to me that I can no longer be a client.

It was Platt’s to the rescue today for me. I heard a horrible grinding noise coming from the back of my car. Called Platt’s and they were able to order the parts and fix my rear brakes immediately. In addition they did a full check of the car and found a nail in the tire. The work was thorough and the service was excellent. My A4 is running like a dream once again.

He’s a ripoff artist… creates problems for you that were never a problem before… makes things happen to you car to make money on the repairs… can’t be trusted… wouldn’t recommend this shop to my worse enemy