Has anyone had transmission work done at Hi-Tech in Merrifield (Lee Highway at Cedar Lane)? I have driven by that shop for years and always assumed it to be just another shop and the outside appearance did not make me feel that it was that great, but the technician diagnosing a problem on my SUV strongly suggested that I have Hi-Tech take a look at it.

There are 4 excellent Google reviews and I have a good relationship with my technican, so it seems like a decent bet. Still, always looking for insight from the folks here on FU.

I've had them do some other work on my car - replaced the hub bearing. They were great to deal with. Their work is professional.

I had my tranny rebuilt by some slumbag shop on Rt. 28 in Manassas Park. They cracked my tranny housing when they tried to hammer the half shafts back into place. They then tried to patch the crack with some adhesive and fiberglass screen along with spray painting it silver to hide it. Needless to say that since the crack ran into where the seal was mounted, the tranny leaked after their work. I had to get a rental car for the first week when they did the initial rebuild and then another rental for 3 days when they ordered a new housing component to replace their damage - and, had to drop the transmission a 2nd time to fix it properly.

I don't remember the name of the place, but they were across from the old Shoppers food in the Maplewood Plaza shopping center. Then, to make it worse, my tranny started throwing failure codes so my CEL light would come on 70,000 miles into the rebuild. What a bunch of scammers.

Hi-Tech all the way - it's as simple as that.

Hi-Tech has been around since at least the 80's, it was located on Gallows Road by the Multiplex. I had them replace my clutch on my Datsun, they treated me right.

Used them 10 years ago. Crap work. Ruined girlfriends car. Surprised they are still in business.

No tech Wrote:
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> Used them 10 years ago. Crap work. Ruined
> girlfriends car. Surprised they are still in
> business.

Look, I'm not affiliated with them - just a customer that was happy with their work. I usually do my own mechanical work, so I can judge when someone does good vs. bad. Can you supply more details on the issue that your girlfriend's car experienced?

Most transmission repair shops offer a warranty on their rebuilds (e.g. - 1 year). If your girlfriend's car was toast after 10 months, then there must be some details you're not telling us about.

Oops ... I didn't mean to say 10 months. Please ... more information about the issues your vehicle faced. If cars were getting tranny rebuilds 10 years ago, they probably were not computer controlled trannys. The build should have been straight-forward.

don't know anything about Hi Tech transmissions but dig all the neon signage

Have had good experiences with County Transmission in Vienna

as noted above, if tommy polatta ( sp? ) still owns the joint, they must be doing something right or they wouldn't still be around after 20+ years. I met him back in 89 when he was on the corner of gallows and strawberry. and if you think the place he's in now looks a little funny, you should have seen that rat shack.

if a general tech you trust recommends him, that carries a little more weight than anonymous message board responses.

if you do there, and you see tommy, make sure to address him as Mr. crack-ass. no, i dont mean the drug crack either....

ditto for a guy named rick, probably working the phones/pushing paperwork ( if he's still there ), ask him how a car's cigarette lighter works cause yours is broken....LOL

I wouldn't have Hi-tech work on my transmission. They have a tendency to release cars without great road tests. Yes they do take them back and repair them right after a fashion, but I really don't like having spent the kind of money a transmission repair costs just to have the car towed in a few days.

County Transmissions in Vienna is a shop that does much better work and doesn't have nearly as many comebacks.

I "blew" a transfer case in one of my trucks durring a snow in 2006, I figured it was a $1500+ repair; Hi-Tech charged me $200 and change including diagnostics and fixed a simple linkage component. For What it is worth, they are the most honest and quick shop around.

The serves was very poor and my trans had still been making a funny sound and that cost me 2300 for something that was still not fixed so I took it to a shop and they said that it would only cost 1200 and it did and the trans works perfect now.

Mary Lee do you know someone who works at aamco or cottman?

Mary s. Lee Wrote:
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> The serves was very poor and my trans had still
> been making a funny sound and that cost me 2300
> for something that was still not fixed so I took
> it to a shop and they said that it would only cost
> 1200 and it did and the trans works perfect now.


English motherfucker! Do you speak it?!

what happened to the big sign Wrote:
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> Mary Lee do you know someone who works at aamco or
> cottman?


+1

Very good shop I havent had any problems with them yet and have good communication with me each time I take one my cars there. I think the guy running the place now is Mike or something. I have heard good thing about county trans in vienna but a friend of mine went there for a trans problem a while back (ignoring my suggestion to take it to hi tech) county trans misdiagnosed it he forked over somewhere around 600 and his tranny crapped out on him 2 months down the road.

They stink. Took my truck there and they said I need a new trans. I asked if they could rebuild nd they said no. You need 2300 for a new one. Truck is still running two years later. Took my SUV there nad they said I needed new trans. Said that I shouldn't drive it ...it would only last maybe 50 miles. Took it to another place and they changed out the fluid and since then its been perfect.

Hi-Tech and County are the two long-time, reliably better shops around here. Both generally are honest folks from what I've seen working in a related business and from my own use a few times with work vehicles over the years. Prices are what they are around here. Trans work is expensive, typically in the $1,500 - $3,500 range, so some are going to feel like they were ripped-off and complain regardless. Just kind of comes with the territory.

Stay away from the big chains and hole-in-the-wall shops. The trick for all of these kinds of places is to get you in the door with a low-ball price for diagnostics and then once they have the car there and torn down and you're stuck, then they'll jack the estimate. If you balk then the cost to put things back together magically goes way up. Be sure to get a separate estimate for the diagnostics/pull/replace work so that you know what that's going to be going in.

County and Hi-Tech both are good about that and, at least in my experience, don't play that game. They're up-front about pricing, don't do unnecessary work, and given some basic diagnostics can tell you quickly whether it's something simple or that you're going to need a full pull/replace. There's not much in between that makes much sense these days in most cases if you have some miles on the car/truck.

sorry greg but you are a troll. who the fuck goes back to an auto shop that has tried to rip them off so badly in the past? or maybe you are just plain fuckin stupid

I have had some work done at hi tech trans and they are really good and very kind when they talk you to about the problem and how to fix it

5 stars

Mean while, seven months later...

Joe Jonze Wrote:
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> I have had some work done at hi tech trans and
> they are really good and very kind when they talk
> you to about the problem and how to fix it
>
> 5 stars