Don The Car Care Man

I have been taking my vehicles to Don the Car Care Man since 1983, back when they were known as Don the Muffler Man. They are one of the last independent family owned car repair shops around and I have always been treated fairly and honestly. They are great at what they do and honest in their dealings. I wouldn't take my car anywhere else in the Madison area. Thanks Don's for always keeping me on the road. more

I came in for new tires and an oil change. I called ahead of time to ensure my tires would be there waiting when I brought my vehicle in. I was told my tires (emphasis on the s) would be roughly $139, this sounded about right because I did ask for the cheapest tire. Since I also got the oil change, I expected the total amount to be more. The man told me he would give me a call in about 2 hours when my vehicle was ready. I went home and waited. Just over three hours later I received my phone call. I showed up promptly and was given my grand total of $309.32! I also showed up with a Bucky Book coupon for 50% off the first hour of labor (value up to, I want to say $35), but since this job wasn't considered a laborious job, I got $20 off my (almost double what I thought it was supposed to be) bill. Needing my car, and the time I had left in the day, I drove off. I arrived home and compared their prices with Farm & Fleet prices. At Farm & Fleet I can buy two tires, get them put on, balanced more

I would not recommend this auto service. My car has its "check the engine light" on and I brought the car to this shop yesterday. The mechanic there failed to fully identify the problems with the car. What he did was saying " My guess is that... your car may have problem on....I will need two more weeks to find out the problem.....will have to take out all your engine parts out..." I find that absolutely BS. I am still charged for more than $50 for nothing but his guesses. The morst part is that the mechanic reprogrammed the "check the engine light" and the light just goes off. I have to drive at the risk of damaging the car until the light comes back on to bring the car to dealer for rediagnosis. more

I would recommend this business due to the fact that you must take 100% communication responsibility for auto repairs - and this business will work with you if you insist. They have been helpful, knowledgeable and have done great work for me on multiple recent visits! more

Excellent service! Attention to detail and always fair. We have always found Bil to be friendly and very capable. more

I would have to say don?t ever take your car to this shop. Never!!! Unless you like guys who only will work with white guys who know about cars. If you are a woman or a minority expect to pay a high price and endure racism from these guys. It?s a shame since this shop is located in Madison. I have lived in Wisconsin my whole life and have NEVER seen this type of treatment. The funniest thing is I am an educated white guy from Wisconsin. My girlfriend took her car in while I was away on business. She was having routine parts replaced that would have taken a couple hours, but it took about two days with some harassment from them. So if you like an uneducated shop?.Come on down to Don the Car Crap Man?Make sure to grab some Vaseline before you go though. What a great business model. more

I have used both Don the Car Care Man and the Toyota dealership for maintenance and repair and have been far happier with the service from Don the Car Care Man. No appointment is necessary, and they call promptly with an estimate/information for the work. Quotes I have received from them have been either comparable to or significantly lower than dealership prices ($200 vs $300 for my last quote). I have also gone to them twice when I thought I may need parts replaced and, after inspection, they told me that no replacement was necessary at the time (and gave me an estimate on how long before I would need to replace the parts). If you want a place that isn't going to try to replace things unnecessarily, I recommend going here. more

I took my car here to get my muffler replaced. When I picked it up, I didn't even get out of the parking lot before it died. When I went back in asking what happened, a mechanic came out and told me I had flooded the engine. I started the car up like I always had, so had no clue how this happened. \r \r Came back an hour later and they told me it would cost almost $400 to fix on top of what I paid for the muffler! $400 for spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, distributor rotor and a fuel filter!!!! I went out and bought everything myself expect the fuel filter for $60 and did it in 20 min.\r \r DON'T GO HERE!!! more

If you do not know much about cars, don't let Don the Muffler man find that out. If they know that you are not so knowledgable they will charge you a lot. Suddenly all the tires would need replacement or the main cylinder may need replacement when the trouble is clearly with the calipers. All said this is a great place for regular service, but if they come up with some hefty costs be sure to go for a second opinion more

I chose this auto shop because of convenience - it was located less than a block away from my apartment. I rarely had problems getting appointments, the work was done in a timely manner and the people there clearly explained the costs associated with what needed to be done. For a smaller shop, the service here was excellent. more