Rio Rancho
A number of local mechanic shops were anxious to perform a critical and expensive repair on our Toyota. Every one of them claimed they could get the repair done almost immediately, and also claimed they could somehow miraculously manifest the special part we needed at a suspiciously compelling price, even though the overall repair itself would nevertheless be quite costly. Since we were new in town - having just arrived after driving across the country - we asked our local friends and colleagues to recommend an honest and reliable shop that could be counted on to do things right without ripping us off. Brown’s was recommended so many times and in such positive terms that we decided to check them out. Leslie, the manager at the Brown’s Rio Rancho location, was the only shop manager we spoke with who was right up front and honest about how long it would really take to source the part we needed directly from Toyota. She didn’t try to either sugar coat or overly dramatize the situation but told us exactly what needed to be done in the clearest way possible. She also made it clear that Brown’s would only install an OEM part on our car, and would not try to pass off some cheaper used or after-market part of inferior quality, since that was the only way she could guarantee the quality of the work coming out of her shop. She was honest about the fact that we would need to wait a number of days for the part to arrive since that was the only way she could be certain of her source. Since purchasing the part itself was going to put a significant dent in our budget, Leslie was kind enough not mark up the price on the part, and even showed us the original invoice from Toyota once the part came in. She also discounted the labor cost on the repair itself, since we were new in town and she knew we were stretching our available funds. The final price Leslie quoted was still a little bit higher than all the other quotes we had been given, but came across as an honest bid for honest work rather than a questionable figure based on installing some suspiciously sourced or aftermarket part that would probably fail in the long-run. To be clear, we had not even told her about the other quotes we had been given. Even though Brown's estimate was not the lowest one, and even though the repair would definitely take longer to complete than we had been led to believe by all the other shops, we felt that Leslie was the only person who was being straight with us, and not feeding us an empty promise just to get our business. She kept her word at every level, and let us know the work was covered by a guarantee that would be honored by every NAPA location all across the country. Just as we had been led to expect by our colleagues who originally recommended Brown’s, the work was completed with expert precision and the car drove better than it had run during our entire trip. The car has also been running without incident for over a year since that repair was done. We have continued to take our car to Brown’s for service and have never found any reason to question their integrity and the expert quality of their work. Leslie has sometimes recommended repairs we didn’t yet know we needed, but has always documented everything with before and after photographs that back-up the work being done. And sometimes the needed repairs are proven out in ways that are unexpected, as was the case in our most recent visit when Leslie explained that a headlight part needed to be replaced because it was failing. It was only then that my wife confirmed that the headlights had been acting strangely for a while, but she had not mentioned it in an effort to avoid creating additional stress before we could afford to get the repair done. (I have not driven the car at night for quite some time, due to my working situation during the pandemic.) That is the kind of professional diligence that can not only save on future repairs, but that may potentially save a life or at least help to avoid an accident. As long as we are living in the Albuquerque area, we will not consider taking our car to any other shop. Bonus points to Brown’s for putting a strong, smart, savvy and exceptionally knowledgable minority woman in charge of the shop - a plus not only for any female customers who go there, but also for any customer who values integrity, humanity and excellent work for an honest price. Oh - and one more final point - Leslie has been kind enough to arrange convenient door-to-door transportation so that we can comfortably wait at home instead of sitting around the shop while any repairs are being done.