I recently moved to NJ and needed to get my '03 Honda CRV "safe and legal" since it had service lights on, it would not pass emissions testing. Not knowing the area, I took my car to the guys at Automotive Magic in Kenvil because they are close to where I live. My CRV is well used - I commonly went 10-15k miles between oil changes, and it has over 200,000 miles, the transmission fluid had not been changed in 140k miles, and (frankly) my family has been hard on it. The guys at Automotive Magic listened to what I needed, I gave them my budget, and after they did a thorough inspection of my car, they gave me a list of items that would make my care legal, make it safe to drive, and then the things that would make it better to drive (they have a scale of 1-5 with regards to importance that a service gets done). They knew going into it how much I had to spend ($2,000) - in most cases this would be tipping my hand. They could have easily kept within that amount, neglected to tell me of certain items until I had already sunk several thousand into repairs, but instead they were honest and gave me a list of issues (totaling $7,000), knowing that it meant that I would go buy a newer car instead of fixing my old one. Even though it meant that they would not get my immediate service, they have earned a loyal customer. I have NEVER been loyal to a mechanic, and in the rest of the country NJ does not exactly has a reputation for honesty and friendliness, but the guys at Automotive Magic proved to me that not every experience in NJ has to be a nightmare. Obviously I wish my car could have been fixed for cheaper, but they gave me a break on labor for compound problems which required changing multiple things in the same location. I was also greeted with a smile, not a scowl; I was approached several times to make sure that I was happy and that I was taken care of; and just today, I received a hand-written thank you note in the mail for choosing their shop. My final bill was under three hundred dollars, for an oil-change, degreasing the engine, code check, examining the codes from the on-board computer to determine which codes were being triggered incorrectly so that I wouldn't be fixing something which didn't require it, and a check to determine why my AC did not work, why my doors did not unlock remotely, and to look at the tumbler in my door to see if a locksmith would have to fix it or if they could. I could not be happier with my experience. They also have a pretty good referral program, in my opinion. I will recommend them to anyone I know who needs service. THANK YOU AUTOMOTIVE MAGIC for your great customer service!
THANK YOU, David -- for such an awesome review. Honestly, we wish the repairs on your car would've been cheaper, so you didn't have to go out and buy a new one instead, but we're just happy we could help out where we could. I'm glad we've got ourselves a loyal customer, and such a great one at that! Let us know if there's anything else we can help you with in the future. -- Shawn, Owner
- Automotive Magic