American Tire Co

My worst mistake was taking my car here. I have used this dealership over the past 12 years but the management has changed and you will be making a terrible mistake to trust them with your car. I bought a new battery from them 6 months prior to having this issue. My battery wouldn't charge my car on the cold days. I took my car there for 4 separate incidents where the car wouldn't start and had to be jumped off. Each time they informed me there was nothing wrong with the car or the battery. After jumping it off the fourth time, again I took it to them and left it because I needed to know what was causing the battery not to charge and expected them to either replace the defected battery or tell me why it wasn't holding a charge. Instead they called me and told me that the car that I drove in to their shop was not not starting at all. They couldn't start it! They told me I would have to pay for the tow and it needed to be towed to the dealership. I ask them to pick up the tow because I had no problems starting the car once it was jumped. They refused the pay for the tow or admit they something they did caused the car to not start at all. So not only did they not stand behind the battery the installed, I am now facing a tow bill to the dealership and the dealerships repair bill where they messed up my car. What should have been a quick fix, is now running into the thousands of dollars. I wished I would have just asked a shade-tree mechanic to fix it. I would expect that behavior had I cut corners and got someone to repair it who wasn't qualified but not a certified repair shop. If you've got an extra thousand dollars laying around to replace that battery you bought from them that they will not stand behind, go ahead! I wouldn't let them fix my bike tire from now on. more

I've been here twice, once in Nov. 2008 and again in Jul. 2009. In Nov. 2008, their 19 year old tech Zachary Kerinuk was out ""test driving"" my car for a vibration I felt only when braking. He ran my car into a telephone pole and I was then without a car for 2 months. The man who identified himself as the ""owner"" of this American Tire Co. location, a person named Tom, was nice and professional, and his insurance company made sure I had a rental the entire time. It just happens that their tech Zachary died in another reckless accident in his own vehicle one week to the day after he almost totaled my car. Very unfortunate, and I pray his family is healing, but I didn't see how he was able to get off so lightly after the damage he'd done on my own car, and I didn't know why he was allowed to take my car out to test drive it 2 miles away from the shop when I could have shown him the problem in the parking lot. He was joy-riding, basically. The cop that dealt with the wreck on my car didn't issue him a ticket because Zachary and Tom were able to convince him he was ""testing"" my breaks (going in excess of 50mph around a very sharp turn on Pettus Road, by the way). The cop told me he believed Zachary was lying but he wanted to cut him a break. Anyhow, I got my car back 2 months later from Accurate Auto Body (they're great, btw), but the vibrating brakes still weren't fixed, despite the fact that American Tire Co. told me my brakes looked fine. I took it to Tire World on Murfreesboro Rd. (they're great too, btw) and they told me my rotors were so badly warped, any reputable mechanic could have told me that. Anyhow, fast-forward to Jul. 2009 - got a BAD flat and happened to be at Target right next to the same American Tire Co. So I spent the better part of a Saturday morning there, I'd specified that I wanted my 2 new tires on the front, they ignored that and mounted them on the back, so they had to re-do that, etc. I'd gotten an alignment and tire balance as well, but I get on the highway and now my car vibrates at high speeds and pulls to the right. I called Tom, the ""owner"", only to find that he was never the owner and is no longer with them as of about 2 days ago. They can't find what's causing the vibration (even though it started the day they ""aligned and balanced"" my car). I'm not going back, even though I have to pay all over again for someone new to start on it. Bottom line - decent people in person, not so nice on the phone because that's when people assume they can be rude since they aren't staring you in the face, and definitely the most running-around I've EVER done when working with a mechanic. Sure, your oil change here may go just fine, but if you don't like people driving your car without your permission (and crashing it into utility poles at 50mph), or being given the run-around when you left VERY specific instructions, of being talked to rudely over the phone when they're clearly at fault, you may want to try Carmax or Tire World on Murfreesboro Rd. Been going to those places for years, and I'm not sure why I ever even chanced American Tire Co. - it just happened to be closer to my home. That's two for two for me, so I'm washing my hands of them. more