Foreign Auto Excellence Inc

BBGSTRYKER Stryker

★★★★★

3 years ago

Great guys. Mike in the shop ensured that my mother and father's brakes and rotors were installed just right. After the fitment was check the brake pads and rotors were tested to ensure maximum stopping power. Both of them were satisfied. Top notch service.

Jennifer Gamertsfelder

★★★★★

10 months ago

There isn't a better mechanic around, especially if you have a Subaru. I've been bringing mine here for 15+ years, on the recommendation of close friends.. and I've sent a number of friends and family here. Allan and Nancy are kind and trustworthy, and will tell you exactly what you need and what can wait. They have a new location on Spectrum drive.. congrats and thanks for taking care of me for all these years!!

Kyle Applegate

★☆☆☆☆

7 months ago

Took my 06 forester xt there for them to look at . They said "We have nothing but problems with the turbos so we dont wanna do it". ... How do you specialize in Subaru but wont work on a stock Forester? So dont go here if your Subaru has a turbo they cant work on them according to the tech.

c sonn

★★★★★

9 months ago

Very trustworthy. Very friendly and excellent service. Ive brought my STI to the multuple times. They are just an absolute delught to do business with and always do a great job. As ling as I live in Frederick they will gwt my business. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

baknapp k

★☆☆☆☆

Edited 7 years ago

Addendum: FAE did work with me to resolve the issue reviewed below but I made no revision to my original message Feeling a little ‘near-robbed’ right now, but as Alan and Nancy have all of my money, Foreign Auto Experts can also have my public opinion as well and you may weigh it as you wish. I communicated with FAE prior to having my car serviced (they’re friendly), dropped it off after hours with a note re-describing the problem I was having in filling my gas tank up properly. In the note, I explicitly requested to be provided a quote prior to costs accruing, and that didn’t happen. This resulted in a big problem. I’m a med student living off loan money and I dropped my car off thinking my current problem to be inconvenient but highly unlikely to be very costly, especially considering this shop had just serviced my 2003 Toyota for its 150,000 mile check and they hadn’t found any problems. (Communication that visit was appropriate hence my I return, swallowing the $830 for maintenance on my car running without issue aside from brake pads needing replacement.) Snarky side note: my car had never had a gas input problem until the moment after I picked it up from FAE following said check up. Long story short, today they had to explore the gasoline input line and fuel vent to find a [spider web] occluding my fuel line, the culprit of my challenges with gas input. I arrived to pick up my vehicle expecting a 30-50$ charge at most, especially since costs hadn't been a subject broached. This may be a family business, and maybe I’ve been spoiled by excellent and REASONABLE mechanics where I have lived in Texas, West Virginia, and New York, but to pay $115 to have a spider web removed from my fuel line WAS A GREAT SURPRISE. The icing on the cake was Nancy’s reaction to my surprise at the service charge with “at least it didn’t require parts, some of those can be a couple hundred dollars” and Alan saying 100$ for “an hour of labor and we didn’t know what we were looking for” and “I have to pay my mechanics what do you expect” – these statements didn’t reassure me that these costs were appropriate or the owners were aiming to resolve any concern. Looking forward – I won’t be using this shop again, and unless you don't mind paying top dollar for automotive services, I don't recommend others do likewise. After my first servicing where they aptly pointed out to me my tires were near bare – well Alan and Nancy, you’re right, but thanks to how today panned out I can’t afford to buy the all season tires my car needs [for safety] until my Spring semester loan money is disbursed in three months. Had you communicated with me prior to charging me 115$ for spider web fuel line cleaning, I would have requested we hold off so I could afford something that is much more important than having my patience tried while pumping gas. I feel swindled and though they acknowledged realizing I felt that way they offered no actual explanation as to why I was charged so much. In my experience, a decent and fair mechanic won’t expect I be blindly grateful that the charge wasn’t more (for problems that were not present...), they would explain what their search to resolve my problem entailed and report the actual reason why the labor was so prolonged to accrue so much cost. Instead, they sent me a picture of said spider web cleaning and called it a day after they made me pay $115 with poor explanation offered. My impression from this interaction is Nancy and Alan simply aren’t afraid to take advantage of people. I hope I’m wrong and other reviews that lead me to their services in the first place say otherwise but given tonight’s interaction, I feel compelled to say my experience was at the other end of the spectrum.

Soren Hottenstein

★★★★★

a year ago

They took such good care of me and my car! Couldn’t have asked for a better experience. These folks are professional, friendly, knowledgeable, accommodating, and kind. I just moved to the area and will be going to them for all my car needs from here on out.

Tina Jacobi

★★★★★

a year ago

Most honest and reliable mechanics in town. With young adults on the road, they keep my fleet of older cars on the road and my kids safe. The owners are very knowledgeable and a joy to work with.

Jeff Walker

★★★★★

2 years ago

If I was able to give this business more than 5 stars I definitely would. The owners are super friendly and take the time to talk through the repair being done. They are also very reasonably priced. I had a quote from the car dealership to get the same repair done and it was over four times the amount it cost me to have it done. It’s great to see there are still honest car repair shops out there. I will definitely be bringing all my vehicles here for routine oil changes and maintenance going forward. Thank you again!

Bailey

★★★★★

6 months ago

Great down to earth folks who don't try to up-sell you, very knowledgeable and will gladly have a chat to discuss how to move forward to make sure you know what is actually going on with your car!

Micah Quigley

★★★★★

a year ago

Was thinking about buying a used car and brought it here to get it checked out. They charged a reasonable fee, took their time, and did a great job. Wound up finding an issue, which I was then able to use in negotiations with the dealer. Highly recommended.

Amanda

★★★★★

2 years ago

Our 2019 Subaru Ascent had been making a clunking noise for almost 6 months. I had taken it to the dealership and another mechanic to have repairs done and all proclaimed it "fixed" but it still made the clunking sound over any road variance. After doing some research on local mechanics that specialize in Subaru I found this place. So glad I did, my car is now really fixed and I won't be taking my Subaru anywhere else ever again!! Thank you Alan, Nancy and team for taking your time to figure out what was wrong with my car! Ps. We LOVED the tin foil duck 😂🦆

larry krepp

★★★★★

4 years ago

I have been using FAE for over 15 years to service and repair my 2005 outback. Alan and Nancy are among the most honest and friendly folks you will ever encounter. Repairs have always been performed well and on time, without any up-selling or unnecessary work. For service on your cars, the group at Foreign Auto Excellence are consistently the best in the area.

Alexandra Bowden (Alex)

★★★★★

8 years ago

These guys know their stuff. They're honest and kind. They'll tell what you need and what you don't. They do it all. FAE made me feel like a regular on my first visit. Easy to get to. I brought my Subaru in for an odd sound and they knew what it was in 2 minutes. I was in and out in an hour. I highly recommend this mechanic for any Subaru owner or any car for that matter. There's a reason why their rating is so high.

Ian Chamberlain

★★★★★

5 years ago

FAE has taken care of my family's cars since before I was driving. I have no photos on this phone that convey it so you get photos of my old pup in my distinctly not foreign truck. I was worried when I had to buy a work truck, but they never had problems keeping me on the road in it either! In college, I bought a 10 year old $500 civic resurrected from two years of sitting on a driveway. There was an inspection and a list of tasks, but once completed that civic lived almost another 10 years in my care (with FAE maintenance). I only sold it to buy a loaded used Forester that the previous owner didn't want to fix the head gaskets on. That monster carried me for just under 10 years more. I've been through timing belts/chains, water pumps, alternators, and tires (oh the tires!). Every time Alan, Nancy or staff have taken my calls, looked around under the hood, and given a sound reasonable estimate. I think three times in 30 years we found extra drama inside an engine or driveline that wasn't anticipated before. Most of the other times I'm warned of possible expense but the parts are in good condition when they're exposed. It's not always good news but they've always been direct and honest.

Ben Brown

★★★★★

11 years ago

Great shop for your Subaru. They are an honest family-run business. I know they are honest because they had the opportunity to take advantage but did not. I would not hesitate to take my car there again and I highly recommend them.

Robert Horne

★★★★★

10 years ago

They are honest, fair and the work is top notch. I would not take my Subaru anywhere else. I wanted them to work on my Audi also, but they told me "we are not the best in town for Audi" and recommended another shop who did a great job with my Audi.

Britney Sigler

★★★★★

10 years ago

It brings me great pleasure to write this review, honoring Foreign Auto Excellence.  They are without a doubt the best company I have ever dealt with in the auto industry, and will be who I deal with for all future car repairs and maintenance, despite having friends and family in the industry. They have helped me with so much, I cannot even recall it all for this review.  I came to them for their specialized knowledge in Suburu after my car left my family and I stranded on the side of I-70 one Saturday morning. I had just bought the car two weeks prior, unsuspecting that stop-leak had been put in the engine for a quick sale.  After being towed elsewhere, I was told I had to go to FAE for there specialized knowledge, and towed the car again.  After looking at the vehicle, they informed me that it was in horrible condition. In addition to stop-leak being in the engine, there were bolts loose, a blown head gasket, and other odd issues showing very poor care of the car.  They provided a quote and got to work.  The car was in such terrible condition however, it required hours of unexpected work, wracking up hours of labor costs. After numerous attempts to repair the engine from the stop-leak damage, they had to replace it. Despite all the additional hours and replacing the entire engine, they stayed within their original quote, taking sympathy on my family after being royally screwed. They offered periodic engine checks, took our car to get emissions testing, and offered a letter to recognize the terrible quality in which I bought the car, all without charge.  Further, they insisted on looking at any potential vehicle I might buy, so that I did not get screwed over again.    FAE has incredible integrity and truly puts customer service above all else.