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- Mon-Fri 8am-5pm
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5 helpful highest ranking reviews
NR R
I would give zero stars to this place if I could. I have been bringing my car to Aktiv Automobiles for many years, since the previous owner Kevin who diagnosed and serviced the cars himself. In fact, it was Kevin who built the reputation of this place. Ever since new ownership took over the place, I have seen a steady increase in prices with a decline in quality of service. After my recent encounter, however, I have decided never to go there again. I took my car to Aktive for servicing and an oil change. I picked up my car the next day around 2:00pm. Before driving to work the following morning at 8:00am, I opened the fuel door and found the gas cap missing. This frustrated me because I felt that the mechanic working on my car did not perform the adequate level of diligence before returning the car to me. Since Aktiv was on my way to work, I decided to stop there and check if my gas cap was there. When I arrived there, I described my problem to the person at the front desk. He immediately told me to go away, because ‘there was nothing he could do’. I politely asked if he could check the area where my car had been serviced; it could very well be a human error and the gas cap could be in the vicinity (how many of us have left a credit card or phone at a restaurant by mistake?). He refused. He replied that there was no reason why their mechanic would check the fuel door/cap and accused me that I had lost the gas cap. I told him that was impossible, since the car was in my garage the whole time after I picked it up at 2pm the previous day, and I discovered the problem when I first took out my car for work the next morning. If the gas cap was missing, why didn’t their mechanic tell me when I dropped off my car two days ago? At this point, he started shouting at me in front of another customer saying that he didn’t care, he was going to do nothing, and it was totally my fault that the gas cap was missing. Ricardo came in a few minutes later. To his credit, he did a quick search of the work area and told me he did not see the gas cap. However, I felt that my concerns were not adequately addressed and they just wanted me to leave the shop. I left, shocked at the escalation of what I thought was a simple request. There are quite a few good service centers in this area that do high quality work for reasonable prices and have excellent customer service. I will be taking my vehicle to one of those places. I’ll advice perspective customers to review their response to legitimate complaints on this forum and form their own judgements. I will never go there again.
Jeff Kitay
They fixed my 2016 Audi Q5 diesel when I thought it was done for. It had been worked on by the dealer under warranty, but the issue was never completely resolved. Eventually, the engine stopped running. Other shops would not even diagnose the problem, but Nick (mechanic) figured it out and did expert engine work. Ricardo (office) kept me updated throughout with great communication. The car has been running perfectly for over a month now. I highly recommend this shop - they were even recommended to me by another mechanic when no one else could help. I did not see any other recent reviews so I wanted to put this online for anybody that is looking to use Aktiv. Excellent experience all around!
Noel L.
THE BMW shop to go to in the DMV! One stop shopping for routine maintenance/service, performance/racing upgrades, and pre-purchase/state inspections. Kevin, the owner, works on every vehicle personally, and takes care of it like it is his own car. He works very hard to keep your costs down. No up selling here. He saved me $1,000 on not having to replace my Brembo rotors and Bilstein strut on my M3. He will treat you as his best customer even for an oil change to an engine out service. When you bring your car here, you will be getting your own personal mechanic. Best shop, wonderful people, great service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Moe S
I purchased new my 2011 BMW X5 5.0, and after seven years of BMW dealer service, I took my X5 for the first time to an independent BMW service. I needed to replace my oil pan gasket due to a small oil leak. I did some research to try to find a reputable BMW service company in MD. In addition to Aktiv Automotive; I sought quotes from two other companies, but Aktiv by far had the best reviews out of the local companies I could find. I called and spoke with Kevin, who was very professional & courteous, and he gave me a truly reasonable quote (with my BMWCCA membership discount). Kevin and his team did an excellent job. Furthermore, Kevin is an honest and trustworthy owner. I’ll be taking my BMWs for service there.
Aaron White (Aaron)
If you have an Audi and live in the Rockville/Gaithersburg/Germantown area I definitely recommend taking your car here. They are so transparent and do not recommend unnecessary repairs. Their costs seem to run about half the cost of the big Audi dealership in the area. They've earned my trust and I will always take my car there. Brakes, for instance, were quoted at less than half the dealer cost. I saved more than half on the 60k service for my A3. Plus they're just really nice people. I've had so many cars and dealt with so many mechanics. They are at the top of the list for prices and customer relations. In other words they don't try to take advantage of people. They do excellent work at very fair prices.