Dorwart's Garage

I have used many of the shops in and around the Jacksonville area at one point or another. And always I walked away wondering if they were in business to screw over as many people as possible. With Dorwarts this is not the case. I first brought a mustang that needed some minor suspension done soon after he opened... Perfect! Not long after that I brought my 68 Firebird in for some major work over the years. He has always stood behind his work and Jim has been nothing but honest with his estiments. If in the course of the work he found something else, he would call to let me know before he fixed it. Even when deployed Jim and his crew helped my wife out with quick turn around for services and repairs... Of course everything takes a crap when I deploy. I will not trust another soul to work on my classic or late model cars. Everyone I've ever sent to Dorwarts has had similar experiences. For those of you that blame Dorwarts for your car problems, from your explanations it seems you want to point your finger and lay blame.. Did you go back to the shop so he could make it right? Not saying that mistakes may have happened, but it is not like Jim to not take care of a problem if it's due to his shops poor work. Service stations are revolving door for mechanics some are good and others are just garbage... and I've seen several different guys working for him over the years. Remember they the owner has a business to run and cannot personally touch every car... No shop owner can do that unless he's a one man show.... Jim has a good core group of quality mechanics that have been working there now for over a year or so. I highly recommend Dorwarts for any kind of car or work!

While driving down the road, our truck began to shake. Ironically, this repair shop was within 100 feet, so we pulled in. The owner was extremely nice, pulled the truck in right away so that we knew what we were looking at. He explained that the break calipers froze and that was the smell coming from the tires. He also encouraged me to contact my original repair shop (since my breaks and calipers were replaced not too long ago). Long story short, after receiving our quote, we began to call rental car companies to pick us up. Instead the owner had one of the worker drive us home and pick us up the next day. When I got the bill for the service, it was cheaper than what he originally quoted us. Very happy for the service. Will be using them again in the future.

My husband and I started using Dorwart's Garage in 2009. Shortly after we started using them my husband suffered a brain injury while on active duty. We took my car in because there was a piece of metal hanging under it. They were kind enough to take it off for free as it was something that my husband, under normal circumstances, would have been able to do. On another occasion I had purchased tires and rims, and they gave us a great discounted price. They gained our trust and we appreciated their compassion. We continued to use them for all our vehicle needs through 2011. They offered a military discount and the work seemed well done and well priced. In retrospect though, my car had more issues during that time than it had ever had before. Given our situation at the time, I was just thankful to have a "trustworthy" garage to work on it. Shame on me for not catching the warning signs!!!! Though I cannot prove if Dorwart's poor workmanship caused the issues with my car or not, I truly feel that they did things intentionally for our repeat business. I no longer own the car because of the consistent issues with it......they probably got over $3000 from us with all the repairs that "needed" done.

In 2011 my husband's truck engine apparently needed replaced. After nearly $6000, the work was done and we thought we were all set. Not even 2 months later, the engine blew up and left us stranded in another state. After a pricey rental vehicle, several months, and a pricey tow, Dorwart's FINALLY fixed it. It took months to get fixed because even despite another mechanic friend telling us the work was poor quality and Dorwart's poor workmanship was ultimately to blame for the engine blowing up, Dorwart's put the blame on the company who assembled our new engine. We started to pursue legal action, and oh do I wish we had followed through all the way!!! Here we are over $8000 later stuck with a bum vehicle. We found out this week that someone took a drill to the engine light in the truck. Apparently our engine light should be on...hmm... Though we cannot prove that Dorwart's is responsible for the drilling of the engine light, we can tell you that the engine light was on when it was taken to Dorwart's garage, and we can tell you that it is now damaged and tampered with and should still be on. Dorwart's would have been the only ones to have touched it. It disgusts me that they got a way with this and took advantage of our situation and one of our country's service members!!! Shame on us for trusting them, and shame on them for running their business with such terrible ethics!!!! Our experience started out wonderful and ended up terribly!! Would never ever recommend them to anyone, and I hope this review can spare someone the same heartache and financial stress they caused our family!!!!!!! DO NOT TRUST THEM WITH YOUR VEHICLES!!!!!!!

I recently took my car to Dowart's to get an estimate to fix my A/C , to see if they could splice a piece of exhaust in, to look at my motor mounts, and get an estimate on tint. I was told I would be contacted before any work was done to ensure I was willing to pay what they would charge for the service. The one and only time they called me was to tell me my car was ready. When I arrived to pick it up, my bill was $275. I was taken back by the amount and asked for a break down in what everything cost. They charged me $168 to fix the A/C. Only $5 of that was for parts, the rest was labor. The remaining $107 was for estimates. Really?! $107 just to give me estimates, some of which were estimates I didn't even ask for???



I paid the amount and left feeling uneasy. I e-mailed the owner later that evening explaining that I didn't appreciate the hidden fees, especially $107 worth. When he e-mailed me back he still didn't give a straight answer as to what exactly he charged for each estimate and why I was charged for estimates I never asked for.



Save your money for a company that won't rip you off.