Lonsdale Auto Service Centre & Car Rental

I found the customer service to be really good, zero complaints with their service standard or professionalism. Quality of work was also good. They identified the issue with my car that had been an issue through 3 different mechanics none of which could identify what was wrong. Lonsdale Auto Service Centre found the issue easily, ordered the part, rebooked my car for the following week. Then upon dropping my car off for repairs (by agreement) they provided me with a courtesy car (free of charge). It was a little cosmetically rough, but mechanically a+ and super cheap to run. I drove around with it through the day doing errands and it cost $10 in fuel at $1.37P/L. Furthermore, both for the service and the repair bookings I received a phone call within a timely manner to collect my car. Most places I've been to forget to call, or I have to call myself often to no answer. The car is usually finished, they just forget to call (last 3 mechanics that's been the case). Thanks Lonsdale Auto Service Centre for all your help, will be back in future.

My partner and I were 1 month into our roadtrip around Australia in our converted campervan when we noticed our coolant was leaking pretty badly. After taking it to another mechanic and suspecting a blown head gasket, we found Lonsdale Automotive Repairs and couldn’t be happier with the outcome. We spoke with David and he was absolutely fantastic. He was able to run a very quick diagnostic test to work out exactly what the issue was, while talking us through everything that he was doing. He showed us what was wrong and took the time to explain it all in great detail. Both he and Martin were awesome in understanding our situation and being creative in finding an affordable and timely solution for us. We honestly can’t recommend these guys enough. They not only went above and beyond with fitting us into their schedule and lending us a rental car for the days we were without the van, but they genuinely cared about helping us out of a less than ideal situation. Thanks again!

Excellent service, as ever. Friendly, helpful, always clear with explanations and always checks with me before doing any work beyond initial expectation. I drive away with confidence of a 'good job done'.

The team at Lonsdale Auto Centre provide a professional service at the fraction of the cost of the larger service centres for the same high quality accredited standards. Why would you spend more money than you have to for the same service. No brainer! Thank you team

WARNING AVOID! I am from an automotive engineering background and these guys misdiagnosed the issue and tried to charge me for parts that were not needed! Read on. I recently had a drive shaft replaced on my car (using an aftermarket part). Not long after, the car broke down and I got it towed to Lonsdale service centre (as it was close and highly rated). They took a look the next day, and told me that my drive shaft which recently got replaced was the wrong part, AND had been fitted wrong, AND had damaged the surrounding parts beyond repair (supposedly it had rounded out the splines on the shaft, and the intermediate shaft where the drive shaft goes into). They quoted for a new intermediate shaft for $1200 and $600 for a new drive shaft, plus labour. This sounded wrong, I double checked, he says the same again. I was pretty sure I could get the drive shaft sorted by the supplier as I had only recently bought it. Lonsdale tried to tell me no no no, it needs to be genuine because aftermarket ones are 25mm too short (??? not according to the supplier or a side by side comparison). I phoned around to see how much I could get a new intermediate shaft for because $1200 sounded excessive - a new genuine one directly from Honda only costs $600. Perhaps Lonsdale quoted it backwards? Either way, an enormous total cost to fix this collection of supposed problems. So, I decided tow the car away as I had decided not to use these guys for repairs - all the quoting seemed wrong, they insisted aftermarket parts are dodgy, and I wanted a second opinion. Me and a friend turned up with all the gear to tow the car, and found out it could be driven! The car was still not road worthy, but it was mobile - which would not be the case if these various parts had been “completely rounded out and destroyed” like I was told they were. I went to pay for the work that had been done and they tried to charge me double the hours. I got them to check with the mechanic and they said it was half that. The hours spent on the car were never explained to me, when I saw the invoice once I turned up and the hours were only then quoted to me for labour. I kept in regular contact that morning and explained clearly to them I would source the parts, so there was no need for them to. Also - the whole time the car was there I also got asked 3 times if I would like the car serviced (why would I want a service on a car that I was told is not drivable, not going to be fixed for 3 months, and that I haven’t even committed to fixing because apparently it will cost thousands??). After getting the car back and inspecting it with an experienced mechanic friend, it turns out these parts weren’t worn and the shaft had actually only popped out because it was faulty and didn’t spring back properly when compressed. Easiest fix - just got the drive shaft replaced by the supplier and everything was fine! I could not believe I’d been told it was all damaged beyond repair - totally untrue! The car drives completely fine to this day. I feel that Lonsdale tried to totally rip me off. Being told all these parts were ruined, when they were absolutely not. I got told the shaft had been fitted wrong, it had not. They diagnosed it as a wrong shaft that was 25mm shorter, which it was not. If I hadn’t known better I would have spent thousands on the car, when all it needed was one drive shaft (replaced free due to being faulty). If I had believed Lonsdale auto I would also have been without my car for 3 months while they wait for the new intermediate shaft (which, again, was not even needed) to arrive. My opinion is that anyone who is not a car person or mechanically minded is at risk here. Either the mechanic deliberately exaggerated/invented problems, or he didn’t know what he was talking about. I edited this review to make my main points clearer and to contest the owner’s version of events - he has threatened to “take this further” but this review is completely truthful. Maybe the owner should take up this issue with the mechanic that gave me such bad information.