Ted's Automotive - Lac la Biche

Wife needed to get rear bearings done and we don't live in Lac La Biche, and needed to be back in Edmonton in a couple days. Kyle at Teds Auto went out of his way to fix, including working in a Saturday they would have been closed. When one of the wrong parts showed up, he drove to Edmonton to get the right part, ensuring the vehicle was fixed in the day promised. Very satisfied with this company!

Knowledgeable, honest, friendly staff. Fair and honest pricing, no hidden costs. The repairs ended up costing less than expected, not more than expected like at some other repair facilities. Best shop I've been to. If your vehicle needs some tlc, I highly recommend checking them out.

Worst experience with a shop I have had to date. Had them call back 3 times finding different issues after I had asked them to ensure car was ready for me to move, which in turn cost me over 3 times the initial quote, which alone is not my gripe. After a week and a half of them having my car, I ended up having to stay overnight in Edmonton and not being able to use my car to pack up my things from Fort Mac. There was a sound (a whirring that was clearly audible) still coming from my engine after all this, and after stressing that I need the car for a long drive, figured that it must not have been anything major. I found out was my alternator the next day when it quite literally blew up while I was driving through the mountains (luckily enough in a spot with reception). I would have given them 2 stars though for their staff being for most part pleasant in all this, but after it all, I looked over the invoice and they had filled up the oil after replacing a seal with regular oil, even though there was an oil change sticker in the windshield saying synthetic. I would rather tow a vehicle to Edmonton or even to Fort McMurray rather then trust them again when I come back to Alberta.

Very happy with Ted's. He took the time to fully understand the problem with the transmission and fixed the problem for $100 part High Caliber Automotive wanted to replace the hole transmission for a huge cost.

Very honest and straightforward. Even though they were short on staff and fully booked, the front desk lady (Teka i maybe spelling her name wrong) ran the code on my car, and Kyle explained what was wrong. If he wanted to he would ripped me off but gave an honest answer.

*UPDATE* : Still the best mechanic around! Kyle stands behind his companies work and is the most honest mechanic I've ever dealt with. been to this shop 4 times now for different vehicles, this shop is extremely honest and that's the reason I come back! Athabasca dealership tried to charge over $4000 to fix our transmission (4x4 was not engaging) Teds did the fix for $100.. 4x4 works fine now. I've also brought in both my Honda's and never had any issues, they have even done last-minute drop-in appointments for oil changes.

Sadly I have to post a very bad review for this shop! Typical of some shops, Ted`s performed unauthorized repairs on my vehicle, which subsequently failed (within an hour of use). Despite promising to contact me to address this issue, they have never attempted to contact me and I remain out of pocket for $328 with further repairs necessary! There can be no better reason to avoid this garage! As for the full story: On June 29, 2021, I took my SUV into Ted`s to have my A/C recharged. The front-end worker was very efficient and friendly. She clearly explained the process of recharging the A/C system and indicated that a test would be conducted first to confirm it was in working condition and that if it was not working, the garage would contact me PRIOR to doing any further work to discuss options. The next day I contacted them to arrange a time to collect the vehicle and was told that there had been an unauthorized temporary repair made so that I could have the vehicle in time for my planned trip the following day. The owner (Kyle) clearly acknowledged that the fix was a temporary solution and that the proper part was not available. He also refused to acknowledge that the repairs had not been authorized in advance as his shop attendant had promised. Forced into an untenable position, given my family was waiting to travel the next day, I paid for the repairs. Within an hour of our start the repair broke. I subsequently phone Ted`s and reviewed the situation with the shop attendant and asked for a response and a rebate of some portion of the cost. Kyle has avoided answering and I can only assume he doesn`t ever intend to, after all he has my money so why should he care!

On the night of December 27th my truck started to overheat and I was able to limp it 80km to Lac La Biche for the night. We were on our way back to Fort McMurray. On December 28th, which would have been a Tuesday Holiday, we were lucky to find that Ted's Automotive was open for business. They were booked up that day but when I explained our scenario, they squeezed us in later that afternoon. I never did get the technicians name but I am going to assume it is Kyle after reading some other reviews. Kyle was able to find the issue (which was air louvers frozen closed) and got them functioning to bout 70% at that point. He called me and asked me to go for a drive down the highway to try and simulate the same scenario I was having the night before. With the fix that he had made at that point we were not able to get the truck to overheat like it was the night before. On the drive he explained to me exactly what was going on and made it easy to understand. At that point, I was confident that we would be able to make it back home without any issue. We already had the hotel room booked for the second night because we didn't want to drive back in the dark just in case something was to happen and we were stuck in the middle of nowhere in freezing cold temperatures. When Kyle knew that he offered to keep the truck in his shop for the night to thaw it out completely. When I picked the truck up the next day Kyle mentioned that he tested the louvers again that morning and they were functioning 100% after warming up all night. That boosted my confidence even more for the 300+km drive back in approx -40degC weather. Kyle, I just wanted to say thank you again. In my almost 40 years on this planet, that was the best customer service that I had ever experienced from somebody that I didn't know previously. We made it back with no issues. Thanks again and we wish you all the best!