Gil's Garage Incorporated

When one moves to a new community, finding a reputable mechanic is second only to finding a doctor you trust. Gil's Garage has serviced our cars ever since we moved to Burnt Hills 20 years ago. It's a family operation characterized by integrity, service and skill. If you're in the area and looking for a trustworthy mechanic, call Gil's Garage.

I have never,in my 42 years, met more friendly, accommodating, and honest repair shop. Just one example of their customer service: It was a lousy upstate winter morning and I was waiting in the waiting room for my truck to get inspected when a call came in to Gil's. Since at that time the counter was very close to the waiting area, I could hear the phone conversation. The person who was calling said that their car wouldn't start. After asking some questions of the caller the person behind the counter told the caller to hang on and they would be sending a mechanic over to their house to get their car started!! I was absolutely amazed!!

I have had 4 or 5 different cars serviced at Gil's over the past 5 or 6 years. They are great people to deal with. First of all, the place is huge--about the size of the service department at many auto dealerships. That tells me two things: they have a LOT of customers (and certainly not due to lack of competition!) and they know how to run a customer-focused business. We've had a couple of old, old cars that they kept road-worthy for our teenagers. One car was an '85 Tercel and the other a '90 Camry. The latter is still going with over 215K miles on it. The people at Gil's a quick to tell us when a repair to these cars is very optional, and they've even done a little jimmying and tweaking here and there at little or no cost to keep these cars either running or at least comfortable. No question at all that they kept them safe for our kids--wheels, steering, brakes, suspension, etc.--without making us throw tons of money at them. As for our newer cars, once we're finished with the dealer warranty, we start bringing our cars to Gil's for everything. Too bad they work in an industry that has such a bad reputation in trust, honesty, and business ethics. That's the only thing that holds me back from giving them perfect scores, because, after all, how could I possibly know if they're being 100 percent honest 100 percent of the time? Do I have a high degree of trust in their ability to provide me with repairs that actually fix the problem? Yes. Do I have a high degree of trust that they are running an honest business that cares about its customers and about earning repeat business. Yes. Do they always finish a repair by the time they promised it to you. No, but, then again, how many mechanics are still working at 8 or 9PM and how many shops still have their service advisers still there that late to apologize to you and explain what's happening and keep you entertained while you're waiting? That's what you get at Gil's. And if you're concerned about whether they treat male and female customers the same way, ask Linda, one of their lead service advisors (part owner? I don't know, but I think so, but she's also not the only woman behind the counter), whether she takes advantage of us guys because we're so gullible!

My experience with every garage I've been to is to cringe and and hope that they don't try to take advantage of me, because I'm a female who knows absolutely nothing about cars -- and anyone who knows a thing about cars could spot that in a second. No such treatment at Gil's. They handle their front desk with the utmost of professionalism. Information is presented articulately, and anyone who has questions is never treated like their questions are ridiculous. They do their absolute best to provide immediate service if possible, and the work is done right the FIRST time. One need only look at the number of vehicles parked in their lot to realize that their fine reputation precedes them. I've never heard a bad word about them. Despite all of the above, their fees are more than reasonable. I highly recommendly them, regardless of the extent of the problem.

Great people, Great Mechanics

Whenever I, or friends I've spoken with, go to Gil's with an emergency, like an overdue Inspection, they are always accomodating and say, "Thank you". Mike's mother is a good bowler, too.

This is a family-owned garage in it's third(?) generation. I trust the people at Gil's so completely that I leave my car with them while I'm out of town and unreachable by phone. Who else could you tell to do the regular servicing and inspection and "anything else it needs," and know that it won't cost an arm and a leg? If it's an emergency, they fit you in. If you don't understand what's wrong with the car, they'll draw pictures until you do. The only time in 18 years of dealing with them that a repair went wrong, they towed the car for free, fixed it for free, and gave me a free loaner while they were fixing it. I won't take my car anywhere else.