Independent auto repair/Halden/Since 2009

The estimate is the price.

Six bays on Dunmore Street, three certified technicians, and one labor rate posted on the wall. We call you before anything goes past the number you approved, and your old parts go home in a box.

Book a slot, (555) 555-0182 See what things cost

$135per hour, one rate

$110diagnosis, credited

24 moor 24,000 miles

6bays, 2 loaner cars

Posted prices

What the common jobs cost.

Real ranges, not "call for a quote". The low end is a small car with easy access. The high end is a big engine, seized hardware, or parts you cannot buy generic. Your car lands somewhere in between and we will tell you where before we start.

Labor: $135 per hour. Every price below already includes parts and labor, and every one is written down before a tool comes out.

SVC 01

Oil and filter

Full synthetic, up to six quarts, a new filter, tire pressures set, fluids topped, and a written note of anything we saw while the car was up.

45 min

$79 to $135most cars, $95

SVC 02

Brakes, pads and rotors

Per axle, including hardware, cleaning the slides, and a road test. If the rotors still measure fine we will say so and fit pads only, which is cheaper.

2 to 3 hrs

$420 to $680per axle, pads only from $260

SVC 03

Diagnosis

A warning light, a noise, a smell, a car that will not start. One hour of proper testing with factory-level tools, and a plain answer at the end of it.

1 hr

$110credited if we do the repair

SVC 04

Timing belt service

Belt, tensioner, idlers, and the water pump while we are in there, because doing the pump later means paying this labor twice.

1 to 2 days

$850 to $1,450engine dependent, quoted exactly

SVC 05

Pre-purchase inspection

Ninety minutes on the lift before you buy someone else's car. Frame, fluids, codes, brakes, tires, leaks, and a photo report emailed to you the same day.

90 min

$165book it, then bring the seller

SVC 06

Tires and alignment

Mounted, balanced, and torqued to spec by hand. We sell tires at cost plus a flat fee, and we will happily fit tires you bought elsewhere.

1 to 2 hrs

$32 per tirefour wheel alignment, $129

Not on the list: exhaust, suspension, cooling, batteries, starters, alternators, air conditioning, and most electrical faults. Call and describe the noise. We are good at guessing a range on the phone and honest about when we cannot.

What we charge and why

Nobody here works on commission.

A garage feels frightening because we can see something you cannot. So here is every number we work from, written out before you ever call. Read it once and you will know what your invoice can and cannot contain.

The rate: $135 an hour. One rate, whoever turns the wrench, Tuesday or Saturday, easy job or filthy one. We bill the first half hour whole and then in quarter hours. Where the repair manual gives a set time for a job, we quote that time, and if we beat it you pay the shorter one.
Diagnosis: $110 for the first hour, and most faults are found inside it. If we do the repair, that $110 comes off the bill. If a fault needs more than an hour of chasing, we stop at the hour and phone you with what we have ruled out and what the next hour would cost. You will never open an invoice and find four hours of looking.
The phone call: We call before we do anything that is not on the estimate. Not a dollar over, not one extra bolt. If we cannot reach you, the car sits and waits, which is fine, it is a parking space. The number you approved on the phone is the number at the bottom of the invoice.
Parts: We mark parts up, between 20 and 30 percent. That margin is what pays for the job we redo for free when a part fails in month eleven. We tell you the brand and the price of every part before it goes on the car, and we will tell you where a cheaper option is genuinely fine and where it is not. Bring your own part and we will fit it, but then we can only stand behind our labor.
Your old parts: Everything we take off your car goes in a box with your name on it. Ask at the counter and we will walk you to the bench and set the old part next to the new one: the worn edge, the split boot, the fluid that should not be that color. If you do not want them, we recycle them and you owe nothing.
The shop fee: Three percent for shop supplies, capped at $25. Cleaner, rags, gloves, sealant, the small hardware nobody itemizes. It is printed on the estimate too, so it is never a surprise at the counter.
What we will not do: We do not sell services by mileage. If your car does not need a flush, an induction service, or a fuel system treatment, we will not put it on the estimate, even when the sticker in your door says otherwise. Our technicians are paid by the hour they work, not by what they sell you.

A worn brake rotor and old pads in a labeled cardboard box on a workbench, ready to be returned to the customer

Box 14, held at the counter until pickup

If any of this is not what happened to you, say so before you pay. Dana is at the counter most of the day. We would rather rewrite a bill than lose a customer who lives four streets away.

A technician holding a diagnostic scan tool plugged into a car, reading live engine data in the bay

Warranty and credentials

Seventeen years on Dunmore Street.

Same building, same phone number, same owner behind the counter. Here is what stands behind the work.

24 months or 24,000 miles

Parts and labor, whichever comes first, on any repair we performed. It is printed on your invoice, not buried on a website. It does not cover a part you supplied or a repair you asked us to skip, and we say that out loud at the counter.

Three certified technicians

All three hold current national service certifications, recertified on schedule, and each takes two paid training days a year. Certificates hang in the waiting room where you can read the dates.

A licensed inspection station

State safety and emissions inspections done here. We do not pass a car that should not pass, and if yours fails we hand you the list with a price beside each line and no pressure to do the work with us.

Factory-level tools

Current scan tools and a paid subscription to manufacturer service data for the makes we work on. When a job needs a dealer-only calibration we tell you that on the phone and give you the name of the dealer to call.

Insured, keys and all

Garage liability and garage-keepers cover on every car in our lot, overnight included. Ask at the counter and we will hand you the certificate to read while the kettle boils.

Here since 2009

Dana bought the shop from the man who opened it, kept the phone number, and never moved the building. Roughly seven in ten cars in the lot on any morning belong to someone who has been coming for more than five years.

Who does the work

Three people, and you can ask for one by name.

The same technician sees your car every visit where we can manage it, because the person who knows the noise from last spring is the person who fixes it fastest.

Dana Whitlock

Owner, master technician

Bought the shop in 2009 after nine years in a dealership service department, mostly because she was tired of being told to sell things people did not need. Writes most of the estimates and answers the phone before 9am.

DRIVES / 2004 pickup, 291,000 miles

Ruben Ortega

Drivability and electrical

Fifteen years chasing the faults other shops give back. If your car has an intermittent light, a parasitic drain, or a noise that only happens on cold mornings, Ruben is the reason people drive here from three towns over.

DRIVES / 1998 hatchback, still original clutch

Nia Sandoval

Brakes, suspension, alignment

Came up through a tire shop and never lost the habit of torquing every wheel by hand. Runs the alignment rack and will show you the before and after printout whether or not you ask for it.

DRIVES / 2016 wagon, three sets of winter tires

"They phoned at ten to say the rattle was a loose heat shield and it would be twenty dollars. The last place quoted me an exhaust."
Sam R. / Halden

"I brought a car I was about to buy. They found repaired frame damage the seller never mentioned. That $165 saved me nine thousand."
Priya M. / Delford

"My daughter took her car in alone and came home with a printed estimate and her old brake pads in a bag. That is why we drive across town."
Ted K. / Marlow Ridge

The front of the Torque garage on a street corner, three roll-up doors open and cars parked in the lot

118 Dunmore Street, Halden Customer parking is behind the building, entrance off Pike Alley. The waiting room has coffee, a window into the bays, and a chair that is better than it looks.

Hours and getting home

Come in, drop it, or leave it overnight.

Monday to Friday7:30am to 6:00pm

Saturday8:00am to 1:00pm

SundayClosed

Loaners, the train, or a lift home

Two loaner cars, free, first come. Book one when you book the bay, because they go early. Halden station is a nine minute walk and we will drive you to it before 9am. If you live inside Halden and the car is staying, we will drop you at your door.

If it will not start where it sits

Call us before you call a tow truck. We will ask three questions and about half the time it is a battery, in which case we come to you inside Halden with a jump and a test for $45. If it does need a flatbed, our tow partner runs a flat $95 inside town and bills us, not you.

Early drop off and after hours

The key drop box is to the left of the roll-up door with envelopes beside it. Write your name, your number, and what the car is doing. We open envelopes at 7:30 and you will hear from us before nine.

Book a slot

Tell us what it is doing.

We book planned work about two weeks out and hold two bays every morning for cars that stopped working overnight. Describe the noise, the light, or the smell, and we will tell you on the phone whether it sounds like $80 or $800.

(555) 555-0182 or write to hello@torque.example and include your plate number

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