Denver Auto Repair

Due to the high cost of credit card fees, we highly appreciate CASH and CHECK payments, but we do happily accept all major credit cards as well.

We do our appointments by day instead of time, meaning we ask all our customers to please have their car to us by 9:00 am the day of their appointment. We open at 8:00am each day.

You can also drop your vehicle off the day before an appointment and ensure it gets locked within our gated parking lot by dropping it off before 6pm. If those do not work, you can drop off the vehicle after hours by parking it on East Colfax Ave in front of our building and putting your keys within an envelope with your contact information through the mail slot in the front door.

After your vehicle is checked in it will go into the shop the order that it was checked in. That means if you are one of the first people to check in at 8:00 am or the night before your car will be one of the first vehicles seen for the day.

If you are planning on waiting for your car it is highly recommended that you are here at 8:00 am when we open to ensure we have an available technician to minimize your wait time. We have a cozy waiting room that is often described as more of a living room than a waiting room. It includes a fireplace, desk area, cozy couch and of course free WI-FI and coffee. Yes, we have had countless guests stay in the waiting area many hours after being told their vehicle repair or maintenance service was completed!

**During the ongoing health pandemic, we discourage waiting at our business to protect the health ofour valued customers and our own team**

Absolutely! Our goal is to ensure we can accurately diagnose your vehicle issues and then recommend only the repairs that are NEEDED for your vehicle. Rarely are our estimates exact but we will provide you the best figures possible based on the information we know. Often the actual repairs come in BELOW the quoted estimate and in some cases it might be higher. If there is any material increase from the estimate provided, you can be confident we will call you first to discuss the situation.

Without a proper inspection of a vehicle, it is difficult to provide an accurate quote. Our goal is to provide customers an honesty diagnosis with recommendations of needed repairs. We also proactively communicate to customers repairs that can be completed at a future visit while suggesting the customer monitor certain symptoms in the meantime.

Occasionally we will provide a phone quote. Normally this is when customers insist on a “ballpark estimate.” We cannot and will not guarantee phone estimates. Saving a few bucks on a diagnosis is not worth paying for incomplete repairs or even ones that are not needed! It is much easier for us to first start with an inspection of your vehicle concerns and then provide you with the most accurate estimate the first time based on our professional diagnosis. Rest assured, we will not perform any repairs without first providing you an accurate estimate and receiving approval from you.

We are so humbled and thankful for our customers that keep our shop busy around the clock, all year round. It does mean getting an appointment with short notice is extremely rare. We want to take care of all our customers who cannot wait for an appointment, so we came up with the Hotchkiss “Drop Service.”

The Hotchkiss Auto “Drop Service” allows you to leave your vehicle with our team without an appointment. In some cases, if our technicians get ahead of their appointments, they may be able to look at and resolve a minor repair or service in the same day. In most cases, the vehicle will take a few days to get looked at but we can get the repairs or maintenance services completed prior to the next available appointment date. This option works well for individuals or families that have extra vehicles to address leaving a vehicle at our shop for an unknown period of time.

We do not install customer-supplied parts. Most repairs performed by Hotchkiss Auto Repair come with a 24-month/24,000-mile nationwide warranty, and this is only applicable when we source and install the parts. Our parts vendors will not partner with our team in assisting our valued customers in a warranty claim when the buyer of the part is not our shop. We WANT to stand behind our work, but we cannot do that with customer-supplied parts.

There are also countless aftermarket parts manufacturers. Many of the largest companies have become popular because they offer low cost products. What comes with low cost products? That is right, cheap, low quality products! Our experienced staff knows which OE and aftermarket manufacturers provide quality products at reasonable prices.

Plus, parts have tremendous variation even without a year of the same make and model. With a dozen appointments every day, we cannot afford tying up a lift and inconveniencing our customers because the correct parts were not identified by a professional.

Finally, would you bring a dozen eggs into a restaurant and ask them to make you an omelet? Probably not, so please let us do our job and get you the right part with a high-quality standard at a fair price!

We do not install used parts, unless there is no other option available, ensuring we can maintain the best quality repair and services. In the long run, utilizing used parts can often cost you more money due to premature failure and decreased quality. It leaves customers having to pay for the same repair multiple times. Furthermore, when utilizing used parts, we are unable to provide any form of warranty on the repairs performed leaving you in a vulnerable position.

We use a combination of aftermarket and genuine parts depending on the repair. We prefer to use top quality aftermarket parts due to their affordability and warranties. We often find that some aftermarket parts manufacturers, especially suspension components manufacturers, have a warranty that is better than genuine parts, some even offer a lifetime warranty. There are certain repairs that we will only use genuine OE parts, as aftermarket parts cannot complete on quality or the component is mission critical to a larger system (e.g. – transmission cooler lines). If you prefer that we solely use genuine parts, please let your service advisor know when checking in your vehicle and we would be happy to accommodate. We have longstanding relationships with all the major dealerships across Denver metro!

We are unable to perform any manufacturer warranty or recall work, we recommend taking your vehicle to your preferred dealership. However, if you have an aftermarket warranty please give us a call so we can help you determine if we are an approved repair facility with your warranty company. In most cases, we will be.

We are unable to perform any manufacturer warranty repairs, we recommend contacting your preferred dealership. However, for regular maintenance not covered by your manufacturer’s warranty we are happy to assist you.

No. Our commercial insurance provider will call and yell at us. Seriously, we would love to provide this service to our customers, but it would only dilute the quality of our repairs. Our team keep all tools, equipment, parts, and fluids required for repairs on site. Plus, we work in a team environment and it is not uncommon to see several technicians working together to get your vehicle back on the road.

When you bring your vehicle to Hotchkiss Auto Repair you can expect the check in process to take roughly 5 minutes, and then we will be giving you a call in most circumstances with an update on your vehicle between 10am-2pm. We will request approval for all recommended repairs and the associated charges prior to performing any repairs on your vehicle. Once approved we will move forward with ordering parts and keep you updated on our progress. We pride ourselves on having knowledgeable staff equipped to answer any questions you have on recommended repairs or maintenance services. We look forward to being your local automotive repair shop!

We do not perform any body damage repair; however, we are happy to help with any mechanical damage on your vehicle and work with your insurance company when necessary. For body damage that requires repair we recommend Perfection Unlimited, they can be reached at (303) 344-1713. Let them know the Hotchkiss team sent you over and they will take extra good care of you!

It is important that we run our diagnostic tests prior to any repair to confirm the cause of your vehicle’s problem. We do this to save you time and money! An inspection allows us to verify that we are not performing unnecessary repairs and that the root cause of the issue is identified. This is not only way to save you money, but it is also to ensure your vehicle is reliable and safe for use.

Also, we cannot provide a warranty on repairs performed unless our technicians identify the problem, research TSBs (technical service bulletins) and known fixes, and ultimately recommend an appropriate repair. Our team avoids spot repairs that effectively puts a bandage on an issue only to allow the problem to reoccur in the near future. Be wary of shops that will allow you to waive diagnostic procedures as they may lack the capabilities to independently diagnose the issue. We are happy to answer any questions as to what our diagnostic procedures include and how we determined recommended repairs.

There is the occasional situation where the diagnostic testing will remedy the concern, and in those instances, there will be no additional charge for repairs and only the cost of diagnostics. In some cases, we will REDUCE the authorized diagnostic fee if we reach a conclusion or achieve a repair in less time than allotted. We also commit to never mark-up repairs only to then apply the diagnostic cost to those inflated estimates. This is an unethical industry practice we avoid!

Moreover, great technicians are often underappreciated for the complicated work required for our trade. We want to ensure the hardworking and elite technicians at Hotchkiss Auto Repair are rewarded for the most important part of a repair, the initial diagnosis. Afterall, a successful repair STARTS with an accurate diagnosis!

Our aim is for every customer to be treated with respect and receive honest communication. Their vehicle should be similarly treated with respect and receive a high standard of maintenance or repair service. If we fall short of this standard, our management and ownership will want a detailed account immediately! Our goal will be to (1) remedy the immediate situation and (2) implement changes to avoid future occurrences of deficient service to our valued customers. Please call our shop and ask for Thomas or Justin. We will make it right!