About
Reviews from people who were actually there.
Since 2014, TheShopCritics has published reviews of independent auto repair and tire shops, written by customers the shop invited after a real visit. Good or bad, they go up the same way.
Why we started
Two problems, one answer
Drivers couldn't tell what to trust
On the big review sites anyone can review a shop, customer or not. A rave might be the owner's cousin, and a one-star might be a competitor. Choosing who works on your car shouldn't be a guess.
Shops couldn't hear from their own customers
Good shops do honest work every day, and most happy customers never say so anywhere. Shops wanted a simple way to ask every customer how it went, and to hear the answer, good or bad.
So we tied every review to the visit it's about. When a repair order closes, the customer gets an invitation, and the review they write is marked "Verified Service Visit".
What we stand by
Three rules we don't bend
Only real customers
Invitations come from the shop's own repair orders, one per visit, to the person who was there. That's what "Verified Service Visit" means.
Bad reviews stay up
We take out duplicates, abuse and fakes. A review is never removed for being negative, and no one can pay to have one taken down.
Shops answer, they don't erase
A shop can reply to any review in public. It can't edit, hide or delete one.
The details are in our review policy.
Who we are
Built and run by KeyMotive.
TheShopCritics is built and run by the team at KeyMotive, which provides marketing for independent auto repair and tire shops. The same work that keeps a shop in touch with its customers is what lets us invite each of them, after each visit, to say how it went.