It is a very sad day in Côte Saint-Luc as Raffi Abikian has closed his service station at the corner of Westminster and Guelph Road for good.
After nearly 30 years serving the community, Raffi has reluctantly merged all operations to his NDG service station/body shop. He is hoping to implement a shuttle service. When I stopped by to see him, he promised me a full interview in January when all of the facts can be placed on the table. Let’s just say that Sobeys, the owners of the property, made the decision which results in Côte Saint-Luc losing our last surviving service station. It is a huge loss, not to mention an inconvenience to all of us.
Raffi is a friend to all of his clients. When you bring your car for a checkup and he notices something that is wrong, you randomly ask if he will remember the situation weeks or months later. “It is all in the computer,” he says, pointing to his head.
Raffi is honest, always looking to save the client a buck. “You do not need new tires,” he’d tell me. “I will find you barely used ones.”
My 15 year old Toyota is still on the road strictly because of Dr. Raffi. He took this dying patient and brought it back to life.
Raffi wishes to advise all of his clients that they will be serviced at his NDG location, expertly managed by George Soulahian. More details are to follow.,
Not too many years ago our community had Pneus Experts and Canadian Tire at then called Cavendish Mall, which serviced cars and Bernie’s on Côte Saint-Luc Road. The first two shut down and Bernie’s relocated.
When Shell opened a self-serve gas station, complete with a car wash and a depanneur, the future of Raffi’s was questioned. Shell is owned by Sobeys. Originally Raffi owned a station further down Westminister, closer to Montreal West,
“We started from scratch when we opened our first garage and built our client list,” says Raffi. “Then, we had the opportunity to get this location, so we took it.”
Raffi’s son Ari, a very polite young man, is part of his talented and devoted team of mechanics.
As a member of city council, I am anxious to learn more about the Sobeys decision. Will they apply for a permit to sell the land for housing? I would prefer the return of a service station.
Stay tuned to this space in January!
A well written synopsis Mike.
I like many will miss going to Raffies location on Westminster & Guelph. Totally agree that he is very likeable, honest & that’s what made him successful & “a must go to” for service of our cars. I’m confident all Raffies customers will stay loyal & follow him to his other location. I for one will definitely continue going to his other shop for all my car needs. Just hope that shuttle service happens. It is a necessity. Raffle, I wish you lots of continued success in your new full time home. Will be seeing you shortly. Happy Holidays.
I have been a loyal client of Raffis and now his partner George for close to 30 years. He is part of our family’s lives and I am truly sorry to see him have to consolidate all of his operations to NDG. The silver lining is of course that he has not gone far and continues to serve his clients loyally. Raffi and George are salt of the earth, their honesty and work ethic are a rare gem and should be cherished. In the past and to this vey day, when I need a part for one of the many cars that Raffi and George have serviced over the years, they will scour the earth (and junk yards) to get you the best bang for the buck. Between picking up and dropping off cars at my house, working around my crazy travel schedules or even advising after catastrophic car accidents, I know that I can always count on the consummate service that Raffi and George offer to their clients. See you soon guys.
I am really disappointed to read this news. I think Raffi is a great guy and an excellent mechanic. It is a sad day for Cote Saint-Luc that his station is closing. At least, the NDG station is not too far. Thank you, Raffi, for being part of our community for so many years!
Yech, Housing? Double-yech. Mike, I would add that although Rafi has owned it for 0 years, it’s been a service station forever. Before Rafi, it was the two Israeli brothers’ Shell, Ari and his brother, in succession. And before that, going back to the early 60’s, it was a White Rose station (until White Rose was bought by Shell). That location as a station is over 50 years old. And as for housing, they would have to dig up every shred of earth beneath it to remove all the contaminated soil from 50 years of oil tanks. I really hope they don’t choose to ask the City permission for housing. We need Raffi!
oops, typo: Raffi has owned it for “30 years”
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this is important information to convey to the trusting public. I was unfortunately among the trusting. Following is my experience at his garage.
I brought my car in on Oct. 8 to have the bumper replaced and the moment I started the car when I was leaving after the repair, it sounded unusually loud. I should’ve gone back right away but I continued on because I had lots to do and I told myself that maybe I’d just forgotten what it sounded like, not having driven it for a few days while it was in the shop. I had the car washed, brought it home and didn’t drive it for a week. I started up the car a week later and realized that it was definitely loud – not normal. I went back to Raffi‘s. He came outside and told me to start the car. The moment I started the car to let him hear for himself, he pointed to a part of the car near the front and said “It’s the catalytic converter. Come inside. I’ll jack it up and show you.” When it was up he pointed to a hole in what he called the ‘catalytic converter’. It was perfectly fine when I brought it in and there suddenly being a hole when I left led me to believe that someone there tampered with it. As well, I had told them when I brought in the car that I wanted to sell it and asked if they were interested in buying it. So It’s also possible that they did something in order to offer a lowball price. When I told him that it didn’t seem plausible that it happened that way, that it would suddenly have a hole in it, and I didn’t understand why there wasn’t even a gradual increase in noise, just a new noise only when it came out of their garage, Raffi asked in a sarcastic tone “OK, so how do you think it happened?” I replied “Could somebody here have tampered with it in order to have me come back and do an expensive repair?”. I never got to finish my sentence though because he started yelling very loudly and aggressively about how insulted he was and that I should just get out and he just kept shouting on and on, “How dare you…” etc…. At this point, someone else who works there said “I was there when you left and I didn’t hear anything.” First of all he wasn’t standing near the car when I drove off and in any case he was clearly lying because 10 minutes later, he comes up with “I heard that noise when you came in – it was already like that!” Those contradictory statements alone show that he, for one, was lying. Everyone that knows cars who I’ve told about this agrees that things don’t add up. In the meantime I’m bringing the car to be evaluated. I’m getting ready for an expensive move across the country and was trying to get the car into good shape to sell in order to raise some money. They’ve certainly ruined that for me.
UPDATE: I brought my car to the dealership and they told me that my catalytic converter is fine, that it’s the flex pipe that had a hole in it. This is a much less expensive fix. They even took a photo for me which I have. I asked their mechanics how likely it is for this to happen suddenly and they said it would NOT happen suddenly. The upshot is that Raffi’s employee lied to me, first about not hearing the noise when I left, and then supposedly hearing the noise when I first came in(implying that it was an existing problem – guess he couldn’t make up his mind!), Raffi told me I needed a much more expensive part and repair job which were absolutely unnecessary, he then had the nerve to berate me and the worst part is that two experts told me that this wouldn’t have happened suddenly, at least not unless it was ‘man-made’. Now on top of the stress and expense of a cross-country move, I have additional stress and expense from having brought my car to the wrong people. I filed a complaint with the Office de la Protection du Consommateur and I’m looking into what other recourse I have.