---
title: "AAMCO Transmission: Warranty, Diagnostics and Who Owns It"
description: "AAMCO’s warranty runs 90 days to 36 months by job, and the franchisee, not AAMCO, gives it. What its pages, franchise filing and owner Icahn say."
url: "https://baronauto1.com/car-care/aamco-transmission/"
type: "article"
published: "2026-10-16"
modified: "2026-10-16"
site: "Baron Auto"
disclaimer: "This site is under new ownership and is not affiliated with Baron Auto Emporium dealership."
---

# AAMCO Transmission: Warranty, Diagnostics and Who Owns It

> AAMCO’s warranty runs 90 days to 36 months by job, and the franchisee, not AAMCO, gives it. What its pages, franchise filing and owner Icahn say.

*Detailing & Maintenance · 22 min read · 4,839 words*

## The short version

- AAMCO is a franchise chain: 551 centers in the United States and Canada at the end of 2023, all but 11 run by independent franchisees, says its April 2024 franchise disclosure document. Icahn Enterprises has owned it since October 2, 2017 and kept it when it sold Pep Boys on August 20, 2026.
- The franchisee, not AAMCO, gives your warranty: the franchise agreement says warranties “are made by Franchisee to the customer.” Every other center must still honor them.
- Warranties run from 90 days to 36 months by job; a rebuilt or remanufactured automatic gets 12 months/12,000 miles or 36 months with 50,000 or 100,000 miles, “whichever occurs first.” Lifetime cover “may be available,” with no printed terms.
- A used (“pre-owned”) transmission gets 90 days at the issuing center only, and an electronic part that fails after its 90 days can void the transmission warranty.
- A Vehicle Check comes before any transmission repair, but no national page prices it or calls it free; each center sets its own prices.
- The store card is a Synchrony Car Care card with deferred interest; new accounts since 7/31/25 carry a 34.99% purchase APR.

AAMCO is the transmission and general repair chain that began in Philadelphia, and the center you visit is almost always an independently owned franchise using the AAMCO name, forms and warranty program. That decides who diagnoses the car, who sets the price and who stands behind the work. On 16 October 2026 we read AAMCO’s warranty, Vehicle Check, rebuild, fluid, financing, contact and history pages on aamco.com and its franchise site; the franchise disclosure document (FDD) of AAMCO Transmissions, LLC issued April 30, 2024, from Minnesota’s registry; and Icahn Enterprises’ SEC filings. The site’s terms allow personal, non-commercial use, so we quote only short passages. This site has no commercial relationship with AAMCO or any repair chain.

**Figure: What AAMCO's own documents say, by situation**

Eight situations an AAMCO customer can meet, each answered from AAMCO's warranty pages, its franchise disclosure document issued April 30, 2024 or Icahn Enterprises' August 20, 2026 8-K. Every number is in data/aamco-transmission.json.

Read from aamco.com, the AAMCO Transmissions, LLC franchise disclosure document issued April 30, 2024 (Minnesota registry) and Icahn Enterprises' SEC filings on 16 October 2026.

## Who owns AAMCO

Icahn Enterprises L.P., the Nasdaq-listed holding company. The franchisor is AAMCO Transmissions, LLC of Horsham, Pennsylvania, formed “as a Pennsylvania corporation on November 6, 1963,” which makes it 63 years old in 2026 by our arithmetic. Item 1 of the FDD traces the owners: “On March 7, 2006, AAMCO became a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Driveline Systems, Inc.” Then, “On October 2, 2017, Holdco’s then parent company, Transom ADS Holdings LLC, sold all stock and interests in Holdco to Icahn Automotive Service LLC.” After a restructuring that December, an Icahn company became “100% owner of AAMCO,” and AAMCO turned into a limited liability company on December 29, 2017. The audited notes put it simply: “AAMCO is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Icahn.”

The 2024 FDD still lists Pep Boys as an affiliate. That ended this summer. Icahn’s Form 8-K says that on August 20, 2026 its automotive arm “completed the previously announced sale of Pep Boys to Mavis Tire Supply, LLC,” and that “the Company will retain ... the AAMCO Transmissions and Precision Tune Auto Care businesses in the Company’s Automotive segment.” Icahn’s EDGAR filing list, checked on 16 October 2026, shows only a Form 4 and a Schedule 13D/A since then, dated 2026-09-25, neither about the repair chains.

So AAMCO stayed with Icahn beside Precision Tune Auto Care, while Pep Boys joined Mavis, which also owns Midas (see our [Precision Tune](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/precision-tune-auto-care/#who-owns), [Pep Boys](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/pep-boys/#who-owns) and [Mavis](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/mavis-tires/) pages). Icahn’s 2025 annual report does not name AAMCO; it counts “727 franchise locations” across its whole Automotive segment without splitting them by brand.

## Franchised or company-owned: who runs your center

Almost certainly a local franchisee. The FDD says that at the end of 2023 “there were 551 total AAMCO Centers operating in the United States and Canada, all but 11 of which were franchised,” so 540, or 98%, were franchised by our arithmetic. The other 11 belonged to an affiliate, AAMCO Retail: 3 in Connecticut, 6 in Illinois, 1 in Indiana and 1 in Missouri.

**How many AAMCO centers there are, by source (read 16 October 2026)**

| Count | What it says | Source and date |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 551 | Centers in the United States and Canada, all but 11 franchised | FDD Item 1 and Table 1, as of December 31, 2023 |
| 545 | U.S. centers: 534 franchised, 11 affiliate-owned (plus 6 franchised in Canada) | FDD Table 1, as of December 31, 2023 |
| 525 + | “Locations Nationwide” | Franchise site, read 16 October 2026 |
| 523 | Center pages in aamco.com’s sitemap, 6 in Canada (our count; a sitemap can list closed centers) | aamco.com, read 16 October 2026 |
| 727 | Franchise locations in Icahn’s whole Automotive segment, all brands | Icahn Enterprises 2025 Form 10-K |

The network is shrinking slowly: 553 franchised U.S. centers at the start of 2021, 534 at the end of 2023. In 2023, 11 opened while 1 was terminated, 3 were not renewed and 14 ceased operating. Anyone hoping to ask former owners about the chain should note Item 20: “In some instances, current or former franchisees sign provisions restricting their ability to speak ... openly about their experiences with us or the AAMCO network.” By the sitemap, AAMCO is largest in California (59 center pages), Florida (55) and Texas (44).

The franchise agreement makes each owner say who they are. Section 12.3 calls the franchisee “an independent contractor and not an agent, employee, partner or joint venturer of AAMCO,” and requires a notice “both inside and outside the Center” that it “is independently owned and operated.” The business on your invoice is the one you contract with. Our [Meineke](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/meineke/#who-stands-behind) and [Midas](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/midas/#who-you-deal-with) pages read those franchise chains the same way.

## What AAMCO does: transmissions first, then “Total Car Care”

The name is the founder’s. The history page says Anthony A. Martino opened his first shop in 1957, that “the AAMCO acronym stood for Anthony A. Martino Company,” and that AAMCO “could celebrate its origin on any one of three important dates; 1957, 1962 or 1963.” After decades as a transmission specialist it made, in the mid-2000s, its “entrée back into total car care.” Today the FDD has franchisees sell “transmission repair services, as well as additional automotive maintenance and repair services,” such as oil changes, brakes, heating and cooling, tune-ups, steering and suspension and factory-recommended maintenance.

Transmission work comes in several forms. One center page offers either a rebuild by “an AAMCO master builder” on site or “a premier replacement transmission from our state-of-the-art AAMCO remanufacturing facility.” AAMCO also sells a “Pre-Owned Transmission” (a used unit) and services manual gearboxes and CVTs. Our [guide to the four repair routes](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/transmission-repair-cost/#four-routes) explains what each renews; this page covers what AAMCO promises on each.

Fluid service is sold as maintenance. AAMCO’s Power Purge is a machine exchange it says replaces “virtually all of the old transmission fluid - including the torque converter and cooler,” adding that “Other basic transmission fluid changes can leave about 30% of old fluid in the torque converter and cooler.” The Plus version also changes the filter, though “The cost of the filter and gasket is extra,” and the service is “Not available for vehicles with internal transmission problems.” Our page on [drain-and-fill versus flush](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/how-often-to-change-transmission-fluid/#drain-vs-flush) weighs the methods.

## The Vehicle Check: how AAMCO says it diagnoses

AAMCO’s central promise is about diagnosis: “we will perform our exclusive Vehicle Check service on every car before we do any transmission repair,” and “Many times, we’ll discover your transmission only requires a minor repair.” As the page describes it, the check has five parts:

- **Fluids:** the transmission fluid’s level and condition, plus transfer case and differential fluid “where applicable.”
- **A road test** of fourteen listed items, from engagements and each drive range through shift timing and quality, passing gear, torque converter clutch engagement, noises, vibrations, 4x4 performance and park-hold.
- **A lift inspection** of thirteen items “external to the transmission,” such as linkage, vacuum and wiring connections, engine idle, mounts, axles, CV joints and leaks.
- **A code scan:** “Scan the computer for trouble codes.”
- **Computer diagnostics if needed:** a scanner to find codes “and to determine the probable cause,” then checks of electronic components, “the solenoids and sensors” and the transmission wiring.

That is 27 road-test and under-car items by our count. The page then adds: “Even if an initial check doesn’t diagnose your problem, we still won’t recommend a transmission service until we know EXACTLY what is causing your problem.” It does not say what that next step involves, whether the transmission comes out, or what it costs.

No national page we read prices the Vehicle Check or calls it free, although people search for an AAMCO free diagnostic; prices are each center’s decision. Ask before the car goes on the lift what the check and any computer diagnostics cost, and whether further diagnosis means removing the transmission. Centers must use “AAMCO diagnostic forms,” so ask for a copy of the completed one with your estimate. If a warning light brought you in, our pages on the [check engine light](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/what-does-check-engine-light-mean/), [signs of a failing transmission](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/symptoms-of-a-bad-transmission/) and [torque converter faults](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/symptoms-of-a-bad-torque-converter/#vs-transmission) help you describe the symptoms.

## Prices, estimates and your authorization

AAMCO prints no national price for any job and publishes nothing about estimates, teardown charges or how you approve work. Item 16 of the FDD explains the prices: unless the Operator’s Manual says otherwise, each franchisee is “free to offer the Center’s products and services to your customers at any prices you wish.” Coupons are local too: “Coupons and Offers vary, depending on location.” AAMCO’s repair-or-buy page says only that major engine or transmission repairs “are often in the few thousand dollar range,” a sales argument rather than a quote; our [transmission repair cost guide](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/transmission-repair-cost/) explains why no honest national figure exists.

The paperwork is standard. Each center must use “AAMCO diagnostic forms, AAMCO warranty cards, AAMCO reporting forms and consecutively numbered AAMCO repair orders.” Whatever you approve should be on a numbered AAMCO repair order, and your warranty on an AAMCO card.

Estimate rules come from your state. Florida, with 55 AAMCO center pages, has a detailed law, which we read for our [Tire Kingdom page](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/tire-kingdom/#florida-law) on 9 October 2026. A shop must give a written estimate when work will exceed $150, “including diagnostic work, before effecting any diagnostic work or repair,” and may not charge more than the estimate “plus $10 or 10 percent, whichever is greater, but not to exceed $50,” without your authorization. The invoice must identify “any replacement part as being used, rebuilt, or reconditioned” and state the guarantee’s “time and mileage period.” Removed parts can be inspected, or returned “if the shop has no warranty arrangement or exchange parts program”; AAMCO’s pre-owned page talks of a transmission being “exchanged,” so ask first whether you may see or keep the old unit. Other states differ.

Wherever you are, ask for an estimate that separates the diagnosis or teardown cost, the route proposed (repair, rebuild, remanufactured or pre-owned unit) and the warranty tier for each option. As the next section shows, the route sets the warranty.

## AAMCO’s warranties, tier by tier

The warranty page promises “When you become an AAMCO customer, you’re entitled to a warranty that matches the quality of the service that you receive,” then lists seven tiers, each with its own page on [aamco.com](https://www.aamco.com/Warranties/AAMCO-Warranties). The job decides the tier: “The term of months and miles of your AAMCO Automatic Transmission Warranty will vary depending on the specific Transmission Service you choose.”

**AAMCO’s warranty tiers as its pages print them (read 16 October 2026)**

| Tier | What it covers | How long | Where, and can it pass to a buyer? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Minor transmission services | The serviced component on the invoice, against defective workmanship or materials | 90 days | Not stated; not transferable |
| Electronic components | Only the electronic component the center serviced | 90 days | Not stated; not transferable |
| Manual transmissions | The manual transmission, parts and labor | “a full 90 days,” any mileage | Not stated; not transferable |
| Pre-owned (used) transmissions | The exchanged unit | 90 days | “at the AAMCO center issuing the warranty”; transfer not stated |
| Total Car Care services | Specific assemblies, parts and labor | 12 months or 12,000 miles (20,000 km), whichever first | Not stated; not transferable |
| Rebuilt or remanufactured automatics | “your transmission and torque converter” | 12 months/12,000 miles, or 36 months with 50,000 or 100,000 miles, as on your invoice, whichever first | Not stated on these pages |
| Lifetime coverage for automatics | Not described | “may be available” | “See your local AAMCO Dealer for details” |

For a rebuilt or remanufactured automatic the key sentence is: “your transmission and torque converter are covered for the term of months or miles described on your invoice, whichever occurs first.” The invoice decides whether you have 12 months, 36 months with 50,000 miles or 36 months with 100,000, and the 36-month page adds “You may be able to opt for additional coverage.”

“Whichever occurs first” means each tier ends at its earlier limit. Take a car driven 20,000 miles a year, a figure we picked only to illustrate. By our arithmetic a 12/12 warranty ends at month 7.2, a 36-month, 50,000-mile warranty at month 30, and a 36-month, 100,000-mile warranty runs the full 36 months, by which time the car has covered 60,000 miles. No car gets the months of one limit and the miles of the other.

**Get the tier written on the invoice before you approve the job.** The warranty is “described on your invoice,” and the route sets it: a used transmission gets 90 days at one center, a rebuilt or remanufactured unit 12 or 36 months. Ask which tier comes with each option, whether a longer one costs extra, and what lifetime coverage would cost and cover, since no page prints its terms.

Other chains print their end points differently:

**How repair chains print warranty end points (AAMCO read 16 October 2026; the others copied from our pages read 9 and 10 October 2026)**

| Chain | Printed term | Which limit ends it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AAMCO (rebuilt or remanufactured automatic) | “the term of months or miles described on your invoice, whichever occurs first” | The first |
| Meineke (other parts and services) | “12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first” | The first |
| Christian Brothers Automotive | “3 years or 36,000 miles, whichever limit occurs last” | The last |
| Precision Tune Auto Care | “National 12-24 month/12,000-24,000 mile warranty, which is valid at most of our centers” | Not stated |

**Figure: Annotated photograph**

Three numbered callouts over the photograph mark the gear selector, the electronic drive-mode buttons and the selector’s base, each with one fact from AAMCO’s warranty pages.

AAMCO’s warranty pages, read on 16 October 2026: Rebuilt or remanufactured automatic: transmission and torque converter, to invoice limits (callout 1); Electronic parts get 90 days; a later failure can void the transmission warranty (callout 2); A pre-owned transmission swap gets 90 days of cover, only at the AAMCO center issuing it (callout 3). The photograph is illustrative.

## What voids or limits an AAMCO warranty

Every tier page repeats the same exclusions: “failure caused by customer abuse, accident or alterations, or reimbursement of consequential damages are some of the circumstances that are not covered by the warranty. Your AAMCO Warranty is null and void if the covered vehicle is converted from a passenger vehicle to a commercial vehicle.” Each page also tells you to read your AAMCO warranty “so you fully understand all of your rights and any other restrictions that apply,” so the card, not the website, is the full contract. Three more limits stand out.

- **Electronic parts can end the transmission warranty.** A center “stands behind only the electronic component it services, and covers that component for a 90-day period.” After that, “If the repaired component fails or leads to damage to the transmission after the warranty period has ended, the transmission warranty or extended coverage is null and void.” Read literally, a sensor or solenoid the center replaced can take a 36-month transmission warranty down with it.
- **Used units are local.** A pre-owned transmission’s cover “is available for 90 days at the AAMCO center issuing the warranty.”
- **Most tiers stay with you, not the car.** The Total Car Care, electronic, manual and minor-service pages each say the warranty “is not transferable.” The automatic pages do not say either way, so a buyer of your car should not count on it.

Federal warranty law adds three questions; the texts were read on govinfo for our Precision Tune page and re-checked for this one. First, under the FTC’s pre-sale rule, [16 CFR 702.3](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2025-title16-vol1/xml/CFR-2025-title16-vol1-sec702-3.xml), for consumer products costing more than $15.00 “the seller of a consumer product with a written warranty shall make a text of the warranty readily available for examination by the prospective buyer.” Whether that reaches a repair is a question for a lawyer, but asking for the card before you pay costs nothing. Second, the FTC’s advertising guide, [16 CFR 239.4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2025-title16-vol1/xml/CFR-2025-title16-vol1-sec239-4.xml), says an ad using “lifetime” should disclose “the life to which the representation refers”; AAMCO’s rebuild page says “up to the life of your car,” so ask what that means on paper. Third, a carmaker cannot insist on its own dealers for maintenance it does not pay for: 15 U.S.C. 2302(c) bars conditioning a warranty on a branded service unless it is free, and 16 CFR 700.10(c) bars requiring “the use of only authorized repair service and/or authorized replacement parts for non-warranty service and maintenance.” Keep the invoices as proof.

## Who stands behind the warranty, and where it is honored

Here AAMCO’s marketing and its contracts read differently. The site says “Every AAMCO center is ready, willing and able to honor your warranty... with no problems or delays.” The franchise agreement says who makes the promise. Under section 14.3 the franchisee may give no warranties beyond “the printed forms of warranty issued or approved by AAMCO,” and “such warranties and guarantees are made by Franchisee to the customer and that there are no warranties expressed or implied made by AAMCO to the customer.” The site’s own policy adds that AAMCO “does not endorse, warrant or guarantee any product or any service offered by or through this Web Site.” Your warranty is a promise from the center that did the work, on an AAMCO form.

A reciprocity system makes it travel. Section 14.1 requires every franchisee “to honor each warranty presented by an AAMCO customer in accordance with its terms, regardless of whether the service was rendered at the Center or at some other authorized AAMCO center,” including work by “previous AAMCO franchisees at the Center.” Under section 14.2 the original center pays the repairing one for parts “plus a sum of money based on either an hourly rate for labor or a flat fee,” at a rate AAMCO sets. The fleet page says the warranties “are honored at AAMCO locations across the United States and Canada.” The exception is the pre-owned unit, covered only at the issuing center.

If your center closes, there is a backstop. Each franchisee pays a $5,000 “Security Deposit,” and after a franchise ends AAMCO keeps it “for up to 3 years” for “customer warranty work that we or any AAMCO Center incurs arising from prior work performed by your AAMCO Center.” The FDD does not say how claims are paid once a deposit runs out.

If a repair fails away from home, take the invoice and warranty card to the nearest center. The contact page offers a warranty form for anyone “Unsure about your vehicle’s warranty status or other records” and a feedback form; we did not open either. AAMCO also holds levers over its franchisees: each must “deal fairly and honestly with AAMCO and with each customer” and handle complaints “whether they arise from the Center or from any other AAMCO center,” and AAMCO may end a franchise at once if the owner “otherwise fails to deal honestly and fairly with AAMCO or with any customer of the Center.” AAMCO prints no step-by-step claim procedure; our [Meineke](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/meineke/#claims) page shows a chain that does.

## The AAMCO credit card

The only financing the site advertises is the AAMCO Synchrony Car Care card, subject to credit approval. Its standing features, as printed on 16 October 2026: “6 months promotional financing on purchases of $199+” and “12 months promotional financing on purchases of $750+,” each “available at participating AAMCO locations”; account terms of “New Accounts as of 7/31/25: Purchase APR 34.99%. Penalty APR 39.99%. Min Interest Charge $2,” the same line Meineke printed for its card when we read it on 9 October 2026; and acceptance at “over 500,000 auto parts and service businesses.” The same page runs a dated rebate offer, which we do not record because promotions change.

The promotions are deferred interest: “No interest will be charged on the promo balance if you pay it off, in full, within the promo period. If you do not, interest will be charged on the promo balance from the purchase date.” The page warns that “The required minimum monthly payments may or may not pay off the promo balance before the end of the promo period.” Divide the bill by the promo months and pay at least that each month. See our [Meineke page](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/meineke/#coupons-rewards-financing) for how the same card works at another chain.

## What regulators and courts have recorded

Most of AAMCO’s public legal history comes from Item 3 of its own FDD. We state each item as the FDD does, as of April 30, 2024.

**A pending consumer case.** In *Chambers v. Montileone Industries, Inc. and AAMCO Transmissions, Inc.* (Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, Case No. 16SL-CC03885), the plaintiff, individually and for a purported class, added AAMCO on October 15, 2019 to a suit first filed against a former franchisee. The FDD says the “Plaintiff alleges that defendants, now including AAMCO, misrepresented auto repair services performed on customer vehicles at the former franchisee’s center by replacing original transmissions with salvaged transmissions.” A motion for class certification filed October 27, 2023 was one “that AAMCO opposed,” and AAMCO expected trial in 2024 “as solely related to the Plaintiff.” These are allegations, not findings. We could not check what happened next: Missouri’s courts post a notice that scraping any Missouri judicial website, including Case.net, “is expressly prohibited,” so we did not read the docket. It is a reason to make sure your invoice says whether a unit is used, rebuilt or reconditioned.

**Older orders and judgments the FDD lists.**

- **New York, 1967:** a final judgment “entered by consent” that “governs the advertising, servicing and repair of transmissions by AAMCO in the State of New York and requires AAMCO to maintain a compliance program; no findings were entered.”
- **Minnesota, 1967:** a “permanent order entered by consent without findings” on advertising, servicing and repair that “requires AAMCO to maintain a compliance program for its franchisees.”
- **Illinois, 1979:** a “finding by stipulation that AAMCO failed to provide a prospective franchisee with a copy of the required disclosure statement within the required time,” a consent judgment and a $2,000 civil penalty.
- **California, 1981:** a final judgment in an agreed case, entered December 14, 1981, “concerning advertising procedures in the State of California.”
- **Fourteen states, 1987:** AAMCO “agreed to undertake a defined standard for monitoring its franchisees in those states through categorizing and tabulating complaints received from customers of franchisees.” Judgments were entered on February 18, 1987; “No findings of any violations of law were entered.”

**Franchise-law matters.** AAMCO entered consent orders with Washington’s securities regulator in October 2012 and Virginia’s Corporation Commission on June 11, 2013 over omissions from its franchise disclosure documents, both “Without admitting fault or the Securities Division’s conclusions”; in Virginia it agreed “to pay $10,000 in monetary penalties.” In a 2019 release, read for our Meineke page, Washington’s Attorney General said that “in order to avoid a lawsuit” AAMCO and four other chains “signed legally binding commitments to stop adding no-poach clauses to franchise contracts.” Item 3 also lists franchisee disputes, including a 2017 group settlement that “did not include admission of liability by AAMCO” and 8 actions AAMCO started on or after January 1, 2023 to collect money or enforce non-competes. None concerns a repair.

**The registry.** AAMCO’s Minnesota file (number 8318) holds nothing received after 04/30/2024; on 11/26/2024 Minnesota withdrew that renewal application because “there has been no activity with respect to the above-captioned application for registration” for 120 days. The order makes no finding about AAMCO, but the 2024 document is the newest we could read.

**What we did not find.** Searches on 16 October 2026 found no FTC record naming AAMCO and no state attorney general action after April 2024. Law-firm pages describe a 2025 data incident at AAMCO’s parent, but we found no official notice, including on California’s breach list, so we say nothing more. The Better Business Bureau’s site blocked our reader, and we used no review sites or news reports about single centers.

## Where AAMCO’s own documents disagree

We recorded 10 places where AAMCO’s pages and filings disagree or leave a gap. Those that matter to a customer:

- **Lifetime coverage:** “may be available” on the warranty page, “up to the life of your car” on the rebuild page and “our available iron-clad lifetime warranty” on the expert page; no page prints its terms.
- **Where a warranty is honored:** “Every AAMCO center is ready, willing and able to honor your warranty,” yet pre-owned cover is “at the AAMCO center issuing the warranty,” on a page that opens with the general sentence about “the term of months or miles described on your invoice.”
- **Who gives the warranty:** the site sells “AAMCO Warranties”; the franchise agreement says they “are made by Franchisee to the customer.”
- **How tiers interact:** a 36-month automatic warranty can be voided by an electronic part failing after its own 90 days.
- **Size, age and name:** 551 centers in the FDD, “525 +” on the franchise site and 523 sitemap pages; “over 60 years,” “Since 1957” and three possible founding years; a footer that still says “AAMCO Transmissions Inc.” though the company became an LLC in 2017.

For franchise buyers, the franchise site’s $45,000 fee and $276,600 to $407,200 investment exceed the 2024 FDD’s $39,500 and $236,800 to $361,200, which suggests a newer FDD we could not find. None of this changes what your center writes on the invoice and warranty card, which is why those are the documents to check.

- **Ask what the Vehicle Check costs at this center**, and whether further diagnosis means removing the transmission.
- **Get a written, itemized estimate** that names the route: repair, rebuild, remanufactured or pre-owned unit.
- **Ask which warranty tier comes with each option** and get it on the invoice; each ends at whichever limit comes first.
- **Ask to see the warranty card before you pay**, including any lifetime terms and whether it transfers if you sell.
- **Treat electronic repairs separately**: 90 days, and a later failure can void the transmission warranty.
- **Keep the invoice and card**; other AAMCO centers must honor most warranties, and you will need both.
- **Clear a card promotion within its 6 or 12 months**, or interest runs from the purchase date.

Our [Ziebart](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/ziebart/) page reads another franchised car-care chain’s terms the same way.

## Common questions

### Who owns AAMCO?

Icahn Enterprises L.P., through Icahn Automotive, since October 2, 2017. The franchisor is AAMCO Transmissions, LLC of Horsham, Pennsylvania. When Icahn sold Pep Boys to Mavis on August 20, 2026, its 8-K said it would keep the AAMCO business.

### Are AAMCO centers franchises?

Nearly all. At the end of 2023 the FDD counted 551 centers in the United States and Canada, all but 11 franchised. Each center must post a notice that it is independently owned and operated, and the franchisee makes your warranty.

### What is AAMCO’s transmission warranty?

It depends on the job. A rebuilt or remanufactured automatic is covered for the months or miles on your invoice, whichever occurs first: 12 months or 12,000 miles, or 36 months with 50,000 or 100,000 miles. Manual transmissions, pre-owned units, electronic parts and minor services get 90 days. Lifetime coverage “may be available,” with no printed terms.

### Is an AAMCO warranty good at any AAMCO?

For most tiers, yes. Every franchisee must honor warranties “regardless of whether the service was rendered at the Center or at some other authorized AAMCO center,” and the original center pays the one that repairs it. A pre-owned transmission is the exception: 90 days, only at the issuing center.

### Is the AAMCO diagnostic check free?

AAMCO’s national pages do not say. They describe a Vehicle Check done before any transmission repair but give no price, and each center sets its own prices. Ask before the check starts.

### How much does an AAMCO transmission rebuild cost?

AAMCO publishes no price; franchisees may charge “any prices you wish.” Get a written estimate that names the route and the warranty tier; our [transmission repair cost guide](https://baronauto1.com/car-care/transmission-repair-cost/) explains what drives the bill.

## Sources and further reading

- [16 CFR Part 702 (Pre-Sale Availability of Written Warranty Terms)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-702)

Recall, complaint and safety-rating figures on this page were retrieved from the federal databases above on August 19, 2026. Federal data changes — re-check any VIN before you rely on it.

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*This site is under new ownership and is not affiliated with Baron Auto Emporium dealership.*

Canonical source: https://baronauto1.com/car-care/aamco-transmission/