Precision Tune Auto Care: Warranty, Prices and Who Owns It

If you searched for Precision Auto Care, you may mean Precision Tune Auto Care, the national repair and maintenance chain that started as a tune-up shop in 1976; many independent garages also use the name Precision Auto, and this page covers only the chain. Its written promise is a nationwide warranty whose length depends on the center, and nearly everything else (prices, coupons, even whether the brake warranty applies) is set locally. On 10 October 2026 we read the chain’s warranty, brake, tune-up, oil change, financing, franchising and terms pages on precisiontune.com; the franchise disclosure document (FDD) of Precision Franchising LLC issued March 31, 2026, from Minnesota’s registry; Icahn Enterprises’ SEC filings on the Pep Boys sale; and a 2024 data breach notice filed with California’s Attorney General. The site’s terms bar linking to it without written permission, so we name its pages without linking them. This site has no commercial relationship with Precision Tune Auto Care or any repair chain.

Who owns Precision Tune Auto Care

The short answer is Icahn Enterprises L.P., the Nasdaq-listed holding company. The longer answer runs through several companies, and the documents disagree about one link in the chain.

The business you see is run by a franchisor, Precision Franchising LLC, “a Virginia limited liability company formed on August 15, 2001,” which says “We do business as Precision Franchising LLC and Precision Tune Auto Care.” It is based in Ashburn, Virginia, where the history page says headquarters moved in 2023. Above it, the FDD lists Precision Tune Auto Care, Inc., WE JAC Corporation and Precision Auto Care, Inc. (PACI), which the history page says was born in a 1997 public offering. Company-owned centers belong to a sister company, PTAC Operating Centers LLC.

Above PACI, the documents split. The history page says that in 2017 “Icahn Automotive buys PTAC, but PTAC continues to operate as a standalone entity.” The FDD says “PACI was acquired by Pep Boys in July 2017” and lists The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack Holding Corp. as a parent between PACI and Icahn Automotive Group LLC. The audited notes in the same FDD skip Pep Boys: Precision Tune Auto Care, Inc. “is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Icahn Automotive Group LLC (Icahn Automotive), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P.”

That difference mattered this summer. On July 19, 2026 Icahn agreed to sell Pep Boys to Mavis Tire Supply, LLC, and its quarterly report said “Certain excluded entities and businesses of Pep Boys will not be transferred to Buyer.” The Form 8-K filed on completion is plain: “On August 20, 2026, Icahn Automotive Group LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, completed the previously announced sale of Pep Boys to Mavis Tire Supply, LLC, a subsidiary of Mavis, for approximately $700 million in cash,” and “the Company will retain the owned real estate previously transferred to the Company from Pep Boys, as well as the AAMCO Transmissions and Precision Tune Auto Care businesses in the Company’s Automotive segment.”

So Precision Tune stayed with Icahn, beside AAMCO, while Pep Boys joined Mavis, which also owns Midas (see our Pep Boys and Mavis pages). No document we read shows the new chain of companies between Icahn and PACI after the sale. The FDD on file in Minnesota predates it, and the registry search on 10 October 2026 showed no filing for this franchisor after its renewal took effect on 07/02/2026. Icahn’s later filings, through 10 October 2026, say nothing more about the automotive businesses.

Franchised or company-owned: who runs your center

Usually a local franchisee. The FDD’s outlet table counts 204 franchised and 20 company-owned centers in the United States on December 31, 2025, so 91.1% were franchised by our arithmetic. The system shrank in 2025: it started the year with 231 centers and ended with 224. Among franchised centers, 1 opened, 3 were not renewed and 3 ceased operating; 2 company centers were sold to franchisees.

Use the FDD’s count. The two larger figures include centers abroad, which the history page traces to Taiwan, Portugal, Oman and other markets; the franchisor’s audited notes say it “had no franchises in Canada” at the end of 2025 or 2024. The FAQ’s corporate figure is 20 more than the FDD’s by our arithmetic.

The chain is concentrated in the Southeast. Georgia and North Carolina each had 35 franchised centers at the end of 2025, 34.3% of the franchised total between them by our arithmetic, followed by South Carolina (20), Texas (17) and Maryland (15). Of the company-owned centers, 7 are in Virginia. The FDD lists military bases as a “Reserved Area” in its territory rules, and the history page counts its 8th center on a base, opened in 2025 at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, the same year the FDD records one new company-owned center there.

The franchising page says “66% of Precision Tune Auto Care locations are owned by multiple unit owners,” so one owner often runs several centers. The franchise agreement tells you how to know: each franchisee must hold itself out “as an independent contractor” and “exhibit a notice of that fact in a conspicuous place on the Center premises and on stationery, invoices, order forms, receipts and contracts” (section 20.1). Section 20.2 adds that nothing in it “authorizes Franchisee to make any contract, agreement, warranty, or representation on Franchisor’s behalf.” The center that writes your invoice is the business you contract with.

The franchisor still sets the frame. Every center must offer twelve required service groups, must “use only service order, warranty, and other forms we approve,” and can lose its franchise, without a chance to cure, if “a significant number of valid customer complaints have been made about the Franchised Business, which Franchisee has failed to reasonably resolve” (section 15.1.13). Our Meineke, Midas and Christian Brothers Automotive pages read those franchise chains’ filings the same way.

What Precision Tune does: from tune-ups to factory maintenance

The name dates from the founding idea. The About page says the chain’s “legacy began in 1976 when our founder, Bill Childs, set out to offer convenient engine tune-ups,” and that it rebranded in 1996 “reflecting our expanded service offerings beyond engine tune-ups.” That makes the chain 50 years old in 2026 by our arithmetic. Today the FDD requires every center to offer twelve service groups, among them brakes and traction control, cooling, “diagnostic discovery services,” heating and air conditioning, maintenance, powertrain management, steering and suspension, and tire rotation and balance. Twelve more are optional, including exhaust systems, tires, transmission and drivetrain, alignment and state inspections, so not every center does every job. Ask before you book.

Tune-ups. The tune-up page lists what “a complete tune-up service includes”: tune-up verification, replacement of spark plugs, analysis of emission levels, “Timing/idle speed adjustment (if adjustable)” and a complete maintenance inspection. Fixing a specific drivability problem is separate and “requires diagnosis, see manager for details.” Our guides to spark plug replacement and the check engine light explain what a misfire or a stored code can mean before you agree to a diagnosis.

Oil changes. “Every oil change includes fresh, high-quality motor oil, a new oil filter, fluid top-offs, and a comprehensive multi-point inspection,” with conventional, synthetic blend, full synthetic and diesel oils on offer. Unlike some oil-change chains, the national site prints no separate oil-change warranty; compare our Jiffy Lube page, where the chain prints one. Keep each invoice; our guide to oil-change intervals and records explains why.

Factory maintenance. The maintenance page says “Factory scheduled maintenance must be completed in order to keep your warranty valid, and Precision Tune Auto Care is authorized to perform most of the services recommended by each manufacturer’s car maintenance schedule.” The center pages we read go further: one says its technicians work “all while preserving your factory warranties,” another that “our work does not affect factory warranties.” What the law says on that point is in the federal rules section below. It adds that “Additional services may also be recommended based on our inspection”; ask which items are in the carmaker’s schedule.

How prices and coupons are set

Precision Tune prints no national price for any service, and its franchise agreement explains why. Every local advertising plan must go to the franchisor for approval “(except with respect to prices to be charged)” (section 13.4.3). Prices are the center’s decision. The brake page shows how a quote grows: “At an additional cost, drums and rotors may be replaced if they are out of specifications. Based on our inspection, other components may also need replacement. Specialty brake pads cost extra.” Get the estimate in writing, part by part, before work starts.

Coupons are local too. Each center has its own coupons page, and the one we read for Fort Belvoir, Virginia, describes “Frequent promotions, such as discounts on major repairs and seasonal service deals” without a single amount in the page text; we entered no ZIP code and record no offer. National coupons are not guaranteed either. Section 13.5 says a franchisee must honor “coupons and price promotions issued or authorized by Franchisor unless Franchisee has posted a conspicuous sign on its premises and includes in its local advertising a statement that Franchisee will not honor such coupons or price promotions.” Show any coupon before the estimate is written and ask whether this center takes it.

Two more lines on the brake and tune-up pages are worth using: “If you wish, we’ll return your old brake parts to you,” and on a tune-up “we can return all of your old parts to you if desired.” Asking for the old parts is the simplest check that they were replaced. Our guide to brake jobs and rotors covers when rotors can be resurfaced instead.

The nationwide warranty: 12/12 or 24/24, depending on the center

The warranty page is three sentences long. Its promise: “we stand behind that work with our National 12-24 month/12,000-24,000 mile warranty, which is valid at most of our centers from coast to coast.” Its instruction: “Ask about the Precision Tune auto care warranty when you contact your local center.” Nothing else is printed: no list of covered work, no exclusions, no claim steps.

The range exists because the term differs by center. The About page advertises a “12/12 Nationwide Warranty” that “protects your auto repair for 12 months or 12,000 miles.” The two center pages we read each carry a warranty badge: Lawrenceville, Georgia shows “12/12,” Fort Belvoir, Virginia “24/24.” The history page dates the two numbers: in 1987 the chain introduced “a precedent-setting 12 month/12,000 mile nationwide warranty,” and in 2011 it says it became the “first service provider in the automotive aftermarket to offer 24/24 warranty.” We read two center pages, so we cannot say how many offer each.

That last point matters more than it looks. Other chains state their end points outright, which shows how much the missing words change:

For example, under a 12/12 warranty that ends at the first limit, a driver who covers 12,000 miles in eight months is out of warranty at eight months; one that ends at the last limit would still cover a low-mileage car past the first year. Only the written terms settle which applies.

Where are those terms? The franchise agreement answers in section 11.2.14: each franchisee “agrees to be bound by the warranty terms and conditions established, and from time to time revised, by Franchisor for all Precision Tune Auto Care franchisees” and “to participate in the warranty reciprocity program and to accept and abide by requirements and limits on warranty compensation.” So the terms are the franchisor’s, revised from time to time, with a reciprocity program among centers and limits on what a center is paid for warranty work. Those rules sit in the confidential Policies and Procedures Manual, 223 pages with a 36-page Customer Service chapter, which the FDD summarizes but does not reproduce. The reciprocity rules are not public, so if a repair fails away from home, call the center that did the work first and bring the original invoice to the next one.

The brake warranty: pads and shoes while you own the car

Precision Tune’s history page says a “Lifetime Brake Warranty” was introduced in 1996. Today’s Brakes Warranty page is more careful: “Pads and shoes are replaced and may be covered under warranty for as long as you own the car,” and “The brakes warranty is offered at participating centers, so please check with your local shop for full details and coverage information.” Three conditions follow from the page itself:

• Only pads and shoes. The standard brake service repacks wheel bearings “as needed,” lubricates hardware, tops off fluid, bleeds the hydraulic system and refinishes drums and rotors “if required.” Replacing rotors or drums is “At an additional cost.”
• Only while you own the car. “For as long as you own the car” ends when you sell it; the page says nothing about transfer.
• Possibly yearly inspections. Brakes “should be inspected at least once a year to determine the condition of the hydraulic system and operating hardware, and to ensure your brakes warranty remains valid and effective.” If your center’s terms make an annual inspection a condition, keep the record of each one.

The page does not say whether labor is free on a later pad claim. On the two chains we read that print it, labor is the limit: Meineke covers brake pad labor for 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first, and Midas says it will “only charge for installation” (see our Meineke brakes and Midas brakes sections). Ask your center the same question, and see how long brake pads last for what a realistic claim interval looks like.

What federal warranty rules add

Because the full warranty is not online, four federal texts, read on govinfo, give you questions to ask at the counter:

• You can ask to see the warranty before you buy. Under the FTC’s pre-sale rule, 16 CFR 702.3, 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 that mixes parts with labor is a question for a lawyer; asking for the text costs nothing.
• “Full” or “limited” should be on it. Under 15 U.S.C. 2303, a written warranty that does not meet the federal minimum standards “shall be conspicuously designated a ‘limited warranty’.” The web page calls it only a “National” warranty; check the label on the printed form.
• “Lifetime” should name the life. The FTC’s advertising guide, 16 CFR 239.4, says an ad using “lifetime” should disclose “the life to which the representation refers.” Precision Tune’s brake page does: “for as long as you own the car.”
• Independent service does not void a factory warranty. Under 15 U.S.C. 2302(c), “No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer’s using” a branded article or service unless it is free, and the FTC’s rule at 16 CFR 700.10(c) says no warrantor may require “the use of only authorized repair service and/or authorized replacement parts for non-warranty service and maintenance.” Precision Tune’s page does not say who authorizes it; under these rules a carmaker cannot insist on its own authorized shops for maintenance it does not pay for. Keep the invoices as proof the work was done on time.

The Precision Tune credit card and fleet credit

The financing page and a separate credit card page print the same terms for the Precision Tune Auto Care Synchrony Car Care credit card. Its standing offer, labelled “Everyday,” is “6 Months Promotional Financing on purchases of $199 or more.” It is deferred interest, not zero 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.” A qualifying purchase “must be on one receipt,” and gas station purchases do not qualify.

The account terms are dated: “New Accounts as of 7/16/24: Purchase APR 34.99%. Penalty APR 39.99%. Min Interest Charge $2.” A 2% promo fee applies only to equal-payment promotions of 18 months or more, which the page does not offer. There is “no annual fee,” though “Other account terms, fees, and interest rates may apply.” Our Meineke page, read on 9 October 2026, shows the same Synchrony Car Care network dating its new-account terms 7/31/25, so the date on Precision Tune’s page may be stale: read Synchrony’s own disclosure before you apply.

The card is “valid at participating Precision Tune Auto Care locations,” so ask before you rely on it. For businesses, the fleet page lists “Service Now, Pay Later (for approved customers)” with no printed terms.

Website terms, complaints and disputes

The site has no page called terms of use: those addresses return HTTP 404 errors. Its terms sit behind the footer link labelled “Privacy Policy,” on a page headed “Terms and Conditions” and issued by Precision Franchising LLC (“PFL”). Its privacy content is one sentence: “We do not sell your personal information.” The rest governs the website, not your repair:

• Don’t rely on the pages. “Information provided on this site is intended to be general in nature and, therefore, you should not rely on such information in connection with making any decisions,” and PFL “does not guarantee the accuracy of the information at all times.” Your center’s written estimate and invoice are what count.
• A cap for the website. PFL’s total liability for the site is capped at “THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING THIS SITE.”
• Virginia law, no arbitration. The terms are governed by Virginia law, and “the Virginia courts will have non-exclusive jurisdiction” over disputes about them. We found no arbitration clause and no class-action waiver.
• No linking. “You may not provide a hypertext link or other link to this site without PFL’s written permission,” which is why this page names Precision Tune’s pages rather than linking them.

For a dispute about a repair, no published procedure exists. The contact page lists a corporate office in Ashburn, Virginia, with departments including Customer Service and Legal, and points feedback about a service visit to a “Share Your Feedback” form. That form asks for the center’s address, “Would you like to be contacted?” and “Can we include your comments in PTAC marketing materials?”, so answer the last one deliberately. The history page dates its “We Care” card program, “a customer service measurement tool,” to 1980. Behind it sits a lever in the franchise agreement: the right to terminate a franchise over valid complaints the center fails to resolve. Put your complaint in writing to the center first, keep copies, and then write to corporate customer service with the invoice number.

Texts are covered separately. The national site’s SMS Privacy Policy, effective 5/1/2025, explains opt-in and “STOP,” but its contact block gives a free webmail address and the street address of a center in Nashville, Tennessee, rather than the Ashburn office; send privacy requests to corporate instead.

What filings and regulators show

The franchise disclosure document. Item 3 says that apart from one concluded case, litigation involving area developers and orders involving its affiliate AAMCO, “there is no litigation that needs to be disclosed.” The concluded case is a franchisee dispute: John Scaiano and Giovanni’s Auto and Tire, Inc. v. Precision Franchising, LLC, Case No. 18CV327021 in Santa Clara County Superior Court, filed April 23, 2018 over a center whose real estate was sold; “The parties settled this matter on October 8, 2018, and the case was dismissed on October 16, 2018.” The AAMCO orders were entered “prior to AAMCO becoming an affiliate of ours.” Item 4 discloses one bankruptcy, at an affiliate: the Auto Plus parts business filed in January of 2023, and on October 6, 2023 “the Auto Plus Entities ceased doing business.” None of this concerns repairs at a Precision Tune center.

Item 20 adds a line for anyone who asks franchisees about the chain: “In some instances, current and former franchisees sign provisions restricting their ability to speak openly about their experience with Precision Tune Auto Care, Inc.”

Minnesota’s registry. Precision Franchising LLC is registered under file number 4307; its 2026 renewal took effect on 07/02/2026 with the next annual report due 07/02/2027.

A 2024 data breach. A notice filed with California’s Attorney General names Precision Tune Auto Care, Inc. and a breach date of January 7, 2024. The sample letter says “On January 8, 2024, we identified unusual activity in our network,” that “an unauthorized actor viewed and obtained files stored on certain servers in our network,” and that for the people notified “The file(s) contained your name, address, and Social Security number.” The company offered one year of Equifax credit monitoring. The notice does not say whether those affected were customers, employees or others.

What we did not find. Searches on 10 October 2026 turned up no action by the FTC or a state attorney general naming Precision Tune Auto Care, Precision Franchising or Precision Auto Care. The Better Business Bureau’s site blocked our reader, so no rating is reported. We did not read any court file for private suits, so none is described here.

Where Precision Tune’s own documents disagree

We recorded 13 places where the company’s documents disagree. Those that matter to a customer:

• Warranty length. “National 12-24 month/12,000-24,000 mile” on the warranty page; a flat “12/12 Nationwide Warranty” on the About page; 12/12 and 24/24 badges on two center pages.
• Warranty reach. “Every service is backed by a nationwide warranty” on the home page; “valid at most of our centers” on the warranty page.
• Lifetime brakes. A “Lifetime Brake Warranty” in the history; pads and shoes that “may be covered” at “participating centers” on the brake page.
• Size. 299 centers in four countries (About), more than 275 in six (franchising), more than 40 corporate and 220 franchisees (FAQ), 224 U.S. centers (FDD).
• Age. “over 45 years,” “nearly 50 years” and “over 50 years” on different pages.
• Ownership. “Icahn Automotive buys PTAC” in 2017 (history) against “PACI was acquired by Pep Boys in July 2017” (FDD), and a parent list running through Pep Boys against audited notes that do not.

The FDD also has two arithmetic slips: its 2023 franchised row prints a net change of +1 for a fall from 202 to 201 centers, and its 2025 company-owned state rows add up to 21 against a printed total of 20, by our arithmetic. None of this changes what your center writes on the invoice, which is why the invoice is the document to check.

Our Kwik Kar page reads another franchised repair chain’s terms the same way.

Common questions

Who owns Precision Tune Auto Care?

Icahn Enterprises L.P. The franchisor is Precision Franchising LLC, under Precision Tune Auto Care, Inc. and Precision Auto Care, Inc. When Icahn sold Pep Boys to Mavis on August 20, 2026, its 8-K said it would keep the Precision Tune Auto Care business.

Is Precision Auto Care the same as Precision Tune Auto Care?

Precision Auto Care, Inc. is a parent company of the Precision Tune Auto Care chain. Many independent repair shops also trade as Precision Auto or Precision Auto Care and have no link to the chain; check for the Precision Tune Auto Care name and the franchise notice the agreement requires on the premises and invoices.

What is the Precision Tune warranty?

A “National 12-24 month/12,000-24,000 mile warranty, which is valid at most of our centers.” Some centers advertise 12 months or 12,000 miles, others 24/24. The full terms are not published; ask your center for them in writing, including which limit ends the warranty.

Does Precision Tune have a lifetime brake warranty?

Its brake page says pads and shoes “may be covered under warranty for as long as you own the car” and that the brakes warranty “is offered at participating centers.” Rotors and drums are replaced at extra cost, and the page does not say whether labor is covered on a later claim.

How much is an oil change at Precision Tune?

No national price is printed; each center sets its own prices and coupons. Every oil change, the company says, includes the oil, a new filter, fluid top-offs and a multi-point inspection.

Are Precision Tune centers franchises?

Mostly. At the end of 2025 the FDD counts 204 franchised and 20 company-owned centers in the United States. Each franchisee must post a notice that it is an independent contractor operating under a franchise.