Automotive machine shop services use heavy fabrication machinery, which includes machines for lathe work, grinding, turning, polishing and welding, cutting, laser job work, and also precision machining. The services include providing repair work for defective parts and also supplying new parts if the old and existing parts are not repairable. If the new parts, available in their stocks, do not fit properly, they may have to redesign and refabricate them. This may, at times, prove to be a complicated job. The redesigning and fabrication of complicated parts like crank-shafts, connecting rods, pistons, and cam shafts requires great expertise. Usually, the need to fabricate new parts arises in the case of older or vintage vehicles, whose production may have been stopped with the introduction of new models.

The engineers and mechanics at these machine shops are experts in all types of repair work, starting from simple tuning to advance troubleshooting techniques. They are expected to thoroughly understand the process of functioning and fabrication of all the parts of the engine--pistons, pins, rings, rods, freeze plug set, gaskets, timing set, oil pump, precision ground cranks, transmissions, electrical systems, and computerized engine controls.

These shops not only stock spare parts and accessories for the older types of vehicles, but they also cater to the needs of current models. Also, they are usually larger than the single-brand vehicle machine shops, as they repair all types of automotives.

These shops undertake repair services for cars, which involve the cleaning of air filters, oil filters and tanks, and washing off the dust or other accretions on the engines and the body of the vehicles. These activities release lots of grease and oily materials, which are hazardous to the environment, and so they have to be properly disposed of. The owners should not throw away the cleaning agents like methylene chloride, or the spent oils and lubricants, or drain them down the sewers, septic systems, or storm drains. They are likely to be given stringent penalties if they are caught doing so.