If you’re reading this, the worst case scenario has probably happened and now you need a remanufactured transmission. But who do you spend your money with: Street Smart Transmission or Jasper? These are the two biggest names in the reman transmission field. They’ve both been around for a long time, and both offer very competitive transmission warranties. Not to mention, the quality of the work and customer service are top-notch too. So let’s take a look at the remanufactured transmissions, the warranty and customer service ratings of these two gearbox giants, and see which one is right for you.
What Transmission Do I Have?
What is a remanufactured transmission?
A remanufactured, or reman transmission, differs from a rebuilt transmission and that the process is much more thorough. For example, a rebuilt transmission is usually done by a single mechanic, who simply disassembles the transmission and replaces any damaged parts along with common wear parts like seals and clutches. A remanufactured transmission on the other hand, is completely disassembled and literally remanufactured in a transmission factory. Different people are responsible for different aspects of the process. Then a technician who specializes in that particular family of transmissions, will reassemble the transmission and send it for dyno testing. Multiple quality inspections are performed throughout the build process, and the completed transmission is put through its paces on a special dyno machine to ensure that it functions the way it’s supposed to.
Remanufactured transmission process
The reman transmissions that come from both Street Smart Transmission and Jasper transmissions are produced in state-of-the-art factories by highly trained technicians. Both companies utilize the latest equipment and perform multiple quality checks throughout the remanufacturing process. The main differences here are the quality of replacement transmission parts that are used (i.e. clutches and seals) and the fundamental design upgrades that are made to correct factory design flaws (like modifying the valve body or adding a bushing to stabilize a transmission pump). These are very important modifications that can greatly affect the service life of a remanufactured transmission.
The engineers at Street Smart Transmission and Jasper Transmission are able to access OEM factory technical service bulletins and repair data for the transmissions they sell. How they choose to address the factory design flaws however, can differ greatly. One company may choose to leave a particular transmission the way it came from the factory. While their competitors may choose to make a strategic modification to improve reliability. It’s difficult to compare each and every transmission separately in this regard. However, you can see who has been more successful, based on their customer feedback.
Street Smart Transmission vs Jasper Transmission reviews
If you look on their website, there are tons of happy Jasper Transmission reviews. But if you would look on Google, the result isn’t quite as pretty. They aren’t affiliated with any customer service rating system, they have a two star rating on Yelp, and there are a number of complaints lodged against them with the Better Business Bureau. Street Smart Transmission reviews however, look a lot better.
According to the website, Street Smart Transmission works with an independent customer service rating system called Trustpilot. They encourage their customers to write a review on their total experience, and that rating gets posted to their record without editing or censorship. After literally thousands of reviews, Street Smart Transmission has a 4.7 (out of 5) rating for customer service and satisfaction. There are also rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau.
Street Smart Transmission warranty vs Jasper Transmission warranty
One of the best ways to determine who’s more confident in their product, is to look at the warranty. Both Street Smart Transmission and Jasper Transmission offer a 3-year remanufactured transmission warranty (for non-commercial applications). However, the covered mileage is what really stands out. The Jasper Transmission warranty will cover one of their reman transmissions for 3-years/100,000 miles. The Street Smart Transmission warranty on the other hand, will cover one of their reman transmissions for 3-years/unlimited miles. While you might think it’s difficult to cover over 100,000 miles in just three years, people who do lot of traveling would beg to differ. This odd difference also speaks to how confident Street Smart Transmission is in their product.
Shipping and transmission core charge
Shipping a transmission takes a little more than a few postage stamps. It’s actually quite expensive, and is generally handled by a commercial freight company. Both Street Smart Transmission and Jasper Transmission will ship their gearboxes free of charge.
The transmission core charge is a different matter entirely. A transmission core is essentially, your old transmission. These worn-out gearboxes are what’s used as the basis for a remanufactured transmission. That might sound a bit janky, but the non-broken bits are actually able to be recycled into a brand-new remanufactured transmission. So for example, if one transmission has a cracked planetary gear, one can be harvested from another transmission core, as long as it meets the original factory specifications. A remanufactured transmission might be made up of hard parts (gears, clutch housings, the case etc.) from several different transmissions. Which is why getting your old transmission is so important to the remanufactured transmission company.
In order to mitigate the risk of not getting a transmission core back from you, many companies will charge you a core charge based on what a particular broken transmission might be worth in parts (usually $300 – $600). This transmission core charge is levied upfront by most companies, and gets refunded as soon as they receive your old transmission. The amount of the actual refund is also quite fluid, as you will see.
Street Smart Transmission does not levy a core charge when you purchase a remanufactured transmission from them. They do ask that you send your old transmission back to them (i.e. have your mechanic ship it to them), and they provide free return freight for the transmission core. All your mechanic has to do is call the freight company and they will come and retrieve your transmission for free of charge.
Jasper Transmission on the other hand, charges you a $300 – $600 (est) core charge upfront when you purchase a remanufactured transmission from. They do provide free return freight for the core. However, they don’t just issue a core charge refund once they receive your old transmission (which can actually take weeks). They reserve the right to first inspect your core and, then they will base the refund amount on any damage that they find to the transmission. So if your old transmission has a broken part (which is more than likely does, duh), they will deduct the approximate value of said part from your overall transmission core charge refund. This could mean that you will only get back a tiny fraction of your transmission core charge, which makes your transmission replacement all that more expensive.
What Transmission Do I Have?
So there you have it, all the main differences between Street Smart Transmission and Jasper Transmissions. This is a very significant and expensive decision to make, and we wish you all the best. To find out more about Street Smart Transmission, click here to visit their website. You can also click here to visit the Jasper transmission website.
