Marina del Rey Auto Repair

5

I will take my car to this shop for EVERYTHING. They are unbelievably nice, HONEST, and went out of their way to help me with my car. I have never dealt with a mechanic who has gone so far to help me out even though the car was beyond repair. My timing belt broke, and AAA recommended I tow the car there. I'd never been there before, and as a female I tend to be skeptical of mechanics. Scott, the manager offered to replace the belt at a decent price, but once the repair was made it was discovered that the damage done to the engine was beyond repair. Not only did Scott deduct the price of the new belt on the now junked car, but he helped me find someone to sell my car to for salvage, pointed me in the right direction to get a used car, AND when I returned to the shop to remove my personal items from the old car he inspected the new car for free to make sure I'd gotten a good one!!! The single most trustworthy mechanic I have ever met, I will never go to anyone else to fix my car.

3

My revised review is 3 stars. If they improve in the coming months I will revise my review again or remove it. Went for tire service and shop took longer than expected to advise they could not fix. Although they may be correct I would have much appreciated the courtesy of a quicker assessment. Follow Up: Keith from the shop called me to offer a free oil change if I revised or removed this review. I am revising the review and changing it from a 1 star to a 3 star. However I would like to see more positive reviews and better service from this shop before I entirely remove it.

4

This is where I come to fill up and check all the fluids in the car. It's like killing two birds with one stone. And they always clean my windows even the side ones, now that is service I say. There are at least 3 or 4 full service techs on at all times so never worry you will always get great service quickly. I like full serve I know there are not many places that even offer this service anymore so I want to share with you how wonderful it is. You can stay inside your car and never get out, if its raining or you are on a really important business call that you can not get off of go full serve. Plus it is always good to check your oil and other fluids so you are not stuck somewhere wondering.

5

Fast, friendly, accurately priced. Taken my car there 3 times and had good experiences every time.

1

PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE TO DO ANYTHING WITH YOUR CAR ! First they gave me a set of brakes that squeaked from the minute I left , they told me that was normal and it would stop. Really ? I never had that happen to brake pads put on by anyone else . Thats not the worst !! After that I figured ok they are only capable of filling up my gas, checking my oil and putting air in my tires. WRONG ! I went one day to do that and they swarmed my car as they usually do. The guy said my wiper blades were rotten and I needed new ones. I figured ok, my car is old ( but a mint special limited edition mercedes benz ) so I figured they could handle that , WRONG ! Of course it never rains in Cali , but when we had a few days of downpour about a month back, I turned on my wipers and heard a scrapping noise , but what can you do, you have to see ! When I stopped and looked i noticed they had a put on a blade 2 inches too long for my windshield ! They crammed it into the corner of the windshield, so I never noticed before , well now I HAVE A SCRATCHED WINDSHIELD !!! I went in and they insisted of course I show them my receipt ( though I'm there weekly and they ALL KNOW ME ) So I had to go home and go through all my receipts ( which I keep ) and found that they had hand written that receipt and never wrote what it was for , but I remember quite specifically how much I paid ) The manager Terry insisted that it was for gas, despite the fact that all the gas receipts list the amt. of gallons on the computer print out . He showed no concern what so ever . Then he said, " well I see you're here alot , so bring the car back ( but tell me a day ahead when you're coming in and I'll have a window guy come and look at it " . So inconvenienced yet again , I did so. Only to be told that the scratch was too deep to buff out and that I would have to replace the windshield all together . But no windshield for this car was available in the u.s and would have to be shipped from Germany and that I would have to pay for HALF of it ! Now why on earth should a customer pay for anything done to their vehicle by an incompetent employee is beyond me ! A fifth grader would have known this blade was too long by 2 inches ! Again, I never noticed b/c they crammed it into the corner . I didn't go behind them like they were kids to make sure they put on the right size or that they filled out my receipt properly. Its a simple thing . They KNEW that it didn't fit yet put it on anyway ! I'm furious ! They have ruined my mint car ! And refused to take full responsibility . If they are not capable of doing that right what are they capable of ???? What is worse is that the manager didn't care at all, expressed no regrets or apologies and actually said that he was working with me to fix the problem . I don't think working with me is charging ME for the damage they did to my car !!!! he didn't even seek out the person that did it !

1

This place is NOT a gas station. If you are there only to buy gas then they want you out of the way as fast as possible. Every customer who comes in must be sold something at as high a price as possible. They are high pressure. Don't want to take the time to listen to you. They don't care what you have to say. They will take care of selling you what they think you need. No time to talk. Time is money you know. Go some place else where YOU can talk and THEY will listen to you. Does your doctor listen to you?

5

I couldn't agree more with all these positive reviews. Doing excellent work is one thing, but also providing this service in such a friendly manner is something you rarely see. It boils down to employees being treated well and really enjoying their jobs. Why can't every business be run like this?

1

First the AAA driver refers me to this station, unbeknownst to me that is where he works out of. The charged me $87.00 of a diagnosis a fuel pump problem which I told them when I bought it in. They estimated it at $800 and $1,200 to repair. My certified Land rover mechanic with the highest labor charge around said between $400 and $600. So that being said I had the car towed there. Would not recommend this place to anyone. My mechanic just called $641. done.

5

I bought my Ford Mustang in 2005 and the DMV sent me a notice that since it had reached its 6 year mark a smog check was needed. I was dreading it as this was my first time getting a smog check on my car. I didn't know what to expect and all the what if's came to mind. I called in the morning and talked to Scott. He informed me 4 PM was the latest I could take in my car as they close at 5 PM. He sounded really nice over the phone so I thought why not take it there? I had read tons of reviews and made up my mind on this location. I dropped off my dirty car during my lunch break for the smog check. One hour later I got a call from Scott in regards to my car passing the smog check. I was totally blown away by the service but wait it gets better...they had also cleaned my car. These guys truly held my hand through out this experience. From the first call, to assuring me that my car would be ready in time, to the end when Terry (cashier) explained to me that they had submitted the pass to DMV. They even parked my car facing forward in the front of the lot ready for me to drive off. VIP service I tell you. These guys made something that I was dreading into a positive experience and for that I am truly thankful! Thank you Scott and to the rest of the gentlemen at Villa Marina 76! -Wendy

1

Was the work ever done? Sure doesn't look like it. My body shop sent my car to Villa Marina 76 for mechanical work without getting my approval. I was not happy about that, because I choose shops carefully; but by the time I found out about it, it was too late to request the allegedly replaced parts back for inspection. I examined the assembly in question, but since it had been supposedly replaced with used parts (which is often just fine), it was impossible to determine if anything had really been done. I was suspicious because there wasn't so much as a fresh mark anywhere on the assembly, but I wasn't about to pay to have the whole thing disassembled and checked by another shop. Fast forward SIX YEARS. I take my car in to my regular shop to get a worn-out wheel bearing replaced. In the process of fixing it, they find extensive damage that resulted from driving around with, you guessed it, the original problem that was supposed to have been fixed six years ago. This revelation of course supported my original suspicion and explained some perplexing problems I'd experienced since the "repair", problems that I hadn't connected with the earlier damage but now made perfect sense. So I had to shell out over $1000 to repair not only what Villa Marina was supposed to have fixed, but also to replace parts that were destroyed by the bent state of the car all this time. That's in addition to almost $2000 charged by Villa Marina originally. Of course now everyone can throw up their hands and claim "that's too long ago" to do anything about it, despite being presented with full documentation of the original work. AVOID.

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