Claremont Service Station

Would recommend! Its hard to find anyone who would service the type of car that I have, but I gave this place a call and was helped swiftly and thoroughly. The shop owner was incredibly informative and helpful as well!

I took my moms aging car in for smog and oil change and I was impressed with the over and above service and kindhearted attitude of Tristan who helped me. Five stars for fast turnaround, honest and thorough assessments, great customer service.

I'm gonna have a chat with the Manager Mike on Monday when he gets back to work. This is your typical "bad" service location. Work is fine, but you're going to get quoted about 40% less than what they will actually charge.
I even compared the first receipt document to show an example of every place they make a change.

- Oil filter wrote down 13.95 on paper and charged $17.95
- synthetic oil 15.95 per Liter quoted 4 liters. Charged for 5 Liters.
- wiper blades quoted $18-$36, but failed to mention that they charge for each one separately so that totaled $57. A quick amazon search shows each blade at ($10 and $24 respectively) so they sweetened the pot a little bit.

All in all the initial quote went from verbal $140 to but ended up paying $208 with tax. On paper it was 108. So I'm gonna have a serious chat with him.

I'm down to support small business but they clearly lie about pricing other. They also do judge you before offering the final price, all the other reviews noticed this.

Our car ran out of gas at the pumps at Claremont Service Station. David was kind enough to jump start the car, and then diagnosed the problem as a bad alternator.

Not knowing him at all, I mistrusted him and took the car to another mechanic whom I usually deal with. This other mechanic told me it was just a bad battery, and put it in. A week later, the alternator failed completely. Should have listened to David in the first place.

Do they even want any business?

I went there during their listed working hours on a Saturday and it was already closed. I figured it was a slow day, so maybe they closed early. No big deal. I went again on Monday morning at 8:10am for a smog check. Two mechanics onsite and no other cars to be seen. I asked them if they could do a smog check and how long it would take. I was told they wouldn't get it done until 11am at the EARLIEST.

They said they only have one person who can do smog checks and he doesn't get in until 9:30-10am. ummm, are you serious? Maybe a blessing in disguise so I can go somewhere else instead of dealing with them.

I had a really good experience here. If I could give 4.5 stars, I would. Carlos helped me when I needed new front brakes (rotors + pads). He did the job quickly and I really needed that. From start to finish was about 3 hours. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend but I haven't compared prices so not 100% sure it was higher than usual. He recognized that my vehicle would benefit from heavy duty rotors and ceramic brake pads which I'm hoping will have a much longer life than the standard equipment. I will try to post an update after I've had some time with my new brakes. Overall, I was impressed. I called an hour before I showed up (at 1:30pm) and the job was done by end of business. That's impressive service in my book. And so far, my brakes are working brilliantly.
p.s. I drive an older vehicle; 2001 Toyota 4Runner

now that Dan is gone, the tall guy with the European accent is, well, Highly Unsatisfactory. I needed a flat fixed, had a visible screw in it. He says no gas station will fix tires, it's too much trouble!

I should go to a tire shop! I then asked if the station across the street would do it. He says no, no gas station will do it. I knew this is nonsense because almost all gas stations fix flats. I went to the other guy and they fixed it in less than 30 minutes.

And by the way, Mr. Valero, if you don't know what your talking about, keep your yap shut.

If I could give a negative star I would. My previous review should be burned. This shop literally stole from us. They said they put this $100+ part in my brothers car. But they didn't . His car never was fixed and we paid over $500 at this shop. When my step dad took a look at the work this shop did after he towed the car all the way back to San Diego he found the old part . So not only did we pay for a new part and to have it installed, we got nothing. They stole the part and just left the old one. I'm going to contact the business bureau and let them know about how shady this shop is. I am sick and tired of auto shops taking advantage of young individuals who's cars r broken. Yes lesson learn but shame on this store.

Brought my car in for a simple tire leak and had a terrible experience. The moment I got there I was unattended to even though there were no other customers there.. and then was told to "wait a minute" when I asked if I could get some help. When an employee finally diagnosed the leak on my front tire, he told me to kill about a half hour, which I did at the Starbucks down the street. When I came back I was rudely told by a different employee that I never told them what to do.. they then rediagnosed the problem and said it would cost me $45, would have to wait once again and it was "up to me, take it or leave it". Of course I went somewhere else more professional, cheaper, and quicker.

The most horrible and deceiving service!

One of my tire had a nail and I stopped by for a simple tire repair. The mechanic looked at tire and quoted $25 for repair which took literally 1 minute to remove nail and plug the hole. He did NOT even have to remove my tire. I went to pay and the manager told me $35 and I said that's incorrect. He shows me an invoice that charged $10 for "remove and install tire" which obviously didn't happen. He even had the nerves to tell me that the mechanic "speaks my language" (since I'm Asian and the mechanic is Asian) so why did I misunderstood the repair fee. He refused to take off the charge.

Will not return even if they offer FREE service.