Automotive Excellence

Rob Castro Andrade

★★☆☆☆

5 months ago

Got my car fixed here for a CEL in my intake air flow system. The problem seems to have been fixed (its been a week now) but at what cost? A premium on the fees for the service. Pros and cons of the shop below: Pros - Got me a complimentary ride back home via Uber - Seems to have fixed the issue -Conveniently located and process was seamless with text based quotes and quick service - Likely have a good technician based on customer service description of their experience Cons - They do not quote over the phone and will bait and switch you to come in and do the service with them. - They charged me $345 just for the labor to diagnose and were only willing to discount 1/2 off when I ended doing the whole service with them. - They will up charge on parts and their labor is through the roof. I was advised it would take half a day and labor ended up being $1280. You do the math. $550 just for cleaning a throttle body. - They would not go over an itemized quote over the phone and ignored texts/calls to get me to come in and “show me pictures” to which they only showed one and it was unidentifiable if it was even my car. -I was out of town and they tried to pressure me into paying before I even saw the car. Upon pickup day, they had me pay without going over the repairs or walking over to the car to show true customer service and make sure I’m happy with the repairs or had any questions Summary - Dont fall for their tricks to get you into their shop without giving some idea to what their pricing looks like even though they may uncover more/less issues upon inspection. For instance, if one shop charges $250 for throttle body cleaning and these guys charge $550 then you have a decision to make. The Costcos, In n Outs, Trader Joes of the world don’t have the most expensive products but they are too notch and their service is unmatched. Dont tell me just because your technician worked at Chevy that means you have to charge like a doctor. The best of the best shops know how to price well and maintain repeating customers and their branding. Also, they will squeeze money out of you in any way they can. Diagnostic, parts, labor, additional services, etc. I refused to pay $1300 for walnut blasting that suspposedly needed to really fix the issue. For being a small family business, I did not meet any family member who was willing to show face and explain why I was charged $1700 for a throttle body that was only cleaned and replacing spark plugs. I wouldve refused the service but I was already $345 deep for the diagnostic and risked losing more if I went with another shop so I felt I was forced to do the service here in order to even know what was wrong. I don’t recommend this place unless you dont mind paying the very upper limit on services and being baited. 2 stars for fixing the issue. 3 if they would’ve at least had true customer service, 4/5 wouldve been for competitive pricing.

wastnTIMEwastnTIME

★★★★★

5 months ago

My transmission on my 2012 Kia Soul was dying and taking its final breaths as I pulled into the Automotive Excellence parking lot. I was hoping it just needed new fluid, but it needed a new transmission. I decided to try to save the cars life and go through with the “operation” They had to order the transmission and it took 13 days to arrive so I had to rent a car for the time being. When it finally did arrive and they started working on it Josh gave me a call letting me know they found another problem with the car. Sometimes randomly the car would take 8-10 cranks to start. I had taken the car to a few different places trying to get that fixed but no one wanted to work on it because there was no check engine light and they weren’t quite sure what it was. But Josh assured me that his technician Dave figured out it needed spark and wanted to know if I wanted to fix that too. I went ahead and got it done. There were a couple of other things the car needed and I figured I’d go all in at this point. After it was all said and done the car is working as good as it was when I 1st drove it off the lot. Josh was very helpful keeping me informed on what was going on with my car. I got to meet Dave, the mechanic who brought my car back from the dead. He did an excellent job and I’m very lucky to have had him work on my car. Give that man a raise! I wouldn’t say that Automotive Excellence has the cheapest prices but u do get what u pay for. The cheap comes out expensive most of the time but these guy will work with u to give u a fair price and will also help u out with coupons and discounts to help ease the blow of the repair costs. All in all I’m very satisfied with my experience and would recommend them for any of your automotive needs! -Chris

Adam Kotob

★★★★★

6 months ago

Had a fantastic experience at Automotive Excellence! Right when I walked in I was kindly greeted by Josh and he explained the entire process. I dropped off my vehicle and the shop inspected it and made sure to inspect all of my concerns. Josh called me and talked me through what they found. I gave my permission to proceed with the repairs. Everything was taken care of quickly and I was very impressed. So much so that I will be using them exclusively for all of my families vehicles. Thank you again for excellent service!

Ricardo Godinez

★★★★☆

Edited 5 months ago

First time coming here because of the good reviews. I wanted to see for my self it’s true awesome customer service and fast too. Josh was a total pro very courteous and knowledgeable. Give them a chance you won’t be disappointed. Second time going there. Automotive Excellence hit a home run. Let me just say that dealing with a warranty company is a pain in the butt, with the burocracy that you have to deal with. But Josh is a very skilled negotiator and was able to get them to cover all of my bill, and it was big. I’m very happy with these guys. They have my business for a long time. I will refer them to my friends. One recommendation for management if you can open for business on Saturday would be awesome… Thanks a lot guys…

James Ibrahim

★★★★★

2 months ago

I am so glad I live 5 minutes from these guys. Went in first thing in the morning for a full synthetic oil change on my RAV4 Hybrid. Price is average. Was in & out of there pretty quick considering I was the second man in. The quality of service and salt-of-the-earth people are reason enough to go back time and time again.

wynona grandi

★★★★★

a month ago

Such a great experience. I love that they are family owned, and it shows. I overheard the owner telling an elderly lady how to take care of her car, because it would last her a long time and she didn’t need to buy a new car and take on car payments and insurance. Such a genuine man!!!

John

★★★★★

9 months ago

I was having a hard time finding a place to have my 1973 Fiat 850 Spider serviced. I called many places in and around Huntington Beach and was about to give up until I called Automotive Excellence. Luckily, Josh picked up the phone and not only said he could help me but provided several ideas as to what he thought could fix my concerns. I felt immediately comfortable speaking with Josh and arranged for my car to be trucked to him the next day. Josh and Mike, the technician, was very excited to work on my vintage car. Josh called me every day to let me know what they had found and what work would needed and an accurate estimate of the costs. I actually never met Josh or Mike until I came to pick up the car. We must have talked for 30 - 45 minutes about the car itself. It is very evident that they have a passion for what they do. Throughout the entire process, I felt they had my best interested in mind. In fact, they replaced an old part that I was planning on patching up myself for free! The car runs so smooth now that it feels new. I was considering selling the car but after I got it home, cleaned it up and drove it around, I think I’ll keep it. I highly recommend Automotive Excellence to anyone needing assistance with their car. I will definitely take my Fiat back to them if needed and will encourage my friends to take their cars to them as well.

Robby Forste

★★★★★

2 months ago

Great shop. Super Friendly and attentive. Explained the issues and did great service job. Had an issue and they asked to bring it in, replaced the parts and got me back on the road ! Definitely would refer them to anyone looking to get there car serviced!

tim thatcher

★☆☆☆☆

3 months ago

at first everything seemed ok. I dropped my car off early in the morning for an oil change full synthetic. I called several hours later to check on the status, and they said they are still working on the oil change and that I should upgrade to top shelf full synthetic. i declined. I got there around 2 30pm to see what was going on. finally, i was able to leave around 4pm with my car. When i asked the manager what kind of oil he used, he said their bottom of the barrel. I said wow. Do not go to this place. felt like i was leaving a crooked shop. read the 1-star reviews. Several weeks later i took my car to Valvoline and had them do a full synthetic oil change. Valvoline found low oil and signs of burning. i told them i just had the oil change done at automotive excellence. will be going back to Valvoline

Trisha Gruber

★★★★★

2 months ago

Let's be honest finding a honest trustworthy mechanic is not easy . Alex and Eddie went above and beyond. Didn't tell me stuff just to get extra money they were honest, straight forward hard working people. I even got a ride home . Please if you're looking for a trustworthy place nothing beats Automotive Excellence

brian b

★☆☆☆☆

2 months ago

***Response to comment below*** All used cars and even some new ones have multiple issues, hence lemon laws and recalls, this shows the blame the customer and incompetent nature of this shop. I guess this shop is telling you if your car is not perfect don't bring it here because they aren't competent to deal with multiple issues. Anyway, the number of issues a car has no bearing on doing unprofessional work, grinding down a bolt head to make it fit because you don't want to do it the right way is unprofessional and unsafe. I will post a picture when I get home. As for the the pedal bolt, I fixed that, it took 10min to look at it, see it was backwards and turn it around. ***original review*** The first thing they will tell you is they "don't know what the last guy did" then tell you theres a small fee of $125, which will quickly become a four figure fee after they have your car pulled apart. If you want to be scammed with low quality, dangerous, and over priced work then this is a good place to go. They charged me $2275 for a clutch slave cylinder, less than $50 part and takes about 1 hour to change, which 6 months later is leaking and they still didn't bleed the clutch properly and needed to be bled again. While that is annoying what they did with pedal and slave cylinder mounting bolt was incompetence. They couldn't fit the bolt around the hydraulic lines so they cut half of the head off the bolt to make it fit rather than remove the line and rebleed the clutch. The pedal bolt was flat out dangerous, the bolt has a torque limiter built in which allows it to pivot freely in the pedal arm, however, they put it in backwards and couldn't figure out why it was binding up, so they left it loose and put a note in the receipt saying it need to be replaced. I found it as it was coming off. I was going to let this slide after fixing the issues myself but tonight I see the "new" slave cylinder leaking and had enough. This was on a 50's vehicle so it's not complicated, there's not expensive electronics or anything like that, the whole hydraulic clutch system can be removed in about 30min tops and maybe another 1hr to reinstall. They came up with all kinds of excuses as to why they need to spend so much time, many days, on it but end of the day they just didn't know what they were doing.

John Nelson

★★★★★

a month ago

I took my car to Automotive Excellence after my daughter raved about the great work and experience that she had with AE. I found the same to be true. I was most impressed with the honesty and integrity, as they shared full details and offered trusted advice going forward. Obviously nobody likes to have to take their car for repairs or service, but when you do…Automotive Excellemce is certainly the place to go to!

Abbie Van Mil

★★★★★

2 months ago

I had a wonderful first experience with Automotive Excellence. Their customer service was really amazing and they fixed my car within a very timely manner, keeping me updated along the way. I will definitely be using them again!

token romeo

★★★★★

a month ago

The whole team was awesome. I went in for my breaks and they found out more issues with my breaks. They fixed everything pretty quickly. They also have a financing option which is great. Their fair priced and went over everything that will be done on my jeep. I highly recommend going to them.

Emma Milton

★☆☆☆☆

a month ago

I brought my car in for a simple broken tail light and somehow walked away $230 poorer with absolutely nothing fixed. Apparently that outrageous charge was just for a "diagnostic." Five hours went by without a single update I had to call them myself just to find out what was going on. That's basic customer service, and they couldn't even manage that. Then I'm told the parts won't even arrive until next week obviously something they could have communicated upfront instead of wasting my entire day. To make matters worse, the technician literally left my car unfinished to go to lunch, which meant I was stuck waiting even longer just to get my own vehicle back. No one listened to any of my concerns at all very dismissive besides the kind lady who greeted me and gave me a ride home. She was the sweetest ! Unprofessional, disorganized, and a complete waste of time and money. I won't be coming back, and I'd strongly recommend others think twice before trusting them with their car.i understand people have families and work hard, I have a family as well and I understand how important it is to make money and provide. I did not expect a free diagnostic what so ever. I just did not expect $230. A bit outrageous especially before I came in I talked to a gentleman on the phone who said he was going to mark it 50% off.

Nakisa Nabily

★★★★★

a month ago

We were referred to Automotive Excellence by a friend. It was our first time ever going to an auto repair shop that was not owned by my family. Our service adviser was very professional and informative. He took his time to answer all our questions and provided us with all the options. They didn’t try to upsell us, they were relatable, honest and did a great job! Our experience was wonderful! Thank you for your service! We will be back.

Angelica Jimenez

★★★★★

2 months ago

I had a great experience with Automotive Excellence. The team was friendly, knowledgeable, and transparent about pricing. They completed the work on time and kept me updated throughout the process. My car is running perfectly, and I feel confident in the quality of their work. I highly recommend them and will be returning for future services.