THE SMOG SHOP

H Nguyen

★☆☆☆☆

Edited 7 years ago

They will install parts from the junkyard and charge you full listed new price. It happened to all my family members. We didn't find out until months later when we take the car elsewhere for service on something else. Additionally they will plant something in your mind to make you come back and sound nice doing it, typically the following statement: Your brake pads and rotors are pretty worn out but its okay for now, but remember to take of them soon. At first I thought they are being honest, but when they mentioned it to every vehicles we brought in, including the one with new pads and rotors installed. That's when it hit me. Go somewhere else and don't trust these people. They're also overpriced. It's ok to do emission there but still be very careful about something else must be fixed to pass.

j bryant

★☆☆☆☆

10 years ago

There is a "Smog Shop" on Redwood Road in Glendale with impressive certifications posted everywhere and they seem to get a lot of business. You'd think this would engender trust. The only positive review I found for them on here a couple of years ago when my experience took place is gone now but looked completely faked to me. These people installed a new but defective strut in place of my damaged one and then vehemently refused to do another test drive when I insistently and persistently requested it, because; after paying $800 for absolutely nothing, I advised them correctly that the original problem still remained. They insisted that I just needed to pay them more money for other services that could not conceivably resolve these symptoms (tire rotation and balancing) and which were no priority until the original problem was actually fixed. I was later shocked to find they'd actually overfilled my engine oil by 2 whole quarts. I had been dismayed to watch them pouring and pouring it in that night after they had raced my car back drained dry from their other shop, having just finished other services. I had initially thought the other services sensible based on their bad advice, but they proved both unnecessary and completely useless. It can only be said now that this appears to have been done just so they could pad the bill. A trusted merchant not only discovered their mistake but in an awe inspiring act of unequaled kindness actually fixed it OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKET! When I took the defective strut back to this dreadful "shop," after much ado about not being able to find the paperwork, the manager then (condescendingly and with glee) told me that she had found the invoice and had concluded there nothing wrong with it. She promptly called the owner and had him drive over just so he could personally insult me. He not only refused to offer any compensation for their huge mistake but actually refused to drop my car from the lift unless I either relinquished the faulty part (which was my property and physical evidence) OR UNTIL I PAYED THEM MORE MONEY to cover the cost of the part that they claimed I could not prove was mine. They then threatened to call the cops if I didn't leave when I tried to protest their theft of my property and engaging in unlawful detainment. (Presumably they just wanted to return the part for a refund to make this day's exchange and time spent somewhat profitable). I can only say that the owner of this detestable "shop" was, for lack of a better word, a decidedly unpleasant individual. I've rarely had such a distasteful experience, regret having met this person and resent being haunted by the memory of it forever.

Gisa Clever

★★★★★

a year ago

I normally don't write reviews but my trip will not make it without these folks help fixing my car thanks guys thesmogshop tam,and Daniel are best mechanics very knowledgeable, Sylvia is best customer service.

sammie steele

★★★★★

6 years ago

Love working with Vu, the owner of this shop and the Smog shop! He's personable, doesn't try to nickle and dime you and gives you a REAL estimate! He's been very kind in his dealings with me and very fair! Thank you so much for providing a great service at a great price!! :)

raybarri49ra

★☆☆☆☆

7 years ago

I was there eight hours for a one hour alignment. Had to buy a used tire on passenger side. It was flat within the hour. Plus the mother f’ers stole my premium tire from the same side and put on a generic in its place. The crooks didn’t even balance the tires, I only found this out after getting on the freeway and nearly wrecked. Plus they erased all my radio presets. These A holes will rip you off while smiling happily. I implore you not to go here.

Ruben Valero

★★★★★

a year ago

Great service and repair shop I ever doing bussiness with I came for diagnostic my car would not run they fix mycar for reasonable price

Kenedi Lazo

★★★★★

6 months ago

My car was tranded on freeway i called v&l auto the came pick up my car and fix my car the same day thanks

Will Ellis

★★★☆☆

6 years ago

So far the process dealing with the smog shop has been a difficult one. While they have done a good job of collecting payment from my warranty company they have lacked in customer service, honest pricing, and responding in a timely manner. After a difficult diagnostic process for what was initially thought to be a fuel injector issue, the shop recommended an engine rebuild. When the repair jumped from a Fuel Injector to an total engine rebuild, I requested a second opinion from the dealership. The smog shop was kind enough to tow the car to the dealership but I received calls from the dealership for over a week asking when they would tow the car back. Once the car was back with V&L I tried reaching out to get information on the quote provided to begin the work but I was not able to get a clear answer or in some cases no answer at all. When I was eventually able to get a hold of someone they informed me that the quote was outdated and that the labor rate for the repair nearly doubled. As a customer it seems like the shop is taking advantage of the fact that I have an extended warranty and using that as an opportunity to inflate the prices and continuously increase the quote, making the amount I need to pay higher each time I reach out. I will update this review as the process goes on and hopefully it does get better. Update 1/24: The chop has been working with me to honor the original quote which is great!

Valentina Argo

★★★★★

2 months ago

Smog shop can I ask how much the 300ZX is for that you have outside

Faris Elgadary

★★★★★

a year ago

Great service I brought my semi for emissions and safety,and service these folks are great make.my days my family will all come

Iddy Djuma

★★★★★

a year ago

I don’t like write reviews due to my English is not well but I need to the smog shop on 836 south redwood road is a amazing auto repair shop I have my 2012 Nissan rogue I am having a lot of issues with it due to oil leak I came and miss sylvia a general manager there recommended me do a diagnosis only $65 dollars she call me like 3 hours later gave a estimate I told let do it she even gave me a full list of recommendations service for free and the price is great I will never go any where else but the smog shop they are best people great service thanks the smog shop.

Alian Nigue

★★★★★

a month ago

Patched our tire. Service was quick and reasonably priced, no issues with the tire after that.

Jennifer Hernández

★★★★★

10 months ago

I can't say enough good things about this place! | came in for an oil change and emissions test, and the entire experience was smooth, professional, and surprisingly quick. Sylvia is incredibly friendly, honest, and knowledgeable! She explained everything clearly and didn't try to upsell me on anything unnecessary. The quality of the work was excellent, and treated my car with real care.

Green Day

★☆☆☆☆

6 months ago

I paid this company over $10,000 expecting my truck to be in great shape after their repairs, but that was far from the case. They used aftermarket parts, charged me double for almost everything, and within less than three weeks of leaving their shop, new problems started appearing. I originally paid $9,000 after they told me the truck was running fine with no issues. Just two days later it broke down, and they claimed it was “just the starter.” They replaced it and charged me another $1,000, but within two weeks more problems showed up—issues they refuse to take responsibility for. When you spend $10,000 on repairs, you expect your truck to run nearly like new. Instead, I got a vehicle that continues to break down and a company that won’t stand behind their work. Stay far away from this shop. I will be doing everything I can to make sure others don’t go through what I did.

Pritpal Roby

★☆☆☆☆

a month ago

I did smoke test of my freightliner truck and i asked a girl is that you upload that test to california dmv because my truck is tregister under cali dmv. She confidently told me yes we do i asked her again make sure i don’t have to do nothing with dmv she said no we upload and give you copy too and now they saying we only work with utah dmv we can’t do nothing about cali dmv you have to go and provide them. They scammed me with 150$ and i have to do again test from dmv. Not recommended.

Tara McMullin

★★★★★

3 months ago

I keep old vehicles too long and spend a lot on repairs. The Smog Shop was friendly and completely thorough. They sold me an alternator at a great price. Then they helped me find out what was drawing power from my battery. They fixed that, replaced the battery, and figured out how to get some lights on the dash and a non-stop beeping alarm fixed. They went through all the fuses and stuck to their warranty on labor. I'm loyal forever :)

Moe Egan

★☆☆☆☆

2 months ago

Waste of time and a straight-up money grab I stopped by V&L Auto Service / The Smog Shop for one simple thing: plug in a diagnostic reader and tell me what codes my bus is throwing. That’s it. Right off the bat the mechanic starts guessing—before even hooking anything up—saying it’s “probably a low tire” causing codes on my dash. Then the scan tool is sitting at 3% battery, so I ended up loaning them my charger just so they could even try to do the job. And after all that? No codes were read. Nothing came back. The device kept saying it wasn’t working. So I go inside expecting, I don’t know… an apology? A solution? Instead, they hit me with $120 for a scan that didn’t produce a single result. When I questioned it, I was told by the young lady, a simple code read takes 2–3 hours. Anyone who’s ever plugged in a scanner knows a basic code pull doesn’t take hours. They weren’t worried about making it right—they were worried about collecting the fee. They even said I could wait because a “master technician” was on the way… which made me wonder why the first guy was touching it in the first place if he couldn’t get a basic scan done. Bottom line: they demanded and got the $120 for nothing, and customer satisfaction clearly wasn’t part of the plan. I won’t be back. This was my experience.