Vato's Garage

Brandon Hill

★★★★★

a year ago

I called on Friday to see if I can get my RV in for repair, I wasn’t getting power to my dashboard. The gentleman who answered the phone was very friendly and said he could absolutely get that taken care of and get me back on the road ASAP. so, I coordinated with a tow truck the following Monday to have it dropped off they dropped it off around 12:15 PM. Vato’s garage even coordinated with the tow truck company for placement and drop off. That way it wouldn’t be inconvenience to anyone. They also moved vehicles around to take care of spacing. I didn’t expect to get my RV back or even hear anything about it for a few days. To my amazement! They called me three hours later and said my RV was ready to be picked up. There was some wiring issue that they found and fixed. A HUGE thanks to everyone who helped get my RV back on the road. You have saved my upcoming 4th of July weekend. #CustomerForLife.

Imogen Shade

★★★★★

a year ago

Great service & turn around time! I mistakenly took my brother’s car to Vatos for a tire change over instead of his usual repair shop, upon waiting I encountered a few long term happy clients of theirs, I’ve been wanting to find a shop closer to home & Vatos was it! So far all three cars, brother’s, Mums, & mine has been serviced by Vatos & we’re quite happy with the results!

R I

★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

PLEASE READ: My experience was horrible. I took my truck in to get a water pump replaced. I payed $1200 for the water pump and the timing belt cover repair. They gave me my truck back with a bad oil leak that was never there before. I took it back to them and told them it wasn’t like this before. They said they will check it out. They then said the oil pan gasket was broken.(happens if they don’t carefully replace the timing belt cover. Knowing I would bring it back in) they then made me pay $1200 again to fix that. Then they gave it back to me with the oil leak still there pretty sure all they did was change my oil. Now I’m out of $2400 and have a leak that wasn’t there before. I was also out of a truck for almost 2 months. Because they will take 2 weeks to even look at your vehicle then they will tell you what’s wrong and ask if you want to order the part. Then a week for the part to come in and another week to fix it. It happened both times I went in there. The lady at the front desk doesn’t care about what the issue is she’ll just tell you too write it on a paper and they will give you a call. It will take two weeks just so you know. They also say that they will give you military discount for 10% off parts. If your part is $30 and the labor is 6 hours that means your getting $3 off of the $1200. So not worth it. Try another shop.

The Peeps

★★☆☆☆

4 months ago

Charged me two hundred bucks and didn't even inspect the problem I told them that was wrong. Will never go back.

Roxanne Holt

★★★★★

a year ago

Reliable, trustworthy, professional, and kind These are the 4 words that describe Vatos Garage! :) thank you so much for your service to our country and my vehicle! I will be back if it’s necessary. Pleased with your work and help!

Myia Palepale

★★★★★

3 years ago

Very professional. Gets straight to the point about what is wrong with your vehicle and what really needs to be fixed. Always polite and willing to work with their customers. They have some of the best customer service and best crew working here. The owner has always been professional and helping when I have taken my vehicle in in the past. Definitely would recommend this mechanic shop to anyone who is looking for a good mechanic.

Kiana Hampton

★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

I have been going to Vato's garage for over a year now and recommending it to anyone in need of an auto shop. But after my recent visit, I will never be returning due to their extreme unprofessionalism, untruthfulness and overall just being sketchy. I had my catalytic converter replaced and realized they damaged something on my exhaust after I picked it up. The nightmare began after I dropped it off the very next morning to have them fix their mistake. The mechanics refused to contact me about my vehicle for 3 days, popped 2 of my tires, spilled some type of oil/chemical all over my engine so my car is filling up with smoke whenever I drive and tried to cover up their mistake by ignoring my phone calls for days and blaming it on a simple coincidence and the fact my car is old. The receptionist at the front has a serious attitude problem and thinks it is completely appropriate to take your call, tell you she will call you right back, and never try to contact you again. There is a hefty amount of miscommunication going on in that garage and they give you a wide range of information depending on who you're talking to. I was told several different stories upon trying to get my car back for 3 DAYS ranging from "we're working on your car now and will call you when we find the problem" to "it's still waiting to be seen and we'll try to squeeze you in" to "the mechanics are almost done working on your car but I can't tell you what they're fixing until my boss gets in tomorrow morning". Mind you, I never got a phone call telling me what was wrong with my car or authorizing any kind of repair. Honestly, I never got a phone call period. I had to call the shop several times to get any kind of update on my vehicle and at the end couldn't get a single straight answer until I got a ride down to the shop and requested to speak to the owner in person. No one in that shop thought there was a problem with the lack of communication, working on a vehicle without authorization first, being careless and causing more damage to the vehicle, etc. If you want honest work done on your car, do not go here. The owner tried to smooth talk his way out of taking responsibility for the part that was broken while at their shop and still charged me for the part that needed to be replaced. There is nothing honest about this shop. An absolute joke. This was a few days ago and I am still having the same issues with my vehicle, they fixed absolutely nothing and charged me over $1400. And managed to pop 2 of my tires in the process, all while of course, not taking any kind of responsibility.

Serina Samples

★☆☆☆☆

a year ago

I have been through every one of his one star reviews. First key me say that running a shop is very frustrating.I know first hand from owning and operating one in fort Worth Texas. Never though have I seen such a place so unconcerned with customer service. It takes only a small amount of patience and understanding to make sure the customer understands and even returns. There's no better feeling than having a mad customer leave with a smile. Another thing, talking to customers the way that this owner/manager does, is only proof of how he thinks of you as a customer. He uses swear words, degrades them and is about as arrogant and narcissistic as they come. What's sad is that if he would look at his complaints as a whole and used them to better his shop then he would be a successful manager, owner, employer etc. For Example the root of ALLOT of his reviews come from lack of communication between the shop and customer. That's an easy fix as long as the owner isn't answering the phone. It's called training, following certain protocols. HOLDING YOUR TECHS AND FRONT DESK PERSON LIABLE FOR TREATMENT OF CLIENTS. With that said this owner isn't leading by example is he? Word of mouth is stronger than you think, and over time you're going to see a decline in business, you're probably so ignorant you won't understand why. I decided to call you guys just to test this customer service issue. I'll be damned if I wasn't immediately met with a tone of boredom and annoyance. You will not find my name in your records sir because I did not give it. You need to reevaluate what you want to do with your shop. Help it grow? Or watch it slowly sink. Do you have any ASE techs or are they all shade tree techs? That's how you pay less to your employees,which gives them an I don't care attitude and give unsatisfactory work. Have a great day and hope to hear from you soon.

Ariel M

★★★★★

Edited 5 months ago

Always get my tires changed here. Service is quick and painless. I never leave with any issues!

Lunox

★☆☆☆☆

9 months ago

worst service ever!!! would not recommend getting you car done here. my car tires were good and had no leak until i went here to get my tires changed! they broke my tpms and it was leaking. and my tires are not balanced !!! they put a note saying my tie rod needs a replacement well it does not need a replacement. this is unacceptable really!! these mechanics are really trying to rip people off. i work on cars too and i am definitely not happy with the service here..

Sabrina Kern

★★★★★

4 months ago

I can't say enough! Always on time when I'm need! Greatest shop ever! Will Always go back. Thank you so much! Love you guys!

Ruby Dunn

★☆☆☆☆

Edited 7 months ago

I was delivering a DoorDash order to Vato’s Garage & witnessed the manager or person in charge yelling aggressively at employees in a very demeaning & unprofessional way. It was uncomfortable & unnecessary. On top of that, he stared me down while I was delivering the order, which came across as intimidating & inappropriate. There was also virtually no parking available, which made the experience even more frustrating. I feel for the workers who have to deal with that kind of environment. Management should address how staff are being treated, especially in front of customers. In response to owner’s comment: blaming a customer doesn’t change the fact that the behavior I witnessed came from management, not the customer. Stressful situations are common in business, but how leadership chooses to respond is what sets the tone for the workplace. What I saw reflected poorly on management, not the customer.

Stacy Thompson

★☆☆☆☆

5 months ago

Do not go here. I was concerned when I read the reviews but decided I’d go off a recommendation of a friend. Big Mistake!!! Car came back worse than when I dropped it off. Spent 1100.00 brought it back and Alex refused to look at it. He said take it to the dealership. We had to buy a new car. Horrible experience. Horrible customer service. Please do not make this mistake. I should have taken it to Arctic instead!! And watch as with all good negative reviews, he’ll try to make new look stupid. Please read all the one star reviews. Please!!!

stewart valladolid

★★★★★

Edited a month ago

Tire change over for wife's Jeep dropped it off. Was done in 1hr.. Brought back to wife. She States grinding noise in right front Tire. Call Vato's Garage they says bring it back she can wait 5 min, notice rock wedged between rotor guard!! She's be back on the road.. Now that's customer service!!! I Highly recomend Vato's Garage and his team!!! Thanks for taking care of my rigs!!!

Oliver Korshin

★★★★★

6 months ago

I confess I had never heard of Vato's Garage, until I asked ChatGPT for recommendations for where I should go to have my new snow tires mounted and balanced on new rims (not put on my car yet, as it was still mid-September). Chat GPT listed Vato's Garage as highly reliable, so I went there, even tho' it's on Muldoon and I am in South Anchorage. The service was prompt, polite and friendly. Cheyenne at the front desk was well-informed and helpful, as were the mechanics. There are also some nice, well-behaved dogs in the reception area. I recommend Vato's garage for tire work, but based on my experience I intend to go back if and when I need general car repairs and maintenance. FYI as well, Vato's Garage participates in the U.S. Veterans' discount program, giving a veteran's discount on parts (but not labor). Oliver

Mercedes Yap

★☆☆☆☆

3 months ago

My husband changed the oil in our car on his own and accidently pushed the wrong selector on the dash that caused all our lights to turn on on the dash. For whatever reason we were having issues with our transmission slipping which wasn't happening before the oil change. We took our vehicle to Vatos and they pulled up a code through the OB2 sensor and told us we had to replace our whole entire transmission system. We never had any issues before and we were devasted. They literally told us some crazy story saying the CPU in the car causes an electric shortage that messed up the transmission. Does that even make sense? They didnt even recommend another shop to get serviced and didnt even quote us on a new transmission. My husband took it back to the house and added transmission fluid to the reservoir and the car worked fine. We paid $200 for these jokers to drive our car down the road and tell us that are transmission was slipping which we already knew. What a joke. Save your money and go to someone reputable who will actually look at your car and who will actually try to fix it.

Jade Patterson Wanca

★★★★★

2 weeks ago

Finally, a mechanic shop I can trust! I needed emergency maintenance to my car and Vato's was recommended from another car shop I use but they couldn't get me in right away and Vato's could. Honestly I was like what place? Who? But seriously, Alex was honest, professional, and explained exactly what was wrong in simple terms. He didn't try to upsell me on things I didn't need and even showed me the broken part. From the start Alex was communicative and honest and friendly. The price was fair, and the service was quick. I won't take my car anywhere else now. I am so grateful for them and appreciate all their help in getting my car in during w blizzard!