San Francisco Auto Repair / Point Richmond, California

Rating: ★★★

35 years in Business

Auto Repair & Service, Brake Repair, Windshield Repair

Address: 611 Florida St, Point-Richmond

Postal code: 94110

Phone: (510) 883-3895

Stick With The Specialists

Pep Boys retail and service location offering a wide range of car parts and accessories, from brakes to electronics and car care, as well as auto repair and services, including oil changes and tires.

Categories:

Auto Repair & Service, Brake Repair, Windshield Repair, Radiators Automotive Sales & Service, Emissions Inspection Stations

Payment:

all major credit cards, check, debit

Neighborhoods:

Mission, Central East San Francisco

Open hours:

Mon - Fri 7:30 am - 6:00 pmSat 8:00 am - 4:00 pmSun Closed

Reviews:

NEW OWNER!!

Hey I have been lookin` at the reviews and noticed that most of the complaints are from a while back...maybe these things should have an expiration date? Anyway, i was recently at the shop and had a pleasnat experience (if having a broken down old VW can be described that way in ANY context not including Angelina Jolie?)
The guys at the counter were friendly and helpful. I did have to PAY for the pleasure of havi... view moreng my check engine light fixed, but for the first time in two years it has not come back on right after a repair! It has been a few weeks and every time I drive I expect my little orange friend to stare at me from the dashboard, but he seems to be gone!
Thats just wicked awesome! Ignore the old reviews, give the guys a shot. They seem to be doing a great job. Thanks guys!

RussGon / 12/5/2011

Gary Knows

Gary has been a great help with the valve lash on my 1970 solid lift cam Z/28. No job is to big for Gary, he took care of my 1968 Camaro 4 speed and power steering conversion back in the day.

JerryZ28 / 9/12/2011

New Owner is GREAT

I have a new favorite mechanic shop in San Fran. A smog shop is a smog shop, and car repairs are car repairs. Or so I thought. Then I met Gary, the new owner of this old shop (they have been there forever). He took the time to explain things to me, my car had failed smog, but it was ONLY the check engine light. It has been on forever. Literally 6 years since I bought the car new. The dealer would turn it off and a fe... view morew weeks later...blink. On again. Anyway, he explained in detail what they would do to diagnose it. And then he called me and again, explained what needed to be done to fix it. Anyone here know what a purge valve is? I do NOW! Next day i passed my very first smog test! And the light is still off. That was three weeks ago. Tonight Gary called me to check up on how they did. THAT`S why I am writing this review.

MikeJonessoma / 11/15/2010

Crooks or incompetent?

I wish I had read all the bad reviews. I took my 88 Toyota pick up there for a water leak. They charged $280 to replace a hose. Then they told me my brakes were gone and a wheel cylinder and the master cylinder were leaking and the truck was unsafe to drive. Their quote was $700 for repairs. Fortunately I did not go for it. I got another quote for $450. When I took it in the mechanic pop off the wheel and ""su... view morerprise, surprise."" No leaks. Brakes at 80% in the front and 60% on the rear. There is no way this company made a mistake. They were obviously lying.

rbetonte / 8/22/2010

Great Job on my Car

Took my car in for a smog and oil change. Prices were VERY competitive, they squeezed me on on a busy SUNDAY...and while working on it replaced a burnt out bulb that I had forgotten to tell them about.
All in all a good 1st trip to this place. I am willing to give them a try next time I need repairs. Oh yeah...they play KFOG there. AND they are the ONLY Clean & Green Certified shop I have ever been to, the guy to... view moreld me they recycle waste oil and batteries and flourescent bulbs and paper...EVERYTHING. Very impressive!

Parton E / 11/16/2009

Expectations, or just the cost

To the previous reviewer: I am in the service business and have been for 30+ years. What I think might have happened is that you called someone and wanted to take THEIR time which translates to taking MONEY from them. With no or slim chance of you coming in? Could that be it? So maybe they were at fault but you did not get bAd auto repair from them so how could you rate them a ONE?

My 5 offsets your one.
... view more
I always want to ask someone like you, so you trust the other shops involved and complicated diagnosis but you do not trust their PRICING structure? Why did you go there in the first place? When shopping a commodity like a tire or an oil change THEN you can compare prices. How can you compare diagnosis or pricing on a complicated issue? What if one shop does more and deeper repairs than another? Or uses better quality parts? Or is green and recycles everything? Is it all about the price??? It seems for you and your ilk it is.....how sad. Doesn`t QUALITY matter????

gteach / 1/23/2009

Avoid San Francisco Auto Repair Center

My interaction with this place sent up a big red flag. I called to get a quote for a fairly significant repair. I explained that I had already received a diagnosis of the problem by a dealer service center here in the city, had a quote, and was shopping for the best price. Instead of simply giving me a quote, the guy on the phone played the game of first wanting me to name the quote given by the dealer. I told hi... view morem that I wasn`t going to negotiate that way, and that he should simply give me the best quote he could and still make a reasonable profit. He refused unless I would give him the other quote. After going back and forth like this 3 times, he told me, ""It`s customers like you we don`t need."" And hung up on me. No joke. The ironic thing is that I actually have been a customer in the past. Needless to say, that`s the end of that relationship. I called 3-4 other places the same day to shop around (with a resulting price spread of several hundred dollars) and, perhaps not surprisingly, everyone was quite straightforward about giving me a quote. It`s the sort of thing auto repair shops and potential customers do hundreds of times every day. I think the episode was quite telling; it evidences a business philosophy that values looking for some angle to play (albeit in a rather unsophisticated way) instead of basic candor and respect. There are many, many auto shops in this city; I wouldn`t deal with guys like this.

mb46 / 6/5/2008

Watch out: a bunch of smiling crooks.

These guys are out to take your money. I`ve had an overheating problem with my 92 VW and have had to take it back to them three times. They still haven`t figured it out and every time I bring my car in, the make a laundry list of parts that need replacing. Guys, my car is a `92, of course sh**t needs replacing. But do I look like I want to pump $1000 into my car every month?

The clincher for me was the last ti... view moreme I brought it in after it started to overheat on the way back from their shop. The guy calls me and tells me that my water pump is making noise and that I should replace it. Also that since they have to go in through this certain way, that I should replace the timing belt while I`m at it (it`s only 3 yrs, 7,000 miles old).... for a total of $1200. After a ten minute conversation I finally got out of them that all I really needed was a new thermostat. It`s like pulling teeth with them... To top it, the water pump is NOW making noise. It wasn`t when I brought it in....

They also took 6 days just to get my car back to me....

These guys are either grossly incompetent or blatantly crooks. They are the mechanic equivalent of vampires. Don`t trust them.

---- update 2/23/07
my car ended up having a cracked engine, and i had to donate it to charity b/c it was unfixable. the crooks at SF auto repair mentioned in passing that this ""might be a possibility"" while suggesting a list of other things i should think about fixing first. what kind of dishonest people would recommended getting new freakin` brakes on a car that might well be ready to be junked?

xzeezeex / 2/23/2007

ooh! they steamed me!

Made an appointment & dropped the car off for routine maintenance. They charged an hour labor ($112) for each item. emmisions control, coolant flush, steering flush, remove rotors for resurfacing, front brake pads. and cost of ""kits"" ($49.95) for each flush. they said they called to give me a total. no record on my phone of message or call. Wiper-blades needed changing. I said I`d change them myself.... view more He charged me $39 & argued when I wanted the money & the wipers back. They put in the wrong coolant, and insisted that it`d be fine even if I put water in. (My car now overheats in traffic.) The brakes became spongey--he said that`s ""new brake pads settling."" I ride an old motorbike, I know what air in brakelines feels like. After over $900, fixing ""nothing wrong with the brakes"" and bad attitude, I was offered a free oil change. right.

gos377 / 5/25/2006

What a GREAT place!

A cool little shop hidden in one of the last industrial sections of the Mission. The shop used to be hidden behind some great art covered walls but the city made them paint over the ""grafitti"". Behind the door is an eclectic mix of modern diagnostic equipment and post `60s chic. They area GOLD SHIELD smog station, meaning they can certify gross polluters. That`s how I found them, when my old Dodge failed smog B... view moreADLY. Jerry and his gang had me fixed up and smogged in 1 day. Sometimes things take longer, like my brakes took overnight....but I got a bagle on Friday for my troubles! I will never go anywhere else!

artmac / 5/25/2006