Santa Barbara Honda / Santa Barbara, California

Rating: ★★

New Car Dealers, Used Car Dealers

Address: 475 S Kellogg Ave, Santa-Barbara

Postal code: 93117

Phone: (805) 681-1000

3 Shops, 1 Stop; Maintenance, Repairs and Tires since 1926.

Firestone Complete Auto Care is a full-service auto maintenance and repair shop offering a large and affordable selection of tires, convenient hours & locations for car repair, tire replacement, brake services, auto tune ups, radiator repair, car batteries and more.

Reviews:

Great Service

I got a great car at Santa Barbara Honda. No hassles and they couldn`t have been friendlier or more helpful. If you are in the market for an automobile I would highly recommend Santa Barbara Honda.

Nick Moore / 2/20/2012

Worthless!!

I have been to this place a few times for service. Originally I went in for transmission work and have been twice now to get a transmission problem fixed, but still no fix. Each time, I have unfortunately, dealt with Wayne K. He is totally worthless, unfriendly, and unhelpful. I was getting tired of the B.S. and today showed up at 4:15pm, when they close at 5, for a simple oil change. Wayne, being the worthless ogre ... view morethat he is, says their finishing up their work for the day and close at 5, so they won`t be able to help me. If their finishing up, then can`t they do a simple oil change? I didn`t realize it was good business policy to turn away paying customers. Where I work I`ve never turned away anyone during business hours and this is finally the last straw for this shanty of a business. I will never go back and I suggest that you don`t either. There are certainly places with friendly service personnel who deserve your business over this crapshack. Heed the warnings!!

paulrh73 / 10/11/2011

Service not what it used to be...

Service not what it used to be. My 2006 Accord had 4 dome lights go out from 27k miles - 67k miles. Went to SB Honda and was charged $40 for each visit. Light stopped working again and now service says, ""It`s the bulb holder, not the bulb. And it can`t be repaired under warranty because of the miles"". A personal call to Service manager Vicki was met with a negative as well. Avoid if possible.

Dave Twist / 8/27/2010

The worst company of any company I have ever dealt with

Over a month ago my Honda Odyssey`s transmission went out at only 87,000 miles. I did a search for ""2002 honda odyssey transmission"" and found thousands of entries. Even the Wikipedia article on the odyssey mentioned their defective transmissions that year. Anyway, Honda was only willing to help by giving me the Honda computer that would be needed to operate the redesigned transmission which would cost me $3,800 be... view morecause it had to be installed by a Honda dealer. We didn`t want to use Santa Barbara Honda because we had taken the van there twice and the first time, while replacing a sensor the mechanic bumped the transmission plug and spilled transmission fluid everywhere. My wife had to wait around while they fixed it. Then another time, we had a scheduled service done there and they said the brakes needed to be replaced. We agreed to the work but after picking it up, on the freeway, the car started behaving strangely and there was a rattle. The right brake pads came apart because they hadn`t been secured properly! Little did I know... Santa Barbara Honda installed my new transmission. They said the brakes needed to be replaced and it would be cheaper since they had it apart. I reluctantly agreed. Then they said the battery was bad and I would need a new one. They said they had tried to charge it and it wouldn`t take a charge. The battery was only 3 months old so I figured it was defective and I would take it back to Sears. We finally got the car back and it was making a grinding clunking vibrating sound. We took the battery to Sears and drove the car back to sb Honda. They kept it a couple of days and announced it was ready. i picked it up, same problem. Took it back, had the mechanic ride with me. He agreed there was a noise. We did this three times. I told Eddie the head of their ""service"" department that I thought he ought to send a mechanic out to get the car since they kept giving it back unfixed. ""I might be able to do that."" A week went by, nothing. Finally I took it back in. By this time Sears had informed me that there was nothing wrong with my battery, that it had charged right up. I marched in with my battery and after a long hassle they reluctantly agreed to put my old battery back in, all the while insisting it was bad in spite of the fact that the thing was giving great charge numbers and my car started right up with the ""bad "" battery in it. They informed me that they had changed the calipers and it was now good to go. Right away the same noise. We started to go on Easter vacation up the coast and had to turn around because we were concerned for our safety. My father in law is handy with cars. I asked him to take a ride with me. Right away he says, ""It`s the bumper. It`s loose."" We stopped and sure enough. In their sloppy hurry they had neglected to put FOUR of the plastic clips that secure the bumper back on. I took the car back to them on Saturday and called them Monday to see when I could pick it up. ""We are really busy."" He has the guts to say. Maybe Tuesday. So here I am without a car with weeks of dealing with this, five trips to the dealership. I can`t be the only one suffering through this. I can tell you this. I would happily drive to LA is necessary if I ever HAD to take that lemon to a dealer for some reason. Personally and through my job I have dealt with many companies and I have never had to endure this low level of service and ethics. I would have put a client`s car in front of the line since they have been waiting the longest. I would have been embarrassed to have a client come back so many times and I would have definitely picked up the client`s car at their house after the second time I hadn`t repaired their car properly. Why am I having to wait so long for someone to crawl under there and put four clips in there. It is a five minute job. I suppose they have to punish you for not being happy paying thousands of dollars for a job that created a new problem.

JohnFrost / 4/20/2010

Beware of Repair Overcharges

I will say that I`ve religiously brought my past 2 Honda Accords into SB Honda for the past 3 years and just started taking my wife`s Honda there as well. I have owned nothing but the Accord for each of my past 4 cars.

Unfortunately Santa Barbara Honda has lost my trust and will not have anymore business from my family again. I brought my 2008 Honda Accord (8,000miles) in for the ""Service A"" which was show... view moren on the car dashboard. They took the car in, gave me a long list of items that ""needed"" to be checked and estimated $92. After a few hours I picked up my car and promptly paid my bill.

Mentioning this to a friend who also owns a new Accord, he asked why they changed the oil filter, checked brakes and did so many other ""checks"" on the car when the ""Service A"" is only an oil change. I read through my manual and sure enough, all I needed was a $35 oil change for the initial service, yet SB Honda proceeded to tell me I needed a minor service including a 20-something inspection.

I am sad to say that this dealership will get to keep the extra $60 that they shouldn`t have charged me in the first place but lose thousands of dollars of my future business, my wife`s and my friends`. And of course, I will buy my future cars elsewhere...what a shame, I hope the owner of this dealership realizes what they will lose when their employees are dishonest with their customers.

aguyinsb / 1/12/2009

Service POOR, Sales OK

I`ve had one of the worst experiences at this Honda dealers service station. I went in with a problem after getting a clutch change. Initially they thought it was the alternator, so they changed it and I paid $360 or so. But then, my battery would still die so they replace the battery, cost my $90. This over a week period and I had to rent my own car too until I complained, then the service guy gave me a loane... view morer after $275 on a rental car. They eventually find that the ground wire was detached from the chassis when the clutch was changed. But this didn`t fix the problem... About 3 weeks into this debacle, 3 alternators later and 2 batteries later (which at least they covered the last two alts and last battery) I get a call saying that they need to call in a "specialist" to diagnose the problem... this is when I get livid, because this is what I asked for the first day I went into the dealership! I knew it costs about $250 dollars but a Honda ASE certified electrical guy will pinpoint the problems. Ah well, they really didn`t listen. So I ended up spending 1200 dollars on nothing... a car that still didn`t work and now to call in the "specialist" they needed me to purchase a new Honda alternator for $512 and pay for the services for the diagnostics. So i told the guy just leave it, I`ll be in to talk to him. Well, find out that he avoided me at all costs and the other service man just said "think he left for the day." How do you like that. So I ended up leasing a car on the same day, the sales team was OK. They were trying so hard not to let me know there`s a lease deal but I knew about it and they didn`t screw me on the lease because of it. So thumbs up on that on sales. I will not be getting my brand new Honda serviced at the Santa Barbara dealership if I can help it and will take it to Acura in Ventura, the independent Honda guys downtown (who are good) or the mobile Honda service man who also has good consumer reviews. Just to add to the fire, I personally know 5 other people with bad experiences with the service center here... another electrical issue.. they tore up a 1992 Honda Civic to diagnose the issue but the charged the customer to put it back together or do it himself. A lady I met the day I leased my car also was having a bad Santa Barbara Honda Service day, the clutch issue she was having was completely ignored when it was taken in for the clutch problem specifically. All I can say is, buy an Acura, their service is top notch each trip to the Acura service center, with qualified techs and they give loaners without a gripe on big jobs. I`ve been going to this Honda service center since 2004 for oil changes without a hitch. That they are good at... they should probably only work on oil changes and major maintenances there. I`ve owned and service my own Honda from 1998 to 2004 and pretty familiar with the Honda/Acura. From 2004 to 2007, this place did oil changes and one major maintenance without a hitch. So they seem good for that... I just wouldn`t take your car there if you`re trying to fix a problem with car.

johnnyy55 / 12/28/2007