Carlsbad Automotive Technology

My 2013 Subaru had an issue where the window washer stopped working. I suspected rats had eaten a hose. Bob Baker Subaru checked it out and said they could fix it for approximately $ 210 by replacing a $ 17 hose assembly with a lot of labor, apparently. I thought this was a bit high for a hose replacement so I got the affected part number from Subaru and went down to see Dennis at Carlsbad Automotive Technology. Dennis looked under my hood and was able to find where the hose had been chewed through (I had missed it when I looked earlier). In about 5 – 10 minutes Dennis found a piece of scrap hose of the same type and made a totally workable long term patch. It works like a champ now. When I offered to pay, Dennis waived me off and said to come back again — which I definitely will.
Dennis is a creative master of his craft and very honest. In two weeks, he will be an Eagle Scout dad. What a stud.
Thank you Dennis!

I am overdue in this review! Last year I was getting ready to head out on a long trip and my odometer broke. After checking in with my dealer and finding out they’d have to keep my vehicle most of the week to fix it, I gave Dennis a call. He had someone who could come to the shop and fix it, saving me days and real $$$. The shop also gave my vehicle a run-​through and found some minor repairs that I could take care of before I headed out of town. And while they kept my truck for the day Dennis was nice enough to give me a ride back home so that I could finish packing. Thanks for coming through in a pinch!

Once again I took my Van in for service the day I called. Very accommodating to the needs of the customer. I had Dennis take a look at replacing the Weather Stripping around the doors of the Van to quite the road noise. (Its a 2004 Honda Odyssey). Dennis did the oil change and regular service but asked if he could keep the car overnight in order to get right on it in the morning once the parts arrived. No problem and I had the car back before noon the next day. Great job. If anyone has an older car that has a lot of road noise, and you think you may be keeping it for awhile, would recommend to anyone to replace the whether stripping. What a huge difference. We can actually talk to one another in the car driving down the freeway without yelling. Have Dennis do it. Came out great.

Dennis is great, very fair honest and helpful, a family owned business. Its not the cheapest but as the saying goes, «Cheap no good, good no cheap».

I have an older camper van that breaks down now and then and it’s often an expensive fix. I was amazed and grateful that Dennis found the problem so quickly, fixed my van pretty much the same day, for a real fraction of what I thought it would cost. Thank you kindly to the friendly folks at Carlsbad Automotive Technology.

I took my 1966 Thunderbird to Dennis to get the brake system worked on and the carb rebuilt. 6 weeks later, they had only verified the original problem. Every time I called, he did not know the current status of the car and had to verify with someone, sometimes taking a day or more to give me information about my car. He had the car for about 2 months at first, and when I got the car back, it would not idle, at all. I took it back to him to fix the idling issue, and he had it for another month. This makes a total of 3 months in which my car was sitting outside, neglected, for what should have been simple repairs. He did not source any parts himself, I had to source the parts and bring them to the shop so that he could put them on. This is one of the basic parts of operating a repair shop, but Dennis could not be bothered.
What really set me off, though, was getting my car back the second time to find at least a dozen large scratches on the hood. I returned to Dennis the next day and asked him if he had noticed the scratches. He insisted that he did not know how the scratches got on the car, huffing, puffing, rolling his eyes, screaming at me, the whole 9 yards. He insisted that I had scratched my car. Keep in mind I had the car in my possession for probably 2 days in the previous 3 months. He gave me all sorts of excuses as to why the car took so long to fix. All of them were complete bullshit– truth is, he didn’t care, and neither did his employees.
In his shop I pointed out a Cadillac with a hood on a blanket on the roof of the car. Dennis admitted that they store parts on top of customers’ cars. He told me that his detailing guy would not be able to look at it until about a month later. This was without checking with the detail guy. When he realized I wasn’t going away without a resolution, he reluctantly called the detail guy. Eventually, after a 30 minute confrontation, the detail guy called and said he could take a look at my car 2 days later.
Dennis, if you are reading this– you could have resolved this problem by being apologetic and deflating your ego. Your shop sucks and you should be ashamed. I buy and sell around 6 cars a year, and you have lost all of my future business as well as my family’s business because you did not handle this like a professional. The $ 250 detail I asked you for has now cost you thousands.
Take a look at this shop if you stop by, and notice that there are no nice cars in the shop– everything is worth less than $ 10,000. Notice the parts on top of customers’ cars.
If you care about your car, stay away from Carlsbad Automotive Technology.

This service station was the best I have ever seen, I was broke down and got towed to this station. It turned out to be a minor repair which given the circumstance the owner was able to do immediately.
I had no options and the owner could of easily charged me anything he wanted yet he charged me an extremely reasonable rate, far less than expected.

I only go here for any car service that I need! I get smogged here, oil changes, and anything else I need! Love the east coast owners! Straight Shooters, and I feel like they have my super girly back! It’s nice to be able to confidently deal with my car! Trust, all about trust!

Dennis (the owner) is very honest and very knowledgeable! Honestly and fair prices for quality work is hard to find when it comes to automotive repair shops. I’m glad I’m able to call Dennis if I ever have a car problem.

Dennis is the most honest guy around. I believe you will not find a better mechanic in San Diego county. I have been taking my car here for a few years now and I will not go anywhere else. Recently my check engine light came on and it did not cost me a thing because it was caused by a part that he had replaced a year before and it was still under warranty. He could have charged me and I would not have known the difference. Most places charge you just to diagnose the issue. I made the mistake of taking my car to get an oil change some place else just because it was out of convenience at the time and I was told I needed certain things done that would cost around $ 500 but when I asked Dennis about these things he said I did not need any of those things done. He and his wife are people of great integrity. Most women are hesitant trusting mechanics because some can be upselling stuff you do not need. You will never have to worry about that with Dennis.

As a girl that knows NOTHING about cars, having the check engine light come on is the worst thing in the world. I brought it in and Dennis was more than helpful. The problem ended up being minor and I wasn’t swindled into repairing something unnecessarily. My car was returned in a timely manner. Zero complaints about this place! I will go to Carlsbad Automotive Technology for any of my car repair needs in the future.

My family moved from Connecticut a year ago and dreaded having to search for a trustworthy mechanic. We LOVED ours back east and didn’t think we could find anyone to replicate those trusted services. I was wrong. We found Dennis via Unilocal rather quickly after our move and couldn’t be happier. He is trustworthy, knowledgeable and very fair in his pricing. He goes above and beyond and I now recommend him to all of my friends. A rare find indeed!

Best mechanic I’ve encountered in quite some time. The staff is friendly, efficient, and they aren’t out to gouge you. Extremely reasonably priced for their labor, and they look for ways to help save you money while making sure the parts and service you receive are high quality. A truly honest auto repair shop.

New to the area and always hard finding a trustworthy repair garage. Relied on Unilocal and couldn’t be happier with Dennis and his service! We’ve used him several times now and always well within his estimate and a very fair price!

I found Carlsbad Automotive technology on Unilocal and was drawn to them by their great reviews. For almost a year now, I have been dealing with a loss of power during long drives. And with two small kids it’s been nearly impossible to find the time to get my car in to the shop. I brought my car in at shop opening on Monday and explained the issue and that I was likely due for a tuneup as well (being that I’ve been neglecting my car maintenance). After running some codes and investigating my air intake, he found a bee in the pipes, and once cleaned out the code cleared. Although, it may not have been the cause of the problem, he kept my car and drove it around town in attempt to see if the code reappeared, and it didn’t! He had my car for a day and a half to make sure the codes didn’t come on again. I told him I needed it before 1pm and he called at noon letting me know that I could pick it up and the codes never triggered again. He informed me that I would need a tuneup in about 9k and have about $ 500 ready for it, which I really appreciated.
I am so thankful for Dennis, because he listened to the problem and he fixed it without giving me a laundry list of other issues or trying to sell me other services. The charge for the service on my car was beyond reasonable! I will definitely be going back for all my car service needs!

After reading the Unilocal reviews on Carlsbad Auto Tech, I brought my 2002 Toyota Camry here. And I am so happy I did! The Toyota Carlsbad dealer quoted me over $ 3,000 worth of work. When I called, Elaine was wonderful on the phone and in scheduling my appointment. She answered all my questions. They wanted to reseal my timing chain cover that they claimed was leaking heavy and reseal the transmission case among other things. Dennis checked everything out for me on my car and said my leak was minor and all he had to do was remove and replace the valve cover gasket. Dennis saved me thousands!!! I am a woman and most auto repairs would try to take advantage. They did not. They are honest and trustworthy. I highly recommend them and will definitely be back!

Was told I needed new brakes by another shop when I got my last oil change. Brakes were squeaky so I looked for a place that had good reviews that I could walk to from work and found this place. Called and asked for an estimate telling him that I thought I needed new brakes and rotors (was told they were warped). When I picked up my car my total charge was 20 bucks. He said I had 30% of my brakes left and that he wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night if he had sold me brakes as I didn’t really need them. They adjusted and cleaned them for me so that they wouldn’t squeak. This honest opinion means i will be taking my car back here in the future so that my car gets the service it needs but not more.

This shop is awesome! We have taken my husband’s truck there twice. Both times the check engine light was on in his 2002 Nissan Frontier. This past time the truck needed a part that was going to cost $ 900 new from the Nissan dealer. Dennis, the owner, went to the wrecking yard, found the part and did the whole job for $ 71! Very friendly, honest and knowledgeable. We will definitely continue to give this shop our business!

Carlsbad Automotive Technology is a breath of fresh air in the smoggy atmosphere of car repair shops. I brought my beater Mazda pickup in this week with a variety of nagging issues. Dennis, the owner, honestly explained what I needed and didn’t need right away, communicated with me before doing any repairs, and had the lowest parts prices and labor costs in town. As if that weren’t enough, he gave me a 10% AAA discount of the top. The truck has never run better. I cannot recommend Dennis and his shop more strongly. I promise you, you will never bring your car anywhere else.

I’ve been going to Carlsbad Automotive Technology for 14 years and will never go anywhere else to have my cars serviced. Dennis, who took over from longtime owner Jack, is a first-​class business owner who will go out of his way to solve problems at the lowest possible cost. He will also bundle services that he doesn’t personally offer, like getting new tires while the car is in for an oil change, to further save the customer money as well as time — a convenience no other shop that I know of offers. I would recommend this place to anyone in the Carlsbad-​Oceanside area — and beyond. It’s well worth the drive.