Big O Tires

They’re great. I had a noise of unknown origin and thought it might be coming from my tires or bearings. They did a diagnostic (drove it around to hear the noise and put it up on the lift to take a look) and it was for free, which is always great. Also they were accommodating of my budget and I truly felt like they treated me fairly. We all know how the car business can be…

Got an oil change here. I didn’t get any surprise «oh you’re gonna need to pay $ 100 to fix this» type of dishonesty that often exists at auto shops. The charges they showed me before the oil change were the charges I was expected to pay, and never did they try to sell me something, which I really appreciate. Well, except the synthetic oil. And to be fair, I probably should get that, but I don’t.
Also, you can see them do the work on your car from the office. I really liked that. I have an unwarranted distrust of mechanics. So, being able to see them work was helpful.

I needed a car battery for an older car (long out of warranty), and didn’t really want to make a trip out of Davis. I received a fast, friendly answer on the phone, a quick check was made to assure they had the right battery in stock, along with a price quote, before I left my house. The work was done in just a few minutes, final price was exactly as quoted. All the info up front, no surprises, no attempts to sell me anything I didn’t come for in the first place, fast service. Every car service should be this fast and easy.

Every time we go here the staff is friendly and helpful. Take last night for example. We stopped by because someone noticed there was a nail in one of our tires. They were too busy to work on it but promised they could take care of it in the morning. They said it wouldn’t be more than a few minutes to check out. So my spouse drove off this morning and was home within minutes! Very convenient and courteous.

These guys were great. They fixed the valve core in a tire that had deflated for $ 20. That took them not very long, but is still a great value. But then they spent a whole trying to figure out how to get the tire pressure sensor light to turn off. The dealership said it was a bad sensor and was going to charge $ 150 for replacing it. Big O replaced it instead, but still the light wouldn’t turn off. Somehow they figured out that the parking brake had to be applied while resetting the button (something the dealership didn’t know and something no one including me could figure out). So they ended up charging me $ 0 for a bunch of time they spent on it. Oh, and my wife says they helped her out the day before calling a bunch of warehouses to find a pair of discontinued tires, too. Great job.

Was with my friend when she got a flat and we were pretty much clueless how to handle things. We called them up and asked for advice. After pumping our tire up we drove to Big O (we were pretty close to the store) and received help immediately. They were extremely nice and very understanding of our situation (being clueless). They were patient as my friend talked to her dad on the phone explaining what happened and telling him the prices. Very friendly employees!

This was my first time here, referred by my regular mechanic since he does not do wheel alignments. I am very happy with the work they did — the car is running great once again. Thanks!

Very helpful and honest people.
I have been using this place for several years, but they always provide honest solutions seen from the customers.
Most recently, they fixed a puncture on my tire and told me that it may leak again due to the location of the puncture but that they did their best. They said that they will not charge.
It has been a month and hasn’t leaked yet. But if it leaks, I will buy new tires from them.

I’ve been bringing my car here for many, many years. They’ve changed my tires at least three times now and I will always return here, whether it is for tire changes, rotation, alignment, etc. I recently changed all my tires with them and they are competitive with their prices and their customer service has been more than great.

I’ve had tire and brake work done here numerous times in the last few years. They are generally very fast and comprehensive.
I did have an issue 2 years ago where a part they installed failed way under the lifespan/​mileage. I showed them my receipt for the bad part and they installed a better part for no charge except for labor, which I thought was fair. I appreciated that they were willing to work with me when there was a problem. No complaints here.

My company services their entire fleet here at Big O in Davis — great staff and service. They’ve never let us down!

I have been putting off buying four new tires for my 2004 Passat forever because I wasn’t sure I really wanted to put more money into a car I may not have in two years — but I have been saying that for a year now. I went online and checked around and saw they had some decent tires at a great price so I called and they said I could come right in. I was helped by the owner, Ted, and he didn’t have the exact tire I was looking for but he gave me the one that was a hair better, for the same price. They also made the best tire the spare and checked my check engine light for free, then gave me a coupon for the smog check I need. It was a very good experience all around.

Despite the negative reviews, I decided to go here anyways because I needed my tire replaced asap and couldn’t afford to pay too much. I had a great experience here. The person who helped me (don’t remember his name anymore :() was extremely nice and accommodating. He gave me a great deal on the tire and they still work great.

WARNING: Bought a used tire and paid for both the installation AND rotation. Spent about $ 80 in total for a tire that ended up bursting. Went to Goodyear and they didn’t charge for the rotation and the NEW tire cost the same as the crappy USED one BigO sold me. Yeah, I deeply regret ever going here.

The only reason these people get 3 stars is because the owner, Ted, is a great stand-​up guy. Very trustworthy, and a great businessman.
on to the rest:
The mechanic here seems nice, but does not take responsibility. My car was misfiring due to a leak, and my sparkplugs were soaked. he replaced the sparkplugs and said he fixed the leak. this didnt help… he told me to go get my computer replaced. so i did that. did not help. took my car to another mechanic who, after days and days of searching for the problem… looked at the ‘brand new’ sparkplugs… turns out they were incompatible with my car… So i had been stuck without a car for about 3 weeks because the mechanic at Big O put the wrong sparkplugs in the first place. he charged me about 160 total, and only reimbursed me about 40 bucks… when because of him, i spent an extra ~$ 800 on other mechanics trying to find the problem. but thats not all folks. turns out he didnt really fix the leak either. so i had to get that re-​done as well. When i talked to him about it, he said i had no proof that the leak wasn’t fixed… sorry i didn’t bottle up that oil for ya.
BUT:
the owner is awesome. he’s empathetic and responsible, and didn’t take advantage of me — i understand that i’m a 22 year old blonde who may seem impressionable and easy to fool, but i know when I’m being taken advantage of. Ted doesn’t do that. he’s honest, responsible and trustworthy (i’ve said that like 20 times haven’t i?)
my advice to Ted: these reviews suck for a reason. It’s your mechanics… maybe try and hire new ones (don’t know how hard that is to do, but it may be worth it).

I wasn’t in need of tires, but I got stuck at the smog testing station next door and Big O Tires came through for me in a very Big O way — awesome!
My car had been in storage for 2 years, and I had it jumped that morning before driving around for an hour and then taking it for smog testing. After turning the car off in front of the smog place, it would not start again. The Big O guys came out to push my car closer to their building and tried repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, to jump start my car again. It seems the battery had completely died and needed to be replaced. I had a lunch to get to, so we pushed the car into their parking lot, and they promised to get a new battery that afternoon. Very helpfully, they also gave me a ride to my lunch appointment. A few hours later, the battery had arrived and was installed; the old one was apparently so swollen it took 3 of Big O’s guys to get it out.
Because my license tabs were expired, I couldn’t legally drive my car on the street the next day but I still needed the smog testing done. Big O let me park my car on their lot overnight, next door to the smog place, and even had offered to park it inside their shop for more security. I discovered that same night that the headlights were not working, so I asked the Big O guys the next morning if maybe a relay or something had been bumped when the battery was replaced. They determined that the headlights had both burned out and had them replaced within one hour. They also checked my tire pressure, just because.
These guys quickly helped me out in a pinch, gave me service that went above and beyond what I would have expected, and were professional the entire time. Installation of my battery and the headlights each cost only $ 10, which I feel was extremely reasonable given all the time and effort they were spending to help me. I would go back again in a heartbeat.

I have had this location do an oil and filter change for me at least a dozen times.
I don’t know a lot about cars, but my vehicle always seems happy afterwards and the staff is a pretty friendly group.
I am a happy customer here and will continue my patronage.

I bought a battery from Big O Tires in Davis in July. I went to Big O for the battery because I’d received decent service from them in the past that I was satisfied with. After this experience, I would not recommend them to anyone.
The battery I bought from the Davis Big-​O died less than 3 months after I purchased it. My car stalled out in the middle of San Francisco, and when the AAA Battery guy who came to replace it inspected it, he informed me that the battery I bought from Big O was 1) old, and 2) the wrong size for my car.
I then called Big O Davis to take care of the problem, and a manager named Will said that I would have to come up to Davis to have the battery tested before I could obtain a refund. Since it’s expensive to drive to Davis from SF, I asked that they compensate me for the gas mileage. Will, who rudely denied my request that they refund the cost of the new battery I had to buy, which I wouldn’t have bought if their battery had worked as it should have, refused also to compensate for mileage and instead directed me to the customer service line, saying I could arrange with them to take my battery to the San Francisco location instead without doing anything further.
The Big O customer service rep sounded surprised that Will hadn’t done anything to arrange for my battery to be tested in San Francisco himself. I’m now waiting to hear back from customer service to get my battery tested and to get a refund.
I not only paid for a bad battery from Big O, but I also received rude and completely unhelpful service from their representative. I would not buy a battery or receive other services from them again.

I needed a tire shop that was affordable and that could install run-​flat tires. After calling various installers in Davis, I determined that Big O Tires was the best match. Since they are a Tire Rack Recommended Installer, I was able to send the tires directly to them. Someone from Big O Tires called me as soon as the tires arrived. The mechanics installed the tires and performed an alignment in a couple hours. The service was professional and efficient. Highly recommended.

The tire pressure warning light on my car kept illuminating within days of me adding more air. And this happened several times. I figured out which tire was the culprit but was afraid I needed to change all of them (it’s an AWD).
Fortunately, just a nail stuck in the reparable zone. The rep estimated the process to take about 45 minutes including the wait. Sure enough, I get a call within the hour.
$ 20 for the job isn’t too shabby when you’re looking forward to a mini road trip the next day!