Star Smog Depot Test Only

Dennis changed my Serpentine belt (Fan belt) for $ 30 in 10 minutes. Steve’s auto care right across the street gave me a quote for $ 104. I’m sure Steve’s auto care do great work, but this place gave me a bargain. Thanks Dennis.

The white guy at this Smog station sure has an attitude. I wouldn’t recommend going there.

In and out, courteous service and prompt! I Used the Unilocal coupon and paid around $ 40. Will be back when my car is due again. Thank you

This was my first smog experience as I’m new to California. They clearly explained the whole process and how they interact with the DMV. I’ll go here next time I need to get my car smog checked.

Pros:
–Friendly on the phone
–Quote was out the door price
–Honest about wait time
Minor Cons:
–Neither the name of the business nor the address is listed anywhere on the building. Confusing because two other smog centers are located at the same intersection.
–Waiting area is a chair on the tarmac by the gas pumps.
After a bad experience with different establishment I called several smog testing stations. The basic quotes varied all over the lot often with additional charges ranging from eight to thirty dollars. Among those I called was Fast Test Smog Center in Walnut Creek, CA. I am not sure how much my «50% off» coupon mattered but John Morino was friendly and up front on the phone, plainly quoting me an «out the door» price. He told me he had no backlog at that moment so I drove over and in fifteen minutes I was back on the road with a fresh smog certificate.

Awesome station. Very courteous! Great customer service. STAR Certified! Check it out.

I had bad experience with the technician in this smog station. He did not due the smog test for the second time witch is suppose to be free .
He didn’t want to open his Manuel book to look for specification for a cat converter, instead he wanted me to go and request a sticker from the dealer.
Wow he thinks people have nothing to do because of his laziness.
I took the car to different place and I have it done without asking for any sticker that he requested.
Many places will do the same job with better customer service and respect.
I don’t recommend it.

Another great experience here today. One car was being serviced when I arrived without an appointment, but it still only took about 20 minutes until we were done. Waited in the waiting room this time, which also includes a restroom. I checked in on Unilocal and found a check in offer for basically $ 30 off the regular cost (valid for most cars year 2000 or newer) so I was out the door for under $ 50. Definitely recommend this place!

I always go to this place, I don’t think I can find any place cheaper and as fast as these guys.

So cool!!! Discount from Unilocal $ 20, I use Unilocal all the time, this place new clean and quick just 15 minute and done

The waiting area isn’t anything to rave about but what do you expect for a smog check station… magazines and a seat is all you need and is what you get.
I found the customer the service to be superb. Advice was just right, not too much, helpful and valuable. Open til 6pm. Fast, easy, convenient. Exactly what I wanted and what I got.
Be sure to print any coupons you may have. And BTW, if you are a first time customer, check the website for a special.

The previous review was the reason why I went here. I paid a total $ 58.00 for the certificate and the smog test. He honored the Unilocal check in offer for a 1995 or newer car. The location is perfect as well since its right next to Starbucks and 5 mins from the DMV.
The service was great and it got done in less than 20 mins.
definitely recommend!!!

I almost didn’t come to Smog Depot today due to the 4÷1÷13 and the 09÷14÷11 posts stating it must be under new management. I am grateful that I called to check if the management had changed. The answer was no. I have been going to this smog testing site for 9 years. The technician Jarred Hanks is a very nice man. I have always been treated with the utmost respect. I have an old Toyota T-​100 1995 pick up 230,000 miles and a 2004 Sienna XLE 157,000 miles.
Today it took 20 minutes and I was done. My 1995 passed. My experience was very positive. I wonder if the negative comments are for the station up the road and reviewers are possibly confusing the two?
Jarred is the only technician at this shop and he will take all the time you need to answer questions regarding smog testing. This is a Star Station. I will only come here because this is the only establishment I trust doing my smog testing.
What I understand about this company is that the retest is free and he will tell you the part (s) you need to pass the retest.

I took an older car here for a smog.
I used to be a regular customer over the years but I think the owner/​management changed? Used to be a nice tall thin guy there that was very friendly, helpful and non-​judgmental about the dirty jalopies I brought there on a regular basis.
The first time I took the car in I know it wouldn’t pass but I didn’t have the time to get the repairs done. I needed to show DMV that the car failed so I could get a red temporary sticker. I was with a gentleman who was a mechanic who knew what the problem was with the car but didn’t have the time to fix it.
Now let’s start with the crappy service I got from the tech. Instead of talking TO ME ABOUT MY CAR he talked to the gentleman about the car. The tech didn’t know he was a mechanic he just assumed that because he was a male and with me he was a boyfriend that tinkered with the car.
It’s usually the same guy there in the morning. Kinda rude has a arrogant know-​it-​all demeanor. Not very friendly and lacks the most basic things anyone in a service industry should possess. Not polite, does not give much information on your car.
He did say the timing was off. He told me that I needed to take it to a «reputable» mechanic who knew what they were doing. He asked me if i knew any mechanics and I told him yes he told me to bring it back after the timing was corrected.
I had my mechanic fix the car. I took it back in today. He asked me if I was able to get the car fixed and I told him yes. Then he asks me IF HE CAN SEE THE RECEIPT FROM THE AUTO BODY SHOP THAT REPAIRED MY CAR!!!
WTF? Are you serious right now? Told him I didn’t have it. but the car passed anyway. If I didn’t already pay for the 1^st smog I wouldn’t have come back. Extremely rude sexist, I could not believe it!
I am NEVER coming back here.

This place is being reported to BBB, and I’m sure we are not the only ones reporting. They charged us 89.95 we failed but worse… they refused to tell us why we didn’t pass!
I had gone here years ago and there was a nice guy there I think this is under new management!
When I called to ask a question this rude person hung up on me when I told him I didn’t need an «attitude.»
What a waste of money and honestly as a resident and taxpayer and business owner here myself, it disgusts me to know there’s a local business here blood sucking and stealing from it’s own community.
BBB here comes my claim! Stay away from here!!!

I second the previous poster as well. The technician told me the job would be done in 30 minutes and after an hour, he was still looking under the hood and flipping through papers to «figure out» my car. Once in a while another technician would come out and give him guidance. I asked how much longer he would need since he quoted 30 minutes and I had an appointment to get to and he rudely replied «I’ll be done when I’m done!». Very unprofessional service for being a «certified» test only station! Don’t waste your time here folks! Get treated better elsewhere.

Smog Stations and technicians must follow state guidelines and or procedures when performing official smog inspections. If you have questions or concerns about how an inspection was conducted, it may be helpful to review the Smog Inspection Procedures Manual. You may find this on the California State Bar website
Technicians/​Stations get penalized and fined by the bureau, if the technician would have passed your vehicle when it should fail, his job and or license may be in jeopardy. I don’t see where the technician did anything wrong in your case. The visual inspection is a part of the Smog Inspection, so it sounds like he was just following guidelines and or procedure. Most technicians will not show you on your vehicle what failed so if he took the time to show you that the tri-​prong plastic connector on your Camry was missing, it sounds like he went above and beyond. Once the smog test is initialized the technician has to proceed w/​the smog test because there may be more than one item that fails.
I am a loyal repeat customer and anytime I’ve come into Smog Depot for a smog test, Jarred Hanks has always taken the time to explain and help me to understand any questions or concerns I may have. I am sorry you feel cheated but from just reading your story it sounds like the technician was just doing his job.
Test only smog stations are not generally cheaper because they do not do repairs. The shops that do repairs are generally cheaper because they make money when you fail because generally you get the repair work done at the same place. So your 29.99 failure turns into a $ 300 repair. Test only stations were created to give consumers the option to go to a place that would not fail a car that did not truly require repair work just to make money. Because a test only cannot perform repairs, they have no bias to fail you and are prohibited by law from referring you to a repair shop (so they won’t back door you, either). Most stations charge for a re-​test, most that offer pass or don’t pay only extend the offer if the vehicle is repaired at the shop.

TOTAL RIP OFF. First off, their base price for a standard smog is $ 79.75. When I balked at the price and started to walk away, Jarred Hanks, their technician, offered to give me a $ 30.00 discount. At $ 50.00, it was still more than I expected to pay but I was there already so I agreed.
About 30 minutes later, my car, a 2006 Toyota Camry, was returned to me and I was informed that it failed due to not passing the VISUAL inspection. It passed Emissions but Jarred showed me that one of the nipples to the tri-​prong plastic connector for the vacuum lines was broken. I was then informed that once I got it fixed I could pay $ 38.25 for a retest + certificate. What?! $ 88.00 for a smog test?! I mean, why not tell me that I failed the visual inspection first so I could get the problem fixed since the car wouldn’t pass at this point regardless?!
I went to Kragen and bought the broken part for $ 1.99 and installed it in about 2 minutes. But given that they wanted to double charge me I decided to go to Berkeley Smog instead — I didn’t want to give those crooks any more of my money. At Berkeley Smog I was In and out for 40 bucks and it only took around 15 minutes.
Smog Depot is set up to fleece you of as much of your money as they can get. A customer service oriented business would have told me that I’d need to replace the part before running the test. Or at least offer a free retest once the problem is taken care of. I’ve already contacted the Bureau of Automotive Repair about Smog Check’s questionable business practices. Hopefully this review will help someone else avoid getting ripped off like I was.

1 hour max wait today. $ 29.95 w/​coupon + $ 10 w/​sketch = $ 40 overall cost, the cheapest value compared to all places around.
Remember where you found this out from or else your car won’t pass.

Could this be? No way, right?
I went today to the Smog Depot to get my ’05 car smogged. I had taken my older ’91 car there earlier this year, and they were nice enough and the guy there was very straightforward. Nothing to Unilocal about, but trust in the automotive service industry is everything, so I went back to them again to smog my ’05 car.
I pulled up today and there were quite a few cars ahead of me, so i asked how long the wait would be. The guy said about an hour, and as I got to talking about my car, he took a quick look under the hood and recommended that I take it somewhere else for 2 reasons:
1) Being an ’05, I could take it to any smog check place and not just a «test only» location, so I’d save $ 30-​$ 40 somewhere else. He said he could still do it if I wanted, but just wanted to let me know before I waited around to discover that. Good man.
2) I had made a few mods under the hood, so he recommended some «changes» so that it would more easily pass smog to save myself some time. Great man.
So this great guy, whose name I didn’t get, helped me save both time and money today just by taking 1 minute to look at my car all in good faith. I honestly can’t believe that just happened today. Such a wonderful experience. With an ethic like that, of course I’m going to continue to support this business with my older cars. And since I’m a car guy and people ask me all the time for both car purchase and repair questions, in the future whenever someone asks me which «test only» smog place I recommend, my one and only answer will be «The Smog Depot in El Cerrito.» Thank you guys!