Antich Automotive

I hard car issues this past Saturday in Arcata. We drove 6 hours the night before to come watch my daughter graduate from Humboldt. The morning of the graduation, the check engine light came on and I had an engine malfunction. Antich Automotive was the only place available for Saturday service. They took care of the issue and we were good to go after making it to my daughters graduation. Very helpful and knowledgable mechanics and staff!

The alternator in my 2002 Subaru Outback failed in December of 2014. I had my car towed from Arcata down to Antich in Eureka because a friend of mine was having work done on his car there at the time. Sure, why not.
They phoned me when the new alternator came in, and said they ordered the wrong one and it would be one more day until its fixed, I said that was fine.
After the repair, a week later I still had the same dash warning lights as I had before when the alternator was failing. In March 2015, I was towed to Antich again for a no-​start. The determined it was corroded battery cables, and cleaned and re-​clamped them.
May 31^st I was 400 miles into a 500 mile moving trip when the alternator failed. I was towed to a nearby shop off of I-​5 and my family picked me up. This shop said the alternator was bad and replaced it, my Napa Autocare warranty paid for the repair except for a small part of the bill. I picked up the car 2 days later. Perhaps they just matched parts?
July 11, the 2^nd new alternator failed. THIS IS GETTING ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS.
I researched shops in the city where my parents live, made sure it was a Napa autocare center, and dropped it off for repair. This shop called the next day and confirmed my fear, my car didn’t even have the right alternator in it!!! They put in the right one and replaced a bad battery terminal.
The paper trail of invoices shows the part number from the repair at Antich is the wrong alternator for my car, and this is where all of my trouble probably started… They even called to say they got the wrong one and were getting the right one. I don’t even know… I just know the 4 cylinder alternator will not run my 6 cylinder car for long, and this has been one of the biggest pains in my a$$ for 7 months.
$ 636 my original cost, and Napa «Peace of Mind Warranty» paid $ 1,022 total to fix this problem.
My insurance towed me 3 times for free.
A bit pricey… I liked them at first, but I probably won’t be back.

Javier is awesome! He was very genuine and honest. Good neighborhood shop, I’ll definitely return when my car needs a maintenance job.

Walked in a couple days ago and explained my problem with my vehicles engine light and that I needed it repaired and knew the code and parts needed for the repair. Made it clear I would not like to pay for a full vehicle inspection I was told they would see me first come first serve first in the morning and check my engine light to confirm the code and start the ordering process without doing/​charging a full diagnostic. Sounded great and the gentlemen seemed genuinely concerned with my needs and I was content. Showed up in the morning to some «new guy» who was «looking» for my info from the day prior. And what seemed like every employee in the shop at one time in a small office. Explained my wants/​needs about not wanting them to conduct a full vehicle inspection. Was told that that’s how they do it and they would need to do a full vehicle inspection. So nobody’s on the same page and communication obviously doesn’t exist here so I left respectfully and went somewhere else that actually came from around a desk and shook my hand and came out to my vehicle with me and met my needs as a repair shop. Im willing to pay more $$$ somewhere else for better service and respect

Antich Automotive portrays itself as trustworthy and honest – but they are far from.
First, in December, I was quoted for a coolant hose replacement and valve cover replacement for $ 700. One week after having my vehicle there they called back with a revised estimate of $ 1700 for the timing belt to be included in the service. I bit the bullet and agreed to the work. Almost one week following I was again given a new final estimate of $ 1950 with no significant change in parts or labor from the second estimate.
When I went to pick up my vehicle they had billed me for $ 2700 and some change. After thorough examination I found over $ 450 worth of double billed labor and parts causing a huge concern. After nearly 1 hour of discussion and «amendments» we settled on $ 2350 – a huge bait and switch from where they initially began.
One week following the return of my vehicle, a coolant hose that was over-​tightened by their technician was cut open leaving me stranded. After much reluctance from the shop, they acknowledged their mistake and replaced the hose without cost.
Not less than 5 days later; the original coolant hose sought to be replaced initially was in fact ever replaced. After having to prove my case to Mike (owner/​manager) and to John (ASE) and Allan the receptionist they agreed to ensure the hose was replaced – only after attempts to bill me because the specific hose was not documented by their technician. Agreeing to this labor; we: Mike, John, and Allan, and I agreed that all coolant hoses would be replaced to prevent future occurrences. This work order was taken with the understanding that the majority of the parts had to be removed from the engine bay to address the original hose in question. Mike, John, and Allan as a witness verbally agreed all coolant hoses would be replaced with the agreement that I would pay for parts followed by a handshake. They held onto the truck for about 1 week to address these concerns and issues.
6 months down the road, well within their 3yr/​36k warranty, a coolant heater hose failed. Upon taking it to the shop with confidence in their warranty and understanding due to our past historical trends in failed work, I was immediately rejected warranty coverage due to the lack of detail noted by the technician in the account.
Mike, owner/​manager, and Allan who were a big part of the discussion when addressing the trends and concerns I had for their work, liability, and understanding claimed amnesia only 6 months after multiple instances of work orders and intense discussion. Mike refused to acknowledge the verbal contract that took place to replace all coolant hoses and failed to honor his word and warranty. His receptionist Allan and Johnny who were aware of past work done due to my familiar face and vehicle (acknowledging remembering me when presenting myself 6 months prior), denied any discussion we had regarding the two occurrences I had to return to the shop due to coolant hose work not being completed and final visual/​test inspections not performed.
Amongst other issues; John an ASE technician blatantly lied to my face about having difficulty finding a reliable supplier for my vehicles parts – who was cut short by Mike in the background stating they had found a reliable source and that John was misleading me. John was also the individual who denied that I indicated the culprit coolant line initially when the same coolant line was leaking on my second returned trip. Fortunately Mike was present when I initially indicated the faulty line and accepted responsibility to replace the line. This is when we made the contractual agreement to replace all coolant lines that was in the end not performed or acknowledged.
Mike, owner/​manager, spoke with me during a courtesy ride to work when the shop was replacing the original coolant hose that was supposed to be replaced initially, about how he was a Christian follower who sought only the best for people and making sure that we are honest, caring, and concerned individuals. 6 months later when presented with these concerns of business, liability, and trust, Mike has failed to acknowledge any work due to Allan and the technician not specifically notating all coolant hoses were being replaced; but, instead only notated the estimated part (s) costs. Due to this incompetency they are attempting to deny coverage and insisted to bill the customer (me).
This trend in work demonstrates the lack of trust and follow-​through Antich Automotive suggests they stand by. Having 3 recurrent visits totaling to having my vehicle in their shop for a total of 1+ months and over $ 2600 spent, Mike and Allan with Antich Automotive failed to back their work and contractual work agreements. This (in)competency is great reason to AVOID Antich like the plague.

You’d seriously be better off going to the dealership!
1^st visit — they fixed the problem, but instead of just repairing the part that was broken, they replaced the whole assembly around it, turning a $ 500 job into a $ 1000 job, just so they can say «its warrantied»
2^nd visit — $ 100 just for them to look at it? Hmm. okay, I paid, but when they told me what was wrong with my vehicle and gave me their repair estimate of $ 700 for a simple problem, i went to someone who would do it for half the price. That mechanic determined that Antich’s diagnosis was totally wrong, he even showed me that the multiple parts that they wanted to replace work perfectly fine. Seems like this is the case of a mechanic looking up said vehicle with said problem in a book and picking a solution that might or might not fix the problem.
I wouldn’t recommend this shop to anyone unless you like to overpay heavily and fix things that don’t need fixing.

Great service! The fellas here aren’t out to take advantage of you. They took care of us quickly and made honest recommendations. They even washed the car for us!

This is a good shop as long as you don’t NEED your car. I took my ’98 Buick Park Ave in to have it serviced, oil change, and other typical winter services. I brought it in last Wednesday afternoon, and it took them til Friday to tell me that it needed a transmission service, and to recommend a coolant pressure test. The test showed that it needed a water pump and thermostat. I told them to do it, and they had it til about lunch time Monday. All this time, there was zero communication with me. I had to call and pester them to find out what was going on with my car. I don’t know if this is standard operating procedure for auto shops in Humboldt County, but this is completely unacceptable. I would take the car back to them, but I don’t have a week at a time to wait for it to be done. If a shop in Santa Rosa operated like this, they wouldn’t be in business very long. My advice for Humboldt State University students who moved here for school, take your car back to your hometown to get it serviced, and only take it to a Humboldt shop if it’s an emergency. This is a really poor business model, and if it’s an indication of how Humboldt operates, no thanks. I will be leaving Humboldt as quickly as I can after graduating from HSU.

bought in a truck that needed a
had passed smog 6months earlier but had been sitting, thats all i was able to tell them. they did all the standard smog repairs, lcv, catalytic converter, tune up. the vehicle ran higher numbers on the second pretest. this truck was definitely a problem vehicle as far as smog was concerned, but they immediately took it back and did some repairs on the house since it had been a difficult diagnosis. they then took it and smogged it. customer service was good and they will shuttle you home if necessary. expect to pay book rate for labor but the willingness to see the job through without gouging is worth it. thanks to John for putting up with my pestering and staying on top of it. Work completed quickly.

I went into Antich Automotive out of desperation, after taking my 4runner to many different shops with no results. Mike down at Antich was determined to find where the horrific noise was coming from and fix it, i just got my vehicle back yesterday and im so excited that they to be driving around with no screeching noises! Mike and everyone down at antich is extremely sweet and make you feel taken care of! I would and will recommend Antich to all my people!
Thank you Mike for your kindness!

Can’t thank this group enough in sooooo many ways! On a road trip from San Diego to Oregon in our rv, the starter died on a Friday afternoon, late! First, Buudy’s Auto Center tried to get us started, no luck, towed us to Antich Automotive after first setting up for Johnny to meet us at the closed auto yard, gave us the key to the back gate, locked us in as a «sleepover» for the night-​thank you for trusting us in your auto yard! Then, first thing Saturday morning confirmed starter died, got one in an hour, replaced it in the next couple of hours (while we went bike riding) and had us on our way by 1:00! Service rocked! Staff rocked! Thank you for looking out for us, this is the kind of service all companies should offer.

Highest marks! Honesty is really the number one thing I look for in a mechanic. The ever-​present sense that I’m being swindled is the most unpleasant thing about taking the car to the mechanic, so when I I find an honest mechanic that’s gold.
I was up from SF on my way into Six Rivers NF when my breaks developed a loud squeaking sound. Despite being excited to get to the camping I knew better than to head into the wilderness with vehicular problems. I was also anxious that a mechanic would take advantage of my situation to gouge me.
I found Antich Automotive on Unilocal,and couldn’t have been more pleased with my experience. Both the guy at the counter (Johnny) and the shop manager (John) listened to my story and made arrangements to fit me in although it was past noon when I arrived. They were extremely understanding and flexible.
Within an hour or so I was told the source of the noise was a glaze that had formed on the pads from over-​heating. This issue speaks to the BAD mechanic that sold me sub-​par pads when he said he was selling me premium pads. Antich assured me there was no safety issue in continuing with these pads, but they’d be happy to do the work to fix the problem, or not. I elected to keep moving on my trip, but I was incredibly grateful to have found a mechanic that didn’t take the opportunity to gouge me for a few hundred dollars and delay my trip by an entire day.

I am not from Eureka, just visiting some family and my car broke down the day I was supposed to leave. It was Friday at noon and they were the third shop I called (the first two couldn’t get me in until the following Wednesday and I had to be home Sunday). They told me to come right in. Diagnostics and the work took the mechanic a full six and a half hours — both he and the owner stayed late and went the extra mile to get the parts late on a Friday to make sure my car was working and I could leave the next day. The women at the front were great, the owner was great and the mechanic was great, especially considering I was sort of a stressed out mess about the whole situation. If I lived in Eureka, I would never take my car anywhere else. I highly recommend them!

My husband and I started taking both of our cars to Antich’s last year. They had come recommended and I had remembered my sister had used them years ago. From the front desk to the mechanics, everyone is professional, honest, and very helpful. I highly recommend, and appricate how they run thier bussiness.

Friendly and knowledgeable staff. A truly trustworthy and professional business.

Just wanted to say that Mike and Susan over at Antich Automotive did a fantastic job on our 2003 Honda Odyssey. We had some serious sounding trouble in the transmission. It first appeared that the transmission was going ka-​put. Mike and one of his mechanics felt that it was an ignition situation that was causing the transmission to shudder. They suggested a repair that was ¹⁄₃ the cost of replacing the tranny. I’m very happy with the work Antich did and would gladly talk to them the next time our cars need service.

I really like Antich Auto and plan on having them do all the maintenance on our two cars in the future. They do good work and I feel confident in their knowledge and ability.
It might seem unfair, but I’m giving them 3 instead of 4 stars for one thing that got to bugging me. Probably unfair because I wouldn’t be surprised if any other auto shops would have done the same thing. I also never brought it up with them as it didn’t bother me much at the time but started bugging me later.
I took my truck in for its first time service. My check engine light had started flashing earlier and I’d already had another shop check the trouble code (for free), but hadn’t yet had the problem repaired.
I brought the car in for service, told the guy at the counter my check engine light was on and it was because the #4 spark plug was misfiring. He said they’d check it out and I figured they probably read the code again just to make sure. They did and told me it was the #4 spark plug and it would cost $***** to replace all the plugs and wires. No problem.
It ended up being rather costly, which I expected, but they also charged me $ 124.00 for determining the problem (reading the trouble code). I just shrugged it off, at first. Then I got to thinking that I’d already told them what the problem was. Even if I hadn’t, seemed to me since they did the work they should have at least cut me some slack on the charge for reading the trouble code. I could see them charging the full price if I gave the repair work to someone else but not when they got the repair job.
I suppose other shops might well have charged me for reading the trouble code, too. It just seemed like an unfair charge so I’ll drop a star off their rating just to make myself feel better.

I love the service at Antich! I’ve been to quite a few local auto shops and this was the only one that valued my time and didn’t try to push unnecessary repairs on my vehicle. Friendly folks that are highly knowledgeable (plus they wash your car after every repair)!

Outstanding Service. Plus they have a little jelly bean machine with free Jelly bellies in the lobby.

Absolutely first-​rate. Mike, Barry, Steve and the rest of the Antich team really know how to take care of their customers. We’ve been taking our cars to them for three years and have never considered going anywhere else.
We were recently on vacation in Washington and had trouble with the windshield wipers on our Saturn, which we’d had trouble with before and the Antich guys had fixed for us. I called them about it and Mike tracked down a Napa shop in the area we were in that would honor the guarantee on the parts they had replaced. Turned out to be an unrelated problem, but if it had been the previously-​installed parts Mike’s help would have saved us big bucks. Just one example of great service out of many. And they always wash our cars for us, no matter what we bring them in for. Thanks guys!