Star Auto Service

So happy to have across this mechanic shop very honest, reliable and affordable I highly recommend this shop will diffenatly come back

Never had a worse service!

I went in today to see about getting the pump replaced. It’s leaking. Again. They wouldn’t replace it this time. They said it was beyond the warranty period although it isn’t.

Horrible mechanic and bad service. Avoid this place just like how the other reviews say. Unknowlegable and flat out rude. They charged my freind 300 $ to replace some spark plug wires and change a crankshaft sensor. They assured me the car wouldn’t stall anymore after that. What do you know a few hours later it stalls and now the check engine light comes on. I call Scott the next morning to ask why and he was rude to me saying it was my fault that we didn’t have the money to actually fix the car and cussing at me telling me to get a better car right before hanging up on me. Avoid this place at all cost! Just like the other reviews said this place will scam you out of your money without ever fixing anything at all then blame you for it. We all learned the hard way, learn from us and take your car elsewhere.

This place totally took advantage of me. I rolled in with a flat and the guy stood by his «standard» rate of $ 35 to swap out a tire. This price ONLY included mounting and balancing one tire… ONE TIRE! I thought about using my AAA to take my car to a different shop, but the extra $ 15 – 20 that I was paying this shop wasn’t worth waiting for a tow truck. I had to suck it up. It gets worse. My rim was black around the lip from whatever grease they use to mount tires and they didn’t even torque my wheel down, they used an air gun! I will never take my car here again. When I was paying, I mentioned to the cashier that $ 35 is pretty expensive to mount and balance one tire, and the guy tried to convince me that this is the going rate. I regularly track my car and have to mount and balance tires pretty often. The most expensive I’ve paid from any shop was $ 25, until now. I usually pay $ 10-​$ 20 per tire for mount and balance. Beware of this shop, overrpriced, and they don’t even do a good job.

My husband found Star Auto while driving to find the nearest mechanic after our car started making really loud noises. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to look around for the best auto shop due to our car needing urgent attention. He met with Scott, who turned out to be one of the nicest people we ever met. Scott gave my husband an estimate for a new transmission that we needed. Unsure if it was a reasonable estimate, I contacted other mechanics to check around. It turned out that the estimate was more than generous, it was a true bargain!
I went in to pick up the car and met Scott for the first time. My husband had already informed me that he was a nice guy, but when I met him it just confirmed what my husband told me. Scott took the time to explain his service in detail. He explained what went wrong with the car, what the shop did to resolve the problem, what I could expect from the service, etc. I was very impressed with the level of detail that he provided, plus our car drove like a true champ after I picked it up… it felt like a new vehicle. Star Auto was so outstanding that my husband and I decided to take our other car in to fix the breaks. Once again, we had outstanding service! Our breaks were not only fixed, Scott even threw in a free car wash where his team even cleaned the inside of our car. The whole Star Auto team was so friendly and efficient – contrary to what I read in the other reviews online. To be honest, when I read those reviews, I was apprehensive about coming to Star Auto but since it happened to be the closest mechanic my husband found after our car was in need of immediate attention, I called it a «happy accident.»
My husband and I had the absolute best experience at Star Auto. Not all mechanics just want to rip people off and Star Auto proves that by the way they conduct business.
Thank you, Scott and the whole Star Auto Team!

I have been going here for a long time and really liked them. I trusted them and thought that they had really good prices. After getting a second opinion on an expensive repair quote for something unrelated for the issue that I brought it in for (and they didn’t even fix what I originally brought it in for???), I found out that they charged me 5 times more for parts that I could buy myself retail, and to make it worse they get these parts for wholesale prices. I also found out that I didn’t even need to do the repair! Do not trust these people. They must be starving for business to rip off a long-​time customer.

no go!!!
$ 120 for a simple bypass of the heater core (half an hour labor max). They didn’t check the bypass so they overlooked a big leak in the cooling system which they caused with the bypassing. I had to tow my car back to the service station.
caution!!!

I paid $ 80 for this place to make a full inspection of my car because my engine was stalling, they concluded that nothing was wrong with it and sent me on my way. A month later the same problem occurs and this time the engine wouldn’t start at all. So we took it to our dealer and it turned out the fuel pump was damaged. As it turns out it could have been avoided had the problem been caught earlier, but instead we paid $ 900 to replace the entire thing. This is definitely not the place to bring your car if it’s experiencing serious problems.

Star Auto Service is a great place for the smaller jobs like changing your oil or a brake light! But trying to get a decent price on any major work seems to be a different story.
Now I honestly wanted to give them a higher rating because the are so good with oil and light repairs so I will break it down for you Unilocalers.
Speed and Convenience 4-​Star
Service — friendly knowledgeable 4-​Star
Mechanics — fast 3-​Star
Price — Smaller jobs great 3-​Star
Price — Major work EXPENSIVE 0-​Star
I called in this morning talked with Hugo to check on a radiator for a 1998 Honda CRV and was a little surprised at what he was looking to charge of $ 520
My Price 1998 Honda CRV Radiator $ 88-​$ 150 New, Star Auto Service $ 359 over 100% markup and 2 hours of labor. Mechanic’s hourly rate in the area is 60 – 80 they are charging $ 80.00
I advised Hugo that he is charging me two times what I can get the part myself he advised that was the best he could do and that I might want to talk with Joey or I could buy the part and they would install it for $ 80.00 hour ummmmm, No Thanks.
Called back and spoke with Joey and he offered to do the job for $ 400 still $ 50 higher then H & A Auto in Costa Mesa and I will still have Joey and Hugo do my oil and standard maintenance.
Take care,
Tat