Ramona Automotive

I am a mechanic by trade but I’ve been so busy with work I figured I’d let them do some extra work on my vehicle when it was getting smogged. Their work was so good that I’ve now in the last month brought my third vehicle over to them to do all sorts of repairs that I have been putting off. Great shop!

I love these people… Today…it was pouring rain and my 2002 VW New Beetle drivers window decided to go down for good. Not good in the pouring rain. I called them, went in right away and they helped me immediately and stayed with my car until it got put back together. Now for those that don’t know… the door had to be taken apart to diagnose the problem. Put it back together, after the window was held up and clear taped to hold it up. They gave me the pricing for the FIX, and a bill for the time spent. I was there for about 1 ½ hours, and the bill was very reasonable at 49 bucks. I certainly cannot complain about that. I was happy with the Service. There were other customers coming in and going and getting their cars taken care of as well. VERY Nice people there and I will go back again. Thank you Chris and Judy.
I want to add that last year about Nov 2014 the Owner at that time let us know he was selling the business to New Owners. So some of the older reviews are for the Previous Owner. Previous Owner was great too, He ran an Honest and Fair business. New Owners seem to be doing the same thing. Honest and upfront about what is going on with your car and what the costs will be when done. 5 Stars from me, on both owners. Good Service all around.

I usually do my own service but I use Ramona Automotive for smogs. They’ve always been honest, pleasant, and easy to deal with. As any business they have changed mechanics and owners over the years but I have always been quite happy with them. The last issue I had was the locking gas cap failed the vacuum test on my motorhome. I still had the original gas cap so they let me put that back on and it passed just fine. :)

Honest. Simple. Chris politely greeted me via telephone and also in person. Quick to diagnose my vehicle’s problem. Upfront about the costs. We were looking for a mechanic in Ramona. Referred to by a friend for their honest service. They’ve been in business for 34 years. Give them a try. You won’t be disappointed.

I’m not very impressed with this shop. I was reccomended this place by a friend and I was very disappointed. They’re not friendly at all, I think I’ve come in three times and was pretty much talked to like I was stupid, though I never demanded that it was a certain promblem with my car when I’ve come in only explained what was going on with it and what I thought it might be, Steve still talked to me like I was clueless. I had an alternator go out and they had fixed it and car ran well after. But about two years later it went out again, thank goodness for the warranty that they honored or I wouldn’t have given them any stars. On another occasion, I had them change a hose for me. A few months ago, I also had a noise that was coming from the passanger side down near the tire and he had told me I needed new brakes, which I was shocked because it hadn’t been very long since I had the pads changed. After he replaced those I left and the sound was still there. A few weeks later i’m on the freeway and hear a terrible noise when I’m turning like its crunching metal and after the poor customer service there I finally decided I didn’t want to deal with them anymore and took it elsewhere. Come to find out it was the axel and wheel baring that needed replacing. Honestly, if they had better customer service I probably would have kept coming back, but sadly they lost a customer.

This is a repair shop that offers smog check and that seems to be the vast majority of business. It s only open Mon-​Fri and an appointment is typically necessary. The guys here have been doing smogs forever and know all the fine points to finessing vehicles that can be otherwise challenging to get to pass. Nothing dishonest, just insight and experience of why some models of car have problems passing smog and how to get the best test out f them. Ultimately, it can save lots of trips for testing and lots of unnecessary repairs.

These guys, Steve and his employees, are honest and competent. I have been using them, exclusively, for 25 years. They always fix the correct thing. I have never had to bring my car back a 2^nd time. Over the years my family has had several Ford trucks, a Honda, a Toyota, a Chevrolet blazer and a Class C motor home repaired correctly at Steve’s shop.

Had to get my car smogged — first time in ages since I’ve had to do that! Unfortunately it didn’t pass the first time around bc of a stupid error w/​my check engine light, so I had to drive another day till it reset itself. It did pass the second time around. They were most helpful and pretty quick about it. The only reason I gave em 4stars is they are priced a little high and I wasn’t aware that I’d have to pay for a re-​check until I brought it back the next day =(the kind gentleman did give me a little break on the price for the recheck thoough and I greatly appreciated it. Would def take my car back and recommend them — they seem to be fair, as long as you know up front what you’re charges are. =’]’

Has been in town since the 1970’s and looks like he has the solid clientelle to back it up. Been going there for years– Provides solid advice and outstanding service. Not to mention… He’s my dad!—