Leo’s Auto Service

I just had my 98 van smogged here and Leo told me it did not pass, and that I needed to pay him $ 200 to replace 6 spark plugs, and get new plug wires and try again. I told him for that price I would do it myself. He then told me ok but it would cost another $ 30 to try again. The number that failed was measured HC at 33, when the limit is 31. I thought something was strange so I just took it right over to Ripon Smog, another local shop, and had them run the test without telling them about my situation. The van passed just fine, and the measured number for HC was 8. I drove back to Leo and confronted him. He acted very strange and then started to say his machine was just recalibrated the day before. Really? I said something is wrong with your machine and I’d like a refund, which he refused to do. PEOPLE OF RIPON, do not trust this guy, as he seemed in a hurry to do work on my van that did not need to be done!

So my alternator died on 5, barely into a long trip. I pull over in Ripon and limp to Leo’s. Saabs are weird cars that most mechanics refuse to work on because they are unfamiliar — I live in Davis and there are zero mechanics who will work on my car! Leo was the only mechanic in Ripon who said he’d replace it — he ordered the part same day, he gave me a ride to the hotel, and worked on my car from 9am-​4pm the next day. Despite admitted difficulty, he got me on the road within 24hrs, also changed my transmission fluid, and did it all within his initial estimate (definitely didn’t charge me for all the labor hours he put in). 5 months later I still have no issues. So, THANK YOU LEO! Saved me so much time and hassle and $.
Others reading these reviews — I suggest you actually read the 1 star reviews. One guy was upset his window didn’t work a year after he had Leo fix it with cheap refurbished parts which Leo had apparently already warned him about. What a fool! That reviewer needs a 1 star review on his intelligence — not for Leo’s shop!

Leo knocked himself out to get us back on the road. Alternator failed on the way to SF as we approached Ripon mid day on a Saturday. We were lucky enough to catch him just before he was about to call it a day. He stayed swapped out the alt twice, the first one delivered by the parts store was a dud. His price was fair and his additude was pleasant. Thank you Leo.

I think It is safe to say that I am only a voice of a much older person. Bad experiences happen to the best of us and am in agreement with the time and the cost put into repairs would add to the heat of dissatisfaction. Expressing is good ! We move on… The reading of negative commentary also raises curiosity to try them, don’t you think? The reading of negative commentary is also useful as a learning tool with room to grow on towards an improvement we hope for in any business. There is always that possibility. Just a «thought» as an opening line.
My gender is of no difference. I was taught at a young age by my parents that if you take care of what you value, it will last a long time. A perfect example to value and must admit is that it has been a lot of work in keeping up with maintenance to the vehicles like the ones I’ve owned, but then perhaps I’ve become proactive towards learning more about the car I drive to keep it running smoothly. Overtime, I’ve also learned that it is cheaper to repair a car that is in serviceable condition. My current car I own, is a 1996 Toyota Camry with its’ mileage as high as 3,012,000. As with anyone else, I depend on my car to get me where I need to go. After falling in love with Ripon and the impressive customer services from its local businesses, it was decided I’d seek out a good mechanic take over the needs of my car and a good one is hard to come by. Leo’s Automotive has impressed upon me his diligence to meet with my routine needs to my car and has met with my added request in replacing parts I knew were due or looked into. I am not only satisfied with his service or the reasonable cost he has charged me, I don’t think I had to look further for a more trustworthy mechanic to take care of my 1996 Toyota that continues to run smoothly after 2 ½ years. I think that I will continue coming to Leo especially when I consider shopping for a newer Toyota model car.

I agree with Mark B.; if there were a negative star option that is how I would rate Leo’s. I have actually never completed a Unilocal review before, I have only viewed others. This time I felt compelled to write a review so that I could prevent someone else from wasting their precious time and money at Leo’s. My husband went in for a simple smog test. Leo charged us $ 55 and told us that we did not pass smog and he didn’t know why, we would need to pay an additional $ 80 for a diagnostic test to figure out why we didn’t pass. We decided to leave… Another Smog place in town tested our car for free and gave us a complete diagnostic letting us know why our car wasn’t passing. The other place not only tested for free and gave us a diagnostic report, he also told us how much it would cost to make the repairs necessary. Leo is incompetent and unreliable.

It saddens me to have to write this review because when I first started taking my car here, I thought I had found a diamond in the rough…
Leo’s Auto Service is a small mechanic shop owned by Leo of course. I believe he has one employee who helps him work on the cars. I started bringing my car to him because he was local and his rates were reasonable. His labor rate is/​was $ 80/​hour.
I was having him do all the basics on my car, a 1992 Toyota Camry named «Body Beats» — oil changes, tune-​ups, smog checks etc. He did all of these things satisfactorily. Then one day one of my electric windows rolled down, and would not go back up, and before I could bring it in to get repaired, another window did the same thing. (in all honesty, 3 windows went out in a 6 month period, but I had one replaced by another mechanic in Ripon).
Leo repaired both windows. I think he charged me an hour of labor per window and installed new (rebuilt) regulators for each window. One thing that he did not make clear was the warranty on his work. Apparently he warranties his labor for 3 months and rebuilt parts are warrantied by the part shop (in my case a rebuilt regulator was warrantied for 6 months).
2 weeks after the repairs, one of the windows breaks again. Leo did the right thing and repaired it for free, no questions asked. Aside from the inconvenience of having to bring it back it was no big deal, hey shi* happens.
The bad experience, the one that caused my vow never to return to Leo, occurred a little over a year after the window repairs. The second window broke again. Leo refused to back his work, back the parts, or provide any customer service other than to quote me the price to repair it again. He even blamed me for cheaping out and getting rebuilt regulators. I don’t recall being offered any other option. I explained to him that it made no sense that the original regulators lasted 16 years but the ones he put in lasted 2 weeks and 13 months respectively. After 15 minutes of him refusing to offer me any sort of relief, I offered to pay for the part if he would install it for free. A fair deal because technically his time does not cost him anything, and I know he is never busy (maybe that should have been a clue from the beginning).
Well, now I am just ranting, but it really upsets me that he would not stand behind his work, and provided no customer service. I had been taking my car to him for a couple years, and had even referred 3 of my coworkers to him. I told Leo, that I would not be returning to him and that my coworkers would not either. Either he failed to see the bigger picture, or realized that we probably would not bring our cars back to him regardless of what he did to make things right.
Not to pile on, but to show that my case was not an isolated incident, one of my coworkers took his truck in when he was having transmission problems. Leo fixed the tranny with some minor tweaking only for it to go out on him again a week later. My coworker had to have his trucked towed to a different mechanic who ultimately repaired it correctly. Maybe we both could have saved some money had we taken it to a good mechanic the first time.