Shadetree Automotive

When you want a mechanic you can trust — this is it! Dan is the best and the staff is amazing! Thank you so much for taking great care of our cars!

I’ve been taking my family Autos, ’68 Bug I still own and others, to Shadetree Automotive since the 70“s, when Fred ran the Place. You won’t find a better Repair station in South Orange County. They have always treated me fairly, worked efficiently on my cars. Always kept me informed on progress of any repairs, smog checks that were being done. I would highly recommend Shadetree Automotive in San Clemente and south Orange County area for your car repair needs.
Craig W.

I want to start out by saying that I’ve known Paul and his family since I moved to San Clemente 16 years ago. My son went to elementary school with his kids and they were great friends. He’s a good guy with solid values. In the past Shadetree has been known around San Clemente as a great air-​cooled VW shop. In fact, for the last several years they were the only place you could get an old air-​cooled VW smogged. I have a 77 Westfalia, and when I first bought it I took it to my previous mechanic, Carlos at Klink’s in south San Clemente, and he looked at me, shook his head and said «what did you do, Bob?» I told him I needed to get it smogged, and he sent me to Shadetree. They called me a couple days after I dropped it off, and told me they wouldn’t work on it. They said it had too much mechanical rust. So I picked it up and asked around and was told about Doug Perrault on Los Obreros, who rebuilt the exhaust and got her running. Took it back to Shadetree and they reluctantly got her to pass smog. Every 2 years since I have had to literally BEG Paul to smog my bus. This summer I drove it to Tofino BC and back. You can follow me at
It’s a great vehicle, just a lot of rust. Today I went by for my annual begging session, and was told by the guy behind the counter that there was no way Paul would smog test my bus. He was arrogant and dismissive. I mentioned that Paul said this ever year, but relented when I began sobbing. He said «Paul’s not here, but if you want to keep coming back until you see him so he can tell you that himself, be my guest.» What an asshat. So now I will have to trek up to Costa Mesa and send my money out of town. It’s shame that he’s abandoned the VW community here in San Clemente.

I have never done a Unilocal review before and I have not been to Shadetree automotive yet but I am looking for a mechanic in SC so I am reading reviews and I have to say that I am very impressed that the owner has taken the time to respond to the reviews (both good and bad) and they are now on the top of my list of mechanics to call Monday morning for my car repairs. I’m looking forward to doing business with them.

Very professional. .great service. Worked with Will for smog and AC repair. Quick service not over charging.

Very professional and accommodating. They squeezed me in for a quick smog check without an appointment. Very knowledgable staff and mechanics. 100% A++.

I now remember why I stopped going to Shadetree, Will, the service writer is the worst. He over extends the needed repairs in my opinion. I brought my car in for repair, to an auto repair place. Give me the straight talk, tell me my options clearly, and in $$ figures. I didn’t get that with Will. Never again Shadetree!

These guys are awesome. My car broke down in the middle of the night on the freeway, and I had no idea where to take it in the morning. Southern California auto club recommended them, so I have them tow it over there. These guys were friendly, reasonably priced, and helpful. In fact, they were uncomfortable trying to fix one of my car’s problems, so they recommended somebody else instead of trying to do it themselves like so many other companies would. To top it off, they actually helped me coordinate the towing of my vehicle to another specialist, and actually paid cash to the tow driver because I wasn’t there, and just let me pay them back.
I would go out of my way to use these guys, so should you.

Took our van here for a smog check and they saw us without an appointment. We returned later with our 2^nd vehicle. They were fast and called when the cars were done. Very friendly and it’s walking distance to the beach or grab a bite to eat at the surrounding restaurants.

Friendly auto repair place. Only had oil changed but was able to get same-​day service, and completed in under an hour. Waiting area is small but clean and comfortable with plenty of People magazines. I overheard the Customer Service rep tell someone that the only things they don’t do there are tires & alignments or bodywork.

I have taken my Vehicle to Shadetree on several occasions, and the Service team their is fantastic. Dan is professional and great to work with.
Both times I have had work done, it was done right, in a timely manner, and at a fair price.
Highly recommend!

The two times that I have been there, the mechanics have been honest and professional. I would recommend!

They couldn’t figure out what was causing the noise my 2008 Jetta (with only 52k miles on it) was making, so they suggested I keep driving it until the problem gets EVEN WORSE, at which point they MIGHT be able to figure out what the problem is. That is not only not professional, it’s not safe, or intelligent. They suggested that I drive it on the crowded socal freeways until my car breaks down, instead of admitting their incompetence and recommending I take it to a more qualified mechanic. They said the alternative would cost thousands and would involve disassembling my car with barely over 50k miles on it. I took it to VW the next day and got it fixed for $ 150 (which is the same price Shadetree charged me for looking at the car and not doing anything to it).
At Shadetree Automotive you will find an incompetent staff with an ego problem that prevents them from being honest with customers.

Shadetree takes great care of all my cars (and I have a lot). Wil and Dan are always helpful and make sure that I am informed all along the way when they are servicing my cars. They have kept my older cars in such great shape, I wouldn’t go anywhere else.

I initially brought my 1995 Grand Cherokee to Shadetree to have my catalic converter replaced in 2003. Since then, I’ve been very impressed with their honesty & friendly service. Sadly, when I bought my 2006 Subaru in 2005 — I had to find another mechanic. My husband didn’t trust the Costa Mesa mechanic because he charged us enormous amount for parts & labor. His service was sloppy and he was another typical mechanic that would fix something and break something else. So I had to deal with trying other Subaru mechanics for a few more years, until recently Shadetree started working on Subaru cars. They do not do major repairs, but they are pretty honest about what service needs to be done and they also would give an estimate to how much service & parts would cost if you ask them. I always brought my cars into Shadetree for simple services. I’m still a very happy customer!

These guys are as good as it gets. I own a 2006 Chevy HHR, and have turned to these guys for everything from steering column issues to «I hear a funny noise». In one instance they copied a recall notice from Chevy regarding steering column issues and sent me back to the deler for a warranty repair. You can’t more honest than that. They are the best
Sue E.

They stand behind their work and always treat us like a customer that wants to know the best options.

I have taken my ’04 Toyota 4 Runner to Shadetree Automotive twice to get repairs and have had nothing but A++ service. They are also a AAA recommended and seem to honor all of the specifics of that agreement. The price seemed fair and their diagnostics were top notch.

I have been taking my car (well actually my boyfriend takes it for me) to Shadetree for the last year or so, probably 4 times in total. I have a 2002 VW Jetta that I had previously taken to the dealer ever since a purchased the car, new from a VW dealer. When I moved into this area last year, I tried going to the dealer in San Juan Capistrano and they told me I needed a lot of work that I felt was unnecessary and, I believe, overcharged me for the work I had done that day. The next time my car needed service, needless to say, I did not want to go there again! I found Shadetree online, offering service for German cars (in addition to others) and they seemed well-​established in the neighborhood for many years so I decided to give them a try. They have done a good job keeping my car running well, in addition to providing very good, reliable, timely and reasonable service. It can be difficult to find a mechanic you can trust and so far, they have proven themselves to be worthy of a recommendation!!!

I took my car to these guys for a smog check, left it with them. Came back an hour later and they said it failed, had a long list of things that were supposedly wrong with it and how much it was going to cost me to fix. I’m pretty mechanical so I looked at the list with some skepticism and took it with me. The car drove there just fine, but would barely stay running when I tried to drive it back, I had to keep my foot down on the accelerator to keep it idling, could barely get it out of their lot as they stood around snickering watching me pull out. Made it less than a block away, as far as the corner when I couldn’t keep it running anymore and pulled into the car wash. I popped the hood, these bozos had pulled off ALL of my vacuum lines, no wonder it didn’t pass smog. I put the vacuum to the brake booster back on and that was enough to get it home.
I went home, put all the vacuum lines back on the car, they had just left them sitting there. I went back a week later to ask them to recheck the car, this time I wasn’t going to leave it unattended. They wanted to charge me again for the test even though it said pass or retest for free, they told me that was ONLY if I had them do the work (basically steal money from me to put my vacuum lines back on) isn’t this illegal in CA? At very least it is VERY unethical. I wasn’t going to give these thieves any more of my hard earned money so I took it to another smog station down the street where it passed easily. The operator of that shop said he wasn’t surprised to hear that about Shadetree as he heard all kinds of other stories about them and asking around town, telling my story I’ve heard other stories where these guys have ripped off others. VERY BAD GUYS, DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY!!!