A To Z Transmission & Automotive

I’ve always used them for my transmission oil changes. Always on time and their work is flawless. Been a customer for over 7 years.

Just had my front brakes changed here and extremely satisfied. — Very knowledgeable and helpful staff — family owned. Do not push unnecessary sales. — Parts and labor total cost was over $ 100 LESS than other repair shops. — No wait, in-​and-​out within the hour. Definitely recommended A to Z Transmission & Automotive.

The worst! Not only did he do bad work that wasn’t needed, he broke the backlight of the gear shift and wouldn’t fix it without charging even more although it was working when I brought it in. He’s a scam and doesn’t care about repeat business. I had to spend even more money at a reputable shop to repair the damage he did and blamed me for taking his word then called me a liar. He needs to change business to A to Z Rip-​Off Artist. Maybe he should go to school or just snatch purses off the street. Try flipping burgers for a while and see how hard people work for the money you steal.

This place was the talk of the town at one time, but suffered through some bad years of management as well as questionable employees, as a lot of you know. Glad to say now things have turned around again! They’ve made a serious effort to erase the bad reputation they had and it shows! My wife’s been there recently a couple of times, and she felt good that they were honest, didn’t try to push a bunch of extras on her, got her work done quickly, and the price was right! It’s important to get the job done right the first time, and they came through! Looks like they’re back, and wouldn’t you know it, so are we!

Very reliable and trust worthy business they repaired the transmission The work was done on time The price was fair I would highly recommend this place to any of my friends!

Worst place ever! My car was overheating, they changed 2 hoses for $ 600 dollars… a week later it was still over heating. I called and said they only warranty the hoses nothing else… now having to take the car to a reputable shop! These people are rip offs!!!

Update: what ended up being wrong with my car was a bearing on the AC compressor. The sound was so loud that I just had to drive it by my new mechanic and they knew what was wrong. For the diagnostic fee I paid the mechanics at this shop should have been able to figure that out.

DO NOT BUY A LIVINGSOCIAL DEAL FOR THIS COMPANY.
I purchased a livingsocial deal for A to Z Transmission and Automotive’s Canyon Country location for $ 30, which included «Three Full-​Service Oil Changes, Two Complete Tire Rotations, Two Flat Tire Repairs, Engine Light Diagnostic and Complete Brake Inspection.»
I went in as a walk-​in for an oil change and the staff member was helpful and honest. He told me that it might be at least an hour but suggested that I make a future appointment to reduce wait time, which I did. I came in for my early-​morning appointment and was told by a gentleman that they were out of oil. That early in the morning? That’s like going to the dentist for your crown to be delivered but they don’t have the crown and neglected to call you ahead of time to reschedule. To me that was a disregard for the customer’s time, inconvenience, gas getting there, etc. I politely expressed confusion with being told this and then a short time later was informed that there was just enough oil to complete the job for me. I also requested a tire rotation. They were busy and this all took 20 minutes before the work began but the clerk was respectful of my time constraints and made efforts to speed up my appointment, for which I was grateful. I was told that the oil change had been completed and then he said that they could not do the tire rotation because the key to my locking wheel lug nuts is broken. He suggested that I go to a store like O’Reilly Auto Parts, where I could purchase a replacement. I went to O’Reilly and was told that is definitely not the case, that I needed to go straight to the manufacturer. I contacted the manufacturer and upon photographing a locking lug nut so they could match the pattern discovered that the front right wheel’s was missing and there was a piece of broken key in the rear right’s. I thought to just replace the lug nuts on all 4, but that would not solve the dilemma of how to get the remaining ones off without a proper key. I ordered a replacement key and lug nut for a total of $ 25.48. Then I went to A to Z to remedy this issue. The owner told me that keys commonly break and first said that his mechanic probably took the first locking nut off and then the key broke, which then led me to 2 questions: 1) where is the missing lug nut and 2) why was I told he couldn’t start the job due to the broken key? He said that the particular key pattern I have is a tricky one and then changed the story to the mechanic starting from the rear right tire, which is when the key broke and he could not proceed, denying any responsibility for the missing nut. I told him that my dad and I would have noticed a missing nut before, but he stood by his story that they did not remove it. He offered to install a new set of lug nuts for free if I purchased them at my cost, that they only run ~$ 20 – 25. He had an employee call a local parts store which gave a starting price of $ 35. I argued that this wouldn’t have been an option because I still needed the key to remove the existing locking nuts, to which he said that he has a special tool that could’ve removed them (even though I had a «tricky» key pattern), so here I am now out an additional $ 25. I was less than eager to buy ANOTHER set and the trust had been broken and the fear of sabotage instilled in me, so I did not want them to work on my vehicle again. Seeing that this was going in circles and he clearly wanted to argue with me rather than come to a resolution, I expressed my dissatisfaction and doubt and requested a refund for the livingsocial deal. He denied it, stating that he receives no money from livingsocial but rather offers these services in exchange for advertising. I filed a dispute with livingsocial and they declined a refund, effectively costing me $ 55.48.

My parents used to go to A to Z when I was in high school, and I always saw their sign that they were rated #1 in a magazine or something, and I trust my parents judgment. I’ve been taking my own cars to A to Z for over 10 years now, mostly out of habit. I don’t know much about cars, so I need someone reliable who won’t take advantage of me. A few years ago I bought a used car from a guy. I took it to A to Z to get inspected before I bought it. They said it was in really good shape and they recommended buying it (just from a mechanical perspective). So I did. Two months later it was acting up and I brought it in. The axle was broken, the brakes were wearing funny, and on and on. I asked them to do just the necessary stuff. Almost $ 2000 later, which was nearly what I paid for the car, was working again. I complained about the inspection and they said «We can only inspect what’s apparent on the car at the time, not what’s going to happen in two months to the car». I was frustrated, but I don’t know anything about cars. A year later AAA called me to say that they were calling A to Z customers to find out what their service is like. I told them the story and they said it sounded fishy, but A to Z still got AAA approved.
Like I said, I don’t know anything about cars, so I have no basis for saying that they screwed me over or lied to me or anything. And until last year A to Z was the only auto mechanic I had ever been to. I took my car to another place last summer because I found a coupon from them. I was really surprised at how they walked me through the process, showed me how much the parts cost, showed me the stuff that was wrong in my car and explained everything! But I also thought «maybe it’s just because they know I’m a first timer and they want to impress me». Then a month ago my wife and I were wanting to buy another used car, and we found ourselves in Long Beach looking for a mechanic to do an inspection. We found a local shop using google maps. He had decent reviews. I called him and explained our situation. He knew we were from out of town and would NEVER be back. He took the time to explain everything to us. He showed us issues with the car, pointing out how the front cross beam had been moved so the wheel aren’t straight, the oil that was leaking from the gasket could probably be fixed without replacing the thing and flushing the system, etc. I asked for a quote to fix everything that was even a little bit wrong with the car, which was a lot of work (new tires, radiator hose leak, front end alignment, replace the oil gasket, all new engine mounts, etc.), because I told him I wanted to use this to negotiate the price of the car (so a higher cost is better for me), and his quote was around $ 1500! I showed the quote to the guy selling the car and he told me that the mechanic we saw has notoriously high prices. When we got home I told my wife, «I’m never going back to A to Z».
I don’t know anything about cars, but I know I don’t trust A to Z anymore.
Let me also say that it’s terrible what Unilocal is doing to honest business owners by filtering their positive reviews if they don’t pay for advertising. I chose 2 stars because the phrase «I’ve experienced better» accurately reflects my opinion of A to Z.

I made an appointment with A to Z Auto for my groupon redemption. On the phone i told them it was through «groupon» that i have the deal and they were fine with it. This deal was for 3 oil changes, diagnostics, flat tire repair, and tire rotation. When i dropped my car off the said that i would need the «punch card» in order to have any service done. I knew that there was a punch card involved but nowhere does it say that you must have it for the service to be performed. In fact, the groupon says that you can bring in your phone and redeem it that way… which is exactly what it did since i had not received the card yet. Then the Auto place said that they dont even take groupons anymore and they have been wanting to get off your list for months now. To top it off they said they had NO oil to do an oil change on my car anyway!!! What kind of place is this? Auto repair store that has NO oil? Now… I know that there are other places i can go… which are further away, and i would like to try them because the deal was so good. I just wanted you to know that you should probably take these losers off your list before someone else has to deal with them.

I was taken by this so called business. They should close it down. I took, what at the time, was a two year old car. They told me I needed breaks. I agreed to have them fixed, even though, I knew it was too soon. The funny part is that when I went to have them checked again six months later, they told me I needed new brakes AGAIN. I took it somewhere else. And they said they were ok.

If you don’t mind burning money I would highly recommend getting your car fixed at A to Z Transmission!!!
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I was having transmission problems in my Jeep Cherokee. It was three years prior in which I had my transmission rebuilt at the same mechanic. I was wondering if it was still covered by the warranty since it hadn’t been too long. They mentioned it wasn’t covered by the warranty but that he would take care of me since it hadn’t been that long.
They gave me an estimate with the amount of NC and the costs for labor and parts $ 0. After the investigation including a tear-​down they mentioned there was a lot of metal in the transmission most likely signs of running low on fluid. The owner said I needed to rebuild the transmission and the total cost for the repairs at $ 2617.94. I baulked at the amount and tried to negotiate seeing I had just brought my transmission in there three years ago and that he mentioned he would take care of me. With the price of what the Jeep was worth I contemplated either junking the car or taking it to another mechanic. I finally concluded I didn’t want to repair my transmission at this shop and requested to pull my car out. The owner said ok but in order to get my car I had to pay $ 610.07 for the work and asked if I wanted my transmission parts in a box! I did not approve the $ 610.07 and was horrified that my car was inoperable. I paid the amount he was asking in order to get my car out of the shop (he was holding my car hostage) and had it towed the car to a nearby mechanic who I trust.

I needed an oil change and my radiator needed to be checked out because of a coolant smell in the car. I figured I had a small leak or just needed a radiator flush and called and received quotes from several dealerships including a friend’s shop. Surprisingly, the call to A to Z and resulted in a quote that was significantly less.
I drove down and had Rich, the shop manager inspect the car and he suggested a radiator flush and informed me that it would take a little over an hour. He also took the time to explain the differences in coolants which I knew nothing about. I had no ride so I ended up waiting in their lobby. To my surprise, they finished the job in 40 minutes and there were plenty of other cars there. Rich simply indicated that since I was waiting, they decided to get mine done right away. Wow. What service and their price was way less than what was quoted. I seriously saved over $ 50 here.

As a woman I often experience tough times with getting my car repaired, but I went with these guys because I had seen them highly rated in different local magazines and papers. The prices seemed a little high, but I was willing to pay more to not have to deal with the hassle of being ripped off.
I took my car in because the rear breaks were squeaking and to verify the work another mechanic at a different garage told me needed to be done (engine mount replaced and new front struts). It seemed like a really pleasant transaction (they told me I did not need new engine mounts), I spent a decent amount of money, but I had a cooling service, brake adjustment and cleaning and a few other things so coming off of $ 244 seemed fine, in addition the brake squeaking was fixed. One month later the same rear brake started to have problems again. I took it back and they told me the brakes needed to be deglazed and I needed rear brakes to the tune of $ 350. I asked why a month ago my rear brakes were supposedly at 60% and in good shape and a month later they were in need of a $ 350 brake job (I had not taken a cross country trip or done any large amount of driving or lent my car to a wayward teen). Richard said he didn’t know what to tell me, but he would credit me the $ 50 I had paid for the brake inspection so the job would be $ 300.
I took my car to two other shops and both said I did in fact need new rear brakes, neither were sure how they could have been checked a month ago and said to be at 60% and both charged between $ 150 and $ 200 for a rear brake job. In addition, I did need new engine mounts and front struts (both garages said this and they were not related, one was in van nuys, the other was the dealer)…
What is sad is that I was prepared to get some other work done at this garage because Richard, the guy in the front seems nice. But I did get a bad deal and I’m not sure if its the mechanics, Richard, the owner or what, but this was a bad experience and I do feel ripped off and I would steer clear of this place unless you know a lot about cars.
Finally went to another garage and got a fair deal for a brake job, paid $ 150 for a rear brake job including shoes. Been about 2 weeks and no problems so far.
Just received a notice that the owner of this shop is suing me for my review, (something about me being affiliated with Unilocal,which is non-​sense). I utilize Unilocal to make decisions about where I will spend my hard earned money. I stand by my review and it is the truth. I also received an email from Lori P. saying the owner donates to charity and is a really nice guy that she has known for 25 years and that I was not ripped off (not sure how she would know my situation unless «she» is the owner trying to bully me into removing my review). My review was not about the owner. My review was about my experience when I went to get my car fixed. I will not remove this review even if they refund my $ 244 because this is what happened. Buyer beware of this shop. Seriously! If they are so great, have some of their other customers write positive reviews to balance mine.