Universal Complete Auto Care

First off, I would like to point out the foolishness of this whole reviewing process. I don’t generally believe in writing reviews on Unilocal (because any nitwit with a smartphone can write a bad review to degrade your business– I’ve had some experience). However, I do believe in writing good reviews when they are well deserved. This review is well deserved. Steve (the shop owner) is the most sincere mechanic I have ever taken my car to. Just by looking him in the eyes when we are speaking I can tell that he is extensively knowledgeable in being a mechanic — a tried and true veteran. Most likely why he is the owner of the shop. His staff — even better. Sam, a mechanic, is funny, kind, extrovertous, and helping. If you were curious on how the whole thing worked, sam would take you inside and show you! No fasade, no fraud, just real and genuine people. Now let’s get down to my issue and how they resolved it. My car had a horrible radiator and I’m pretty sure it had multiple leaks in the cooling system. Over time, I ended up blowing my head gasket. Having my car towed to the nearest shop, they wanted to charge me 1800 just to service the engine and radiator. I was devastated. I then informed a friend of mine of my situation, hoping he would give me some guidance and he told me that Universal Auto Care had pretty cheap prices because the people working there actually cared. I told him I would check them out on Unilocal and let him know what I’ll do. After reading some reviews I noticed multiple people saying that his prices were in fact great, however, I read some bad reviews that made me doubt this shop. I wish I hadn’t because when I took my car there, the entire time I was trying to catch them trying crook me out or do something to screw me. I wasn’t paying attention to their kindness or helpfulness like the good reviews stated, only lingering on the bad ones. I had been been a jerk because when I saw the bill statement after they had finished ($ 1455) Steve had not just serviced my engine and radiator but replaced pretty much everything! New spark plugs, new thermostat, new radiator, new belts and tubes, a lot of stuff! I had not even known he was going to do this. With my car running great, I came back the next day and Thanked him at least a thousand times. I also asked him why he did all this extra for me, his answer «you already have a bad problem. I did not want you to run into another one when you had just fixed this one. I do this on all big jobs, I wouldn’t feel good if I didn’t.» Wow. Truly a great man and shop, I should have never doubted him to begin with.

I had been taking my car here for basic maintenance since moving to Highland Park in 2008. It’s walking distance from my house, I liked these guys (owner = Steve, mechanic = Sam) and the prices for stuff like oil changes, battery, brakes were reasonable.
…Then I brought the car in with an electrical problem.
When the guys realized that they were out-​of-​their-​depth (electrical stuff can be tricky & difficult), they should have been straight with me. I would have had the car towed to the dealership for repair.
Instead they f***ed with it and f***ed and f***ed with it (trial & error; rooting around; letting it sit around while they supposedly waited weeks for parts to get delivered; replacing and blowing out 3 different car computers in the process!). After weeks & weeks & weeks, I now have my car back. It runs now but for how long? It is also absolutely filthy (inside & outside covered by thick layer of grimy sticky dust; trash thrown on backseat). And it wreaks of nasty dead cigarettes. I was sooooo nice & patient with these guys and my poor little car is just a big mess.
AND to top things off with a giant rotten cherry:
I took the car to a different nearby shop for a smog check (necessary to re-​register this year; and Universal doesn’t do smog). The smog guy showed me that the car has a broken axle (!!!) The car definitely did not have this problem when I brought it in to Universal Complete Auto Care with the electrical problem. The guys at Universal apparently dropped it off the lift (or something!) during the many weeks it was in their custody. The car also has paint scratches that are very clearly brand new (most likely scraped against the metal fence surrounding their little locked side yard)! They guys made no mention of these things to me. I’d told them that I will sell the poor car (because it’s now a clunker). They probably hoped I’d go away and wouldn’t find out about the axle or notice the scratches (!!!).
This horrible experience has had one clear take-​home message for me:
From now on, take cars to a dealership for service — expensive & corporate but at least I won’t have to deal with this sort of inane destructive negligence when I take a vehicle in for repairs.

I don’t like writing bad reviews as I would rather just concentrate on the good things in life and promote those. However, every day I pass this place as it is in my hood and I feel guilty for not warning people about it.
so here is my
PSA:
This place is just fine for a oil change. No issues.
This place is NOT ok for any maintenance needed on a car.
Yes, the prices Steve — the owner — gives is less. But that is an illusion. I totally killed my 300zx taking it for service here. I returned the car MANY times for the same issue and TWO engines later the car still broke down. I poured $ 10,000 + into trying to save this car with Universal Complete Auto Care. Each time the car would break down (often on the same day it was returned or within the week) Steve would offer free labor etc because the problem wasn’t fixed. I thought this was honorable and I went along with it thinking I would spend more somewhere else & he was trying to help. After a year & a half of repeated issues after «repairs» & the car breaking down —- I finally realized that he was just trying to cover up his mistakes. He (& the guys he hires) had no idea what he was doing, at least in regards to this particular car.
I know very little about cars but if it is overheating to the point of destroying a car engine… wouldn’t you check the radiator first? Not 7 repairs later?
I completely rebuilt the car with Steve/​Universal Complete Auto Care… new engines, radiator, plugs, AC, computer, etc etc etc… pretty much everything but the body of the car. And I came to find later that the engine would have been fine if the radiator was tended to when there was first a problem.
The car now sits, dead, in my driveway because after it broke down again after over a year of trying to save this car… I had to give up. It started to feel like a gambling problem… throwing money at something hoping to win big.
I asked/​begged the owner, Steve, for some sort of reimbursement and he refused.
Just offered more «free service» to try to cover up and fix the mistakes his auto shop did (you still have to pay for all the other stuff which adds up)
After a year and a half of such offers and the car NEVER running right, always breaking down, and getting worse and worse… it no longer sounded like a solution.
You will kill your car if you take it to this company for any significant work. AVOID.

(This is the same review I’ve sent off to the Better Business Bureau of Los Angeles.)
I’ve stopped by this general mechanic before since I rent out a small apartment in the Highland Park area. I drive a 2005 Acura TSX with 178,000 miles on it (at the moment). I used to stop by for oil changes or a used tire replacement and had no issues, other than the fact that the owner of the shop, Steve, would blatantly pig out on me even when I told him I wasn’t interested. He’d ask me if I had a boyfriend (to which the reply is «No, and I’m not interested — too busy and young to care.»), if I’d had sex before («That’s no one’s business except my own.») and how I can’t possibly be a single girl and enjoy some action on the side («I just don’t.»). Yet I managed to still go here every four or five months for something a general mechanic could do that I felt needed to be done for my car because things were reasonably priced.
My car broke down on the I-​5 South on Tuesday evening because of an electrical issue. I had it towed by AAA to the shop that evening and wrote a note on the dash telling the shop that I would be in the following morning to handle the repairs. That morning, he told me that I needed the alternator and power steering hose &/​or pump changed. 20 minutes later, he called me saying I had an engine problem, so I came back. Their wrench couldn’t turn to get to certain parts of the car, so that meant the motor seized up. They said it’d be $ 4k to repair. I freaked out (what an ultimatum!), so I asked if I could get it towed to my parents’ the next day. They said that’s fine. Before I left Steve wanted to know if the gentleman I was with was my boyfriend or not — none of your business! (He was a great consultant for this issue, though. Generally it does NOT only take 20 minutes to determine that a motor is dead.)
I had the car towed to my parents’ Honda specialist 34 miles away. Not just because they trust him, but I don’t need any more tomfoolery at this point. Tired of being stranded. Turns out that I needed a new power steering hose, alternator, battery, timing belt and starter. The same day (Thursday) I drove home in a safe car with no sexual harassment at the mere fraction of $ 880.
Go Harry at Honda Auto Star!

We’ve been taking both of our cars to Universal for years. It’s a great place. The owner, Steve, takes good care of our cars without breaking the bank and has done for years. I trust them completely.

I just discovered these guys last year. I’ve dropped my 7 year old standby on York (who did somewhat competent work) for this shop. Why?
1) Steve, the shop owner, cares. Unlike a lot of mechanics who are perfectly able, maybe inexpensive or fast (like the equivalent place on York) they don’t show the care and attention that Universal does. I’ve come to find the owner, Steve, loves the work he’s doing, has been in business 26 years and you can tell there’s an integrity to his work. Over the years I’ve had over two dozen mechanics in different parts of LA and trusting a mechanic is always #1 for me.
2) They communicate. They’ve also called immediately if there was any issue – like one time a Jiffy Lube place tightened my oil filter so tight, Steve was concerned about breaking it, so he called to let me know this may happen and what the cost might be. After any fix, he goes over what he did without condescending to anyone.
3) His prices are lower. If they’re not, he’s accommodated us. Steve fixed an expensive o2 sensor for ½ the cost the York shop quoted. We found a better price for an alignment somewhere, and Steve matched it without a grumble.
4) I’ve had three cars go there, for alignment, tire rotation, AC recharge, oil changes and each time, he and his crew do a very good job. Sometimes fixes to one system cause another to fail, so the poster who complained about their AC breaking may want to reconsider.
What more do you want in a mechanic!
Happy I found Steve!

DON“T go to this mechanic. We just paid him $ 70 to recharge the A/​C in our car and it broke within a week. We went back to speak to him and he claimed it was «another problem» and that he needed to charge another $ 70 to fix it. A bunch of CROOKS.

I always go to Universal Complete Auto Care for my oil changes. They do a great job, get me out of there quickly, and have great prices!