San Diego Auto Center

If this is the same staff as the Kearny Mesa Saturn, I would NOT recommend them AT ALL. Bear with me on my long post, but this is what happened to me when I went in to the Kearny Mesa Saturn a year and a half ago… what a shady place.
Car mechanics don’t realize how treating customer’s with basic respect and being fair on price can go miles in growing their business.
One morning in July 2009, I turned on my Saturn to go to work, and it stalled and turned off. I took it into a Midas Oil Change store, thinking «I’m due for an oil change. Maybe that will help.» After Midas had my car for an hour and a half, they let me know that my key was stuck in my ignition, with the car still on. The car would not turn off and they couldn’t remove the key. The auto technician told me that he’d called another tech guy at a local Saturn dealership to ask him what to do, and the Saturn worker said, «That’s a really common problem with these Saturn cars.» He suggested the Midas worker try a couple things to get my key out and those proved fruitless.
At that point, I was already extremely late for my job and had
absolutely no choice but to go to Saturn to get the problem looked at. I
couldn’t turn off my car or remove the key. So, I drove to my nearest
Saturn (the Kearny Mesa store in San Diego). When I arrived, a worker
named Javier came out to the service drive-​up. When I explained what had happened and what the Midas worker was told about these cars having the ignition problem regularly, he told me I’d need to pay $ 120 just to have them look at the vehicle. I explained that my warranty had just expired, and that I had only $ 100 in my account. I said that I didn’t
think I should be paying for a problem that Saturn knows is extremely
common, and that it sounded like a manufacturers defect.
He shrugged me off and said he couldn’t do anything for me if I couldn’t pay. He also said that «Sometimes for loyal customers who’ve gotten oil changes here regularly, we can make exceptions.» I told him that I was not required under federal law to get my oil changes at the dealer to maintain my warranty and that the dealer was $ 30 more expensive (and too far for me to drive) to get oil changes. I also explained that I was a loyal customer b/​c I’d spent almost $ 40,000 in purchasing my last 2-​cars with Saturn. He also made a comment about how «Women do put too many keys on their key rings and that can mess up the ignition cylinder.» I told him that was insulting, that I only had 3 keys on my ring, and that I took auto shop for 2-​years and I know this problem should not be happening with a 3-​year old vehicle. At that point, I felt really helpless. I felt like I was hostage to this car problem, since I couldn’t turn off my car or remove the key. I had no choice but to stay there, since I didn’t want to simply drive around until my car ran out of gas (I only had ¼ tank left) on the side of the road.
Long story short — I waited in that lobby at the Kearny Mesa Saturn repair for EIGHT hours. After 4 hours, I asked to get into my car for something and found it still running (with the gas being guzzled up-​of course they never bothered to refill my tank). The service people were SO rude, completely talked down to me as a woman, and looked for every way they could charge me for something. Even though they ended up replacing the whole ignition cylinder, they cut my car key in half and charged me for it! If ANY of the same staff have moved to this store, I would take your car elsewhere. People who treat customers this badly deserve to have NO business.

Only go here if you like being deceived and lied to and enjoy incompetence. This is the former service department for the now defunct Saturn of Kearny Mesa. I was thinking about submitting this review under that listing on Unilocal,but I didn’t want to take the chance of anyone looking for the new name of the company and finding nothing.
So as a former customer of Saturn of Kearny Mesa, I received an e-​mail from this new company, offering me three free oil changes for $ 19.95 in an effort to retain my business. Wow, good deal! I drove my happy ass up to Kearny Mesa, and the slimy mechanic checking me in asks me if I would like their brake inspection and tire rotation service.
Me: «How much?»
Slimy mechanic: «$ 21»
Me: «Um, no thanks. I’ll take a tire rotation only for free, but if I have to pay then forget it.»
SM: *silence*
Suddenly the light bulb in my head turns on. I remember a sign that was posted as I drove in…
Me: «Aren’t you guys offering a special deal on that tire rotation and brake service?»
SM: «Yes, it’s free, but you have to mention the sign outside»
Me: «Wait a second, you only give it for free if I mention the sign? The sign doesn’t say that!»
SM: «Yes, but that’s why the sign is there.»
WHAAAAAAAT? Effin’ really??? Do you really expect me to believe that, you slimy f — ? Unbelievable the dishonest lengths people will go through to make a buck.
I felt like leaving right there and then, but I didn’t. Why not, you might ask. Well, because I’m a cheapskate and it’s three oil changes for $ 20! I’d spend that much just on the filters even if I did it myself. Trust me, I kept my eye on the SMs the whole time to make sure they actually changed out the oil and the filter.
So I went in to pay for the oil changes and provided a copy of the e-​mail to the cashier. There I ran into more problems; apparently there was some internal miscommunication within the company, and the oil change deal I was sent no longer exists (the e-​mail was only three weeks old). The service was complete so they couldn’t renege, but they were not happy. After the problem was worked out, the cashier made an effort to let me know «it’s not your fault».
Wow, thanks. I’m SO happy she mentioned that, because my primary concern was that she might blame me for her own company’s screw up.
I’ll be back to get my last two oil changes, but I’ll keep my eagle eye on them to make sure they don’t swipe a couple spark plugs or steal the pennies out of my change tray in the process. After that, I will definitely not return.