I had a good experience with boulevard auto. As a woman, it's hard to find a mechanic that isn't…read moreeager to rip me off. I have had bad experiences with several official dealership mechanics as well as other mechanics in Castro valley. My dad comes to Boulevard Auto for work on his vintage car and recommended I try them because they always treat him well. He is a man, so his review couldn't really tell me whether women get treated as well as he.
They were quick to get a quote to me after I filled out their form. I needed my side mirror replaced. Initially they quoted me $888: $180 for labor, $4 for hazmat, $25 for supplies, $63 for taxes, $140 for a new mirror and $477 for the mirror assembly (the housing for the mirror that lets you change the angle from within your car). BTW, when I looked on the GM site, these are the exact parts prices they list to the public. I'm not sure if boulevard auto gets a discount that I don't see as a civilian (as opposed to a licensed mechanic rate), but either way there's no outrageous upcharge (and potentially no upcharge at all?) on parts.
When I talked to max about the quote, I told him I'd seen the same mirror for 1/8 of the price on amazon. He explained to me that boulevard auto only uses the officially licensed materials sold by the car's company (in my case, with a Chevy, it's GM). This is so that the parts are covered under warranty. He explained that as long as they use the official GM mirror and housing, I'd be covered if, say, a rock hit my mirror. They don't install non-licensed parts. This seemed like good reasoning to me and I was glad that he took the time to explain; it made me feel better about the astronomical price.
So the issue with my car was a broken side mirror. They told me that my particular car doesn't have easily accessible parts and they'd need to order it from another state. That meant I would have to pay a non-refundable upfront amount for both parts with a chance that I wouldn't need the $477 part, only the $140 mirror. Max said he was about 80% sure that the entire thing (casing and mirror) would need to be replaced. Because I was hesitant about the astronomical price of potentially having to replace the whole housing in addition to the mirror, max offered to take apart the whole thing and determine whether it was actually necessary to order both parts. They did this for me and determined the car did need both. A side note for other women reading this, I know they really took it apart to inspect it and didn't just lie about taking it apart because the already pretty broken mirror shattered in the process of them inspecting further. The tape in hidden places had also been removed. So I felt pretty sure that they had actually put in the effort to truly take it apart, and not just pretended. A lot of times I've been to other mechanics and they just lie about doing that kind of thing (i guess it's like "a woman can't possibly know the difference" or maybe feeling disgruntled that I would question their expert opinion). So this opposite kind of treatment from boulevard auto made me feel lots better about trusting them with my business.
I paid a $600 deposit to cover most of the $616 parts cost (mirror and housing). Max then let me know after I paid that he had been mistaken, and that the housing actually came with the mirror, so there would be no parts cost for a separate mirror (which had been originally quoted for $140). He ended up applying the excess amount of my $600 deposit to the labor cost, and my total was a little over $700. They finished the replacement in only like 45 minutes, so $180 is kind of a lot for such a short amount of time, but I guess a lot of behind the scenes labor was required; sourcing a part that wasn't available locally, coordinating shipping, consulting with me several times and answering all my questions.
This is a lot of money. But also, it kind of seems like it would have cost me way more at the dealership, because there wasn't a markup on the supplies. It would have cost me more at another mechanic too because they would have tried to upsell me. A small young woman with a cutesy car, these places often see me as the perfect target. Boulevard auto didn't try to sell me on anything I didn't need, either. They didn't even try to sell me on what I needed, they went out of their way to take the whole thing apart to confirm that I actually needed the expensive part.
The new mirror works great, blind spot sensor, folding in, adjusting the angle remotely are all in working order.
My only complaint is that they put the drivers seat allllllll the way back and didn't return it to its original position. Other short people out there get this because we all deal with this minor annoyance when having car work done lol.
I felt I was treated with respect & kindness. Open communication, enthusiastic to help, timely work.
note: I drive a Chevy bolt, & they had never worked on one before. Just a heads up to bolt owners
