I want to share the experience I had with this shop as a cautionary tale to anyone who is considering using them. If you don't want to read this whole thing, let me just say: they are either untrustworthy or incompetent. If you want to decide which is the case, I invite you to read the following story, but I do not suggest you take the risk of finding out for yourself.
So anyway, my car (2001 Toyota Camry, 4 cyl) broke down at an intersection. Power brakes and power steering went out, electronics still functioned, however, when you turned the key it would crank, but not start. I had it towed to Same Day Auto Repair. They told me that, just to break down the engine enough to look at the problem, they would have to charge me $600. I know nothing about cars, so I agreed to pay the amount, thinking that, if they did the breakdown, surely they would be able to fix the engine for not much more. A little while later, I receive a call back and receive shocking news: the car, in order to run, will require nearly $5300 in repairs!
I was devastated. I am a private tutor and so I have to drive back and forth to my students to make any money. I am very poor, so I absolutely cannot afford that amount. I pleaded with them, telling them that, if this is true, I may end up homeless. They didn't seem to care, insisting that, while they hated to break the bad news to me, that was the reality. They claimed that the timing belt had broken and that, because it was an interference engine, it had warped other parts of the engine, causing massive damage. On top of that, they told me a list of oil leaks that had to be fixed in order for it to function. I asked, again, if there was any way they could reduce the amount of repairs, just so it would run. No, they told me, I should just buy a new car. With that, I asked that they put the engine back together, because I wouldn't be able to pay for the repairs.
Upon hearing this, I went to the internet and began begging friends for help and money, as I didn't have any other choice. Immediately several professional mechanics scoffed at the estimate and asked to see the claimed list of repairs. All of them unanimously agreed that it was nonsense. Several of them pointed out that literally putting an entirely new engine in the car would be cheaper. They also noted that, in fact, IT WAS NOT an interference engine and so none of the claimed damages to the engine could even happen. One of my friends called up the mechanic and asked for a description of the work that had already been done. The conclusion was: they had charged me $600 for less than an hour of work.
I was blown away and insulted. I immediately went about figuring out how to tow the car to another location. When I went in to speak with them I told them that the engine was not an interference engine and that they had enormously overcharged me for the labor done. Ross, I think he was, insisted to me that it was actually an interference engine (spoiler alert: it wasn't) and informed me that they had consulted some standard resource to find out the labor costs. I told them that there was simply no way the labor could add to that much and that I needed to tow the car and he told me he would put a mechanic's lien on the car if I tried to tow it without paying him. He lowered the amount by $150, still charging me $450 for less than an hour of repairs and I am now stuck in a predatory three month loan where, if I fail to pay, I will be charged double the original amount.
Free from their shop, I towed it to someone more trustworthy, Z Automotive, whom I highly, highly recommend. When I get it there, he begins to look at it and we realize that Same Day Auto has apparently left the engine disassembled AND they forgot to give us the parts, forcing me to drive back over to their shop and grab them! UTTER INCOMPETENCE. The car is now repaired and functions great. All that needed to be done was to replace the timing belt and fix some seals. Z also replaced the brakes. And the total cost, parts and labor included? $700!
ABSOLUTELY DO NOT USE THIS BUSINESS read more