Destroyed the car Messed up brand new parts Used my parts on other vehicle he had that I order paid for and shipped BRAND NEW from summit racing Destroyed the expensive parts to look used to avoid the tax charged for bringing parts to Mexico If you want your car ruined and overcharged for work that was not even done Like the undercoating or the Transmission repair Or having the transmission blow 20 miles from the shop because they didn't put transmission fluid in it or your $4000 custom rear end. Screw screwed up because oil wasn't put in it correctly Then use this place! read more

I am trying to prevent another victim from this shop and Arnulfo Chavez My car had been restored and it did not last more than 200 miles before Transmission engine wiring drive shaft and so on and so forth failed Needles to say now I can no longer drive my car even over spent with Arnulfo including the new transmission and engine Among other work read more

TJ Baja Customs - Body Shops Near Me - Tijuana, BCN

Arny does the best work I have ever seen in my entire life. I have worked on cars and flipped them for over a decade Accordingly, I have seen work but not close to the quality. Forget about the fact that I'm saving money by going to Mexico. The work at the shop is truly phenomenal. He went so far and above to help me that I don't even know what to say. Honestly I've had such bad experiences with business lately and seeing the other side restores my faith in humanity. The profits for the car are going to charity and he did even more than asked. ***Completely fluent in English and a US number*** read more

See all

I took a 1972 Mercedes 250c that was my father's to Arny for a partial restoration, being that the car had more sentimental value than collector value I decided to check out Arny's shop. I made a trip down just to be sure to look at some of his work. We agreed on a price and I sent a deposit and shipped my car down to San Diego in May 2019. I was quoted 3.5 month for paint, interior, and suspension. I finally got the car back January 2021. In the beginning they were VERY responsive getting the suspension work done pretty quickly upon arrival but soon the excuses started. He needed extra for this or that, a 6 months delay for subpar paint, pricing changes increased the total by 25%, parts I shipped to him went missing, parts requests at the last minute. I was even charged for a tuneup even though the brand new oil filter was still in the trunk of the car unused. There was a lack off attention to detail, the bumpers were removed for paint, the rusty brackets where just put back on, my car needed A/C work so I actually tried to find a shop to do the work and drove the car in Tijuana myself. Arny shows up at my hotel, the car is freshly painted but wait, why is the new paint full of knicks, chips, and scuffs? Why is the trim not sitting flush to the body? Hmmm theres a patch of rust on the bumper too. Why is the glue for the windshield all over the place? The newly recovered seat has oil on it, and the rear seat is ripped. And it drives like crap, stalling at every light (ran fine before I left it with Arny). Now suddenly there are a slew of things "he doesn't work on" like carburetors, air conditioners, etc, which is a complete 180 from when I first gave him the car. Paid $250 to rechrome a bumper, go down for a visit and its RUSTY, hmm looks like the SAME bumper to me? At the 11th hour suddenly he needs parts for the seats, another $500 for a seat. Fast forward to January 2021, at this point I just want to be done with this whole situation. So I head back to Mexico to pick up my car, and he says, 'I put gas in it.' An obviously LIE since the gas gauge says EMPTY. I pull into a gas station and the attendant fills the car up - CAR WON'T START! I message Arny, and get NO RESPONSE! Later he comes up with some BS about 'not having service' and saying that the battery was swapped out because mine was bad - SPOILER ALERT, that battery was installed a month before I shipped the car down (another LIE). I get the car started and head out, but it won't go more than 40mph without sputtering. Luckily on the numerous trips I took to TJ to bring parts and check on the car, I met a friend who was able to help me get a jump, find a shop to fix the shoddy work, and give me regular updates on their progress. In addition to sourcing a mechanic for the new mechanical issues I have as a result of TJ Baja Custom's incompetence. The new shop basically says the paint is trash and needs to be redone and the rust repair Arny touted was limited to the trunk and other rusty areas were simply painted over. And it looks like the spare seat I bought wasn't returned with the car. Oh and the driver's seat ripped (again) TLDR; Stay the F*CK away from this place, Arny is a lying ass liar, and he'll say what ever he needs to get your business and money and then not give a sh*t once he has you over a barrel. PS: If you're looking for a BETTER shop and someone HONEST to deal with, let me know. I happy to help out my fellow auto enthusiasts! read more

See all

Very disappointed to write this review, but I don't have any other way to address it, and if I can help one person avoid this mess, it's worth it. Also, feel free to message me if you want any further info. I brought in my '60 Ford Sunliner for paint, interior, body work, and some other items I'll mention and left with more problems than I came in with. So here's a brief list of what I am currently dealing with: - What was quoted as a 3 month job turned into nearly 8. Yes: I was expecting the car back in May or June, and got it in September. Lot of excuses along the way and man was I trying to be understanding, but especially given the poor result (see below!) the time was really unacceptable. Most of the work was obviously done last minute and thrown together. Very disappointing. - The paint was sprayed the wrong color twice: once a hideous electric blue, then a true BEAUTIFUL silver blue metallic which I saw in person. Man was I excited! The next time I saw it though it was a third color: a much flatter, more-blue-than-silver metallic. When I brought it up, Arny INSISTED was the same color I saw previously and that the lighting or his phone or whatever. But yeah: whatever. The real problem though? Because it was reprayed so many times, there are SIGNIFICANT runs all over the car which they then clear coated!! The paint is wavy, uneven, and orange peeled. This is honestly the most frustrating part: if he'd just gotten the paint right, this might've been worth it but with the paint wrong it's basically a complete waste. - The convertible top was supposed to be installed. Week before delivery, he called me to say it needed some additional material. That's right: 7 and 1/2 months into this 3 month project and he hadn't checked the fitment. I talked a bit about having him fabricate it, but honestly, just realized I wanted to car back so I could bring it to someone who knows what they're doing. - Many many bolts and fasteners missing throughout the car. I can post pictures, but it's shaking and rattling in whole new ways. Obviously completely different screws were used, particularly in the interior. Oh, and the driver's side door doesn't close properly as it's now misaligned, and bolts are missing holding down the front left fender. - The car was returned with HOLES in the radiator, overheating and non functional. Remember this is a car that I drove to him in TJ. Yep. Arny the owner admitted that it was his doing, but didn't replace the radiator, and it cost me $1,000 to get a new one (it was a 2 core aluminum radiator so not cheap). - I provided new window glass along with an full kit power window set. All the switches are installed so down-is-up and up-is-down (lol yep!), the back passenger switch doesn't work at all and neither does the passenger switch. Oh and the driver's side rear window? Installed improperly so when it is rolled up it goes PAST the front window and when you close the door they slam into each other. Awesome. - The car came in not looking great but with all electrical and mechanical in place and functional. Now, the headlights don't turn on, the wipers don't function, and the neither does the radio they installed. What was a totally functional electric system now has me chasing gremlins after they hacked it up. Great. - None of the weather stripping was properly installed. Water now pours in the trunk. - Car is a convertible and there is a rear cover that has snaps. They're broken off or missing everywhere. - So many finishing screws and body bolts are missing. Fenders, interior, everywhere. - The air-ride system he said he'd fix a lslow eak on? Must've never even looked at it. Had a guy here in San Diego check it out and fix in a day. $60 in parts. Of course he says he doesn't drive his customer's cars (check out his instagram for videos of him DRIVING THE CARS) and now the suspension sits a half inch lower. I suspect that it was driven and hit a pot hole in TJ, but I don't have any proof of that. - The interior upholstery materials are probably the only salvageable part, but since the car has body color on the interior (dashboard and and moulding) which has swirls, paint chips, and bubbles it's going to need to be removed to be repainted. Even what is nice was done weirdly: there are front and rear door pull armrests: the rear were installed in the front but they're loose since they don't belong there, and the front just weren't installed. Why?? - Much of the rechroming simply wasn't done, then those parts were put back with parts that were rechromed. So it has this terrible two-tone on the chrome. Oh and the trunk logo? Yeah, it was glued on CROOKED, with glue all over the top of it. It's like baking a beautiful cake and pouring mud on top of it instead of a cherry. Again: why?? Arny offered to re-do some of the work, which is just a joke: man, you had nearly 8 months to get this right. Don't waste your time or your money with TJ Baja Customs. read more

This is what I discovered after having TJ Baja Customs repair my car. See for your self read more

See all

Called out of the blue and got great service from the first phone call! Takes a trip across the border, through a windy road but Arny comes through with the job for a good price. Highly recommend if you dont mind the drive or the country. Great time to stop by for tacos... read more

Very friendly very helpful. Even offered me breakfast and a ride back...the best. I recommend %100

I've been contemplating writing this, but after reading of similar experiences here, on Facebook and Google, I felt the need. Hopefully those considering TJ Baja Customs in the future will take what we have to say seriously. At the time that I found out about them there were no reviews about their work, but if I would have read what we are saying I would not have ventured down this path, because while they might seem reasonably priced, the amount of money you will spend fixing /replacing everything they screw up will actually balance out if you just took your car to a legitimate restoration shop. I took my 71 VW bus to Arny for bodywork. I purchased all of the panels and seals and drove the bus to his shop in TJ. Initially, was told the job would take 4-6 weeks, but 1 delay after another turned into ~6 months before I got my van back. Besides this, I had little issues prior to the delivery of my van. My bus was delivered by a friend of Arny's, who dropped it off with absolutely zero communication. Following initial inspection the issues became apparent. - My new $180 battery was replaced with some old really small battery that died ~3 months after getting my bus back. Arny's excuse was that my battery had died and they replaced it with a new one. This replaced battery was far from new and again, my original battery was new when I drove it down. -Sliding door was so misaligned that I could not get it to close after opening it just one time. Arny had an excuse about the alignment which I could not fix on my own. I do much of the work on my bus myself, and never had an issue with this door, again it was 100% fine when I took it down there. After days of not getting the door to shut I had to take it to a shop, $900 to fix -My engine, new - 8k miles on it when I drove it down there, I drove this bus across the USA (literally) with no problems. I do all the engine maintenance and have built several VW engines. My engine came back looking like it had been sitting in the desert for 50 years, so dirty. From the first second having it back, it was overheating and performance was incredibly poor. AGAIN, everything was running perfect when I drove it down there. A valve seized shortly after getting it back, now replacing the cylinder head, and will likely have to do a complete rebuild (~$4,000). The dirt in and on the engine was equally abundant to the metal shavings. They clearly put no effort into keeping the engine clean while doing the bodywork. -All doors locked and unlocked on the exact same key (1 key all 4 doors), and the sliding door could be locked from the inside by hand. When my bus was returned, the driver door/sliding door were on their own key, and the passenger door/rear hatch have their own key. Absolutely no excuse for now having multiple keys and having lost the door handles. The sliding door no longer locks by hand from the inside. - Bus returned without seatbelts. Eventually returned after ~2 months of hassle. -Turn signals no longer worked, again worked fine when I dropped the van off, $400 to fix. -Knobs and screens on jalousie windows were broken and missing. Screens returned after ~2 months of hassle. Replaced jalousie windows were not the original windows in my bus, which were much better quality. This was determined by the extremely poor quality of seals around each insert. Passenger side rear window was not my original window as it had a sticker on it that was not mine. -Pop-top clamps missing. Returned after ~2 months of hassle. -Front passenger/drivers door interior handles broken/missing, never replaced -Antenna, speakers, carjack - missing -Many seals I had purchased not installed, Arny eventually returned seals that were not even mine. Appears he just returned random seals they had in excess. -Passenger window does not roll down, it's mechanical - was 100% functional when I took it down there. The new seal is so tight the window is pulled off of the arm when rolling down. Clearly, they didn't test this when installing the new seal. -Driver side/passenger side door seals fell off ~3 days after getting van back. Had to reinstall. -All interior lights were missing. Arny did send me $105 to replace these, but it took months of hassle. -All interior panels were missing. Arny reiumbursed me for the driver/passenger door panels. The ceiling panels were gone, never replaced. Here is the deal, the bodywork and paint appear to be decent (from what I can tell), but a 50 year old car should not come back from a "restoration" shop with more parts broken/missing than before it went in. Arny literally told me "my work is better than show quality" yet I (and it appears others) have spent thousands of dollars fixing everything they messed up or stole. Many of the negative reviews here say the exact same thing, absolutely poor quality, zero attention to detail, and zero ability to address issues at hand, yet 1000% capable of making your dream classic car restoration become an absolute nightmare. read more