Stress-Free Auto Care — Local services in Mission Viejo

I had a bad experience at Neighborhood Car Care. I took in my 1987 4Runner I had recently purchased to "1) get the truck to pass smog as cheaply as possible and 2) figure out exactly what the truck needs to be safe and up to date on maintenance." This is the exact quote from my email to them.

When I showed up I asked to speak with the mechanic about the car because it was older and I had some insights from working on it myself, and Amir said I could not do that. Okay, fine, they're the experts and not me. They told me to email them my notes. They charged me $125 for the diagnostic check.

In my email, I specifically asked for the coolant to be looked at because it was bone dry in the reservoir so I had no coolant going into the engine, the exhaust to figure out why I failed smog, the steering because it was popping like crazy, and a whine in the motor as I suspected a vacuum leak. Basically, I asked for the cooling, exhaust, steering, and engine to be checked over as any "what kind of shape is this car in" diagnostic check would ask for.

I got a call at the end of the day saying the catalytic converter was toast due to a misfire in the engine so I needed a new cat, O2 sensor, and cap, rotor, plugs, and wires to "maybe" pass smog. That made sense.

Then I asked about the steering, and was told they "didn't have time" to look at it. Considering I had asked for an inspection of the vehicle I had just bought, I felt like that was a pretty big oversight. They mentioned nothing about the vacuum leak either. Finally, I asked about the coolant issue and was told that "the coolant is working fine." That is a blatant lie as I knew the reservoir was completely empty when I brought the car in. They simply hadn't checked it and then lied that it was functioning properly. If someone who does not know much about their car trusted Neighborhood Car Care and believed this, that could be incredibly dangerous as they could overheat and blow up an engine if there is no coolant in it.

Next, I was grossly oversold on the cost of the repairs. For the cap, rotor, plugs, and wires I was quoted $289. These genuine Japanese parts cost $40-$70 online and it would take an average person, let alone an experienced mechanic, maybe 30 minutes to do this repair. For a more explicit example, I was then told the O2 sensor would cost $140. Go ahead and look up the cost of a "Denso 234-1056 Oxygen Sensor"--it's $26 on Amazon. When I pushed back on the price, they told me they could get me one for $68. If prices can be cut in half just like that, you know that you are getting ripped off. Finally I was quoted $385 for a new catalytic converter and $125 for labor claiming that they would have to weld a new one on. Considering my truck has a direct fit cat that only needs to be screwed on with 4 bolts, or that if they were to weld a universal cat that the price of those is maybe $100, either way I knew I was getting ripped off. To verify, I called another shop in the area and asked how much it would cost to replace a catalytic converter on my model vehicle and was quoted $300. I really don't mind shops charging a high shop rate for good quality work, but in 2020 when anyone can whip out their phone to look up the parts quoted or call another mechanic and see that they're being charged double or triple the price, this shows a deceitful practice by the shop that does not make me comfortable with them doing any work on my car.

I asked them not to do these repairs and went to pick up the truck. I wanted to give them a chance to make things right by expressing my frustrations, but Amir quickly got defensive, told me what I was saying made no sense, and that they were too busy to look at the other things I asked for.

In conclusion, I was not able to speak to who was actually working on the car, the notes I gave were ignored, only 1/4 of my problems were addressed, I was price gouged on parts and services, and then when I tried to share my concerns I was ignored. I will not be going back and I will be advising others in the 4x4 community...

I had a billing dispute with Josh which you can read about lower down. I wasn't going to write a review based on that but I had to write one after their diagnosis and repair work. The reason they get one star is due to the fact that they drove, felt, and documented the engine issue I had came in for, but none of the $3000 quoted work would have fixed the problem. I could have had them do all the work they quoted me and my transmission still would have gone out the next day. For that, they get one star. Full story. My van was having engine problems. I dropped it off telling Josh about what I had felt and they got to work. Josh had told me that they drove it and felt the issues I was having after taking it on the freeway. I was sent an email of all the work that needed to be done. I am aware my van needs a lot of work, but the only thing on the email that was engine related was the serpentine belt. I had them replace that thinking that would fix my engine troubles. Here's were it gets stressful. When I picked up my van, the "diagnostic fee", which I was told would go towards the repairs only goes towards the labor. The quote over the phone did not match the final price. When I questioned it, Josh responded with "why don't I just take off the belt and you don't have to pay anything". Threatening to undo the work that they had did. At this point I was so flustered by the interaction that I said I just wanted to pay and leave. He then responded with "just take the part and you don't have to pay. I don't even care about the money" or something like that. I wanted to pay for their work and insisted. We settled on me paying $100. The whole interaction was terrible and I will never go there again. Anyways, my van broke down the next day. None of the work they wanted me to have done would have...

We took our truck to Neighborhood Car Care to have a new engine In stalled. 23761 Vía Fabricante STE A, Mission Viejo, CA 92691 From the very beginning I asked them to please keep my fuel injectors off of my old engine as there was nothing wrong with them. I did pay for 8 new fuel injectors at over four hundred and fifty dollars each. I also asked them to remove from the old engine, the water pump as it had just been put on in the previous weeks. I asked them to put those items in a box and give it to me so I could try to recoup part of the $4,000 for parts. When I picked up the truck the parts were supposed to be in the back but were not. We called and asked them to make sure they kept them and when we went down to pick up the parts they couldn't find them. $4,000 worth of usable parts. Now we've spent nearly $1,000 and our time getting the truck from San Diego to Orange county, because they put on a cheap hose instead of the metal hose that was supposed to be there, So we ended up losing all of our transmission fluid and paying two hundred dollars in tow charges and $500.00 in mechanic charges to get a Band-Aid on it until we can get it back to their shop. We paid them over $ 25,000.00 and it's back in their shop. They said it is warrantee work but NEVER mentioned our part or some type of reinforcement. This company is dangerous and something need to be done.

7/14/22I just learned the wiring under my fuse box was never repaired. This company not only stole the parts I requested, but also didn't ...