Fairfax Circle Sunoco

Dropped off my car for the state inspection.
Guy who picks up the car says– inspections and emissions?
So I say just inspections, no emissions for the Tesla.
He gives me a look and says okay we’ll take care of it.
Early Teslas have a weak spot on the front lip of the hood. So Tesla updated to instruct closing the front hood a certain way. I walk around and just let them know about the front lip crease warning and ask if I can show them how we were instructed to avoid damaging the hood.
The response I get from the manager/​inspector is, «you need to let us do our jobs, I get Lamborghinis and Ferraris in here. I don’t know you. Actually, you need to just leave. We get paid $ 4 for a $ 14 dollar inspection and it’s not worth it to deal with this.»
Really. Wow. So yeah, I told them I don’t understand why this was even a problem and left. I don’t want to end up with $ 1800 bill because someone’s fragile ego couldn’t handle the fact that mayyyyybe… Maybe little things come up with different cars and you can pick things up from places here and there. Not telling you how to do your job or else I wouldn’t be asking you to clear my car, just letting you know there’s something quirky about it.
And no. I’m not bringing my Ferrari here, so you won’t be able to say that to the next person coming through. I’ll still look enviously at the rows of Lamborghinis you speak of pulling in and out of your garage though.
Go to Circle Auto two streets down. Family owned business, they have a sign in process that includes a section «anything you want to tell us» and I didn’t even have to mention it. In and out.

Back when I drove more, and before I started getting gas at the grocery store (great discounts due to the shopping rewards), I was a frequent and satisfied gas customer here. The prices were towards the low end, there was rarely much of a line, and never a problem. Like another reviewer, I didn’t think to review it here, until now, due to my happy experience with their state safety inspections.
My car needed some maintenance, so I was going to drop it off with my usual mechanic last night, for that plus an inspection. (You might have noticed today is the first of the month. My inspection was actually due *last* month.) But then they (not Circle Sunoco, but my usual) told me they don’t do Saturday inspections, as they haven’t made the special arrangements needed with the state. (Blame the state for *needing* that one! But also blame my usual mechanics for not mentioning that fact, when I called and said I wanted to drop it off for the maintenance *and an inspection*.) So, I didn’t drop it off after all, and was in a bit of a hurry to find a place to get inspected, before I got a ticket.
This morning, I *planned* to use the station that was front-​of-​mind because of the coupons they often send out. (I wouldn’t have *used* the coupon because it wasn’t good until the 5^th of the month.) I called them at about 7:45 AM to check how long the line was, and they estimated it at already three and a half hours! (Remember, we’re *still* not talking about Circle Sunoco yet.) So I looked on Google for alternatives. Another didn’t open for another couple hours, another had closed, another listed their inspection hours and didn’t do weekends, another got bad reviews…
Then up popped good ol’ Circle Sunoco! I called, and the guy stepped out for a moment to check the line. Only two cars, so estimated half hour wait. By the time I got there, the cars were already being inspected — NO LINE for inspections on the first of the month (well, except the ones already being inspected), a miracle!
It seemed like maybe five to ten minutes until one of those was done, and someone came out to get my car in and inspected. It only seemed like about five to ten minutes later that it was all done! I was worried that it was because it had failed something early on and they had skipped the rest, but no, everything was fine. The guy who brought it out said it was because they had two people working on it – I thought that was the usual, but either it’s not or they’ve got very fast-​working people. I was out my door no earlier than about 8:10, and back home by about 8:30, including a few minutes of travel each way.
So, if you’re looking for a fast honest inspection, decent gas prices, and no hassles, go to Circle Sunoco! I’m tempted to look into them for the scheduled maintenance I need too.

I will never, ever, go back to a dealership to get in work done on my vehicle. Yama has been consistently honest with me, frank, and up-​front. I’ve been meaning to write this review for a while now. The first time I brought my car to Yama, it was after the dealership quoted me $ 2000 plus to address tire noise and wanted to replace all 4 of the ball joints and the tires. Yama looked at it, said only one needed to be replaced and I needed to replace the tires. About $ 800 later I was back on the road with no noise. Recently, I had my AC compressor cut out (after the dealership said nothing was wrong with it) and I called I took it, again, to the dealership for a quote. They wanted OVER $ 2000 to replace the compressor and flush the AC system. Not trusting that, I went back to Yama and he also noticed that my clutch was shot and needed to be replaced as well and he could do the work for a little over $ 1300 and could turn it around in a day. They’re always friendly, they have given me rides to and from my house and their location as well as the metro, and they are more than willing to sit down with you and create a comprehensive maintenance plan for my vehicle. I could go on and on and on but let’s just leave it at «they are the only shop that I trust.»

I didn’t think I’d review a gas station but this review is for state and emissions inspections. I had to look around quite a bit on Unilocal for reliable inspection stations. Hopefully, this review will help others out.
This place can get crowded during the weekends for inspection services but if you’re able to get in early on the weekends or able to go in on a weekday morning, it’s very quick. Just park at the section marked for inspections and a person will come out and greet you and take the car in for inspection. Assuming that you don’t have any issues, you’ll likely be out of there in about 15 minutes. They’re efficient and friendly. I will definitely return here for future inspection visits.

Have been there several times, the prices are usually the best around… people working there is very nice and positive. Look forward to stopping there again. and again.

Circle Sunoco is a family owned service station. I have used them several times to fix the numerous cars in my family. Amin is the owner and he is a hard working man. He can be relied on to fix it the first time and for a reasonable price.

I walked in on a snowy day for an inspection. I was greeted promptly and with a smile, and told the time to completion would be 25 mins. The inspector had a great sense of humor as I said, «that’s all». He chuckled a he said «double to get it done in 10.» Of course he was kidding. I went inside to wait since it was cold and snowy. The clerk at register went out and returned with a stool for me to sit on. How nice. Ok, I’m a slow typist. I didn’t even get finished with this review before I was done. AMAZING SERVICE FROM A COURTEOUS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTED GROUP OF GUYS!

went in for an inspection. i was told the wait was 20 – 25 mins. i was out in less than 15. very courteous and fast service.

Best place for state inspection! Quick and not in the business of shaking you down for unneeded service.

I wouldn’t normally review a gas station, but this is one of the very few places I’ve found that does state inspections on the weekend: all day Saturday and even a good chunk of Sunday (8 – 5 on Saturday, 11 – 5 on Sunday if remember the sign correctly). That is always useful when you’ve procrastinated all month…

Pump #2 ripped me off by charging me for super premium when I pressed the 87 octane button. I stopped pumping at 5 gallons because something looked wrong with the price. And the same pump did not give me a completed receipt. So when I told the clerk about the problem, he had an immediate, prepared and rehearsed explanation for what happened, which was obviously indicated by saying it has happened before to customers so he knew what to say. I mean immediate! He wasn’t even curious as someone would be if they were surprised at what happened and check the pump. And so he would not give me a refund of the difference. Get this lame excuse — he said that when I removed the pump, the pump handle accidentally pushed in the super premium button before I pressed the 87 octane button. But the problem with their boldface lie is that the pump wasn’t ready and didn’t start to pump until after I had pushed the 87 octane button! In my 36 years of pumping gas every week or more at every type of pump you can imagine, nothing of the sort ever happened to me before. And why should it? I know how to remove a godforsaken pump handle! And when I went back to the pump to see how that could possibly happen, I determined by the distance between the pump handle and buttons, and with the effort that is needed to engage the buttons, that it was physically impossible for this to happen unless someone would deliberately use the pump handle to press in the buttons. I mean that you cannot brush past the buttons and engage them. They are typical liars and ripoff innocent consumers. And it figures that he used to work for the U.N., a global den of charlatans and thieves who coddle dictators and murderous tyrants. Do not give him a penny of your business.
BTW, I contacted state authorities and they investigated and confirmed that the pumps this station used are problematic.