A-1 Roadside Service

So my girlfriend and I were on a vacation in Big Sur for the week when my belt tensioner locked up thus causing my belt to snap. The replacment parts (gates brand) from any local auto shop were $ 150 total for both the belt and tensioner). We were referred to Prad of A1 via our AAA driver. Prad originally agreed to doing the job for $ 80 for an hour of labor. So, $ 150 for parts and $ 80 for labor (a standard mechanic rate) totalled up to $ 250, not bad to allow us to continue our vacation together. But upon calling him back after figuring out what the best plan was, he said $ 350 was the lowest that he’d do it for (basically asking for $ 200 of labor for an hour of work at most). I gave him every single spec he needed on my car type and he said he would have all the proper parts ready for me in the am.
So in the am we had our car towed to his shop out of desperarion so that we could continue our vacation. The «shop» ended up being a curb on the street right in front of his apartment. Upon arriving, Prad was first off late by about 20 minutes because he was attending to another job. Once he arrived and began working he said he didn’t have the right tool for my tensioner, the search for the right tool took 30 minutes alone. Then he said he figured it out and didn’t need the tool after all. He swapped out my tensioner with the new one in 10 minutes. Then came putting the serpentine belt on. He fumbled with the belt for about 30 minutes and said he couldn’t figure out the proper belt path. I suggested that he use his phone to search for the info, instead he continued bumbling about on his own. Then he said that he had the wrong belt and would have to go pick up another one. BUT, beyond that he would also have to go take another job prior to coming back with the proper belt. This alone added another hour of waiting in front of his apartment on the street. At this point we had been there a little over 2 hours and 20 minutes. Once he finally arrived back with a new belt and tried the new belt on, he again said it was the wrong size! Now we were at the 3 hour mark after being promised a 1 hour job.
He finally pulls out his phone and Googles the belt path for my vehicle and found it instantly! 10 minutes later the belt is on and he’s done. So within 20 total minutes he completed the repairs, and spent 2 hours, 40 minutes doing everything else but the right thing in between. Due to his negligence for not researching the proper way to install my belt, not having the proper tools needed, and deciding that it was OK to take another job mid our job together, we ended up waiting 2 hours more than planned. So, I asked for the original quoted cost of $ 250 for everything to be honored and he furiously refused, dropped down below my vehicle while saying «fuck this shit, I’m going to rip it all off and you can take the car somewhere else».
I calmly explained that the 2 hours extra it took were completely his fault due to a lack of knowledge on his part on how to work on my vehicle although he said it would be no problem to fix! He then says «you’re one of those fucking guys!» To which I reply, «what do you mean by that?» He continues «you know yourself, you try to fuck everyone out of money».
He basically verbally assaulted me, threatened to dismantle the repairs unless I paid him the $ 350. Again, my GF and I were on vacation and I felt horrible making her wait hours and having already lost nearly a day of our 4 day vacation I decided to agree to the rate so that we could leave far from Prad, his negativity, and poor mechanic work. I had to pay him in cash and had $ 360 with no change for a $ 20 to make it $ 350, he didn’t have change either so he said I could have a $ 10 discount. I politely handed him the $ 360 and left. Honestly, Prad was one of the most rude, insensitive, and dishonest people I’ve ever worked with!

Personable, knowledgeable, helpful and very down to earth. Would highly recommend. Lead is a mechanic so can do more than just tow, etc.

This guy really cares about people. We were heading home from our vacation and were unable to shift into gear. He was out very quickly and helped get us back on the road. Unfortunately, the problem was not something that could be addressed on the roadside — it turned out that the clutch needed to be replaced.
However, he was extremely caring and concerned about our well-​being. He offered to give us a ride anywhere in town and even offered to bring us some blankets since we’d be waiting a while for repairs.

We were stranded at Andrew Molera State Park and Prad came to our rescue… very professional service! And he did not charge us an arm and leg to get us out of a pickle, locked car!