Divine Grace Auto Service

Sadly Paul has retired, but I’m happy for him. –sigh– 5 stars for the past great service.

i’ve been here twice and both times they did not disappoint. the first time i went was purely out of convenience because my car overheated and after barely making it back to my bf’s house by coasting on neutral we realized that there was an auto repair shop a few feet away aptly named divine grace… god’s gift to humankind with busted cars and tight budgets. was afraid that it might be shady but these guys are the real deal. carefully examined the problem, made sure i understood the issue and the process it would take to fix it, and got the car back to me the same day. friendly affordable service and the best part is that i always get greeted with a smile and a «hi neighbor!»

While Divine Grace is great for a lot of stuff, they’re not great for everything, and I learned that the hard way. Brakes, oil, spark plugs, etc… Yup! Paul is your man! Anything big? Um… yeah, you pay for what you get and know that time is not of the essence with Paul. He is a really nice, good natured person. I just think he bites off more than he can chew sometimes. I would bring my car in for anything I would take my car to Jiffy Lube or Pep Boys for, because I wanna support the Mom and Pop shops. But if it’s big? To the dealership I go…

I truly believe that an angel was watching over me during my drive up to the city this morning. While driving in slow traffic on 101 North, my car suddenly died. My gas tank was full, so that wasn’t the problem. I was in the far left lane and panic began to come over me.
«PLEASE GOD, don’t leave me here like this!!»
I placed the car in Park and tried the ignition. Miraculously, the car started back up immediately. I hit the hazards and slowly cruised across 4 lanes — all the other cars stopped just for me in those few seconds for me to pass with ease — and pulled off the freeway and onto Potrero Ave. I had no idea where I was going and knew that I wouldn’t be able to go much further — my car was starting to make scary loud clanking noises. I spotted a Walgreens on the corner of 24^th and pulled into their parking lot. I parked the car and sat there wondering who I should call for help. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a body shop. I got out of my car and as I got closer, I saw an auto repair shop located right next to the body shop. It was too good to be true! I crossed the street and walked into the garage. «Welcome Home» the mechanic greeted me. Interesting greeting, I thought. I told him what had happened, and he went back to my car with me to check it out. After looking under the hood and advising me not to restart it, Paul, the mechanic, called his tow truck driver friend who came over 10 minutes later to tow it across the street.
Those of you who have seen my hooptie LS 400, you’ll know that my license plate is personalized with my last name. Paul saw this, and asked if I was Chinese, to which I answered yes. He busted out in Mandarin and in his friendly demeanor told me that I had nothing to worry about. He reassured me that it wasn’t a serious problem and that he would give me an excellent price since they had just moved to that location and was offering a 50% off labor special.
The tow truck driver, who was extremely nice as well, came in minutes and told me that Paul was a really good guy and would definitely take good care of me.
Paul called me later in the afternoon and gave me an estimate of $ 100 (approx. $ 40 for the new belt and $ 55 for labor) — way less then I had expected.
The flyer Paul gave me as I left the shop this morning read: «In God We Trust. Divine Grace Auto Service.» The grace of God and goodness of man was definitely upon me today.