Skelley’s Garage

Many of the reviews here are endorsing Marcelino and the team for being honest and fair. I can’t speak to their experiences, but I just saved approximately $ 245 today by **NOT** having my car serviced here. Instead I went to N & N’s down the street which did the job for 57% cheaper!!!
I’m absolutely livid right now! The diagnostic test on my car came back with one of my cylinders misfiring, which calls for a simple replacement of only 1 spark and coil. Marcelino told me that I needed 2 sparks and 2 coils replaced and gave me an estimate of $ 430 (N & N’s charged me $ 180). Only one of my cylinders was misfiring, so why do I need an extra spark and coil???
Oh and he even had the audacity to offer me a student discount of 10% which shaves off $ 43. Big whoop, that still gives him a shady net gain of $ 387 from me. Really? He’s going to acknowledge the fact that I’m still a student that probably can’t even afford this service, yet continues to try and rip me off.
The fact that many other people have been coming here for years on account of honesty, and that I just had an experience to suggest otherwise, goes to show that not all mechanics can be trusted just because a few people say so. I always tell my friends to GET SECOND OPINIONS, even thirds. Don’t always trust peoples’ reviews on Unilocal either.

I got to say that I am very thankful for knowing Marcelino and Team. I have been taking my car with him for almost 5 years. He is one of the few guys you can trust.
Don Marcelino muchas gracias por su trabajo y por la Carisma que Siempre le pone a su trabajo. Es de gran bendicion haverle conocido y tenerlo como nuestro Mecanico de confianza. Mi Esposo y familiares lo apreciamos.

Marcelina totally took care of my two flat tires and only charged me $ 20. Although it doesn’t look like much it is always busy. Usually places that suck aren’t busy and don’t have 4 stars so I took a chance. The Navy Exchange garage said my tires needed to be replaced and wouldn’t fix the
Flats. My tires are fine so I took it to this little shop by my house. Way better experience than dealing with the NEX garage, who act like they are doing me a favor by working on my car. If you need your car fixed, these guys rock.

I went in to Skelley’s today with an issue on my 1998 Jeep Cherokee 4×4, I was ready to hire them if necessary, then Marcelino told me about a fix I could easily do myself, instead of paying him to do it.
That seems pretty honest, and I’d say turning business away, instead of charging me unnecessarily, for the auto repair world, is probably as good as it gets.
(By the way, I went to another auto shop today, too, for a 2^nd opinion, with the same result, so this is the same exact message I’ll leave at the other place — in case you see it and wonder why the duplicates.)

Open Saturday: check and happily took my car, called when it was ready.
Evaluated the problem and gave me a fix they found appropriate: check.
Discussed it all with me and gave me instructions in case it happens again: check.
Excellent experience.
Dropping them a star for telling me to «just come in» when I called to ask them if getting a particular part in advance was a problem, «no,» meant, «yes,» but we worked it out. Their fix is still working, and for $ 13 in experimental gambling fees on a potential bill of 12x that, I’ll take it.

I’ve been coming to here since I began driving back in 2011. I get my oil change here with Marcelino he’s awesome! Tony & roman are also nice to me. Those guys are always working hard & sometimes they have a lot of work so obviously they might take longer than expected for your car but they are working hard & keep the price at a reasonable value & shows you the old part and the new part so you don’t feel ripped off. Honestly, Marcelino and the rest of the guys there are very hard-​working & responsible people that are doing the best they can. I would recommend anyone who needs a good & honest mechanic to Marcelino because he’ll get the job done.

I’ve been going to Skelley’s Garage since 2006, it’s now time to leave, and this is why:
I have a new to me used 99′ Chevy Astrovan. It’s a replacement for my 94′ Astrovan that was involved in a stolen car accident. The insurance company totalled it out, even though it ran fine, and I GAVE it to Marcelino, since the insurance company sent me more than enough money to replace it. I took the 99′ into Skelley’s, and gave Marcelino a list of what I wanted done to it. including replacing the windshield wipers. When I went to pick it up, Marcelino wasn’t there, and Tony asked me if I wanted to pay. I said, «of course,» but where’s my invoice so I know how much to pay. Well, he couldn’t find it, so he said, «just come in and talk to Marcelino.»
In addition, on the outside of the driver’s side there was what looked like someone spilled a cup of coffee or soda down the side of it, and greasy fingerprints. When I got into it, I noticed that a $ 1 coin was missing from the dashboard, there was grease all over the driver’s side floor mat (no paper mat was used), a small, hard plastic container that is kept between the seats to use to keep miscellaneous stuff in, was not only just thrown into the back of the van, but a chunk was broken out of it.
I went in again, and Marcelino also couldn’t find the invoice. When I addressed the above situation with him, all he said was, «really, the guy that worked on your van is in the hospital.» Another customer then came in, and he left me to talk to the other customer (which he has a habit of doing). It’s not the first time that he’s left me in the office (waiting two hours or more to talk to him about repairs), so this time I just walked out the door, and will never return.
Due to all of this, I assumed that there was no work was done to my van at all, with the exception of replacing the windshield wipers. In addition to Tony and Roman working there for a long time, he has had a succession of young guys working on vehicles, not doing a very good job, hence the work has gone downhill.
No invoice, no payment. It’s time to find a new mechanic, and I’m sure that there are plenty of them out there that will be more than happy to have my money, do the repair work as requested, have my van ready, repaired, and an invoice waiting for me with a total.
So long Marcelino, it’s time to go.

Worst customer service. Ever. In the history of all businesses. Also, my car broke down again for the same problem 3 days after they said it was «fixed.» I’m going somewhere else from now on, and you should too. I think they are rude and do not care about you or your car.

Let me start by saying that I have gone to Skelley’s for the past 4 years. My car is really not a gem, so I kept taking it to Skelley’s because their prices are low. The prices are low because they use aftermarket parts, but I knew that. They also leave your car in an unprotected and unsupervised area in a dark alley when it is not being worked on, but I knew that too. Again, my car is not a gem that someone would want to break into or steal.
This past time was horrible though, and I will never go back there. The customer service has always been awful. They will not call you when the car is done, and if you call them, only one person in the whole shop knows the status of your car. So while you have no car, you will have to find a way to either come by the shop to see if your car is ready yourself, or call numerous times to talk to the ONE guy who routinely is not in the shop, or is «busy.» I had to take my car back 4 times for the same problem, and they still didn’t fix it. The most recent time I brought the car in, they had it for 2 weeks (for a 2 day project), and didn’t even START on working on the car until 5 days in– and that was because I called THEM to see if it was ready yet. They told me it would be ready on a certain day, and then when I took off of work early that day to catch the bus over there, they said that they didn’t think it would get done by the end of the day even though I arrived 2 hours before closing time. When I looked in the garage, there were 2 men sitting at a back table not working– and one of them was wearing an oversized sombrero. Really, guys? P. S.- While I was waiting the 2 hours, the one guy answered the phone and told 6 – 7 people that their car is not ready, and 3 more walk ins that their cars were not ready either.
Then when I finally got my car back 2 days after it was promised, it broke down two days later for the same problem I had originally brought it in for! I gave up on Skelley’s and took my car to a new mechanic who said that the $ 600 I just spent didn’t need fixing, and the small part that needed replaced could have fixed the problem in the first place. My car has been running problem-​free for the past month so far now that I had someone else look at the car.

These guys are great. Old school, No BS. They help you out and don’t over charge. Reliable neighborhood garage.

The best Mechanic Shop in California!!! These people are so honest! They are not trying to steal your money. My car had a bad thermostat I took it to a place in Miramar and those idiots told me I had a blown head gasket. They charged me $ 80 and didn’t do anything. But I came here to my fellow friend Marcelino and he checked out the car and told me the thermostat is bad. He saved me $ 700! You need to come here they do pretty much everything and there prices are better than most places

Open saturday! Called them up, they said we had to bring the car by to get an estimate for repairs. They took a look at it, drove around with me in it, and decided nothing was wrong. Did not charge me. Nice dudes! Skelleys 4 life

My family and I have been coming here since 2001, we use to live in the neighborhood and still drive out here to get work done. Marcelino and his crew are honest and good at what they do. If you need an honest opinion on your vehicle I’d drop in and give these guys a chance.

I love this place. I used to live in the neighborhood and I still go there to get all my work done. The prices are very competitive and they are the nicest most honest guys I have ever encountered. I had gone to some of those other discount oil places and they always get you with an imaginary issue. You know, the ones that say, «Your Timing Belt Catheter Intake Valve is shot. If you don’t get it fixed today your car will spontaneously combust killing you, your child, your husband who is 10 miles away and a school bus full of deaf children on the way to visit their grandmothers.» When you take it to Skelley’s they hear that, look at the issue, and reassure you that everything is okay, and they will take care of it without taking you to the cleaners.
I’ve gotten a few different things done there, breaks, oil change, and this one time when my check engine light was on and it wouldn’t pass smog, (it was a while ago, I don’t remember exactly what the issue was) they fixed it for like $ 60 and it ran better than before. I will always take my cars here!

Marcelino does just what he says he’ s gonna do. «Fix the car at a fair price»
A couple of decades now, Skelly’s has been our mechanic; even though my son is a mechanic now; I still use Skelly’s when he’s too busy. Our Corolla, Lexus, Mazda and now BMWs are doing just fine!

These guys are the best. I won’t take my cars to anyone but Skelley’s. In the past few years there are have been several occasions where they’ve convinced me NOT to have work done that I thought I needed. Whenever there have been problems with the materials or service they make it right. Their honesty and quality of work will keep me going there every time I need something done on my cars.
Tony and Marcellino are the best!

I went here for a simple oil change. I decided to try them after several «bait-​and-​switch» maneuvers at chains like Jiffy Lube (Oil Change– $ 29.95! But actually $ 69.95 if you want anything that’s safe for your car).
The guys at Skelley’s gave me a top of the line synthetic oil and filter change in 20 minutes for approximately $ 40. They were very friendly and helpful. In short, it was good service at a good price, and without the BS that comes from so many other auto places.
I will definitely come back.

I’ve been taking my car to Skelly’s for the past few years. I used to live in North Park so it was really convenient. I have since moved to UTC but still bring my car here because I can trust this place. I don’t know crap about cars and am sometimes worried about being taken advantage of at other places but I have never had that feeling here.
As you have read in other reviews, Marcelino is the best. He does a great job of explaining the issues and there are never any problems or hidden costs when it comes to the repairs. Most often Skelly’s has the cheapest prices of any place I call for quotes.
Their parts are guaranteed by the garage and they actually stand by that. I had something replaced in my brakes and after a while they began wearing down and squeaking. Marcelino checked to see when I had them replaced and since they were within the time frame, he fixed them for free.
I haven’t any issues getting my car into get fixed and it is always done when quoted. I am very happy with the service I receive here and will continue with it!

Amazing customer service from Marcelino. After driving around to about 4 places in the area that were «booked for the day» for oil changes, I’m glad I ended up at Skelley’s! I said I would be waiting for my car at the Bluefoot and Marcelino actually stopped by the bar to let me know my car was ready! I had stepped out so I didn’t see him but still a pretty cool gesture! Competitive pricing too! I’m bringing my car here from now on.

Three stars for taking me at the last minute when my car was broken down and finishing up very quickly and in a courteous manner.
Maybe Melanie is a family friend and that was why she did not get charged for a diagnostic. My battery was dead, plain and simple, I did not need to get charged 90.00 bones, count them 90.00 folks for a diagnostic. This is the same price as a Honda Dealer would charge, also Baron’s Foreign Car Service and Tom Masters, both VERY, VERY expensive auto repair shops.
Here is the break down:
Labor charge standard: 75.00 — you can get cheaper, around 55.00 elsewhere.
Battery: 4.78
Diagnostic: 90.00 !!! cr*p
They are approximately 2.2 miles from my house. I will use them in an emergency situation only due to close proximity and Marcelino is nice. Otherwise, I will continue my search for a reasonably priced shop who does good service — I have a freakn’ Honda Civic, not a Jag. should be easy.