A-Smog-It

Smog-​it ranks TOP for its lightening quick service! I’ve smogged my car here year after year until the old bucket of bolts had a mechanical issue. This knowledgable staff diagnosed the repair needed on the first go around and now I’m able to go about my day worry free. Thanks Smog-​it for keeping your prices fair and your consistent quality of work provided to our local SB community. I recommend these guys hands down for any and all auto services or repairs.

Two words. Really slow. This smog check station had gotten some positive reviews so I decided to give it a try. Smog costs $ 55.95 for cars in case you are wondering. They were understaffed and it took a long time for them to get to my car. At least they were nice…

I would have rated Smog-​It minus 5, were it possible. My husband, who always took care of smogging passed away suddenly, so I had to do it. I saw Smog-​It and drove in. The fumes were thick, I had to have them «de-​smog» the waiting area as the air there was also unbreathable. The biker-​looking guy, Kyle, soon appeared and told me my car failed and told me I owed him $ 57.70 which was strange to me as the price on the invoice stated total 55.95 (Smog check 47.70, Certificate 8.25). Then he handed me the leaflet for applying to the state for a $ 500 voucher to pay for the perceived problem. (if I were poor enough to qualify – I drive a little Geo Metro that I bought new back in 1994. So, I probably appeared to be an easy Mark). Then he said he would look for the problem for $ 119 down payment. By this time I realized there was a major Con going down. So I said I had to be at an appointment in 20 minutes and left. In retrospect I am sure that if their smog analyzer tested the ambient air, rather than my car’s emissions, the test would definitely fail for hydrocarbon ppm.

I went here and had my VW smoggy and was impressed by the service, price (use online coupon) and speed.
Def use them next time

Quick, friendly and no-​nonsense service. TWO enthusiastic thumbs up!

I took my 1990 Toyota truck in to get it smogged. I keep it in excellent repair but it didn’t pass. Well, the first thing the technician did was tell me it would cost an additional $ 98 to diagnose the problem. This is in addition to the $ 48 I was already on the hook for. The $ 98 doesn’t cover any labor or parts, that is just to tell you what is wrong. He immediately handed me a pamphlet for a state program where the state will pay for up to $ 500 worth of work. So presumably, we’re talking $ 48 + $ 98 + $ 500. I wouldn’t qualify for the state program and told the guy I didn’t need it. I would need to leave my car overnight and they would look at it the next day.
Ok, I’ve been around the block a little, and I know when something is not right. Something was not right here. The guy would not tell me *anything* that might be causing the high HC reading at idle. I would need to pay for the diagnosis. I paid the $ 48 I was already on the hook for and left.
Then I checked Unilocal for reviews. I wish I had done this sooner. I called Ricardo at SB Smog Shop (5 stars) and he told be the high HC was usually because the car wasn’t completely warmed up. He said to drive it on the freeway for 15 minutes and bring it in. So I did, he tested it, and it passed. He charged me $ 60 (including the certificate) and the «diagnosis» was free. It took me 20 minutes and I was done. Good honest guy.
I won’t call this a scam, but it certainly is a racket. The guy at Smog-​It could have simply told be to go drive it on the freeway for 10 minutes and come back and they would check the emissions again.
I won’t ever go here again and I’ll tell everyone else not to go there either. There are other smog stations who want your business and know the meaning of customer service.
Next time I’ll check Unilocal first.

I took my car in for routine smog. After 2 guys puttered about for an hour, they told me I wouldn’t be able to pass without a line that was «missing». But oh, how convenient, they had one there they would be happy to install for another $ 75. I bought my car from my trusted mechanic so this sounded fishy to me that my car would be straight up MISSING a line. I left and told them I would come back a different day. I call my mechanic and he said I shouldnt have gone to them, that they have a reputation for ripping people off. I went to Fastlane in Goleta and I passed with flying colors, the guys were really helpful, and my car was done in 30 mins. I will never go to Smog It again, and will be sure to warn everyone against them. I should’ve read the Unilocal reviews before I went. Bummed I lost $ 60 to these scam artists, but glad I took my money to an honest business.

These guys went out of their way to help me. Some b@#$%d siphoned my gas by cutting the pipe my gas tank. As a result, a warning light had come up on the dashboard. The guys at A-​Smog-​it explained exactly what I needed to do and my car finally passed. All at no extra charge. I’m very pleased.

I should have Unilocaled this place first because I would have never went here! I only went here because it was recommended by the guys at Fastlane Smog, and I will be giving them a 1 star rating too just for the crappy recommendation.
First, they charged me $ 40 extra just because it was an RV. It ended up costing me $ 92 for a smog. The last place I smogged it at was just the regular price, no RV surcharge.
They took 2 hours when they said it should take about an hour, making me late for my DMV appointment and extremely late for work.
When I got the report, I was shocked to find that the Emissions passed but the visual inspection didn’t?!! How is that even possible? I didn’t have a check engine light on or anything like that.
The «repairs» they recommended amounted to «$ 250, or more than $ 1000, can’t really tell until we look at it.» At this point, I felt they were trying to rip me off so I just paid and left.
DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I MADE AND GIVE THESE CROOKS YOUR BUSINESS! They will only try to rip you off with unnecessary repairs.

I have had my car smogged here twice since living in California and have had nothing but positive experiences both times. The first time was back in 2009. The second time was today. Drove up this afternoon shortly after 3pm, was told there was one car ahead of me, they were halfway done, and it would be a 40 minute wait until they were done with my car. Had a seat in the waiting room, about 10 minutes later they started on my car. Passed the smog test with flying colors. Was out of there in under 40 minutes. I have an older car and I still get nervous that it won’t pass. The owner was very pleasant to talk to and answered any questions I had about smog tests (in the event I didn’t pass).

These guys are pure rip off artists. I took my car in and it didn’t pass. They charged me $ 48.00 for their trouble and then let me know I had the option of bringing it back in, getting charged another $ 120, but refused to give any kind of estimate, during that test, meaning, they could pretty much make up any amount they wanted. They quoted me $ 5,000 for a catalytic converter, which is more than the car is worth.
Just goes to show I should have read the other Unilocalsters comments.

These guys tried to scam me $ 250!
This was my first smog check on my car, which runs perfect, so I wasn’t too worried. He came back and said two things failed and they could repair it for ~$ 250.
It didn’t seem right, so I declined and went for a second opinion somewhere else. At the second place, it showed the car had previously failed, so he asked why it failed. It came up on the computer that it just failed visual inspection… which turned out to be a loose clamp that he was nice enough to tighten for me. The car passed, no problem.
Don’t take your chances with these guys.

This outfit really deserves ZERO STARS as there’s no benefit they can provide, absolutely ZERO.
1. I had to wait 50-​minutes there was only 2 other people ahead of me. I specifically called ahead and asked them what the wait was to get in and they said, «not long, 5-​minutes.» So I dropped everything and rushed down there in the middle of the day.
2. the very first thing I said was, «I want a PRE-​TEST for my car to make sure it’ll pass first». The guy said, «sure, we can do that». Well, guess what happened? He didn’t set up the test properly and it went into the computer as a real test. Then he failed me for having an aftermarket air-​filter!!! That got recorded into the system with the State as having failed and I HAD to have it repaired by them!!! $ 100 for an air-​filter? Are you crazy!
3. I KNOW for a fact that my car was legal for an aftermarket air-​filter due to the way the air-​box was configured. I even looked it up in the state’s inspection specs book and my car was listed as not requiring a TAC (sealed airbox). I asked them to look it up in the book and re-​test my car. «No way, no cars can pass without the factory air-​filter». Wouldn’t even look in the book.
4. So took my car home and swapped out air-​filters for the stock one and took it back for re-​test. Manager came out and looked at it and the paperwork and said, «I can’t test this because we didn’t do the repairs». What a bunch of crooks.
Finally I gave up and drove 60-​minutes north to one of the official State of California smog referee stations. They plugged it in and went over every inspection point in the book (way more thorough than the Smog-​It place). And it passed with flying colours!!!
I ended up wasting 4-​hours of my life for a simple 20-​minute test that would’ve been easy if they had just followed the State’s rules and followed the inspection points IN THE BOOK!!! Idiots! Don’t waste your time or money with this outfit, you’ll be sorry.

Terrible. Don’t waste your time going here. I drove in at 11am on a Saturday and the guy/​s? were going to lunch. «Be back in an hour.» I said okay, I’d come back, but that I had to be to work by 2pm. How long does it take? «25 minutes.»
Okay, I ran other errands, had my own lunch and came back in an hour and 10 min. By that time they had managed to fit in 6+ cars ahead of me and «maybe» they could do it by the time they closed at 3pm. Really? You couldn’t tell me this an hour ago? The 25 minute wait — I would have not been angry had it been an hour — was now 3 hours?
Yeah, no thanks. Glad you’re busy, I’ll take my business elsewhere and let others know too. Maybe then you can figure out how to communicate with your customers.

These guys are horrible! I wish I could give them zero stars. They don’t even deserve 1 star.
Basically, It took me going to them, wasting my time and gas about 6 times, for them to realize THEY made a stupid mistake. It took about 2 months for them to realize this. Meanwhile I got 3 tickets because I didn’t have my car registered because my car wouldn’t pass smog.
Here’s the long story:
I didn’t pass the smog check my first time because my gas cap was cracked. They had me buy a new one for $ 12. They told me to drive it around for a week and come back. I came back and it still failed to pass. I noticed that the gas cap wasn’t fitting correctly and they laughed and said they already checked the fit and it was perfect. They told me to drive it around again for another week. They said some cars take months to clear. I drove it around for another week and brought it back. It still failed. They told me that I could leave my car with the boss overnight and he would drive it to carp hooked up to a monitor and then maybe it would pass. I had to have a friend pick me up and then borrow my ex’s car. When I came back the next day it still failed. They told me I had to follow some formula to clear something. I had to drive in between 50 – 53 mph for 15 seconds, then slow down for 10, then speed up to 50 – 53 for another 15 seconds. So I did that BS and looked retarded on the freeway. It still didn’t pass, so the boss took it overnight again to carp. It failed again. They finally realized the gas cap wasn’t fitting.
IN THIS PERIOD OF TIME I GOT 3 TICKETS for over $ 100 each for not having my registration because I couldn’t get it due to failure of smog testing!
It finally passed the next week after they changed the gas cap. (I knew this was the problem all along). They wasted so much of my time. I live in Goleta and had to take 40 or more minutes out of my day every time I went back. Not to mention, I was in the middle of Midterms.
When I went to pay, I asked for a discount. They told me it wasn’t their fault and that It was my cars fault. I was shocked and told them that I knew the gas cap wasn’t fitting correctly the second time I went there. I told them the least they could do was wave the $ 12 gas cap fee.

The first time I came here, I passed my smog test with flying colors so there was no issue other than the fact that they are extremely over-​priced and charge re-​test fees for old cars.
The second time I came here, it was worse. They told me that my car didn’t pass and then preceded to tell me that there was a government program that would pay me $ 500 to help with the fees since I was a starving student… I later realized they were trying to get me to do the work so they could get the money! Crooks! They then said that I had to have a $ 119 inspection/​diagnosis fee in addition to whatever it might cost to fix the problem. I told them I would look into the financial government aid and get back to them.
I took it to another auto shop where they repaired a spark plug for free, and, lo and behold, it passed! I also requested that they let me drive it around right beforehand since there was a two-​hour wait but they did not permit me to do so assuring me that they would get it to the legal temperature. Needless to say, it’s a good thing for all of us that it passed.
As I’m walking out, one of the guys working there says that he «got it to pass» and that my catalytic converter was probably going and minutes later another guy told me that my car actually passed by a lot.
Overpriced. Fake. Bad Customer Service. Unknowledgeable.

Yay for Smog-​it on Haley! This was my first time for this place and that always makes me nervous. I pulled in and Keith, a very nice young man, helped me. He quickly took my information and I was able to leave and walk to work. They called about 45 minutes later — I walked over, paid quickly and left. It was a great and stress-​free experience, thanks guys!

This is a horrible business. They fake smog-​tests (I checked with the State later and the test was NOT reported), then tell you that $ 1000 in repairs was needed. They wouldn’t let me take my car back to go somewhere else until I paid them the $ 150 «inspection» fee. BAH! I raised a stink and threatened to call the cops and they gave me the car back.
I took the car elsewhere, paid less for a smog check and it passed just fine! Avoid this shady operation at all costs!!!