Pep Boys

HORRIBLE SERVICE!!! I came in Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 6:35pm. I had been there two weeks earlier for an oil change and was told to come back due to the possibility of my car burning the oil. When I told the guy (medium complexion, white man, don’t know his name) my issue his immediate response was: «there’s nothing I can do». I had to ask him to check the oil in my car. When he was done I asked him about my front light that was off and said again: «there’s nothing I can do about it» i had to pull answers out of his mouth like a child: can you check it up? Do you have an idea of what can be done? do you recommend shops? Is there a shop close by? Until he eventually said with an attitude: We can fix it with an appointment. As a woman that needs help in the car category, having a guy give me attitude at a CAR SHOP where I expect them to know their business is tiring, rude, and shows poor costumer training!!!

Chris is the man over here. I’ve been to other Pep Boys and I came to this location after having unresolved issues at others. Chris has gone above and beyond in his customer service to ensure my absolute satisfaction every time. His attitude is on point and he will not bs you! He has my business for life.

So glad this place was open on a Sunday. My car dealership is never open when I need them. This place got me in and out in a jiffy. Needed my battery replaced. But not only did they do a quick job of putting in my battery, they renewed my dead compass on my dashboard console. Santa Monica VW said it would cost their laborers $ 60 extra to put a simple electronic switch back on in my car. Reuben’s the guy you want to work on your car! Good man! and grateful not all pep boys have bad service (like the one on sepulveda!)

I’m not sure what your talking about Sunev but I had a great experience at this location and I was there as well and did not see any one upset

I’m all about SERVICE… This place is UN organized and does not communicate well. Initially, no hello, or jist a moment, be right with u. 15 minutes in, i caught someone to help me. .since I just recently went in for a tire rotation and brake check as part of my road safety package, which took over an hour, and paid for an oil change i decided to get since i appreciated having the other services. They did not rotate the tires!!,
This was something I found out days later, and when I spoke to Adrian, he said he would put me on a priority list when i called to explain what happened. So, I did expect a bit of expedited service
After 2 hours, had a tire replaced, but communicated about a discount considering the safety package, which wasn’t applied yet.
I’m still waiting to figure out the bill and get out of here! Pissed off, People are lined up and waiting for my bill to be reworked and am being pro rated a $ 20 off the tire, after another 20 minutes of discussion to …
Thanks for trying guys, but
Ill have to check out a different location next round, maybe you should too;)

What should have been a easy job turned into a three day event that had me running all over west los angeles on vague instructions to purchase my own parts for my repair.
On my first day I am told that they can do the repair if I bring them the part.
On the second day after purchasing the part and returning to the location I am told that they can’t do it today because their technician isn’t in. Would have been nice to have known that the day prior. I am given advice on other parts I can buy that would allow me to do it myself (I’m just trying to mount my license plate after one of my bolts snapped off due to rust from my previous place of residence). I don’t want to do it myself. That is why I am at pep boys. I make an appointment for the following morning. They know I am coming. They know the issue that I need resolved.
On my third day after much frustration I am back at the shop and come to find that this car repair shop apparently doesn’t keep any stock of screws or bolts. I’m not sure how exactly they are repairing cars without any inventory but I am no mechanic. I am told that I should have bought and brought with me the self screwing screws and bolts for my license plate. If I had bolts for my license plate I wouldn’t be here. If I had screws that didnt require use of a drill I wouldn’t be here.
We go out to look at my car and before even getting halfway to it, I am told that my suspension is out of alignment. I’m not sure how he was able to assess this without looking at the car head/​back on, or being close enough to read the treads, but again, I am no mechanic.
Unfortunately, I got the feeling throughout the process that they thought I had absolutely no idea what was going on and could easily be scared into bringing my car in for an alignment or maybe more. The fact that I couldn’t bring a drill on the plane to California to install my own plates doesn’t equate to me not knowing the basics about the car I have been driving since high school. Anyways, miraculously they find some *previously used* screws and the plates get mounted. After all of this at least I can say that the technician did a great job mounting the plates around the rusted on bolts. They look good and unless someone steals them, they aren’t going anywhere. I wish they were bolted instead of screwed, as it is much easier to unscrew than unbolt, but for the time being they are fine. I won’t be coming here for an alignment. And I will be eventually going out and getting my own bolts to make the plates more safe. Next time I’ll just borrow a drill from my neighbor.

Be careful! This used to be a Discount Tire Store and it was great. Now it has changed to a Pep Boys and they tried to cheat me and dented my car! Don’t go here. Several months ago I went in for an oil change and they said I needed brakes… but I didn’t. Then I went in to get a new battery and they dented my car. The manager would never call me, I had to repeatedly call him and go to the shop and finally filed a claim with the BBB and 1800PEPBOYS before I saw any action (which still is not settled). And still they were not helpful. Manager Adrian and Front Desk person Darrell are not to be trusted. Front desk person Aaron is the only one there that was honest and helpful. Find another place if you want honest quality work.

Decent mechanic, but it was a rushed job. Very long story short– I needed two tires on my car — turns out I had the wrong rim size (that’s 100% my responsibility). They were nice enough to jack up the car and show me why it didn’t fit. That was very nice of them. When the mechanic removed the brand new rim that I’m going to need to return he threw it on the ground like a piece of garbage, there’s a few scratches on it I have to polish out in order to return it now.
I can tell they were in a rush but seeing them throw around my rim and spare tire when I’m standing right there made me wonder what’s happening when I’m not here.
I prepaid for the service I still needed and came back the next day. The service took about 5 hours, I can understand they’re very busy, but after close inspection I could tell the job was still rushed (I’ll get to that). I called to inquire if the job was done since they’d be closing soon. I was put on hold for a while so I hung up and called back. Turns out my car was ready but no one called me yet. Not that big of a deal but a call letting me know it’s ready is a no-​brainier.
I took the car home and stopped by my fathers house to inspect the work. All of my tire pressures were different (ranging from 35−40psi). I wasn’t looking for race-​level precision, just consistency.
Two of my four hub caps weren’t installed correctly: the metal band that puts pressure on the retaining clips was on the outside of the clips rendering them useless and could have fallen off at any time.
2 out of 16 lug nuts holding the tires on weren’t torqued to spec (80ft-​lbs).
Nothing they did wrong was «unsafe» or so unacceptable I needed to go back but I could tell it was rushed. Just a few more minutes to follow-​through would have made the difference.
Overall it’s a decent place to get work done: they’ll do what you need them to do but nothing more. Just make sure you inspect your car after any mechanic works on it.

I’d give 4stars for the will to help from many mechanics at this location, and 1 star for their attempts to make unnecessary part replacements. They once told me they couldn’t repair a tire –a $ 19 operation– and they had to replace it for $ 100+. I got repaired the same tire at another tire shop for $ 25 and it’s holding up perfectly. Another time I paid $ 80 for a full diagnostic after the engine check light was on for a few days, they read the code for the Coolant Temp Sensor malfunction but they didn’t notice the coolant level was way too low (full diagnostic my ***). They asked $ 300+ to replace it, and I ended up doing it myself for $ 11 and a couple hours, and I’m not a car expert at all…
Take Home Message: nice and helpful mechanics, bad management, will not go again.

Ugh! Such a sad story to share with you all. I’ve been without a car for two weeks now.
I first brought it into this Pep Boys two weeks ago because my car would not start. Two or three days went by and I didn’t hear anything from them. When I called they told me that they ordered a part and it should be completed in a few days. Well a few days came and I didn’t hear anything. At the end of the day I called and was told that the car part they sent for ended up being the wrong part. Then they told me it will be ready in two days. Two days came and went and again I experienced lack of communication. No call.
Did I mention I was hung up on twice? Well, I was. I was very nice and ended up letting my dad take over all conversations. He is very polite and patient. There was never a need to hangup on either of us.
The next day I called and was told they do not know how to fix my car. They could not detect the problem and was unable to make any necessary repairs. I was then told they were going to tow the car to another Pep Boys to the city over. Two days later I heard nothing. So I called the other Pep Boys and was told they knew nothing about my car and did not have it either. Wow! It was all very shocking. I called to complain and it was then towed to another Pep Boys to another city. No communication, no follow-​up, no knowledge regarding cars, rude rude service, ridiculous crappy experience. Such a bummer.

I needed my brakes fixed and I made an appointment online. When I got there they said the brake mechanic was gone for the day and I would have to come back. I explained how I needed this right away and they did confirm my reservation. Manager Aaron Washington stepped in and made it happen for me. I really appreciate how he heard me, appreciated my situation, and gave me a solution not an excuse. Three cheers for Pep Boys!

Smaller than most other Pep Boys I have been to, this little shop in Santa Monica is mostly helpful for getting your car serviced. If you are looking for a big parts store with plenty of inventory I strongly suggest to look elsewhere in the Santa Monica area or going to a different Pep Boys since this store is small and their service garage can service up to 5 cars or so.
However, I will say that Pep Boys often has good deals and coupons on their website. Just recently got a full synthetic oil change (Mobil 1) for $ 39.99 — which is a sweet deal, taking into account if I had done the oil change myself I would have paid $ 26 for the 5 quarts of oil, another $ 5 – 8 for the oil filter and then having to go thru the hassle of returning the old oil back to the store for recycling.
I stopped by first thing in the morning on a Wednesday (7:45am) and I was the only person there, they started working on my car right away and were done within 45 minutes. I would come back here again.

I was helped by Chris today and let me say, Chris was mad helpful. I’d been having a rough day and when I showed up to get an oil change, my Pep Boys card and corresponding coupon were not scanning or working for some reason. Chris applied the coupon even though the computer was saying no, and was mad cool about the whole thing. All this was going on while some lady was yelling at Chris and his coworker for what I promise was a bogus reason. Mad decent Pep Boys.

I had a great experience today with an oil change for an older model car. Gus made my appointment Chris was helping me and both were extremely courteous and helpful. It took a while but I was glad because they did a thorough safety check. There’s a great room in the back — air conditioned with a TV and good magazines where you can wait.
They were able to tell me exactly what problems were there — I was even invited around to where the car was hoisted up to point out any problems or safety issues.
I forgot my coupon and they honoured it anyway.
All the staff were friendly and helpful. I have had oil changes where they left the cap off and did not top up fluids — you notice these things in an older car. Not the case here…
I would highly recommend this location for oil changes and auto repair.

It truly pains me to write this as I used to trust this location before it changed ownership to Pep Boys. This review encompasses two visits, where after the first negative experience (after two years of being a satisfied customer) I happily gave them another chance but no luck.
First negative experience: I left my 06 Subaru Legacy wagon there for some standard service (oil, etc). I gave them the keys, and they parked the car on the side of the store next to the fence neighboring a health clinic. One of their works trucks (or someone doing contract work for Pep Boys) proceeds to back into my car as I’m yelling at them to stop. They collided with my rear bumper and caused significant damage to the rear end of my car — the rear bumper and one light assembly had to be completely replaced and painted. I consulted the store manager as to what process we should go about in order to report this. He came outside, saw the damage, and said, «you work this out with the driver of the other car, it’s not our fault.» But the Pep Boys representative parked my car there! So it kind of is Pep Boys’ responsibility after I hand the keys over. The other driver’s insurance did accept liability but to be immediately told that it’s not the store’s fault right after a store employee causes this mistake is dishonest and does not reflect a culture of good customer service. Because of that incident, how can I trust the entire store that they will perform work properly or that I am getting a reasonable price. It shows a lack of integrity.
Second negative experience: I took my 05 Subaru Forester in to change out a front wheel bearing and spark plugs. They charged me $ 250 for labor on the spark plugs only. I was actually happy with the wheel bearing job, but they farm that out, so that makes sense. When I asked them how their spark plug labor price compared to the dealerships, they said dealers charge much more. I then called the dealer to compare just to check (I trusted Pep Boys initially, so i didn’t fact check, BIG mistake to trust Pep Boys). Subaru of Santa Monica wanted $ 175 for labor on the same exact job — I have the receipts to prove it. I asked Pep Boys to match the price since they were working on the car already, but they didn’t believe me, and then made up an excuse saying I already signed off on the estimate. I’ve had plenty of mechanics lower the price afterwards because they knew I was loyal to their shop. Complaining in the store did nothing, which is why I am finally writing on Unilocal.After picking up the car, I experienced drive-​ability issues (losing boost/​power) and took it into the Subaru dealership. They said that the valve gaskets were damaged and needed to be replaced — they go around the coil pack area where the spark plugs reside. He then asked me if I had changed the spark plugs recently. I told him the job was performed at a non-​Subaru dealership and he didn’t respond. It cost me over $ 500 to replace the valve gaskets due to the work done at Pep Boys. I can’t complain in person because they just give you canned/​token answers like «We’re sorry you had this experience. We have room to improve and we hope that your future visits will be better,» and eventually tell you to call the corporate office because they probably figure most complainers will just give up and let it go… So here we are…
In conclusion, this is just another classic horror story auto mechanic garage that overprices and underdelivers. It sucks, especially after I went there for two years without any problems.

Do not bring your car here!!! I was appalled by the indecent customer service. First, Something as simple as a 3 year warranty check took over 3 hours to only let me know that they could not do anything for my car although I have warranty. Secondly, they asked for my warranty paper work and on the way out from having waited 3 hours for them to say they could not do anything for the car battery I had to wait another 20minutes so total time of 3 hours and 20minutes because they were so disorganized and threw away my receipt of my warranty. Literally had to dig threw the trash bin for my warranty receipt that they threw away. Additionally, there was no apology for their lack of responsibility and unprofessionalism for the wait and for throwing away my warranty that I brought in.

Worst customer service EVER! Run from this company! Employee «Frank» was behind the counter on the phone with a customer telling them they would not find a better «deal» period than they could give. And that they didn’t know what they were talking about. I thought that was so rude. Once he hung up he told me that the battery I just brought in would take 90 mins before he could tell me what was wrong with it. I didn’t have 90 mins to spare so I just decided to buy a new one since I was there anyway and for him to still call me about the status of my old battery anyway. (since it was free) He said: «Why? Once I sell you the battery you can’t bring it back!» I told him: «So I know if it is indeed a battery issue and not an alternator issue.» He became belligerent and I asked him: «Look, do you want to sell me a battery or not because I can go someplace else!» He told me: «If you want to take it somewhere else go ahead!»
I did just that. I left and drove to Auto Zone a few miles away where I was treated and taken care of immediately. They gave me the info on my battery within 5 minutes and I was out the door with a new one.
«Frank» is a JERK!

The real definition of scam artists. If you are choosing Pep Boys for your auto care, come prepared to be taken advantage of and have erroneous charges added to your bill that have no place being there.
I called Pep Boys up two weeks ago to get a quote on replacing two tires on my Volkswagen. I knew one tire was old and needed replacing, and the other one was not old but I had ran over a nail and heard you should replace two tires at once.
On the phone they told me it would $ 238.00 total including parts/​services/​alignment, and if I brought my car down right away, they would have me in and out in 90 minutes max.
Since they were close to my office and gave a decent price I drove my car over right away. Upon my arrival, the employee who had spoke with me over the phone handed me an estimate for around $ 500. I was instantly irritated because I had just talked to him on the phone and he said $ 238 max.
After combing line item by line item through the added charges, we managed to reach a number closer to $ 400. I was still furious — why had he not gone through this with me on the phone as I had clearly asked for not even 20 minutes before?
Anyway, feeling ripped off and helpless, I proceeded to the waiting room for the service I could have gotten for less money and more peace of mind at my dealership.
About 45 minutes later, I was approached by a different service guy who told me I had a nail in my tire and it would be an additional $ 20 to repair that. I knew he was talking about one of the tires I initially asked to be replaced, so I told him to go ahead and patch that tire instead of replacing it.
He instantly got super awkward and fidgety, and it was clear he thought this was a different tire, not the one that they were going to replace. He started trying to back track saying that the tire was «too old actually and needed be replaced.» That tire was only 2 years old and I could tell he was lying, so I told him to just patch it.
He scurried off without confirming what he was going to do, so I had to go hunt down the guy I originally spoke with and tell him that the second tire was going to be patched and not replaced. He kind of rolled his eyes at me and left me feeling like I had no idea what was going to happen to my car.
Three additional hours after this, another service guy approached me and said my car was done but he could not figure out how to sync the TMPS system to the tire pressure, which was saying my tire pressure was low even though he guaranteed all the tires were full. He said I needed to bring my car back on a day when I could leave it for 5 – 8 hours so he could fix it. Great.
Feeling completely drained, I went to the counter to pay and saw my bill was back up to $ 500. I went through it and they had two tires on it, a third patched tire, and then all these other charges.
AGAIN, I went through it and had them remove everything they didn’t actually do (like give me two new tires!) and ended up with $ 209 in parts and $ 135 in labor (+ tax). The total bill was $ 368 — $ 130 more than the original quote without even getting a second tire.
The worst part about all of this is, when I got in my car to leave, I noticed one of the tires (either the bad one I wanted OFF or the one they allegedly patched…) was extremely low in air, so I had to drive to a gas station to fill it and what do you know? The TMPS no longer said my Tire Pressure is low. WHAT A JOKE. $ 368 to not even have the problem fixed.
Honestly, the WORST experience I have ever had with auto care. Don’t go.

Kings of the UPSELL.
I had a flat, which was in the trunk (driving on a donut)
I asked them to fix the flat, and they insisted that the hole was too large and that I would need a new tire. It would take 2 – 3 hours.
Not to be fooled, I left and went down the block to General Tire, and they took a look and said «No problem, we can patch that for you. Give us 45 minutes»
30 dollars and 45 minutes later, GT had my tire fixed. The same tire that Pep Boys insisted could not be fixed.
Sorry, I don’t like being scammed and upsold.

Had to get new wiper blades. They only charge for the supplies and not the labor. They did it on the spot without an appt. I just waited and took about 20 min. Great customer service! Would def go back!