Willow Sunoco

These guys are crooked. I brought my car in to fix a noise in my muffler, but it turned into a regular Rossen Reports situation. They fixed the initial muffler issue, but when I picked up the car it was suddenly making a different noise, and dragging in the front driver-​side wheel– a problem that was not there at all before I brought it in. When my wife brings it back to get them to take a look at it, they say the car needs over $ 3000 of additional repairs that it somehow didn’t need previously.
Total scam.

Not a scam, but definitely a rip off! Needed to have a tire replaced and they quoted me $ 267 for one tire. They said they pay $ 225 for the tire and then many different fees and taxes amounting to $ 42. I know the cost of my tires and went online to confirm. If I was to buy the tire myself at retail pricing it would cost me no more than $ 180, they are a service station and pay wholesale not retail for products. I told them this and they insisted that they pay $ 225. I suggested they start shopping around. I found Omar’s discount Tires in Union City, a 5 minute drive from Hoboken. They ordered and replaced my tire within an hour and charged me $ 142 for the tire, $ 176.50+tax for everything (tire disposal, mount tire, balance and tax).

I’m not sure it’s fair to call this place a scam, because that doesn’t do it justice. They actually refused to give me my key back for less than $ 75. I decided to not get work done, so without saying anything up front, they felt giving me an estimate was worth $ 75. Not even actually sure that’s legal (thankfully I have a spare key). I have other awesome examples, but I’ve wasted enough time on this chop shop. Enjoy if you so choose.

I went there for an oil change because it was a convenient location. However, I ended up paying $ 50 for my oil change. They ended up adding fluids and changing a filter, despite the fact that I did not ask for these services. My car is less than 6 months old and I am more than capable of adding my own fluids.

Twice I went here because I had a nail in one of my tires. Both times they told me they were too busy and they couldn’t do it. No time to do a 5 minute job? Yet they were walking around talking. Found a better place, who took me right away. Will avoid this place forever.

Top notch! Rene does a great job and always fairly priced.

Stay away. Every summer I switch off winter wheels AND tires and mount on special racing summer wheels and tires on my Honda. I moved into the area 6 months ago and have a storage bin nearby this gas station. I walk into this place one day after picking up my summer tires from the storage unit, as it was the first place I seen. The owner told me it would be 60 dollars to mount 4 tires! I told him have a nice day and had it done shortly after for 25 bucks. This is a SIMPLE thing to do and would have taken all of ten minuets. This guys prices are outrageous. Just happy I learned this from a small job and not something big, like a brake job. Have some knowledge of auto labor and part prices before stepping into this money pit.

avoid at all costs. Took my Mercedes here for a tire change figuring it would be expensive but when i recieved the bill the price of the tire was $ 150 more than what you would get on
. A $ 350 tire ended up costing me $ 550.00 Thats insane. Figuring i learned my lesson and this place is close to my job, next time i bought the tire on my own for him to just mount it on my BMW. $ 40.00 to mount a tire should be criminal. And i learned my lesson. He charges you $ 3.50 to dispose of the tire he is removing from your car and an «environmental fee» on top of that as well. This guy is insane but will never ever go back here again. He thinks he’s doing you a favor but his prices are unreal. He charges accordingly to what vehicle you drive in.

I have taken all three of my cars here for minors repairs, like flats tune ups etc. I have never encountered an issue with them and know if parts are needed they order OEM parts which tend to be more expensive. They will allow you to order your own parts and just charge you for the service. They are always very nice and tend to stick with the estimate, if not they always call to ask before performing additional work.

This is my go to place. I have been here when I had my old toyota camry and now with my new ford focus. They are always fair with the pricing, take care of it in a timely manner, and go the extra mile. I read some other reviews about them trying to find extra issues, but I’ve never had this happen. Also I have been to the dealer for pricing before and the dealer was usually twice as expensive as these guys.

They were very helpful. I got a flat a few months ago and one of my headlights had been out for a couple days. The price to replace the tire and headlight was extremely reasonable. They got it done within a couple hours and they are open late, so you can pick you car up until 10. Great service!

Never again! I’ve used Willow Sonoco in the past for repairs for my 2003 Volvo S80, primarily for convenience. They do a fine job, but ALWAYS find more wrong once I’m given my initial estimate ! This time they «took the Liberty «of replacing a part that they never told me was in need of replacing, and while kindly telling me that there’s no extra charge for labor, the part was $ 367! I looked online, and it can be bought for half of that from parts’ discounters!
As a single woman I’m sure I’m being taken advantage of. Next time I’ll drive to the dealership and let them fix it.
I agree with previous postings that they’re not much better than thieves!

If you have a German or European car, I HIGHLY recommend avoiding this place.
Long story short, I asked Willow Sunoco to fix the heating system in my audi and later found out that besides breaking the climate control, they cracked my engine block in the process. This was after bringing the car back a second time after they tried giving the car back to me with 60 degree heat coming out on the highest setting, and the car sitting there for 2 weeks.
I also noticed they cracked pieces in the interior of the car, and the heat still isn’t great. There was climate control in the car previously, and it no longer works.
I knew I was in for trouble when a CAB DRIVER giving me to a ride to this place warned me that the owner was a thief and he wouldn’t even take his car there for an oil change.
I also had the car taken to another mechanic after Willow did work on it who told me my engine block was cracked; my engine block was fine before Willow worked on my car.
If my car wasn’t a 98, I probably would have tried for some recourse.

The battery I got from AAA was also dying after only 2 years so I took my old Lexus here to have a look. I also needed oil change and tire rotation and it was getting tiring to take this old car to the dealer up in Englewood for service and have them charged me arm and a leg for it, so I had them done here. They called me up and said the battery couldn’t be recharged. They put in a new one (Diebold?) and the cost was comparable to other places. The cost for oil change and tire rotation ended up to be lower than what they quoted me over the phone (which was comparable to market to begin with). This place is close to me and I was able to drop it off and came back a few hours later to pick it up. So all in all good experience.

I had a flat tire that needed a plug, so I brought it in to the Sunoco and explained my situation. Really nice guys. They told me the tire couldn’t be patched because of the location and that they could get me a quote for a new tire. Sounded ok to me.
When the manager called me back about the tire he quoted me for a new tire (decently priced), then he explained that I needed a new rim! He told me that the rim was cracked and I needed a new one. I never drove on the rim when the tire was flat and it didn’t have a crack in it before. I smell scam artists.
I ended going to speak with the manager face-​to-​face and he never mentioned a crack in the rim. He just explained that they plugged the tire so it could hold air! That is worth 1 star. I was able to drive the car to another shop that was a little more honest. Only needed a new tire: D
If you go here, always get another opinion.

I think even more of Willow Sunoco than I did before. Brought my car in when I heard nasty sounds from the vicinity of the exhaust system – it did indeed need to be replaced. Hey, it’s an old car – a ’99 Jetta! Anything to keep it going. And Mir and his outstanding staff charge about ¹⁄₃ of what the VW dealership would charge.
Well, couple of months later more unwanted muffler-​like sounds started in again; the diagnosis: a tear (hole?) in the muffler. Who knows how that could have happened but I do drive in some unlevel terrain. It was covered under warranty, and was ready for me in a few days. Didn’t charge me a penny and it’s purring like a kitten.

The owner seems like a nice guy, but my experience here vs. the dealership reinforces what a few smart people have told me in my life — «always take it to the dealer.»
My quote here: $ 1,000+
My quote @ dealer: $ 300+
After telling the owner of this shop what I knew needed to be done, he went on and quoted me for additional parts (leading to unnecessary labor). The Toyota dealership actually listened to me when I told them about the research I performed, and worked with me to come up with a solution to my problem. At the end of the day, the parts that this store wanted to order me were wholly unnecessary and would have had me another $ 700 out of pocket.
The fact that it is in town may seem convenient, but is it really worth the $?

I would strongly caution anyone from bringing their vehicle to Willow Sunoco given my terrible recent experience. Everything was working perfectly on my late model Mercedes (with less than 70K miles) until I brought the vehicle in for a simple oil change. When I got the car back, a strange noise from the engine compartment was immediately noticeable so I told the manager that something was not right. They agreed that the sound was not there before, said that it might be the oil filter, and asked to keep the car another day to look at it further.
The weekend actually went by and only after I called a few times did they finally tell me that the compressor, a/​c belt, pulleys and multiple other items needed to be replaced for over $ 1,500. Of course, I thought this was highly suspect — the car had nothing wrong with it before but somehow 4 days in the possession of Willow Sunoco, it was rendered completely undrivable. They claimed it was normal wear and refused to do anything about it so unless I was willing to pay their fee, I would be forced to tow the vehicle to another shop to get a second opinion (which I ended up doing). The other shop (a Midas) immediately said that it looked like «outside damage» and that the compressor seemed to have been tampered with (they put that in writing). I also took pictures and sent them to a few «Ask a Mechanic» websites online which responded that they agreed with Midas’ assessment.
I have the written opinions of several mechanics documented, EZPass statements proving the car drove well and at high speeds before the «oil change», and multiple witnesses who can testify that the car did not have any strange noises (or other problems) before taking it to Willow Sunoco. Unfortunately, Willow Sunoco is either incompetent or fraudulent — whichever the case, they certainly do not stand by their work and could be preying on unwitting Hoboken residents (who are either not mechanically inclined or just don’t have the time to deal with these kinds of issues).
Unfortunately for me, my only recourse appears to be small claims court at this point which is time consuming and costly if a lawyer and/​or time off work is needed. This really happened to me so I hope that Unilocal doesn’t just hide the review for whatever reason they do that — I have a bunch of evidence supporting my claim which I would gladly share if anyone is interested. I hope this review will help spare someone else the pain that I am going through — save yourself the trouble and go somewhere else!

I spent some time trying to remove my old battery but bolts and nuts got stuck dead — none of my tools could unscrew it.
Brought my car to these folks and they did it for me. Great service, good deal!

Great service station. Got a nail stuck in my tire and called AAA for help. Once I was able to get the car down to Willow Sunoco, they promptly pulled the screw out of my tire and fixed the problem. No waiting, no hassle. Labor and repairs cost 10 bucks. Can’t beat that. Friendly guys, too.
This will be my go-​to mechanic from now on.