East Valley Auto Rebuild

I met Mark years ago in line at the bank and I started going to him about six months later. He has worked on my Honda and my Subarus. I have referred a lot of friends here and they have been very happy. This is a small operation, but as somone who has owned his own business that is the way I like it. Definitely recommend.

I have never reviewed any place on Unilocal before but I had such a horrible experience I had to warn everybody to stay away!!!
Service was horrible! He was rude and showed no care as to what I had to say. His services are way overpriced!
If you want rude and expensive service come here. If you like to see a mechanic who is treats you like a valuable customer, doesn’t charge ridiculous prices, and actually smiles STAY AWAY!!!

I’ve never reviewed any businesses online. But I’m fairly certain this needs to be shared. These guys are shady. And I know they take these reviews seriously since they offer an oil-​change discount if you review them favorably.
I’m no mechanic and I don’t have a lot of money to spend on cars. I bought a 1987 Subaru GL from East Valley (for the exact price they asked) over two years ago. It had many miles on it and I didn’t expect perfection.
My problem with East Valley is not that they don’t do good mechanical work; I don’t know enough to determine that.
I took my car to them with idle/​stall problems early in 2012. They looked at it overnight and charged me $ 225.
When I arrived to pick it up, one hubcap was missing. I questioned Mark about it, and he scoffed at me, saying I’d brought it in missing a hubcap. I had not. The hubcap was actually on the ground at the back of the garage. Mark pretended like it was from another vehicle.
Additionally, a side panel was missing from my driver’s door. It had been tossed into the back of my car. When I asked about that, Mark said it came off when they were cleaning the car. That I could put it back on myself. Of course I could, but I’ve been taught that if you break something, you fix it, especially if I’m paying you.
Then, on the diagnosis, they told me I needed a new alternator. It would cost close to $ 300 for them to put one in. I looked online and saw alternators for around $ 70. So I declined their service — the car operated ok at that time and I could drive it home. My buddy had an extra alternator from his Suby. We installed it ourselves and it took less than 30 minutes. So I’m not sure where the $ 300 quote came from.
I’ve taken my Suby to a different shop since to have a new Weber carb installed. The mechanics there noticed a laundry list of problems on the vehicle, problems that don’t often show up on an engine that has been, as East Valley claimed, completely rebuilt prior to my purchasing it. (The total estimate on repair cost was near $ 2000.)
Oh well, I’m a chump for buying an old car at such a price, but I’m not chump enough to let the story of East Valley go untold. I’m sure there are some great mechanics there. Brian, for one, was super nice and very skilled, but the overall feel and sense of business ethics there is shady as hell…

Great service. They are on of the most honest and reasonably priced mechanics around. Not sure what the other guy was talking about. My brother went to them 15 years ago at their previous spot and my room mate went to theses guys 10 years ago. All were very happy and referred us when we bought a Subaru and moved to the area.

Avoid these guys unless you like paying top dollar for inferior parts.
I paid $ 200 for a radiator last year (plus other small parts & $ 400 labor, total $ 800 repair), and it sprung a leak on me less than 12 months later. Turns out they installed an aluminum core radiator with plastic tanks. I’m working on the car myself now, and I found an all metal brass /​copper replacement for $ 50 online. We’ll see how that goes…
They also did my brakes another time, and installed some crazy pads up front. I warped two sets of rotors within 15k miles, and barely wore the pads.
Another time, they forgot to latch the airbox after changing the air filter. My car stalled a week later from debris plugging up the airflow sensor. «Whoops».
To sum it up, they do know how to fix Subarus, but they don’t use great parts, and I don’t think they are earning their high labor rates. I’m much happier to be fixing my car myself these days.