E & L Auto Body & Tow

Been with Eddie and Lilly for more than a decade. Great service. Great people. Great to know there are still honest mechanics!

It’s been a while since my last update, but I just picked up my car from these guys and figured they deserved a little more love. My car is a ’95 (Lexus LS) so over 20 years old at this point, but they do a great job of keeping it running well. Recently though I also started bringing my girlfriend’s car there (a 2012 Lexus RX) and they have done an equally great job with her car. They do quality work and also realistic recommendations on what work is necessary now and what can be delayed.

DON’T COME HERE EVER AGAIN!!! Took my car to get if fixed, its now a year my bumper is falling off. not only that! my A/​C didn’t work left my car here for a week thinking my A/​C was going to work! They couldn’t find the problem? Made me spend time and money just to find out they didn’t fix my A\C. They should honestly close this place down! People in here don’t know what they are doing.

I had an amazing experience with the E&L staff. I went for a simple Oil Change for my camero and the were fast, efficient, and friendly. I would def recommend them!!! They are my new go to shop!!!

No more… My truck is too, too big for their shop. I was late picking-​up my truck (because I have a busy job) and got treating as if I was going to leave my Hummer H2, which I paid cash for, for a $ 700 dollar repair bill. Plus, got charged an additional storage fee and my reverse camera wasn’t working.

Had my rear and front bumper replaced along with some minor damage to a side panel earlier this year. Very good job. They did exactly what they said they would do. And the price was very reasonable.

AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE.
This business is a customer’s worst nightmare. This business is one of the places that give good mechanic shops a bad name. I left a light on once and my car battery died. I only came to this place because it was less than a block away. The owner (probably sensing my desperation and frustration) diagnosed my car and says that the battery is gone, and I need a new one, 170 bucks, even though it just needed a jump start! They charged me $ 45 for the jump start AND $ 120 for a new battery. It would have been even more if I didn’t beg the only nice lady there (Gail? Gabby?) for a military discount.
After a lot of huffing and puffing from the owner, they agreed to give me a a price break of $ 10. But the way the owner reacted, you’d thought I was asking for the deeds to his house!
That was my first red flag! The second time I go there (again, because it was close to me) was to change my oil. I purchased my own synthetic oil from from O’Reillys and bring it in with an OEM filter from Lexus. The boss gives me a nasty look and says, «no warranty on parts.» «Whatever. I’m okay with paying labor for his guys’ work. No problem.», I tell him. I then take off to my apartment, which was a few blocks away.
However, when I come back, the owner smirks at me, points to my suddenly flat tire and says, «Oh, you have a nail in your tire. I can patch it for $ 30 bucks.» Without much options, I authorized the fix. I’m soo upset at this point, wondering to myself if the owner was greasy because he worked with cars all day, or greasy, because he oozed it from his slime-​y essence.
But check this out… as I’m paying the bill, the receptionist lady says to the owner laughingly in Spanish, «What are you doing to the poor guy, you’re such a vampire», referring to my «flat» tire! That woman did not know I spoke Spanish! Oh HELL NO!
This place is the pits. The owner is a pretty much a blood sucking vampire, as his wife receptionist correctly noted. (ERES UN VAMPIRO!!). Once you observe how they act, it will be very apparent they could care less if your car is fixed correctly, so long as you need to open your wallet, and pay their highness’s.
Oh, and by the way, the patch that they did was so bad, I went to Just Tires the following morning to pick up a brand new one b/​c their «fix» lasted about 4 hours before I would need to pump air into the tire again. I didn’t dare bring it back to there. I’m certain they would’ve tried to fleece me for some other part or service.
Like I said, the only bright spot to this place is this other lady named Gail or Gabby, whose amazing customer service can make you feel like its okay, when the owners are sucking on your wallet, COMO UN VAMPIRO. The only thing worse than this place’s business practices, are some of the obviously fake and lazy positive reviews left by their insiders, which, not surprisingly, is an exact microcosm of how they handle their business.

I have been coming here for years, have never had a problem and they always guarantee their work.
Its kind of hard to spot since its in an alley, but its a really neat and clean place and feel safe compared to other shops where you are afraid they are going to ding your car since its so cramped. I came for body work, they helped me with my claim and even washed my car!
Definitely will be coming back.

Eddie is a lifesaver!!! In and out within 10 minutes! The shop is clean and safe. Very affordable!!!

Fantastic place with fantastic people. I had a simple car problem that I incorrectly diagnosed (I know next to nothing) and have only lived in DTLA for 5 months. I had no clue where I could go, and luckily, the tow truck guy referred me here. They diagnosed my simple problem and realized my lack of knowledge. Instead of screwing me completely over like body shops do, they gave me a better than reasonable price from an Auto Shop.
My car was finished quickly, they gave me options, and offered to give me rides to and from work. I am so happy to find a place like this and highly recommend this place to everyone.

Great group of people and great work!
I have had my truck worked on here as well as my car and not only did they fix it for them quoted price, when I asked them about replacing the bench in my F150 with a 40÷20÷40, they did their research and told me that they could get me one but that it would cost around three times as much plus work as if I just got a ⁶⁰⁄₄₀. Plus, the ⁶⁰⁄₄₀ would not need custom work to make it fit.
This is the first time a body shop has ever told me I did not need to spend as much; instead they saved me a lot of money!
These guys are hard working and honest and have never increased the price beyond what was originally quoted.
That said, they communicate in a timely and professional manner and will email/​call etc. in whichever method is preferred by the client.
In conclusion, aside from checking my tires for free, I highly recommend E & L Auto Body & Tow.

I have to say I REALLY wanted to like this place. Close to my house, body shop and wash! My boyfriend and I came here with both of our cars to get them washed. The lady told me it would take around 25 minutes. After around 35 minutes, my car comes out first. The guys drops it out and moves to working on the tires since my pressure was low. However, the first thing I noticed was that there was a small chunk of paint that peeled off of my door. I asked the guy what that was, since I didn’t see it before… and he acts like it’s no big deal telling me it’s from before ‘like the other ones’. As I look at the other scratches I simply didn’t know how to stay calm since I knew those weren’t MY scratches. I ignored the two small scratches and asked him how I could’ve possibly scratched my hood in long, horizontal lines (looked exactly as if they scrubbed it too much). He didn’t have an answer, and just pretty much told me that I ‘schemed’ the whole thing! And then he told me to get out and left. After that, my boyfriend’s car comes down… UNWASHED (we were already there for like an hour even though the lady told us at first to come back in 25)! They ‘didn’t want any other problems’. I just really feel like this situation could’ve been handled with more professionalism. They just lost a customer!

Been coming here for many years for all of my car repairs and paint. You can’t beat their rates or work anywhere. I highly recommend anyone who needs any work done to their car. Ask to speak with eddie. And if you work in the area, they will pick up your car and drop it off while you’re working!

After not being able to find a car repair shop in the area that could take my car in immediately, I finally found E & L. They were nice enough to give me a ride back to work and a day later, they had fixed my brake lights. It was a little more expensive than I hoped (I don’t know anything about cars so I can’t say much on whether the price made sense out not) but they washed and cleaned my car inside and out so I was happy about that. The service was good and I was treated nicely.

E & L went above and beyond the call.
I had a fender bender and it knocked loose the lining over my wheel, causing sparks to fly every time I tried to turn a corner. I was terrified to see any repairman, because I know very little about cars and people have tried to cheat me in the past. But something needed to be done. I took the car in to E & L and I explained the situation. I also explained I could not afford to repair the dents right now. They drove me to work downtown, had the liner repaired in a few hours, and they only charged me $ 35! They also washed the car, repaired the loose headlight and cleaned up the scratched-​up area around the dent just to be kind. They made my day! I highly recommend E& L.

Questionable Business Practices, part II.
I came in with a clunking sound that was happening on my car, and Eddie and the gang recommended some work that totaled almost $ 1000. I checked with my dealer and the dealer said Eddie’s recommendations wouldn’t need to be done for another 100,000 miles. My dealer fixed the issue for NO CHARGE. I will never go to E&L again!

My car broke down in Koreatown. I searched Unilocal for a nearby tow place. E & L was the nearest one I found with positive reviews.
They said they’d be there in 20 minutes, and that the tow would be $ 60. I called back 30 minutes later and he said the guy would be there soon but that the tow was now going to cost 70 bucks. I should have gone somewhere else right then, but I was in a time crunch and I didn’t have the luxury of starting the whole process over again.
The tow guy arrived about 25 minutes later. He was very nice, and an independent contractor. He offered to do the tow for $ 50, cash. Luckily I had cash.
It was about 7pm. He dropped me off and towed to E & L. They said they’d look at it tommorrow. I said that was fine.
Eddie from E & L called me around 3pm the next day (a Friday), my engine was fried and it would cost $ 1,200-$ 1,800 depending on whether I wanted a replacement engine or for them to rebuild my old one. I told him that was a lot of money to put into a car that old and I wanted some time to make an educated decision.
He informed me that there was a $ 70 charge for the diagnostic and a $ 35 charge per day. I asked why he didn’t tell me about those fees when I originally called them, he said I didn’t ask.
I said, «okay, then fax me a copy of the estimate, please, so that I can pass it around to some more informed auto people I know back east to help make my decision a little quicker.» He said he would have the estimate ready in about a half-​an-​hour. This was at about 3pm.
At 5, I called back and they still weren’t ready with it. «Eddie is on the phone with junkyards getting quotes for you» the nice secretary said. Finally, at around six, I was faxed an estimate (they claimed to be unable to e-​mail it.)
There were two different estimates on the paper (for two different procedures.) And the quotes were $ 2,000 and $ 3,000 (depending on which «procedure» I selected), with hand-​written notes in the margin that claimed there would be discounts if I payed the entire thing in cash. No thanks.
By now it was late into Friday evening, and I couldn’t get the car towed anywhere else for the weekend. I finally had it towed to Sears Autocenter on Tuesday (it was supposed to be Monday afternoon, but they couldn’t done until the next morning.)
When I settled my tab with Eddie, he insisted I pay $ 45 per day for storage and tried to charge me for Thursday and Friday (the days when he was towing in the car and working on it.) I said, «No. I paid you for those days as you were doing services. Those were not ‘storage days.’» He relented, but would not move his price back down to the previously agreed upon $ 35 per day.
Anyway, I paid the man over $ 300 when all was said and done and all he could tell me was that I needed an engine replacement but he wasn’t sure why or if the car would be in working order after that (but he wanted me to pay him to do it in cash.)
Later, a more reputable mechanic would tell me that having a tow yard/​body shop replace your engine is akin to having a lifeguard at the beach perform open heart surgery.
I cannot speak to the quality of this place’s work, but I do know they are con men with the prices of their other services.
I will never return to this shop and I will not recommend them to anyone. And, if you do go there, I beg you to get all the info in writing before you agree to anything on principal — they will try to fleece you.
Thanks, Eddie.

I got into a car accident on my way to work and the tow truck guy recommended E & L Auto Body & Tow. Being new in town I didn’t know if any other place so away we went.
This place is hands down, the best experience I’ve had with an auto shop. Lily and Marsha provided excellent customer service and kept me in the loop on the status of my repairs. When I picked up my car, I found it shiny, clean, and beautiful. E & L even called me a couple days later to check and see if I had any problems with my car!
If you live in Downtown, this is the place to go.

Our offices had just relocated to this area and I was looking for a car repair place because one of my power windows stopped working (probably due to the rough roads in the area). I went to E & L because I saw their mobile sign while driving to work. I was expecting a lot more (because I was using similar work my wife had done through a dealership), but the final price was almost half of what the dealer would have charged. Service was great and quick (I only had to wait a day because they had to order the part (and they fixed the window so it was permanently up during the wait)). I brought the car in for them in the morning and had it back by 12 noon as promised, and WASHED!
Great place and will visit them again for normal car stuff such as oil changes and brakes.

Somebody… I won’t mention names and it was not me… had a fender bender. No damage to the other car that they rear ended but of course there was some damage to our car. You could barely see it unless you really were looking but… but…we have to turn the car in so we needed to fix it.
I looked online for a place and found this one with reviews… not Unilocal but some other type of reviews and it was only 1 mile from my home so we took it here.
We got the estimate minus the cost of parts for some bracket things for the bumper.
It took an extra day than we were told but we live in DTLA and can walk or take the train if needed so it was no big deal.
I walked there yesterday afternoon and the car looked great and they washed it too.