Aiwa Auto Repair

I just took my 2010 Toyota Corolla in for replacement of the front axles at AIWA. I was quoted a price of almost $ 900.00 by Toyota of El Cajon yesterday for the same work. I called up AIWA right away I and made an appointment to have them take a look at it this afternoon. Lee at AIWA helped me out and I left with brand new axles and a bill of only $ 419.00. I could not have been happier with the cost and the speed of the repairs. My brother highly recommended this company and I am grateful that I listened to his advice. Great place. I will not hesitate to go back there.

My girlfriends car this time. It had 145 000 miles on it a lexus rx350 2007. I remember Lee telling me his wife has a Lexus too on my last visit. My girlfriend wanted it to go to the Lexus dealer for a change. She got an estimate of $ 4,697. I told her to leave it to me and Aiwa. So I handed Lee the printed estimate (which could of been dumb on my part. He could of confirmed items and just charged a lot less.) which showed 1) After market brakes front and rear. Just replacing these was gonna be $ 1330.52 and this replacement was not even needed. Just the occasional break dust squeak has us thinking maybe they needed to be replaced. Some idler bearing needing replaced Lexus = $ 465.86. Next on the list they had reseal rack and pinion $ 877.90. Next Alignment seal leaking? $ 99 next replace both front and lower control arms. $ 1665.90. Recommend tire light blinking $ 140.All this added up to $ 4697.50.
Lee and Aiwa mechanics had me out the door for $ 597. Lexus list was all BS. I feel like posting pics of my estimate. $ 4700 is a lot of money and she would of paid it no doubt. Right on the credit card. Thanks again Lee and Aiwa mechanics. Dropped off Thursday night and picked up Friday at 5pm and saved a ton of money.

My Baby beemer broke down in Escondido, and initially I call a few places around there to get it checked out. One mechanic shop quoted a price of $ 110 just for them to look under the hood. A few weeks back I took my car in for Aiwa to replace my worn out window regulator, so I opted to have the towing company to take it to these guys. Lee, the associate, had it checked out and miraculous resolve my car problems without charging me a penny. He stated that my car electronic sensor may had trip out from the rain or some irregular engine detection therefore my transmission sensor (the cog light sensor) lit up. BMWs are known to do this, so you won’t badly damage your car even further. Anyhow, I trust Aiwa auto to go above and beyond the job without trying to take advantage of their customers! I wouldn’t want to take my car anywhere else!

Best and cheapest place to get an oil change and tire rotation. These people know what they are doing and save you tons of money

On the recommendation of a friend with an ancient Hyundai that Aiwa rescued from the junkyard multiple times, we brought our 13 year old Mazda in. Our symptoms were frustratingly intermittent: the car would run extremely rough only in the rain, and in a drought situation that alternates with monsoon flooding every 9 months, it is tough to diagnose. We had gotten a quote for over $ 2000 from another mechanic, suggesting that the spark plugs and catalytic converter needed replacement. We started looking seriously for a new car, then we remembered our friend’s gushing enthusiasm for Aiwa.
Daniel offered to look for $ 80, which was cheaper than the initial diagnosis we had at the first place. Aiwa held the car for a few days trying to figure out the problem. They found a cracked air hose and replaced that for $ 50, and then had the dilemma — how do you test the car in the rain when it won’t rain for the next week? They found a car wash, and tested running it in under the falling water! GENIUS. I got back a working CLEAN car.
Final cost: $ 70. That included the car wash.
Plus, all the spark plugs seem to be fine — no other work needed for now.
Sure beats $ 2000, or new car payments.

Love the friendly and knowledgable people here. They are super friendly and tell you exactly what you need and not try to over price or scam you. I had my truck starter fixed by them and then 5 months later my truck wouldn’t start. Got it towed here and they found the problem and fixed it. Spark plugs this time. My husband was deployed At the time and they were so great at makin it easy for me to get my car. They really do care. We have found our home garage in San Diego and are sticking with them!

Great Customer Service and great warranty coverage. Aiwa repaired my vehicle under warranty and made sure it was fixed correctly prior to returning the car to me. Will definitely be returning to Aiwa for all future repairs.

So this is part one of a two part review: The initial drop off. The serpentine belt in my aging BMW shredded on a Saturday night, many miles from home. I had to leave it where it died. Well, the safest, closest place, which was a harrowing drive of watching my thermometer climb toward red. Come Monday morning, my regular shop was already backed up, so I choose this one and made an early same day appointment. Due to a long tow truck delay, I was super late for my appointment, but they honored it anyway. Really nice guys.
Losing a serpentine belt while driving can end up trashing SO MANY things. Coolant system dies. Alternator stops. The belt itself becomes a weapon, fighting hoses and car parts. Driving it in the red at ALL can warp your engine. So I was prepared for a worse case scenario. When they told me the damage was limited to my water pump and the belt itself, quoted me a fair price for parts and labor, and told me I’d have my car back the next day, I was in shock. Happy shock, but still…
This may be a premature 5 stars, but if it doesn’t overheat on my way home tomorrow, the 5 stars will stay. When I bring it to my regular shop to make sure I didn’t warp the engine, and they give me a thumbs up on the coolant system, the 5 stars will stay. Stay tuned… (No pun intended)

They are very busy, but got me in right away and told me they would call after diagnosis. They found the problem quickly and fixed my car quickly. They saved the broken part to show me what they replaced and charged a fair price. Excellent service and great work. 5 stars all the way.

Brought my 2002 Mercedes c230 here for a diagnostic that cost me $ 80. The guys who run the front of the shop (Richard and Lee) were super nice and helpful. I got exactly what I asked for, which was pinpoint the problem my car was having. You can usually tell what type of experience your gonna get by the appearance of the shop and its techs. Aiwa’s shop is clean, and all the techs looked professional. My car had a bad A.C. compressor and a faulty battery. Lee replaced my battery with a battery I bought from auto zone free of charge $ 20 saved.
Thanks Aiwa

I have come here for many years and have had consistently great service. Usually you can get an appointment in a couple days and they are so worth it because they are honest and priced fair. I was talking to Lee, one of the customer service reps and the son of the owner, and he is working and taking classes on how to fix all the new technology in cars. The place isn’t that shiny but I don’t mind because it is a sign of were their priorities are… giving the working class the best, most up to date service for a honest price.

These guys are honest and efficient, the price might be a little high but you get what you pay for when it comes to maintenance on your vehicle. I have had several oil changes here and my husband finally got a bearing and axle fixed after taking it to three other places first (all of which made the problem worse and would not fix it !) these guys did it right the fist time. You need to call and make appointment though they are very popular ! Always get treated very well here ! Thank you !

Honestly you can’t go wrong choosing this business to maintain or repair your vehicle. They are polite, quick and professional! I really like the way they do business!

Unfortunately, I will not be returning to aiwa nor do I recommend them.
They replaced a part in my car that ended up failing and causing my car to shut off while I was on the freeway. Yes, I know parts can fail, but how they handled the situation was far less than ideal.
I decided to try aiwa based on the glowing Unilocal reviews. Service took awhile but was decent enough. They needed to replace my distributor and spark plugs. That distributor ends up failing while I’m on the freeway. Before even knowing that is the issue, I’m towed to the nearest shop, have to pay for a $ 90 diagnostic and purchase a rental to get myself to work that day. The shop where my car is calls me and tells me that distributor has completely failed. Wonderful. I proceed to call aiwa and let them know the situation being that I know the distributor should still be under warranty. Lee at aiwa seems to be quite accommodating and offers to reimburse me for the work they did and put me up in a rental, until it looks like I won’t be able to have them do the work on my car. Then he becomes visibly frustrated and defensive. It seemed hard for him to understand the fact that after having my car shut off while on the freeway, needing to be towed, paying for a diagnostic and already buying a rental so I can get to work an hour away, that It wasn’t convenient or really even doable to get my car to his shop and basically start this process all over, when I just simply needed my car fixed as soon as possible.
So after my car gets fixed at the new shop (literally within 30 minutes) and after hand delivering the bad part back to aiwa, I am able to get a reimbursement for the part at minimum which I was already entitled to. All other offerings were no longer viable it seemed. And unfortunately aiwa was more concerned about getting reimbursed by the manufacturer for their bad part then having a satisfied customer and showing common decency and respect. It didn’t matter how much I was out of pocket for this mess nor that I could’ve been in a serious accident, aiwa made their priorities clear.
I’m glad I was at least able to get a reimbursement for the part, peace of mind however… Beware.

Probably, the most honest Auto Mechanics in San Diego. I came in wondering if I’ll end up paying a fortune to fix my car, which I just installed new lower control arms for and was making horrible noises. I ended up going on a drive test twice with one of the great mechanics in the shop until we figured out what the problem was, and did not have to pay anything, as it turned up to be a minor issue that doesn’t need repairing.
Comparing to others who were ranked lower, they are fairly priced and they will not try to rip you off or convince you to fix something that doesn’t need any fixing.
I totally recommend these guys, very professional and very straight forward, you’ll be in safe hands.
GO FOR IT

Finding a good and honest mech is harder than finding the lost city of Atlantis. Look no further, you found the best already.
Lee and his staff are stand up people that are committed to doing exceptional work. I’ve been doing business with them for 3 years and I refuse to have anyone do work on my vehicles unless I’m out of town.
If Aiwa was a publicly traded company, I would rate them as a strong buy! Although, you wouldn’t be able to buy it, because I would own it all.
Seriously, they’re that good…
Thanks Lee, your the best!

I don’t really write Unilocal reviews unless it’s about food. Lol but these guys deserve 5 stars.
I went to my car dealership to have a flapping sound checked. Car dealership told me I needed my serpentine belt replaced since that’s what’s causing the ‘flapping sound’. Parts and labor it will cost me $ 626.
My friend yan, Chris and Anna recommended Aiwa. Turns out the belt the dealership suggested I needed replaced is just Fine. I carefully described when and where the flapping sound occurs. They test drove it. Found out it was just something lose under my car and when air gets in it flapping sound occurs… they went on ahead and tightened screws. Boom! Problem solved.
These guys are great because they listened to my problem, test drove it, fixed it and didn’t try to up sell me anything. It was free of charge because nothing was replaced but it was their ‘time’ they offered and because of it… I am now a loyal customer.
Thank you Van, Lee and Jimmy! Like Anna, yan and Chris… I will definitely recommend aiwa for your car needs. Good karma indeed.

If you got car issues that’ll cost you an arm and a leg, look no further beyond these guys.
Took my car to a Toyota dealership for an oil change. Low and behold by the time i leave, they told me that I needed to fix 3 things:
1) replace both oil cover valve gaskets and plenum gaskets — $ 800
2) fuel induction service — $ 110
3) power steering fluid replacement — $ 130
I heard good things about Aiwa so I took my car to them. I knew i needed to cover the gaskets since they did indeed develop a small leak. I asked them (guy i worked with named Lee) to fix #1 and see if I needed to fix #2, 3. They were open and HONEST with me. Told me that #2,3 was a were like new and completely unnecessary to fix. They fixed #1 for a whopping total of $ 400! To go from potentially going in the hole with $ 1040 to only come out spending $ 400 was an insanely good load to take off my shoulders.
Never have I met a good group of car mechanics that did not try to rip me off and were fair and honest. If you got car issues, again give these guys a try.
Save that $$$$$$$!!

A small Vietnamese run auto shop located on the corner of the intersection. I don’t have much experience with changing out transmissions and clutches so when they quoted me the price to replace both of them. I went around to the other shops in San Diego for an estimate and looked online but surprisingly enough, none of those estimates beat Aiwa’s.
I was coming off from an appt in Escondido and they close at 6pm I was trying to beat traffic in time to get there and pick up my car. I called ahead and pleaded with them to wait and that I was on my way and I’ll make it by 6.
Unfortunately, as usual, there was a MiniCooper that was rear ended on the I-​8 and instead of pulling over the driver decided to park the car in the middle of the freeway and clog up traffic. I made it to the shop at about 6:10 but luckily they were still waiting for me and I got my car out of their shop. Great customer service

I thought that with all the Unilocal reviews, that going out of my way to take my car here for repair would be a sure thing. I like Unilocal because it helps me locate good small businesses that care about the service they provide to their customers. Especially, as it pertains to auto repair places where there are so many instances where they rip you off so it was really important to me to find an auto repair place that I could trust.
I took my car to get the AC and Heater repaired. After a week and nearly $ 500 later, I picked up the car and while the heater works only OK the AC doesn’t get cold at all. I had to ask the front desk person to come outside and check it out. I had to ask all the questions. Nothing was volunteered to me about the service and performance of the car. I asked him why it doesn’t work since that’s why I took it there in the first place. He said he didn’t know. I asked him… does it need Freon to get it blowing cold air. He said «probably.» I asked how much? How long? Mind you, I know nothing about cars so I’m asking him to educate me about what the options are…
Why didn’t they suggest doing this during the week that the car was in their possession? If I want to have the AC blowing cold that will require another trip and extra $ 80. I don’t understand why he didn’t recommend this over the phone. It’s a simple enough procedure and now he says that if I want to have it done, I need to make another trip out. All he needed to do was suggest on the phone that the car needed Freon for an extra $ 80 and I would have given it a green light.
Other notes:
–When I picked up the car, no courtesy explanation of what was done on my car. The trust worthy mechanics want you to know what they did and how everything works. And then point out some other suggestions that might improve the car. This was not done here.
–Car was extra dirty inside. No big deal I’ll get it cleaned. But it would have been a nice touch to clean a little before you give it back to the customer.
–They said I needed to call Mercedes Benz dealership to obtain a special code otherwise the radio will not work. He said that he would show me how to enter that in when I arrived to pick up the car. This was not done.
Bottomline: I brought the car in to get AC and Heater fixed. I picked up the car and the AC is not fixed. Expectations were not met. I don’t mind paying top dollar but do a good job and be respectful of the customer’s time. Disappointed to say the least.