Bowmans College Center Garage

This dude tried to rip me off when I was going to college at SDSU. I came here one time to get my car tuned up so I can get it smogged. I had just gotten a new particular part prior to coming here. Typically the you have to sign a work order in order to know what exactly your getting charged for, and I signed a work order for a maintenance job which should have only cost maybe like $ 40 bucks. When I came back to pick up my car the guy tells me he had to replace an expensive part (without my permission, which im sure was a lie because I had the part he allegedly replaced, replaced a week prior) and writes me a new work order which I refused to sign and I ended up demanding my keys back. He then tells me that I can come back and give him 300 bucks for the new part he installed without letting me know and without my permission, I knew right off the bat this wasn’t right, and I called a bureau discussed the situation and they tell me what he did was illegal and that they would fix this situation for me which they did, the bureau demanded that he drop monetary bill he demanded from me which the shop did and I was also called up again by the bureau to inform me that they wrote them a warning and if it happens again the business could undergo heavy penalties all the way up to being shut down.

I used to go here, as it was very convenient. I had a slightly older VW — about 12 years at the time. For the most part it was in pretty good shape, so I didn’t have to deal with too many expensive repairs.
My main problems I had over my many visits:
* They would not try very hard to find parts & and asked me many times to do the legwork to find them. If I couldn’t find it, they wouldn’t bother. I have no idea what I’m doing, which is why I paid them to get the job done.
* Several times I asked for estimates to fix the broken door lock mechanism while the car was in for regular service. I eventually gave up because I never received an answer
* I would have to call every time at the end of the day to check in on my car to see if it was finished… it was and they claimed they called me. I never received a voicemail. I double-​checked my number on file and it was correct.
* They broke the plastic trim around the stereo and attempted to fix it with super glue. Twice. That didn’t work. They didn’t offer to replace the broken part, but offered to install it if I could source a replacement (on my own time and money, mind you).
For the most part I feel like the work they did do was reasonably priced and the service was generally OK.

HONEST, quick and efficient– Roberto has our complete respect and future business! Big difference between how my X5 was handled at BMW of San Diego and my hubby’s GMC today thank you for making our automobile situation a little easier to handle this Friday afternoon!

HONEST, STRAIGHTFORWARD ADVICE AND INFORMATION!
I just got off the phone with Greg, the owner of Bowman’s Garage (apparently the pre-​eminent service repair center for limousines in San Diego). I was contemplating the purchase of a vehicle from the Northeast, and I had obtained a few fault codes from a local garage there. Although I was hoping he would be gracious enough to evaluate the codes, he was most generous with his time and his sage advice about the overall vehicle. VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!

I”ve been taking our vehicles to Greg for years now. He has never done more work than what was needed & I’ve always trusted his judgment towards prevenative maintainance. Not the cheapest & not the most expensive either. Honest work & opinions rendered here. Make an appointment for best service as they seem to do quite a bit of business with limo services.

Let me preface this by saying that I’ve only been driving for a couple of months, being from Europe I never felt the need for a car as we usually walk everywhere. Yesterday, around 4pm, I glanced at the engine temp on my car and I saw it was past red. I completely freaked out, as I know nothing about cars, and being that I was in the College area, with a 10mo old baby in the back and a non-​English speaking person that was of no help, I immediately turned into this garage, hoping for some help.
I went to the guy who looked like he was the owner of the garage, told him what my problem was, and with a smirk on his face he showed me his watch saying «it’s almost 5pm, I’m done for the day, bring it tomorrow.» I told him that my car was steaming, and I was afraid to climb the hill to get home. I asked him what this light on my car meant, he just shook his head with the same smirk on his face, saying «5pm!!!»
First of all, who does that!!! He could see I was desperate, with a baby in the car, and he would not even give me a piece of advice, not to mention I was fully willing to pay for his services, just to make sure my engine was not going to blow up or smth. Who refuses work in today’s economy, when I was so eager to just pay whatever he asked???
Do not give this loser your business!!! He deserves to go begging in the street for customers to use his garage!!! Judging from the previous review, this guy has been ripping off too many people when he actually DOES work, so he needs no business. Stay away from Bowman’s Garage!

DO NOT GO HERE!
Where do I begin, as i used to live in the college area, I was accustomed to driving past this place every day. Once, a hose to my coolant burst and it was slowly spraying out, so in the morning i took my car here and it was fixed at a completely reasonable price something around $ 80 for the tiny rubber hose and labor.
HOWEVER, being a polite and thoughtful patron, when i needed a hose replaced again (i have an old car and these things happen) i remembered that these guys were reasonable and didn’t try to tell me that my car was going to blow up if i didnt replace everything, i went back for the second hose.
When i got there, i was like: «I have been here before, I need another hose replaced, it is this hose that goes here to here and it is cracked and i need this and only this replaced»
Well of course i was wrong about this place being reasonable, in the middle of the day, i got a phone call saying that as they were replacing the hose, they noticed that my water pump needed to be replaced and it was in really bad shape. I politely declined, they insisted. they insisted so much that they asked me to come and take a look at the car for proof. WELL, HELLO? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET TO YOU? I DONT HAVE A CAR!!!
so, a guy friend of mine was polite enough to take me down there and see what the problem was (as they were going to charge me $ 300 for the part, but nothing for the labor since they were already in that area of the car) quickly, he got on his phone and called Autozone who had that water pump part and a new thermometer gauge or something like that as well. Autozone was charging rougly $ 120.
So, then we went to autozone, bought the part for less than half of what these guys were going to charge and brought it back to them to install for no additional labor cost, as they had quoted me before. HAHA!
YOU WOULD THINK THIS STORY IS DONE… NOT YET! so after leaving my car there overnight, the next day they called me again, to tell me that i had gotten the wrong part from autozone and that they can sell me the correct part (again for $ 300) so i called autozone to verify that i got the right one for my car’s make and model. I called them back to say that i think they have a mistake because i brought them the right one, and they told me, oh yes, you are right this is the correct water pump!
So, i am now wondering how many people these guys scammed into getting new water pumps and thermometers that day! Either way this was too much of a stressful situation. Don’t be a girl and go here! Matter of fact, just DO NOT GO HERE!