Sunset Garage

DO NOT give your hard earned $$$ to this business. There are so many other friendlier garages in OB that deserve your business a 100 times before this one.

Outstanding service. Expert mechanics. Reliable work.
Accurate estimates. I wouldn’t take my vehicle any place else.

Accidentally put something in my gas tank that I shouldn’t have. These guys cleared it up within a matter of hours at a very reasonable price, even offered me a rental car for no charge while repairs on my vehicle were under way. Very friendly, no nonsense staff. Highly recommend this place.

A few months ago, during routine oil change at the place where I go to get that done cheaply, the mechanic mentioned I should probably get the transmission and oil pan gaskets replaced sometime soon. I made calls to a few shops in OB for estimates — this was on the higher end of those, but they told me to just come here for my next oil change and they could check to confirm whether those actually needed replacing. Original guy said not urgent, so I waited.
Fast forward to my next oil change, I take it to Sunset Garage. I drop it off at 8 in the morning with the request for oil change, to have them check aformentioned gaskets, and a request to figure out why I was newly running low on coolant and smelling something very strange. They take my car and tell me they’ll check it out in the morning and then give me a call. About 5 hours later I check in — hasn’t been looked at. I mention they said they would check it out early — and that I need it done by end of day because I have to leave town. They said okay, will call me later. At 4 I finally walk over and the mechanic is just finishing up.
He tells me the oil change is going to cost $ 70. When I question this he tells me it is because they do «extra stuff» such as «windshield wipers.» I ask if I got new wipers — he said no. Ultimately I do not end up paying $ 70 for an oil change but what a rip off, even if they do «extra stuff» such as (not actually) «replace windshield wipers.» He offered to replace the wipers if I went and bought them. I did — he actually could not get them on. I took them back to Auto Zone and the teenager at the cash register was able to do it.
Based on his inability to install the windshield wipers, I do not actually believe me when he tells me that the gaskets were fine and that wrong in terms of the low coolant and the weird smell.
Which, as it turns out, I was right not to believe. I took my car to Ozzie’s when I got back to town and they found coolant leaking all over the inside of my car from a broken something or other — very much an actual real issue that would have ruined my car if I had continued driving it.
Waste of money, waste of time, unreliable, etc — do not go here.

This review is a bit late. About a month ago I was leaving work and my car started making some weird noises going down the 163 on my way home to OB. It was a weird chugging noise and I had no idea what it could be. I chugged my car into OB and went straight to Sunset Garage (first time here) Seeing as how it was a Thursday between 3 – 4 I knew I would not be getting my car back today and unfortunately would not have transportation to work the next day. Imagine my surprise when I was offered a FREE loaner car! I have never had a garage offer me a free loaner car. Turns out a spark plug blew and did some damage in my engine. It was all fixed up by Friday evening. With parts and labor it came to $ 557 which of course hurt my wallet but not as bad as I feared. Will definitely be using Sunset Garage again!

I have found a lack of professionalism and poor customer service, as well as unreliable quality of work to be apparent at Sunset Garage. I am disappointed by the way they handle customer care concerns. I recommend being cautious if you choose to do business at this garage.
The reason I am giving Sunset Garage a poor review is because of the way they handled an issue with my car. Brough it in to be repaired, and was happy that they fixed the issue within a days wait. Was disappointed that the issue returned about 2 weeks later. When I contacted the representative at the garage, Woody, to explain what had happened and voice my concern, he said he couldn’t guarantee they could fix the problem. Started rattling off a series of other things they could repair. I asked if I could make an appointment to have my car looked at, and he said they do not offer appointments and went further to say he found it odd that I would ask.

Just a sleezy guy

I’ve been taking my Honda Element to Sunset Garage for years. Woody and his team are honest and trustworthy. They’ll even try to save you money with used parts if possible. I strongly recommend Sunset Garage to anyone in the market for an auto mechanic.

I’ve seen this place in business for years and thought they were part of the community they serve but that wasn’t the case recently. I wasn’t there for there auto service, I stopped in on my way to another local business, Ocean Beach Bar & Grill, but my 10 year old grandson needed to pee as we were driving and they were the first open biz we came upon. I asked the person behind the counter, a sad looking middle aged dude, if my grandson could take a quick pee and before I could finish my sentence he said absolutely not. Either this guy is racist, doesn’t like kids or is just so insecure about himself that he’s unable to have compassion of a simple request. It’s unfortunate these kind of people are unable to see beyond their own immediate needs and only the needs of their money making machine.

I go to Sunset garage for my oil changes and other maintenance concerns. When I get my oil changed the guys also rotate my tires and top off all my fluids and a give brief visual inspection. I appreciate this shop because I feel like Woody is honest and won’t perform work that isn’t needed and will recommend things I can wait on that can to be done in the near future. The guys that work for him are friendly and very knowledgeable.

Sunset Garage practices poor advertising practices by blanketing neighborhoods with unwanted promotional flyers illegally placed on vehicles. These flyers often end up on the ground and become part of the pollution problem already so prevalent at the beaches. Further, the distributors of these flyers have been observed trying to open car doors as they walked up and down the street. Our community does not tolerate such illegal and environmentally-​damaging promotions because it also provides distributors an opportunity to «case» vehicles and properties. Do Not support businesses like Sunset Garage that show so little respect for their community and environment.

Owner refused to do a simple job and couldn’t explain why, he was very rude about it, for no reason. Don’t waste your time with this place, It seems they only want to do the big money jobs, and they litter their flyers all over the neighborhood too!

While looking for a mechanic to repair my Honda I bought through carmax I was calling around OB to find someone to help. The first time I called Sunset they said they had never heard of maxcare and didn’t think they could help. So I called Carmax and they informed me any mechanic who is ASC certified can take maxcare. After calling every other mechanic in ob with no luck I noticed online that sunset is ASC certified, so I called back and explained what maxcare was in hopes that they could help but they guy I spoke with was an absolute jerk! He gave me no reason why they wouldn’t help me and when I tried explaining the maxcare to him he said «have a nice day» and hung up! I was having a really bad day and a little kindness would have gone a long way. So much for staying local!

I REALLY wanted to like this place since it’s local and I love supporting other small businesses. I just needed an oil change, so I stopped by today. The guy looked at my car, was really sweet, and said it would be $ 55. Wow, that’s more than I usually spend on someone else doing the oil change so I asked about it and he said they do full diagnostic — check fluids, rotate and even out tires, check air filter, etc. I told him I just got new tires and so didn’t need them to be checked, but he said $ 55 was still the price. I also let him know I’m on a tight budget, and so didn’t want any extra work done and he said he’d call if there was anything else that would make the price higher. Even though this is already twice what I usually pay, I figured I’d support this local OB business and signed the paperwork (that’d it’d be $ 55) and handed over my keys. A few hours later I got a call and went to pick up the car and they charged me $ 74! Donna explained that there was basically no way with the supplies and labor that it could be $ 55. I explained to her that the guy (I can’t remember his name) said he would call if it would be more. She discounted down to $ 62, but STILL, that is waaaay more than I have ever paid and will ever pay for an oil change unless it’s been explained to me that I need more work. I’m disappointed and will not be back and I do not recommend if you are just looking for an oil change.

Woody and his team were extremely accommodating and very helpful through out my experience. I strongly recommend Sunset Garage to anyone looking for a honest, fair priced mechanic. Again, a big thank you to all the staff at Sunset for helping out me and my Scion!

I can’t say enough about how good it feels to have a mechanic that you can trust. I’ve been going to Woody over at Sunset for a decade now. Every now and again, I have to go elsewhere because I’m too far away. I ALWAYS regret it.
Woody is a straight shooter and always goes out of his way to do an excellent job. Yesterday, I drove 12 miles just to go to him after a failed smog test. I needed to go to someone I trusted because I felt I was being cheated at California Smog Test Station over on Lincoln (DON“T EVER EVER GO THERE!!). Woody got me in and out right away and it turns out the car was just fine and dandy.
6 years ago I almost bought an old Nova. I brought it to him to get his opinion. I told him, if it’s a lemon you stand to make a lot of money off of me. He told me that he couldn’t in good conscience recommend it.
He is a mechanic with morals and scruples. How priceless is that! If I moved to Alaska, I’d still drive to OB to go see Woody.
I’m no sucker, and am often pessimistic to a fault, so me giving a glowing review should be taken very seriously.
Woody is your guy!

I absolutely love this place! As a woman who knows nothing about cars, I have been taken advantage of many times in regards to «necessary repairs»; this is the only car place my boyfriend will send me to alone. I have a friend who just moved here and bought a car two days ago; yesterday he noticed some smoke coming from the hood. We took it to Sunset and talked to Woody, the owner. He took the car for the day and said that it was a $ 95 diagnostic fee, but that it would be applied to any work done to the car. He also offered us a loaner car for the day (he always does this). Toward the end of the day, he called my friend and said that he had tested everything and that there was nothing wrong with the car; he did not even end up charging him to look at it. This is a place with honest people who do it because they enjoy working on cars, not because they are looking to make money off of you. I love it!

My vehicle is a 1991 Jeep Cherokee. I’m satisfied with the work they’ve done on it and I like their prices. And they usually have a loaner car for you to use for the price of putting gas in it while they’re working on your car. Bravo!!!

Horid, stay away! Seriously this piece of S**t guy who runs this place refused to help me, even though his mechanic told me he could fix my car. He is rude without cause! He made me cry because he was so mean. He also leaves all of his cars on our street… it’s always nice to come home and not have a place to park, you know. Turns out he has a long reputation of being a terrible worthless excuse for a human

Once again Sunset Garage has saved my car! Took it in to check fluid levels and they saw my radiator was leaking coolant — not a good thing before a 500 mile drive. They replaced my radiator at a great price (I had over 140,000 miles on that original radiator), checked everything else and I am now on the road and feeling very secure!