Villa Automotive

I made a trip here from LA and my car was a bit sluggish afterwards. I ended up having to stay in a hotel and prayed that I’d find a mechanic on Sunday. Villa was open and Craig helped me out really quick! Luckily the issue wasn’t just my car but it was due to User Error and I messed something up changing my blinker lights. Craig was able to get me in and out and now I don’t have to spend another night in SLO! Not that it’s a bad place, I just wanna go home to my own bed. Thanks Craig you’re a true homie!

Boo. I came in for a smog check and to get an estimate on a small door dent only to leave with a brand new dent!!!

Love these guys! My daughter is a student at SLO and her car broke down. Rich was awesome. Took care of everything and it’s nice because I am not local. They are honest and fair!

Great service and friendly people. They delivered as promised. They will provide a drop off and pickup if needed.

The only shop open on a Sunday. I was in and out in no time! They were fast and reasonably priced. I will definitely be coming back to this lovely family owned shop:)

I was driving from San Diego to the Bay Area and my check engine light came on in the middle of the trip. I went to Villa on a recommendation by AAA. Great call! They were open on Sunday, I spoke with someone on the phone who said to come by and they could take a look. Craig quickly finished up with the client before me, looked at my car, read the code, tested a couple of reasons why the light could have been on and found the issue within minutes. He was able to confirm the problem, efficiently and effectively fix it and send me on my way. This was an easy opportunity to charge for extra things but I found the company to be very honest. I even offered to pay for the diagnostic but was refused.

We were traveling through SLO and our motor home had issues with what we thought was the water pump. They would not be able to fit us in the schedule for a few days and we were just traveling through. Spoke with Soc. He was terrific! He kept saying, itsa not youra water pumpa, forgetta bout youra water pumpa! He explained what was happening, we did a temp fix that got us home and since have had the part replaced by the folks in our hometown. Hugh THANK YOU Soc for talking us through the problem!!!

Came back to revise my review and raise it to 3 stars since I felt the 1 star review was unfair, but then I read the owner’s response and changed my mind.
It does not matter who pays the bill, I came in for a tire change as a customer you agreed to take on for Enterprise. I understand you don’t get paid as much by Enterprise on these types of jobs, but if you don’t like working for that amount of pay, don’t take on the extra work and use the pay to justify treating your customers like dirt. It takes no more than 15 minutes to remove the wheel, replace the tire, balance and put the wheel back on.
It took you two hours, an hour of which could be excused for time required to receive approval, find a tech and replace the tire. You had 7 available mechanics and you want to tell me that they were all doing such time sensitive work that they couldn’t take 15 minutes out of their schedules to fix a tire? That is a hard pill to swallow, especially considering some of your mechanics weren’t doing anything at the time.
I’d like to think of myself as a reasonable person, and I’d hate for someone to write a one star review of my business without merit. If you can convince me that this was a reasonable delay, I’d be willing to revise my review.

Very friendly people and quick service! They did everything they could to accommodate my busy schedule!

Craig and Sid are the best! I had my 1997 Toyota 4runner towed here because it broke down on the highway. After Craig looked at it, he estimated it would take around $ 5,000 to get a new engine. We both thought at that price, it didn’t make sense to fix the car. He didn’t charge me for the estimate because it wasn’t an «official» diagnosis, which was really nice of him.
He was incredibly pleasant and patient throughout this process, even though he was busy, and even volunteered to talk to my dad so that my dad could understand what was going on.
Plus, I left a library audiobook CD in the car after I left it at the shop. He sent it to San Jose, where I live, so I wouldn’t have to pay the library for the missing disc. So nice!

Great service, helpful and honest employees, and a car wash! I appreciate that they were very honest about costs, communicated effectively via phone as new information came in, and overall took my problem seriously.
My car broke down on highway 1 at 4:30 on a Saturday. I had enough power to get to the closed Jiffy Lube. It was not a problem they could fix, but they recommended I get towed around the corner to Villa. Not being from SLO (just happening to breakdown there), I was nervous about leaving my car for the weekend right before Villa closed… and after being told nothing could be fixed until Monday (because of parts being ordered). I could not stay in SLO with my car, but I got regular updates via phone as parts came in and labor costs were adjusted. I told them I could pick up the car Tuesday and they made sure it would be ready by the time I got there. When traffic delayed my arrival, I got a call to make sure I would still be coming.
Thank you for getting me out of a bad breakdown!

Me and my friend were looking for a automotive shop because my steering stabilizer bracket on my truck got stuck when i hit a big dip so i needed a jack to push it up. Drove around town and seen Villa Automotive. We pulled in and i asked the gentleman who approached us (who looked like the owner/​manager) «do you guys have a jack?» And he responded «of course we have a jack. We are an automotive shop» with kind of a smart ass tone. He told me to pull forward and hold on. He was assisting another customer. He finally started walking up but from a distance and shouted «now what do you need the jack for?»…i told him «i need to move my steering stabilizer up»…so he came up to me face to face with a smerk on his face and a smartass tone and said” who are you? Are you a customer?”… And i replied «yes» with a puzzled face… then he asked «are you from around here?» …and i said «no»…he laughed and replied «then you’re not a customer. So you just want to BORROW my jack huh?» (like if we were looking for a free handout… i was going to ask him how much but never had the chance) and before i could say anything the lady who he was previously helping shouted to him for assistance and he just walked away from me. (He wasn’t the only gentleman around. There was another mechanic kinda standing around and asking another person if they needed help. He never came to us). We were waiting there for about five minutes while he is walking around and going in and out of this ladies car and shouts out to me «hey guys its gonna be an hour before i can even touch you’re truck!» So me and my friend got in the truck and left. Seems like the owner dosent like out of towners and is a sarcastic/​rude guy. I wouldn’t recommend going if you’re not from around town

Best Place for Auto Service! They have gotten me out of multiple jams, from locking keys in a car to repairing a transmission. I get nothing but the best when it comes to the service that they provide. Craig and Tony are the best, I even have them on speed dial! I’ve tried other places in town but they don’t compare to the quickness or quality of service.

I have been taking my car to Villa Automotive for quite a few years. They have consistently provided great service and my car is always done when they say it will be. I like the fact that they email me reminders and I can book an appointment online. No complaints!

Hmm, I really have no idea why there are such mixed reviews for this place. I’m recommending it to all of my friends!
I had a tow truck drop my 4Runner off at Villa after hours and received the best service of my life! Every message Villa left me was personal and concise, and they were so speedy with their service!
They quote they gave me was very fairly priced– I sent it to my trusted mechanic from home and my car expert friends and they agreed and were impressed that they weren’t charging me more. I hydrolocked my engine and my car almost had to go to the junkyard but Villa saved it!
These guys are very friendly, honest, and gave the best service. I’m a 22 y/​o female and they treated me with respect and explained what they did with my car in an intelligent, appropriate fashion (didn’t talk down to me or assume I didn’t know anything about cars).
They even picked me up from my house and brought me to Villa to pick up my car! When I picked up my car it was sparkling clean, they greeted me by my name, did my transaction in an extremely timely fashion, and sent me on my way.
Very impressed!!!

Shout out to Villa Automotive for reasonably fixing my daughter’s brakelight and giving her a 10% Cal Poly discount!

I had a great experience! Craig was running the shop –on a Sunday– and was incredibly helpful. His encyclopedic knowledge of the types of maladies that might befall my Honda was exactly what was needed. The crew got the job done, at the price and time they promised.
I felt incredibly well taken care of, and I will definitely not hesitate to take my car to Villa in the future.
I can imagine that it’s hard to be a neighborhood auto repair company with Unilocal around. So many people come through their front door, and not so many of the regular customers may even know how to Unilocal

Read the reviews and have to agree on the price gouging! Called them for a quote to have my car towed in to have them check it out. To just check the car was $ 200! YIKES! Guy on the phone was real nice to talk to, but I don’t think I want to be raped that bad right off the bat. Good luck to you guys!

My 05 Dodge Neon was making a loud ratting noise, so I took it down the street to Villa. They had it for about a day, then called with their diagnosis: I needed to replace the entire transmission. So another day or so about $ 1,500 later I get my car back… AND IT WAS STILL MAKING THE LOUD RATTLING NOISE. So, not only did they manipulate me into replacing something that I did not need replaced, they did not address the initial problem I brought the car in for. Several months later (after learning from their WISE expertise that the only way to fix the rattling would have been to completely replace the car frame) my boyfriend simply spent $ 75 at O’Riley on some new motor mounts, and a few hours later the rattling COMPLETELY stopped.
Bottom line, I am a 23 year old Cal Poly grad, and I felt completely ripped off and deceived by this shop. I trusted them, only to have my money stolen and my car no better than when I brought it in. Paying for that transmission service put me in temporary debt, and I feel my trust in a loyal, local business was completely shattered.
I am happy to read the other reviews of this shop exclaiming the same thing. I am bummed I did not check these reviews prior to my experience, but I will say that I am ready to go out of my way to discourage EVERYONE I KNOW to boycott this scam of a business, hellbent on ripping off college kids and robbing their parents money.

Like everyone else is saying, it’s OUTRAGEOUSLY EXPENSIVE. I had a check engine light which ended up being just a hose which cost over $ 100 to fix even though it was a $ 8 part. Their labor rate is crazy high. But hey, they’re open late and the weekend so I guess that’s what you are paying for.
I also feel like they PREY ON CAL POLY STUDENTS. They advertise a ton and donate to Cal Poly Athletics which I love, but I feel like they do it to lure in college kids who don’t know what they’re doing and probably have their car fixed at home more often.