Assurance Automotive

very honest and no surprises about the price they quote before doing the job. best price for oil change by an honest business in the county and maybe one of the few remaining honest ones in the Monterey peninsula.

Dennis and his crew are knowledgeable and skilled. Work was done in the time promised, and information was given in a manner that was intelligible and helpful.

Both my wife and I agree Dennis is the most fair mechanic we have ever met! Very trusting! Keep up the great work! I have never heard a mechanic tell me truthfully «you don’t need that replaced yet’ if I have had concerns or give us realistic timelines if we need to wait on a repair. The costs at AA are more than competitive

Been going to Dennis for years. His service is excellent and prices are reasonable. I can trust he will treat me fairly.
Tom

Brought my car in for a front end noise. Changed the struts. Retail price for both struts was $ 181.00. They charged me $ 380 plus over $ 400 for about two hours labor. Drove the car for a few miles and developed a shimmy too dangerous to take on the Freeway. Took in another car and the interior smells like cigarette smoke. I’m taking it to another mechanic to check the shimmy. Stay tuned.

I have been going to Assurance since they were «Precision Auto Tune». Dennis is strait forward and honest. He explains things and never pressures you into buying extra services.
When I go for an oil change they also rotate my tires. Something you don’t get at the quickie oil change places.
Since my car is getting older I inquired about replacing hoses and he told me which ones to prioritize and how much it would cost. So now I can plan ahead.

I LOVE Dennis! He is straight forward, honest, and his prices are fair. He did a great job on my brakes last year for my Nissan Rouge. Today he completed a tune up, oil change and replaced spark plugs on the same car and it runs amazing. He also took the time to let me know that it needed two new tires and an alinement. As a woman he has never talked down to me and has always treated me with respect. Assurance Automotive was recommended to me by a friend and I am so grateful! I highly recommend them as well and will always come back!

Even though my dealership has been my repair shop for the 10 years I have owned my car, they didn’t have an opening to even evaluate what was wrong with my car for 5 days and the car was not drivable. Assurance Automotive got my car right in and diagnosed a difficult problem. Dennis explained to me my options on the different repair avenues I could choose. He made sure that my car was safe for me to drive and I appreciate the attention to detail in my repair. Terri G.

Dennis is awesome. Highly recommend him to anyone. Lot cheaper than a dealer with more personalized service. have 3 cars in my family and he is the only person i will allow to touch them.

I cannot say enough good things about Assurance Automotive and Dennis. We have taken our cars there for a few years and have always been super happy with the service we received. Dennis always explains exactly what is going on and all of our options. We feel like we can trust him and he is more concerned with serving us as best he can — rather just making a buck.
We recently had some problems with our transmission and feared the worst — but after Dennis and his tech tried multiple things to make sure they could find the right problem and fix it, we were out the door for under $ 100. They could have easily made the job bigger and more expensive than it needed to be (I’ve been to mechanics who seem to always operate that way!) but they didn’t.
Dennis is a friendly guy, knows us by name, asks about our lives, and brags about his adorable grand-​daughters. When we take our cars in, we feel like we are taking them to our friend, who we know has our best interest in mind. I would highly recommend him!

I was in Santa Cruz for Valentine’s weekend and my car broke down at 3pm on Saturday. I thought I was going to be either stuck in Santa Cruz for a few days (The following Monday was a holiday) or I would be emptying my bank account to fix my car and additional nights of lodging. Luckily I picked assurance automotive! The owner called around to get the parts he figured we needed before the parts stores closed. It was past 4 by the time the tow truck had dropped us off. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get one of the parts we needed until the next day. Which was a Sunday. The owner knew we were from out of town and were in a tough spot, so he opened his shop on Sunday and had us fixed up and ready to go by the afternoon. I expected a surcharge for working on Sunday, but he didn’t inflate the cost at all. We tried to add a $ 100 tip to thank him and he declined. He said someone helped him once when he was in a tough spot and he knew we were in need of help. He just asked that we pay it forward, which we look forward to doing when the time comes. Thanks again guys!!! I hope I never break down on vacation again, but if I do I will return to you!

Dennis and his crew are great.
They have done everything from an oil change to replacing an engine and transmission for me.
Always thorough, capable, and pleasure to deal with.
I would highly recommend them to all.

My previous review was deleted by Unilocal due to lack of clarity. Resubmitted with that clarity for your consideration.
I have done business with Dennis and his crew in the past. My wife took her car in for a smog check, oil change and brake inspection and she was called up a few hours later saying her car would not pass the smog check due to very high emissions levels, and quoted about $ 200.00 for diagnosis. She was further told she needs over $ 1000.00 in brake repairs that included front caliper overhauling, and her brakes were dangerous in their current condition. This was on a six-​year-​old car with under 50,000 miles. Wife called me in a panic, I told her to go down and pay the inspection fee and take the car home, but she called back from the shop and told me Dennis was refusing to release the car because it was dangerous. I had to get on the phone with him for an explanation, then convince him I was more knowledgeable about these types of things than my wife, during which I was convinced so too was I more knowledgeable than he was. When I asked if I could come in and see the dangerous brakes condition myself, and to see the failing emissions levels on the machine with the car warmed up, he changed his story and said the car was safe enough to drive out of there, they were too busy to do another emissions analysis, and he would release the car to my wife. I asked him to provide the printout of the failing emissions levels and he said since we were declining diagnosis, he would not release that to us. «But we’ve contracted for the pre-​inspection Dennis, you have performed it and shown my wife the printout. We want that report or we are not paying for the service.» So he did, he sold us that printout, Mrs A paid him around $ 80.00, and he told her he’d prefer she not bring her car back to him.
No problem.
A couple of days later, it was revealed at Opal Cliffs Auto Center that the rear brakes were excellent, but front pads were getting under 50% pad thickness that should be monitored every oil change, and no problems with the calipers. They recommended a fluid flush, a reasonable recommendation as the fluid was six years old and really dark, so we agreed to that service after it passed the smog check with flying colors, nowhere near the generic printout levels we got from Dennis. Wife ended up trading that car in a year later with about 60,000 miles on the odometer and still some life left in those original front brakes.
In summary, consider this man has only been in business as Assurance Automotive for about 3 – 4 years, and only has six reviews so far, all of them very positive. Then consider he was in business just down the street under a different shop name for many years prior, his Unilocal review average totaled 1.5 stars, his name is mentioned directly in several of them, at least one of which he responds to directly himself.

Would highly recommend this shop. My car broke down and Assurance Automotive was recommended by another shop I trust. They diagnosed my problem and explained to me that the final cost may or may not be the same (depending on if what they suspected was correct). The final cost ended up being cheaper than what they had originally quoted! They explained everything really well to my boyfriend who knows nothing about cars. They had my car fixed in no time, they were reasonably priced, and extremely honest. Am definitely going back here from now on!

DENNIS is the most honest mechanic I know. period. I trust him. My mustang has literally never been better in my life. I love her again. Time for some detailing!!! :)

Been having our vehicles serviced there for two years now. I would recommend them to anyone. Intelligent, capable and honest.

Love Dennis! Want a trustworthy and knowledgable mechanic! This is the place.

The mechanic was honest with me and incredibly helpful. I was an hour away from my apartment when my car wouldn’t let the key turn. Although the mechanic (quite honestly) told me he wouldn’t be able to fix it that day, he connected me with the right people as fast as he could. Even though I never paid him for anything (that I’m aware of) it didn’t stop him from helping me and even directing me to other companies.
If you’re in car trouble go here first, even if they can’t fix it, they’ll find people who can in a short amount of time.

My husband and I have been bringing our cars to Dennis for over five years. He is consistently honest, fair, up front and friendly. A great family-​owned local business.