Union City Brakes and Clutches

I honestly hate this place with terrible customer service! I had a feeling that I was going to get a terrible experience here from the start. First America breaks my lug bolt. Then they send me to this place to get it fixed which was okay until I got home when I wanted to change the lugs. Since I got a brand new extended lug set. When I tried to remove one of the lugs I then realized that it was stuck and I did not want to force it or it’ll snap off. So I drove straight to Americas tire to see if they can remove the lug since I wasn’t able to. They replied with «yeah I can’t open it, whoever tightened the lug over tightened them. I told them that brakes and clutches the place that they recommended me to get fixed at did it. I was so pissed that I left and drove to brakes and clutches. When I got there I told them that I was planning on changing my lugs and I wanted to take them off but I couldn’t. They got a breaker bar and snapped my lugs and bolt in half! I got pissed and said wtf. They replied with oh it was my fault because I got cheap lugs. I got pissed and told them to fix it cause it’s their fault for over tightening it. They said okay but I would have to leave my car there over night! Next day they said my car was fixed. It took them the whole day to change 1 stud. I got my car at 5:30pm and found out that they scratched my brand new rims! I said f this place and just left! Never come here! The owner (JUAN) is a douche and clearly have no idea how to run a business! Btw I had a feeling that they were going to mess up my lugs because they don’t even use a torque wrench. They use a impact gun. How are you suppose to know how many pounds of pressure to tighten up my lugs if you use a impact gun?! You can tell how frustrated I am by how long this review is! Screw this place! You can find another company that’s honest about their work. Not like this shady place!!!

The ass hole owner of this place quoted me $ 360 for a simple brake job. upon arriving, he presented me with a bill for $ 850. I immediately flipped out and said he lied to me. He kept repeatedly kept denying that he quoted me, which is total bs. Why would I lie about a number he said to me? Don’t go to this shitty place. I

Went here after America’s Tires referred me here. Not sure if they get commission or benefits for referral, but Nick from America’s Tires was somewhat aggressive in promoting this autoshop’s services. Nick from America’s Tires said it costs him $ 69.
I was originally going to go to Sears for a Tire Alignment, I went there and the wait was excruciating long so I thought I tried this place.
When I first arrived, Joel helped me and he was great and kind. He began my alignment and found a stripped bolt that hindered him from doing the full alignment completely, so he had to order it and I had to come back. He now quoted me for the tire alignment and bolt for $ 110.
When I can back, Joel finished the job kindly but I had to pay a little more than what was originally quoted, which sucks… and I was confused why.
Prices were pretty reasonable. Just iffy about America’s Tires referring me here because he was somewhat aggressive. Overall, not super wow but it was decent.

I take the negative reviews seriously, but my wife has had nothing but good experiences here, and when she’s happy, I’m happy (I’m not sure why I just wrote that, but let’s move on).
I went here with my wife on the 9^th.
Juan is the owner (
).
He pays attention to Unilocal (he genuinely seems to care about how his business is run), and I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
My wife had problems with her brakes earlier. She went to her favorite repair shop twice (I won’t give the name, but I have reviewed it), but the work wasn’t quite satisfactory (both times, her brakes acted up again not too long afterward).
The issues were diagnosed here on April 8. My wife spent $ 532.80, but $ 128 of that was for parts (front brake pads and rear brake shoes).
I didn’t Unilocal about the price much (hehehe) because my wife’s car ran like new once the work was done.
My parents live nearby.
On April 8, Juan actually drove my wife to their house and picked her up later (the slogan for Enterprise Rent-​A-​Car comes to mind).
Amazing.
The business hours might be a little off.
Here are the hours listed inside the office: Mon-​Fri 8 – 6; Sat 8 – 5.
Some Prices:
Labor: $ 98/​hr.
Minimum charge: $ 48.
Check engine or abs (anti-​lock braking system) diagnostic: $ 125.
Air conditioner service: $ 125.
The Office:
There’s a water cooler and a nice TV.
There are also 2 stools and 5 chairs.
Unless there are a few other people around, it’s comfortable enough waiting inside.
The repair shop is nicely sized, but it’s not huge.
In addition, this place is fairly popular.
If you come in, expect to wait 2 hours or longer.
It’s a little comical that the receipts say Union City Brake and Clutch. They also feature some typos.
My wife was told in April that she could bring her car in if there were any issues with her brakes within a year.
We were here on the 9^th because the brakes had been squeaking here and there (part of it had to do with the weather).
As we expected, my wife’s car was looked at for FREE.
Juan was friendly, and he tried to be helpful.
He was too casual, though, with his assessments.
My wife had to press him for time estimates (as it turns out, the repair shop was so busy that her car couldn’t be looked at on Thursday at all).
My wife and I walked to the nearby 7-​Eleven and back, and our attempt to kill time ended up being kind of pointless.
My wife’s car was looked at on Friday morning.
Juan didn’t hear any squeaking, but the front brake pads were replaced anyway (again, there was no charge).
My wife was here for 2 hours (to be really anal, from 8:05 — 10:03).
My wife had a nice experience here 7 years ago too.
At least in terms of brake work, this seems like a good place to go.

Just got a call from the owner in response to my Unilocal review. I was a bit surprised to receive a phone call, but I was hoping he would try to make my experience better. He gave me a chance to explain what had happened with his mechanic, which I did, and he told me that this isn’t the first time his mechanic had done this «to him.» Don’t you mean «my customers»? He then asked me if I would take my review down. HUH?! I told him that I wasn’t too sure about that. I mean, the point of Unilocal is to warn consumers about bad businesses, and give credit to good businesses, right? We had a lengthy conversation, and Juan tried to bribe me to take this review down. He really tried to bribe me. He said «If you can take your review down, you know I could do you a favor.» I can totally understand how it could hurt your business to receive a bad review, and that’s when you need to make some changes. He even told me that his mechanic would be gone tomorrow, if I took my review down. (if it is your mechanic that is trying to rip off your customers, he should be gone regardless.) I’m not out for someones job, I am trying to save people some money and save them from being ripped off. The only thing that I got from our conversation, (besides a good laugh) is that he isn’t worried about his customers at all, he is only worried about his business. No customers, no business.

SCAM ALERT! Went there for years and he kept hitting my family and I for expensive repairs only for something else to go wrong! I became suspicious and met a guy who got scammed by him so I took my car in for a second opinion … My power steering leak that he estimated just under $ 1000 for a rack and pinion. Turned out to be a $ 40 hose.

The owner of this shop TRIED to ripoff my wife and I caught him…
My wife had electrical issues with her car, She has insurance for repairing her car through PRCO…
On Saturday she drops the car off. The repair shop is supposed to diagnose the problem, contact PRCO and get an approval for the work. My wife calls the shop late Saturday to see whats going on, and the repair shop said «we have not heard from PRCO», call back Monday.
My wife calls PRCO on Monday and they said «we talked to him Saturday, sorry the work was not approved»… WHAT!!! So, right there the owner lied to us…
So my wife calls the repair shop and says «PRCO said they talked to you on Saturday». He says «yup and they did not approve the repair, BUT ITS FIXED!!» $ 160…
WHAT!!! Repaired? Now I KNOW the law is a repair shop CANNOT due repairs to a vehicle without PRIOR APPROVAL…
So we go to the shop and tell him «this is not legal!, you WERE NOT authorized to do the repair!»…
He gives us major attitude about the whole ordeal, of course he would, he JUST got caught…
He keeps demanding the $ 160 and we say we are not going to pay! I say «see that BBB plaque on your wall? Im reporting you tomorrow. See my phone? Im checking in and will Unilocal you when im through»…
Then he says «JUST GO! NO CHARGE! JUST GO!!! So we did…
But thats NOT the last of the story, my girl get her car and now there are check engine lights, the car is beeping with things that have never happened before. THE OWNER PURPOSELY MESSED HER CAR UP!!! Now its at another shop!!!

I had an awesome experience here with Juan. They did a nice clean job on my alignment and found issues that they then explained to me well. I highly recommend them.
Oh — and I don’t understand the negative reviews — one guy says after they did the work they found that his tires weren’t that out of alignment — I mean how are they supposed to know that without doing the work? And the other guy says they found another issue with the car and told him what the problem was. I mean — seriously.

I am so glad I did NOT read the Unilocal reviews prior to getting my brakes done here. I also needed my front brakes replaced & was in the Bay Area visiting family– with some time to kill. I had already received a quote from Toyota (my car manufacturer), just wasn’t willing to spend the $ 350 Toyota had quoted me. so I was lagging. My cousin suggested that I try this place out and said he had them do work on his Mustang and was very pleased. I called them Saturday morning and was able to come as a walk-​in. I went up to the counter and spoke to the owner who was very sweet– he seemed willing to work with me and told me he’d take a look, have a quote ready shortly. Sure enough, he was able to beat Toyota’s price by about $ 100 less and asked that I come back in a couple hours. My cousin followed me to the shop, so I went back to hanging out with family until the car was ready. Easy peasy! I am thrilled that I supported a local, family-​owned business that did great work (one month later and no issues– my car is driving smoothly) rather than having gone with big-​business. Plus– I saved about $ 100 bucks so I seriously do not understand the poor reviews. My experience was great! I will definitely go back next time I need work done. Don’t let the others steer you wrong.

I went to this place because America’s Tires in Union City referred us to them. We got new tires at America’s Tires and then they gave us a postcard with a coupon for Union City Brakes & Cluthes to get $ 65 for an allignment.
We went there for the allignment. We left the car there. About an hour later, we got a call that we need new struts and it’s going to cost $ 665 for both the allignment and the struts. I wasn’t ready to spend the $ 665 and was told that I need to get the struts done before I can get the allignment. I told them to not fix anything.
A couple of days later, I took it to another shop to see if I really needs struts. This mechanic I trust because he’s done work for my car before. He test drove it and explained to me what struts does. It turns out I didn’t need struts.
I will never ever go to this place again no matter how many people referred me to it.