Embry Hills Chevron

I am only one of many people who have the highest respect and appreciation for Tony Skinner and his staff. Ladies, if you want a mechanic who will take good care of you and NOT take advantage of you, Tony is your man.
He is honest, and reliable, and a very straight shooter.

We have been using Embry Hills Chevron for most all of our car repairs ever since Tony Skinner came back as owner. We have had zero complaints during that time, over 15 years! The most important thing about finding a dependable mechanic is finding someone honest. Tony Skinner is the most honest mechanic I know and he expects the same from his staff. There is no way to emphasize this enough: Embry Hills Chevron has my trust!

There is a repair shop on top of a Chevron here, and it is PACKED. There is almost never an instance where I do not see cars packed in their lot. Our family had a Camry repaired here once because it was close to our house and as I recall the service went by smoothly. No major issues, also can get your emissions done here and get same day quotes on repairs.

We’d gotten an obscene estimate from VW to replace the car’s heater (core?) in ¹⁰⁄₂₀₀₈ and since my husband stops by this particular Chevron all the time he decided to ask the mechanic what he thought and get a quote (and a good quote it was!) They «back flushed» the coolant system and we only paid $ 187. VW didn’t want to even try the flush. They wanted to just replace the heater core for a good 1K. We were extremely happy! But every single trip to their garage since then has left us spitting mad!
1. We took my other car in this time for a quote when it had a check engine light on, but whose code I’d already extracted (P0342, Camshaft Position Sensor Circuit Low Input). Plus I needed an oil change. He charged us for the diagnostic test ($ 78) that was completely unnecessary since I had given him the diagnostic code myself. When I argued this point he said the fee would be cut in half when I return to get it fixed. I called my husband and he called bullshit.
2. It’s a month later and I can afford to repair the Camshaft Position Sensor plus get an emissions test. But they charged me $ 10 for a new wiper blade «because it was drizzling out and it was hard to see». If you are going to charge me for new wiper blades without telling me, give me TWO!
No they did not reimburse me for the diagnostic test.
3. I recently took the VW in for a last-​minute emissions test, he turned me down because they were busy. When I hesitated to agree to bring it back the next morning like he was suggesting, he literally reached out and touched/​held my face with both hands and told me «oh, can’t you bring it by first thing in the morning?». I was stunned and I asked for the bathroom (it was very clean by the way) and stayed in there a bit. I didn’t tell my husband about the incident because he’d already told me he didn’t want to go back to this place but I argued it was cheap, and the dude already knew our cars/​history, and it’s not like we knew of anyone else + I needed that emissions stat!
We drop off the car the next morning around 9am. He tells us he cannot do it «right then’ (while you wait), that we have to leave it with him, and they will call us later in the day when it’s done. We don’t hear back from him at all until we call 20 minutes ’till closing and they tell us «it’s been ready for hours» but that they are closing now and that we’ll need to pick up the car the following morning. We are LIVID.
We pick up the car the next morning and to my husband’s horror they left grease smudges and greasy finger print marks everywhere they touched! The car has leather seats, and they were FILTHY! Oh yeah, and they broke the handle to the glove compartment and just left it in the cup holder for him to find. WHAT WERE THEY DOING IN THERE?!
These are just a few of the examples I can remember. There’s been more.
I can’t say that I’ve EVER had a good experience with ANY mechanic. The whole auto industry is a F’n racket! They are all the same. They would get 1 star but I’ve received worse service.