Holmberg Automotive

My headlamp bulb was not working and was travelling through San Diego from Orange County without my toolkit. Exited Balboa from the 805 to get gas at an ARCO and saw Holmberg Automotive. There were lots of cars in the bays and doubted that they would take the time to help. Mike at the counter quickly said yes, and within 5 minutes all was good.
The best part, they just charged me for the bulb, no labor.
I do not live in SD but if I did, I would certainly make them my mechanics. Support businesses that treat their customers well.

Holmberg automotive was the absolute best place I could have taken my vehicle to have repairs done so I can pass smog. Scott, the owner is the greatest guy I have met in a long long time! His other employees followed his example! He went out of his way to help me, and I know a little bit about cars, so I know he wasn’t trying to take me like a lot of other shops would!!! I would highly recommend Holmberg automotive to any of my friends!!!

I was having problems with my Jeep Wrangler. Three other places wanted to charge me over $ 2,000. My friend recommended Holmberg Automotive on Balboa Ave and Scott, the owner, was awesome! I told him what I was going through and he assured me that he would take care of it as best he could. True to his word, he had my problem diagnosed within 30 mins and gave me an estimate which came to under $ 300 and it worked. He didn’t try to talk me into buying anything either which is a plus because some places really like to nag. Great service, very friendly. Scott knows exactly what he’s doing. I would totally recommend this place for anyone having car troubles! Big thanks to Scott and his crew, you guys were wonderful!

Every time I go to Holmberg I get excellent service! The staff is very friendly and my car always drives better! They do a great job and I always recommend them to my family, friends and co workers. The prices are very reasonable as well, I’ll will keep bringing my car here!

While in the neighborhood for a doctor visit, I asked good ol’ Siri to take me to the nearest smog station. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by Ivan, who was friendly and helpful.
The price for the smog service was posted on the wall — $ 39.95 plus certificate, as of this writing — which is exactly what appeared on my quote and the amount I paid. No coupons, no hassles, and no surprises. Prices for oil change and hourly labor rate are also posted.
The clerk told me it would take approximately twenty minutes, not bad all things considered, but my actual wait time was closer to 12 – 15 minutes. The waiting room is adequate and clean, and the shop offers free wifi (the password is posted on the wall in the waiting room).
I’m someone who knows just what I need about my car to drive it. I can change a flat tires and do a jump start, but don’t ask me to change my own oil. From my experience today, I would be happy to bring my vehicle back to Holmberg for service in the future.

Holmberg Auto are good, honest guys. I work for a couple in their 80’s, being away from them for long car repairs is not an option. Holmberg was happy to drive me back & pick me up. They worked with us to get the repair paid for without my clients having to show in person. We expected a large bill and authorized work to be done and when it came down to it, something had just come loose. They screwed it back in, put it back together and charged us minimally. If they were dishonest, they could have told us they replaced the expensive part to get it to work again.
Fast forward a couple months, another repair needed. We were so impressed with the service and honesty that thought we had moved to Encinitas, we drove all the way down to Holmberg. They worked with us again, and were just super all around.

Absolute ripoff!
I had a catalytic converter placed in my car a little over 2 years ago by Holmberg Automotive. I found out recently that I needed another one. Hmmm, don’t they last longer? Anyway, I obtained another quote from Holmberg. They stated that they wanted $ 700 + for a new one (never mentioned any warranty on the last one nor did they offer to give me a reduction in price) So I told them I wanted to get another quote. I received a call back from them indicating that they could reduce the price to $ 644. WHA? So I’m to understand you were already going to overcharge me in the first place? Something was amiss. So I contacted another mechanic and they put one in for a little over $ 300.
I understand that businesses need to make money and that Kearney Mesa is a high rent district, I was fine with that.
But here’s the clincher, the new mechanic showed me the one that he put in compared to the one that Holmberg placed in my car. Holmberg’s part was over half the size smaller than the new part. They placed some cheap, lame part in my car. Then I found out they received money for my old, factory installed converter because atalytic converters contain trace amounts of Platinum, Rhodium, Palladium, Aluminum, Copper and several other precious metals.
They overcharged me, put in a cheap part, AND made money on my old part.
When I was doing business with them, it was fine, but when I came to pick up my car from the original quote, it was all I could do to have someone help me find my key so that I could drive away. (quickly)
I’m now riding around with my spunky new converter making offerings to the Karma Gods :)

While swerving to avoid a car coming into my lane, I hid a curb very hard and blew out a tire. Luckily I was very near Holmberg Automotive. I inched my car over there to see what the damage was. Ivan could not have been nicer. His kind demeanor really helped as I was pretty rattled by what had just happened. Ivan had someone change my tire, only charged me $ 10, and I was on my way again in just a few minutes. I really appreciated the friendly and helpful attitude and felt lucky that if something like this had to happen, I was near a place that would treat me so well.

WHOLLY incompetent. i went back twice, in hopes that i was just mistaken, but i was not. they have no idea how to fix cars — the only thing they can do properly is take your hard-​earned money. add to that the dismissive, condescending attitude the employees have, and you’ve got yourself an auto shop to avoid at all costs.
Every time I go by this place he has new employees. That says a lot to me.

My Ford Focus was making a lot of noise that I thought was the transmission. Holmberg said I needed new drive axles for $ 260, parts $ 360, labor. I picked up the car after using my credit card and it had the exact same noise as before. He said I needed new motor mounts for $ 630 to do all 3.
I bought a right side motor mount from Amazon for $ 100 and installed it in ½ hour. It solved my noise problem completely.
I either wasted $ 620, or saved $ 530, depending on your viewpoint but will not return to Holmberg.

went to get an oil change, got charged over $ 37 where i usually pay no more than $ 25 elsewhere. they did do a check of my car for free so that was nice, but man. i cant believe things could be expensive. the guy at the counter was nice and very helpful. i have nothing agaist the people, its the prices that should change.

took my car here and they seriously OVER CHARGED me and didn’t fix the problem in the end, so now I have to have it fixed somewhere else!!! Check out the FILTERED REVIEWS there are several one stars!!!

I came in for a smog and they were very friendly and explained the procedure and any follow up I needed to do with the DMV (which was none). I was impressed by how curteous the staff was, they provided great service. They were even able to find a re-​built power steering pump that the dealer (Subaru) said was not available. Unfortunatley this was my only experience with them so that’s the only feedback I can provide.

Great service and extremely nice people.
Came here for a simple smog check and I was in and out within half an hour.
I’ll be coming back to see how their services are for sure.

Follow up on previous review: Scott Holmberg called to make good and refund diagnostic charge. He said responsible person is no longer working there, and after talking with him a while, I can tell he takes pride in his business which has been around for years and years. He seems to value quality work, and I would not hesitate to go back.

We have been going to Holmberg Automotive for several years now and have never had any problems. They have taken our vehicles to the test only station for smog so we didn’t have to. They have done oil changes, fixed the a/​c and many other things.
The staff is very knowledgeable and keeps us well informed if they see something else or an additional cost will be added.
I would highly recommend Holmberg Automotive.

Unfortunately, AAA has Holmberg as an approved auto repair facility. I’m not sure what that means… most of the facilities I Unilocaled in the Kearny Mesa area all had bad reviews. This was the only one that had no negative reviews, but there were only a pithy three. After a rainstorm, my car would not start after being parked for 6 hrs. I didn’t leave the lights on & it still wouldn’t start the next morning. The key was turning & engine cranking, but it would not start. There was no overheating or white smoke coming out. Though Shawn had good manners, he took a while to call me back & said it would cost me $ 2,600 to replace the blown head gasket & radiator that had a split. The dealer had replaced the radiator once for a recall & I didn’t even take my car in for overheating! Shawn made it seem like that was the only way to fix it. He didn’t tell me that it was able to start up again fine.
I have no idea how they got it to start, but he took half the day to call me back & failed to communicate it was starting again. I flipped out & thought I was going to have to buy a new car (I have an 8 yr old Sentra). I seeked advice & thought it over for several hours, called Shawn back & asked if it was starting. He had to «check» with the technician (even tho I was told if you run a computer diagnostic test, the car has to be on) and he said it was starting now. I needed a 2^nd opinion & found a Pep Boys coupon online. They checked it out & determined I did not have a blown head gasket. They also told me if there really was coolant on the spark plug, like Holmberg claimed there was on my work order, they should have sold me a new spark plug. And they didn’t; they wanted $ 2,600 from me instead. I still had to pay them $ 95 for the diagnosis, but Pep Boys was free with the coupon for a $ 30 Seasonal Prep Inspection. I won’t be coming back here again.

I went there b/​c I had a triple A coupon for an oil change, brake, tire and battery inspection and Steve was able to complete the job in ~1hr. When I began driving it out of the shop, my car was rumbling. I immediately brought it back and Steve fixed it (rotated tires to original places). Additionally, Steve and Shawn replaced my license plate light bulbs and removed nails on my tires w/​out charging me labor. Shawn provided wonderful customer service. Definitely worth every penny going here.

Nothing but praise for these guys. Not only are they reasonable and fast, but they are honest. I would highly highly highly recommend taking your car to them.

I come from a family with three brothers and all father… all of whom repaired our own cars.
This is an honest mechanic shop. This place came HIGHLY recommended by Trueline Automotive and (even more importantly) by my brother.
I’ve been taking my cars here for several years now and have never once been ripped off. Believe me, my little brother can dissect a car repair like it’s nobody’s business.
Special note: Show your AAA card and they’ll reduce your bill up to $ 50 off.