Transmasters Transmissions & Auto Care

Sam is an excellent and honest guy who will save you money and fix your car right. I highly recommend!!!

Car mechanics are like dentists, hard to find the trustworthy ones with fair and honest pricing, that also do great work. Lucky for me, I met Sam from Transmasters at a business mixer a year before I needed any auto repair work, but liked him right off the bat so I kept his card handy.
When I ended up needing some auto repair I gave him a call, after asking around to a few other spots, and was very glad I ended up using his services. He and his team fixed my transmission for an honest price and more importantly to me, in rapid time. I drive for work so needing my car to run properly is one of my highest priorities or I don’t get new clients.
Thank you Sam and I will continue to refer my friends to your business for your knowledgable and fair price service. If it is something he can’t do, he always has a referral and knows other mechanics and business professionals in his industry.
Hopefully I won’t need to visit him soon unless I’m driving by and decide to stop and say hello.

Don’t believe the bad reviews. I have been taking my cars here for years. Sam is a high integrity guy. He’s always saved me time and money. Other shops have suggested expensive and unnecessary repairs. Sam explains everything and always tells you the truth.

I had my 1999 Mazda 626 towed here when my transmission failed on my way to school. I am so happy I brought my car here! Sam was very helpful and made sure I understood every step of the process. My transmission ended up being completely dead and needed to be replaced and Sam was nice enough to keep my old transmission parts so that he could show me what was wrong with it.
Two weeks after I got my transmission replaced, I brought it back in so that they could do a standard check up on my new transmission. I had been hearing some squeaking noises which I brought to Sam’s attention during the follow up. During the test drive, Sam made sure the transmission was shifting properly and told me the squeaking could be my suspension.
After returning to the shop, Sam checked my car over and found that the squeaking was actually from my hood which had a rubber lining piece missing on one side. He put in a rubber stop to see if it helped and took me out on a second test drive. The squeaking was noticeably less and I was very happy to know what the squeaking was coming from. I thought it was really above and beyond that he helped me even though the issue was unrelated to my transmission repair.
Overall, I was very happy with my repair and my experience here. Sam was very friendly, professional, and you can tell he is customer satisfaction oriented. If I have any more transmission problems I will definitely be coming back here!

Always have the best experiences there! It’s hard to find mechanics who are actually honest… even if I have drive across town I’m never going anywhere else! The best! Thanks for everything Sam!

I first took my car in to Transmasters after my transmission went out few years back. They came recommended from another transmission place. My car is one off those cars that is not in favor off many to work on. I have 1998 Catilac Catera and I love that car. Since my first time going there for rebuild transmission I will for sure never use another place than them. The service and the work there is 100% and I do now take my car there for every service and maintains. And if I ever get another car they will be my shop to go to for all services. They go out off there way to give a super costumer service are unset and take the the time to explain everything that is done. One story I can tell is I had flat tier and took my car to Fierstone where I was informed I had to get new brakes also. When I took the car to Transmasters they told me I had more than 40% left on my pads. I had done oil change at a place in PB and they also told me new brake pads, and offered me a special if I would do that services that time. I declined and took my car to Transmasters and again I did not need new brake pads at all. One thing about why I as a woman like this place is that ALWAYS they show me exactly what is wrong and if anything need to be replaced I will be shown the old broken part. I have told my girlfriends about them and every one off them is extremely happy with them. I will highly recommend them to anybody, costumer service, honesty and know less is incredible there. I for sure, as long as I am a car owner will only use this great team off professionals.
Highly recommended for sure

i dont know much about cars but i feel lik when i come here, i dont get a pushy sales offer lik other mechanics. Sam has always been very nice and explained everything that was going on if he saw a problem. I have an old car that and i have been getting oil changes and repairs here for 2 or 3 years and I feel very comfortable about doing business with Sam. He will answer any questions with great patience

Sam at Transmasters is very honest and knowledgable. I have taken my TDi and my corvette for different types of service and have been very satisfied with their service and recommendations. Sam likes to draw as he explains the issue my car may have, i like that and it helps me understand the issues better.
He runs an honest shop and very competive.

I took my car recently for an oil change. In addition to the oil change, Sam and his crew performed an inspection and noticed that my struts on my 02 accord were completely gone. He showed me the struts and explained clearly what they do and compared them with new ones. I know what struts do :)
As always, Sam was courteous and very patience on the plethora of questions that I was asking.

ANOTHER FAULTY JOB BY THIS PLACE!
It’s been eight days since my original review, (PLEASE READ BELOW before thinking of taking your vehicle here). We are military and live close to Trans“masters”. Unbelievable, today our truck was again rendered inoperable. This is exclusively related to the work transmasters performed. I suppose we should not be surprised. Transmasters charged us, $ 2,008.00 to repair the rear differential, ($ 1,200 of it was LABOR expenses), and today it broke down again with less than 40k miles on the new rear differential. The invoice stated they used all new parts. We found a stripped bolt, metal shavings and metal strips in the diff oil and another very loose bent bolt that holds the housing together. Transmasters only offered a 1 year warranty on this work too. Sam also advised my husband that there was no need to change the diff oil because a diff oil change was very rare. Others we know change theirs on their trucks every 30k miles. We are just in awe because of the post below that shows what they did to our car! What are the odds that transmasters FAILED us on BOTH of our vehicles? Shaking our heads in disbelief…

I took my Jeep Wrangler to these guys thinking something was wrong with my transmission. My Jeep was slipping when I accelerated. They thought it was my timing belt. They replaced the timing belt. That didn’t fix the problem. Then, they figured the cam shaft had a rounded lobe and it was causing the engine to misfire. I give would give them a 2.5 out of 5 because they did fix the issue but it took them a LONG time and they were terrible about getting back to me with updates.

I have 1999 Mercury Sable and I have to visit mechanics much more often than doctors. Ford is not know for long lasting cars and they do require constant attention. Without Transmasters I might have given up on it and just got rid of it by now. Sam has been so good to me and my car over the years, that he is the only one I ever recommend to my friends who have car issues.
The greatest thing about him, is that I can trust him. And all of you know, especially women, how important that is with mechanics. Even if he is not exactly sure what is wrong with the car (doctors don’t always know what’s wrong with us), he is always honest about it and will always make sure I am ok with the price before he starts working on it. He never makes me do any extra, unnecessary repairs (like most of the other shops who look at my car). His labor rates are also much more competitive than any dealerships or even most of the shops around. Every friend I sent to him has been VERY satisfied.
A few time he even installed the parts that I brought him to save me money (pretty much impossible to find in mechanic world). If I ever need a car advice or price comparison whom do you think I call?
Car ownership in SD for me would be much more stressful and expensive if it wasn’t for Transmasters.
Mira

They took my car for 3 days and gave an incorrect diagnosis, telling me that it would cost $ 2,500 to $ 3,000. Fortunately they did not have sufficient tools to even open the engine head, so had to defer the job to somebody else. The other shop ran some tests again and found the real problem, and costed $ 1k.
Furthermore they damaged one of the park distance ultrasound sensor on the back bumper, probably when they pushed the car to the other shop. AND they left the interior with black grease marks everywhere.
Just ROUGH and DIRTY. Highly NOT recommended!!!

I was sent to Transmasters on a referral from a tow truck driver when my 2000 Isuzu Trooper had broke down. I had issues accelerating from a stop. My car had very little power and took all it’s might to get from 0 to 40 mph. But once it got past 40mph it drove just fine. Transmasters told me a complete transmission overhaul was necessary which cost me about $ 3000. Apparently I looked sticker shocked because the next thing out of the shop guys’ mouth was that he would buy my car off of me. I couldn’t afford a new car at the time and thought it was very shady that it was even suggested to me! None the less being a naïve female (knowing absolutely nothing about car repairs) I politely said I’ll pass on selling my vehicle and pay for the repairs. They kept my vehicle in their shop for 10 days and when I got my car back they had put more miles on it then driving it from San Diego to Vegas and back! Seriously it was like over 500 miles! When I asked them to explain why so many miles had been put on my car, they simply said it took that many to drive test it to ensure it was working correctly. They also could not get the check engine light to ever go off and claimed it was probably a computer or electrical error that would cost me even more to fix. They insisted the vehicle would be fine even though the light was still on. Frustrated from not having a car for the past 10 days and struggling to get around I decided to take their word and accept the vehicle. Just to be safe I decided to purchase the 24 month/24,000 mile extended warranty on all parts & Labor. When leaving the shop I could still slightly tell that my vehicle did not have the power it once had. Sure enough less than a year later I began to really feel and experience issues again. I started to hear a new sound which to me sounded like grinding of gears, to this day I’m still not sure what it is, but I also felt a problem when shifting from 2^nd to 3^rd gear (between 30 to 40 mph). By this time I had moved out of the San Diego area and up to Orange County. Frustrated I started by calling Transmasters first. They of course wanted me to bring the vehicle back into their shop. But seeing as I was all the way up in Orange County, it wasn’t really possible for me to do that without it being a HUGE inconvenience more than it already was! Since Transmasters claims to be part of the ATRA a friend of mine suggested I contact a local ATRA shop since they are bound together by the so called «golden rule warranty». DON’T be fooled this warranty does not exist unless you actually receive a certificate! I didn’t know this at the time and took my vehicle to two different transmission shops in my area. Assuming that neither shop wanted to deal with the first shops issue I was told by both of them that the problem was not transmission related. NOTE: Tustin Transmission located in Tustin CA & Transmission Masters located in Santa Ana CA are both shady shops too!!! The second shop even convinced me that my issue was related to a bad O2 Sensor & EGR Valve and after shelling out $ 513.37 more dollars, my check engine light still would not go off and my car was still having shifting problems. Physically and mentally exhausted at this point I again decided to just accept my vehicle as-​is. I felt like I had no other choice due to the constraints I was facing. I was broke and couldn’t afford to shell anymore money into my vehicle and I certainly couldn’t afford to be without my vehicle anymore since it was affecting my ability to work! Another year or so later the problem seemed to be getting worse. I asked the shop where I normally got my oil changes to take a look at it for me because I was getting annoyed by the issue. They said it was my muffler and charged me $ 200 to replace it. Guess what? The problem was still there! I couldn’t believe yet another shop had screwed me over! I was PISSED! I also felt powerless and again accepted the problem as-​is. Then this year I moved back to San Diego, the problem is getting even worse. Yes it has now been about 3 years since the transmission rebuild and according to the paperwork it is out of it’s 2 year/24,000 mile warranty, but I decided I would give Transmasters the opportunity to make all of this headache which began with them right! I took my vehicle back in to their shop drove test it with them and they even agreed it was a transmission problem! I then not only told them, but showed them the paper trail of history and struggle I had since leaving their shop hoping they would do the right thing and honor my original warranty, however I denied! I was basically told to pound sand by both the Manager Sam Muniraj and supposed «customer relation rep» Dave Stall. I am now going to attempt to take them to small claims court and hope to get all or some of my money back. It’s been a complete nightmare! Also note they are not recognized by the BBB and have a score of a D– because of other complaints and license expirations! BEWARE!!!

I have been taking my cars to Transmasters for years. Originally discovered by my parents, Transmasters is my only «trusted» shop. I own a 2001 Nissan Maxima and 2003 Honda Odyssey and both cars are regularly serviced by them. I recently had my Maxima’s transmission done. 4000 miles so far and running great!
Sam is reliable and trustworthy. He has always been up front with all the potential scenarios and associated costs. I have recently moved from San Diego to Orange County, but still have my cars serviced by Transmasters in San Diego (even had my Maxima towed from Torrance to San Diego when the transmission went out — thanks AAA).
Bottom line: I strongly recommend taking your car to Sam @ Transmasters!