Asmar’s Auto Care

Outstanding service. This is a shop that truly cares about their customers and their cars. I have a modified 1955 Chevy that had an intermittent problem causing it to stall. I also had issues with the cooling fan and A/​C. Asmar’s guys correctly determined the cause and fixed all the problems. They also re-​wired some of the circuits to make them more presentable and safe. They also took me to work when I dropped the car off and picked me up to get the car after the repairs.

These guys are on the top of my Good Guy list. We bought a 20 yr old Class C RV without getting it inspected (our mistake) and noticed on the drive home that it may need to be looked at. We went to a couple of places and finally got referred to Asmar’s Auto. Chris and Ryan took excellent care of us. They kept us informed, did the work quickly and cheaper than anywhere else we took it. Being with AAA, we also got a discount and the work has an awesome warranty. I am so happy with the work on my RV and the customer service that I received, that I just took my mom’s Honda Element in for some much needed, what seems like, BIG work. Again, they beat Honda by more than half and are getting the work done within 24 hrs. It seems auto repair technicians and shops get stereotyped as shady and expensive, and it’s never fun to spend money on parts for your car, but this place is affordable, friendly and fast. I will be referring friends and family, and will be back for myself if need be.

BEWARE OF HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!! My car broke down and this shop was recommended by AAA. After reading the reviews online, I had a positive impression and had my towed here to have work done. My water pump and thermostat were leaking, and I basically needed a whole new cooling system and a tune up. Big mistake!!! I felt completely violated by the estimate I got for repairs. I dealt with a service tech named Ryan over the phone. He quoted the parts and labor for the new water pump, hoses, thermostat and coolant for $ 2100! And almost $ 700 more for a tuneup and regular maintenance stuff, mind you some of the stuff is definitely needed, but not urgent and certainly overpriced. I will get some of the other work done soon, but definitely not here.
I went online to O’Reillys and Auto Zone to price out some of the parts. Asmar’s wanted to charge me $ 463 for a water pump for my 2007 Pontiac G6. O’Reilly’s sold the same one for $ 60!!! The hose upcharges on the estimate were 4 times more than retail price! Some other parts were 6 – 8 times as much as retail. As a businesswoman, I understand markups at a shop considering they are offering a 2 year warranty. I also grew up in Detroit and worked in the automotive industry, so I have some basic knowledge of prices for some of this stuff. This was highway robbery at it’s worst. I honestly felt taken advantage of. Needless to say, I had my car towed out of here as soon as I could. I don’t want to do business with people that try to rip me off. I got a bad taste in my mouth to begin with when he charged me $ 57 for a diagnostic. Generally, if you are getting $ 2000 worth of work done somewhere, it’s common practice for the company to throw in the diagnostic for free. Give me a break. Ryan told me all 9 of the hoses in my cooling system needed to be replaced because they were original (the car is 8 years old and has 105k miles). He said they were brittle and cracking. Not the case according to the mechanic that actually fixed my car yesterday and two of my buddies that work on cars. They all said I didn’t need half the stuff they tried to sell me at Asmar’s. I ended up only getting the hoses I needed (just the upper and lower radiator hoses), the water pump, thermostat and coolant, and the wire kit and new spark plugs at the retail store, plus an air filter, all parts for less than $ 300. I hired a certified mobile mechanic off Craigslist and he charged me $ 250 labor for all the work and he took less than 5 hours in my driveway. Mind you, I’m taking a risk, but the company is reputable and offered me a warranty on the repairs and I have a one year mfg warranty on the parts, and the mechanic was certified and very knowledgeable. So instead of $ 2700, I paid $ 550 for the immediate work I needed done. It will probably cost me another $ 100-​$ 200 for the other minor stuff I need. Please do your homework people! Don’t be uneducated consumers!

took my Car in to have the Engine cleaned, and WOW!
it was like night and day, what a job I was expecting the top of the engine but they did Top, bottom sides and completely underneath the car. they also noticed I had a header leak and recommended a shop in spring valley who could provide the repairs. other shops would have tried to take the business but they highly recommended them and with the service and recomendation this place will be see more of me escially before car shows.!!

The best service, honest and professional! Location was easy to find, very well run. I would recommended highly.

I just wanted to take a few minutes to share my amazing experience at Asmar’s last week. My son and I scheduled an appointment to have an Acura RSX looked over it because we were considering purchasing it. We live in San Marcos, so it was a fairly long drive. We also had no idea who to take the car to for an inspection since we are unfamiliar with the area. Fortunately, I found Asmar’s on the internet, read the reviews, and called for an appointment.
When we arrived for our appointment, Jeff Stafford greeted us promptly. He warned us that it would take awhile because you do a thorough inspection (THANK YOU FOR PROVIDING WIFI!). We were not disappointed in the detailed information that Jeff provided us after the inspection. What really impressed me about Jeff was his attitude, which in my opinion, is critical if you want to have a successful business. I probably asked him to explain things ten times, and each time he patiently described it again in a new way to help me to understand! He was so nice and personable. You really lucked out in finding such an employee.
Anyhow, we didn’t end up purchasing the car, but the money we spent was well worth it. On the way home, even my son commented on how cool and nice Jeff was (he’s seventeen, so this was pretty unusual)! Although I don’t live in the area, I would highly recommend your shop to anyone I know in San Diego!
Thank you SO much for an awesome experience! Thank you, Jeff! You’re awesome!

I had major car troubles while taking a road trip. Everybody that worked here has given me top notch quality service and made me feel like they cared deeply about me and my car. They called several times to fill me in on my car and each person has come to check on me in the lobby as well. They also said they will have some people test drive it to make sure I get home safe. Really great people work here. I recommend it :) :) :)

Great service, very explanatory as to what the problem was.
The staff was very easy to deal with and mad it an echo table experience
Te prices were a bit high but it was a AAA certified mechanic so they seemed very trustworthy
Will go back for future maintenance

In a rush situation they did a major water pump/​timing belt repair on my Subaru Forester. In less than 24 hours, and $ 40 under estimated price I was loaded up and headed off on vacation. Fully certified staff, AAA affiliated, and very fair on their pricing. I also liked that even though I was in a rush, they tested out everything before delivery, and inspected for possible future problems. Things to keep an eye on. I’m a very happy camper.

Great customer service by staff. Explained all recommendations while showing you physically on the car. Right in the office was a frame that read TRUST. You get that good feeling when dealing with these guys. They are also AAA.

Excellent service! AAA and military discount. I had service done to my F150. They communicated every step of the way. Would definitely return in the future.

Awesome service and got me in asap because I only had a few hours before I had to leave San Diego for a long road trip. They checked out everything and let me know what work needed to be done. They worked with my budget and didn’t pressure me into anything that didn’t need to be done right away. Very friendly and honest! I can say that I WILL be bringing my car back here for anything and everything I ever need!

customer service sucks big time! the manager sucks as well i’m never going back there again!!!

Ryan’s great honest man! My sister needed a new part for her car and Ryan noticed that the car was newer and should be still covered with Nissan Dealership warrenty. Instead of taking advantage of two young women and charging to replace the part and installed he called the dealership and made sure that it was cover. So if we hadn’t gone to him we would have paid 1,000 dollars but instead we paid 0. Go to Asmar Auto Care if you want to be sure to do business with honest people working on your car. Especially if you don’t know much about cars because these guys wont take advantage of you.

This is one of those stereotypical mechanic shops. Lynette and Ryan were who I dealt with. My car overheated and I wanted to check the head gasket. I called ahead to be sure they could take a look that day and let us know either way if the head gasket was blown. Lynette promised to call by the end of the day and told me it would be a flat $ 98 to test the head gasket.
I didn’t hear from them that night, as promised, so I called the next day. Lynette told me we need to pay MORE to get the heater hose replaced and fix the fan sensor wire and do a cooling system flush before we could test the head gasket.
I checked with another local mechanic that was referred to me by a friend and he said NO REPAIRS should be necessary to test a head gasket. He said to bring it in and he would test it for free ~ no repairs necessary.
After I called Asmar’s back to make arrangements to pick up the car, they became very hateful and unaccommodating about picking up the car. Ryan was extremely aggressive and disagreeable about giving me the keys back. He left numerous frantic and irrational (not to mention, unprofessional) voicemails on my phone.
Eventually, I was able to pick up the car and towed it to the other mechanic. Sure enough, the head gasket was blown. Asmar’s was just trying to milk it for the extra cash. So disappointing that there are people operating businesses like this.
BEWARE!!!

We brought our recently purchased used car here for a full service oil change and inspection. Ryan and his team found a bunch of stuff the other mechanic we took it to (a place called Integrity on Miamar, don’t go there) missed during the pre-​purchase inspection. In hind sight we should have taken it to Asmar’s to begin with but we are paying the price now.
Asmar’s is the place to go is you want honest mechanics who won’t screw you.

Ryan, Lynette, David & the whole crew at Asmar’s — this is a shop that I know I can trust to send my family and friends to. Without them, I probably wouldn’t be able to keep my truck. As I resident of Bonita, now that I have found this great San Diego mechanic close by in Spring Valley — I wouldn’t take my truck anywhere else!
After 2 other shops totally failing me and my truck, and about to give up after spending thousands of dollars, I decided to give it one last shot with Asmar’s.
No doubt, this was a tough job — but Asmar’s stuck with it, and they delivered my truck back to me with zero leaks and every last issue fixed. Not only does this shop have integrity (which is hard to come by — a lesson I learned the hard way), but they have the skills.
My experience of the great people at Asmar’s:
Lynette (front desk) is a champion of the customer, has awesome listening skills, documents your concerns, is prompt, and friendly. .. you can’t get this anywhere else.
Dave (lead technician) really really really knows his stuff. Here’s the list of fixes on my classic pickup truck:
1) Fixed — Stubborn Oil Leak (rear main seal and oil pan).
2) Fixed — Heat Soak Issue
3) Fixed — Carburetor and Tuneup (throttle linkage, new choke, tuning).
4) Fixed — Turn Signal Switch
5) Fixed — Fuel Sending Unit
6) Fixed — More engine stuff — too much to list.
This truck runs sooo gooood now!
Ryan (owner, operator, technician) CARES. Ryan will do everything possible to take care of the customer — this I know. He only charges what is fair and stands behind his work product. You can not find stand-​up guys like this. He’s done a great job at this shop to create a culture of integrity and taking care of the customer.
And there’s more people down there that help get you where you need to go.
(As a side Asmar’s has the ability to legally steam clean your vehicle’s engine compartment. Only a couple other San Diego mechanics have the ability of providing this service — without harming our environment.)
Bottom line: This local, independent, family owned and operated garage is the real deal. Give them a shot — you won’t regret it.

I would recommend this place to anyone. Military discount and very customer friendly.

Excellent service, very thorough, even on regular maintenance and inspection. Great educators, always willing to explain their work and inform me on my options. They do their best to build trust.

As a Honda loyalist for 10 years, I’ve previously taken all my rides to the dealership for almost everything. From experience, I’ve felt more confident in the quality of service than going to Pep Boys, etc., even if I was paying premium price for parts and labor. All of this changed when my driver’s side window conveniently broke after I got off work the other night. I immediately called around for quotes tomorrow morning; the first shop I called was the local Honda dealership. I got the receptionist and left a message for the tech to call me back. The second call was to Asmar’s; Linnette answered the phone and gave a reasonable quote on the spot. I didn’t hear back from the Honda dealership until four hours later, and only then did I get a broad guess-​timate of the labor and parts quote.
I brought my car to Asmar’s this morning, and they promptly got to work. Linnette got some fresh coffee brewing for me, and they were done in 2 hours. The total cost for the repair was about $ 200 less than what the dealership quoted, and they also did a thorough inspection of the car for any other issues. Ryan does a great job of explaining anything that his crew found, and it’s an honest inspection. In other words, you don’t have to worry about getting upsold for work that you don’t need. That kind of honesty goes a long way with me, especially in doing business.
For the TL;DR crowd: above-​dealership quality work and service for half the price. Made me a believer and a new loyal customer. :)