D S Auto Experts

I never ever write reviews but I felt compelled after the extremely professional manner in which Moses at DS Auto treated me recently.
My son recently returned to visalia and his Mitsubishi eclipse spyder broke down the day after he returned. He had it towed to a different auto shop who recommended all kinds of repairs Which were totally unnecessary. My son called me and I called AAA who recommended DS auto.
I spoke with Moses over the phone and he assured me he would look after everything including towing my car to his shop. Once there he immediately assessed the problem was a simple one (the key had broken thereby immobilizing the engine). He gave the car a total checkup and fixed some minor issues like headlight dimming etc, ordered a new key and my son was back driving the next day. He did all his, confirming everything with me over the phone.
I’m normally extremely wary of mechanics especially when I am 200 milked away, but I wholeheartedly recommend Moses and his staff at DS Auto.
Thank you

D S Automotive was actually my second choice for a smog check. My first choice, which was closer to home, was closed. I arrived at D S without an appointment. Still, the folks here got me in and out quickly. They were also very friendly and gave my coupons for future visits. I highly recommend D S Automotive.

Greatest service I’ve ever had in the past 25 years that I’ve been taking my cars in for any type of automotive work. Without a doubt I will be back. I’m from selma but would have no problem making the drive for the service I got! They were fast as well, and went out of their way to ensure i was happy! ! Thank you guys, Great job!

D & S saved my summer and ended my car nightmares!
It’s a long detailed story, the last 2 paragraphs are the most important.
In December 2014, my alternator failed in my 2002 Subaru Outback. I had it towed and repaired in northern California (and bought a new battery), only to have more issues in March 2015, corrosion on my battery cables which was another tow and repair to the same shop.
On May 31, 2015, I was 400 miles into a 500 miles moving trip. My alternator failed again and I was towed to a nearby shop that the tow truck driver just took me to, and my family picked me up since it was a Sunday night. Since my original repair was covered by a Napa Autocare warranty, the 2^nd new alternator was covered, and I drove the remaining 100 miles to get home 2 days later.
By July 11^th, the 2^nd new alternator was dead too! After doing some research, I decided to get the new repair at D&S, and this is where my story gets positive!
After explaining the issues detail to their helpful staff (I spoke to Moises), I felt good about them looking into the issue. The following day, I received a call that the wrong alternator was installed in my car! And it likely happened twice… They replaced it with the correct alternator, replaced a battery terminal, and inspected all of the systems affected by the original error. Since this was a 2^nd warranty repair within the coverage period, Napa covered this repair for me. Finally my 7 month nightmare is over!
I’ve been driving for 2 weeks now without an issue or a single dash warning light coming on. I am very satisfied with how thorough they were with the repair, as well as their prompt service. My car was filthy when I dropped it off, and had been washed and vacuumed when I picked it up. I am very happy with their work and I will return here for repairs and maintenance in the future, and I would recommend them to my friends! :)

Went in for a smog check. They said my car failed the smog test and I needed $ 500+ in repairs. Since I recently had the engine rebuilt I suspected something was up. I drove my car to smog only station. I didn’t tell them I just had the car tested. The smog only station said my car passed, however, they can’t issue a certificate because D & S Auto reported my car has a Gross Polluter. They told me I would have to take my car to a STAR station. I made the appointed with the STAR station and it passed again. I shared this experience with a few friends. Several of them had bad experiences with D & S Auto. One is a single mother with a disabled child. They pulled the same thing on her when she took her wheelchair accessible van for a smog check.

I went in to get my oil changed. I came in with a coupon that was good for a free conventional oil change. I can’t remember exactly who was helping me out, but I’m pretty sure it was Moses. He was very polite throughout the whole service.
First I called a few hours before my appointment and he was able to reschedule it an hour later for me, even tho I was calling last minute. When I got there, he got started right away on getting my information down and the car in back to get it changed.
He came out half way through and showed me some recommendations for my car, but was very very clear that he wasn’t trying to get me to buy anything and that he just wanted to bring them to my attention (things like needing new tires badly, which I did know, and an air filter needing to be changed). He even got the mechanic to take the filter out for me to see it and compare it to a new clean one. Even after I finally agreed to an air filter he mentioned again that he didn’t want to talk me into something I didn’t want. So I said if it wasn’t necessary then don’t do it and he said fine.
It turned out that my car took a type of synthetic oil, but even though my coupon was for conventional oil he still didn’t charge me, which I thought was super awesome! (Pep Boys was trying to get $ 75 out of me!) So I was really pleased by that and that sort of convinced me to consider coming back to them to get new tires (this was probably their plan ;) but hey, good service is good service).
The reason this auto shop really deserves the 5 stars to me is that even though I got this service done on my car TOTALLY FREE OF CHARGE due to my coupon, they STILL had great customer service and didn’t treat me like someone who was just there to use them.

Summary: D S Auto Experts performed an unnecessary diagnostic costing $ 110 and wanted to charge me double what competitors quoted. Told me lies about amount of labor involved in repair.
Full Story:
Had my car towed to D S for what I strongly suspected to be a dead alternator. Told this to the service member, Moses, I spoke to over the phone and wrote it in the notes that I left with the keys in the lockbox since D S was closed for the weekend.
Monday rolls around and I get a call from Moses explaining that a diagnosis costing about $ 110 dollars is needed in order to figure out what is wrong with my car. I once again tell Moses that I suspect the alternator and ask him if they could first check that in order to avoid an unnecessary diagnosis. Moses explained to me that they had already checked the alternator and that they had ruled it out as the issue. I even asked him if they had put power to the car, which is a simple and basically cost free way to check the alternator (starting the car and then seeing if it stalls due to no power being generated), and he said yes.
Since Moses said that the alternator had been ruled out and needed to know what was wrong with my vehicle before deciding to get it fixed or scrap it (old car that I don’t want to sink more money into), I gave Moses the green light to run the diagnosis.
A couple of hours later I get a call back from Moses. He begins the conversation with asking me why I suspected the alternator. I re-​told him the symptoms that the car had and how it behaved before it quit on me, and how the engine would not even try to turn over since the battery was depleted. After I was done explaining to him why I suspected the alternator, he told me that I was in fact correct in my hypothesis and that they ran the diagnosis on my car and the electrical system was ok. He went on to tell me that once they had charged my battery back up, the car started right up and they were able to measure the alternator output and see that it was not functioning.
So, at this point I am already being billed $ 110 to be told something that I knew, or at least highly suspected, all along.
Though I was unhappy for the unnecessary diagnosis I asked Moses the cost for the repair needed. He initially priced the repair at $ 700 or so. Though price included the diagnostic, it was still more than I was willing to invest in the old car, and I thought that it was excessive considering what I knew of the repair.
Moses went on to do some «research» to see what could be done, but the best thing he could come up with was $ 560 and that was the lowest he could go since the repair was a laborious process that required considerable dismantling to reach the alternator. He went on to say that if I gave the go ahead on the repair, it would take some time to repair the car and it would likely not be done until the evening of the following day.
I let Moses know that I could not afford the repair and that I would be by as soon as possible to relieve them of my car. In reality I no longer trusted D S and wanted my car out of there.
Before picking my car up, I did some research on my car and called area mechanics. My research and conversations with mechanics confirmed that the alternator replacement for my car was a simple process that could be accomplished in about an hour. The area mechanics quoted me prices from $ 200 — $ 300 for the repair. One mechanic even offered to charge me only for labor ($ 60 p/​h) if I provided my own replacement alternator.
When I finally picked up the car, I met Moses in person. I found out that he is a manager at D S Auto Experts. I voiced to him my displeasure with their business and let him know that I was going to file a complaint with AAA and take other actions since I felt that he and D S were being dishonest and ripping me off.
Moses went on to explain why everything transpired as it did and how they do «business» and explained their procedures in situations like mine. In the end the owner, Santos, came out to talk to me as well. He did a better job that Moses in explaining how they do things, and asked what, if anything, he could do. I agreed to pay for half of what the diagnostic cost (since I did learn something from it) but let him know that I would still write this review if changing out the alternator proved an easy and quick task as opposed to what Moses was claiming it to be and wanting to charge me for.
A family friend ended up helping me replace the alternator. Entire process took about an hour to complete and would have cost me $ 210 if the friend had charged me labor.
So, Moses had in fact been misleading me and making up things in order to finagle more money out of me. I decided to keep my word, and that is why I wrote this review and gave D S Auto Experts one star. I would have given the business zero stars if it were an option.

I remember taking my car here a few years ago for a smog check and the staff was friendly, I took my dads car for a smog check today 12÷05÷14 and they quote me on a 45 minute wait and $ 45 and it’s empty all around «we have some one waiting» they only had one customer a head of me wth right, but the wait the guy said all rude and in a bad tone like if he own the only smog check in visalia.
Save your money and time, I went to Visalia Quick Smog and Repair. In ten minutes I was out and only $ 50. :)

Customer service was friendly, but condescending. Extremely overpriced, I paid 240 $ in INSPECTION FEES! After that they replaced AC and Power Steering belts, Premium Oil change, and an air filter, was more than $ 500 out the door! Quoted $ 700 to resurface my rotors and replace brake pads, had the work done for almost half of that, right down the street. Will not return. Would not recommend, unless money is of no option to you. Really wish I had checked these reviews out first.

I have been servicing my cars here for over 5 years and would not go anywhere else. The quality of their work is none like I’ve ever experienced before. I take both of my cars in at the recommended times for routine maintenance and have never ever had a problem with any of my cars. I’ve even brought one of my cars here to get looked at before purchasing to have it evaluated. The owner and all the staff at D&S have always, always been super helpful, friendly, and accommodating with my husband and I, which is why I give them 5 stars. Thank you D&S!

If you get stuck in Mineral King like I did, or Sequoia NP. and need car repair, I highly recommend D & S. Service Center in Visalia. They were the only shop that would even talk to me at 4:30 on a Fri. night, and they actually kept me on the phone talking to me re: every turn to their shop so I could find it. Since they obviously couldn’t fix my overheated car before they closed for the weekend, they stayed late to get me a rental car at their special rate. On Mon. morning they explained every step of the diagnostic process, fixed the multiple problems with efficiency, and I was out of there in time to get home to No. California that night. They know their business. They care about your car and you. Car and customer service is top-​notch! AAA recommended. PS It’s worth the tow to Visalia. Don’t fall for the tow truck driver’s «idea» to go to Woodlake, which is closer. I did that, wasted a whole day there, and still had to go to Visalia to really get it fixed right at D & S.

I had to use DNS auto experts last fall when transmission in my 2009 Ford escape burnt out. The owner, Santos Prado, gave me excellent service in trying to resolve my issue. I owned an extended warranty with third-​party and Mr. Prado worked with me and made many phone calls to Ford and my third-​party extended warranty holder and helped me get my car fixed. He made no money off of me but treated me as his highest paying customer. As a stranger to Visalia I really appreciated the professional manner in which Mr. Prado and his staff treated me. His shop was immaculate and all the employees showed pride in their work & utmost respect for their customers.

Do not take your car here! Unless its an old Ford or GM product. I am an engineer by profession and one of the most understanding clients when it comes to car trouble and problems. Usually I do most work on my car and have a very high degree of technical understanding about automotive issues.
I REALLY wanted D&S to be a good shop with high skill, because it seems like Visalia has limited options for good mechanics, they are supposed to be ASE certified and all that. Unfortunately I was wrong, my biggest problem with this shop is there TOTAL and COMPLETE lack of ATTENTION to DETAIL, things like overfilling your fluids, using cheap hoses and clamps, installing parts that are incomplete and then blame the customer that the part was missing these, when the techinical bulletins specify to re-​use parts. They had my car on two different occasions and had to leave it 2 – 3 days each time because they had made mistakes, of course they will not admit to them, they tell you the part was bad or that they were given the wrong part, or that the part took too long to arrive. They say they tested your car properly, and then 5 minutes after picking it up on the second attempt at repair it is leaking AGAIN!!! Plus by the way, you are paying for all the «Necessary Labor» hours at about $ 120/​hr which is darn near Dealership prices for all this, you are basically paying for their mistakes.
And to top it all off, they are trying to «SELL» you on dumb parts your car doesn’t even need like «New Wipers» «New Air Filter» or Fuel Injector cleaner, all without even really checking if you need them. Pretty pathetic I know, basically this shop is lucky I have not filed a claim against them with the State, they need to get their act together.
Oh and I almost forgot, they didn’t even know how to properly complete an alignment on a complex suspension, or how to rotate tires on a car with Staggered setup… wow?!

We have been clients of D&S for years. We have always believed them to be fair and ethical but they recently proved what we thought.
One of our older cars that they have been repairing developed some serious motor problems. They could have reported the needed repair and we would have never known any differently than to pay for the repair. But instead, they reported that they believed a product corroded the engine and damaged other parts as well. They replaced our engine and all the other parts with not one penny paid by us. Our car is like a new car now.
We absolutely know D&S deserves the trust we have in them.

What a rip off! James the manager is an all out lair. Nothing but an unethical sleazebag. Never go here! They WILL rip you off. I basically paid about 500 dollars to make a squeak go away according to James. Never mind how I spoke to the lair 4 different times about the major safety problems I was having. James claimed they were fixed, but yet the were not. They wants to tell me I never once brought up any concern besides a squeak. Yeah right… I paid 500 to get rid of a squek? Total scumbag.

This place is a ripoff. We needed a simple repair. We looked up prices online for the part and they quoted a price that was triple that. We tend to go to auto repair shops to avoid going to the dealership where it tends to be expensive. We were quoted $ 850 for a very simple repair and the dealership quoted with labor and taxes at $ 550! DO NOT… DO NOT… DO NOT… COME HERE!!! They come off as caring people but it is a fake persona because they are going to gouge your for as much as they can get out of you. They will even pull this line, «I’ll call you back in a couple hours to see if I can find a cheaper part.» Riiiiiiiiight.

Continued drama… Shop failed my car on smog test and diagnosed repairs… I’m glad I went for second opinion elsewhere. Car passed without the expensive parts and labor these guys recommended. I asked for my money back and was told to go to BAR, so I did. BAR recommended owner refund my money but he refused saying I would have to take him to court.

scam! This shop is a rip-​off. I brought my car for a smog check and they intentionally failed my car for visual inspection (pcv valve). That was not all and they turned around and quoted $ 90 for a pcv which was $ 2.99.
On their business windows, it says” honesty” it should’ve been «Dishonesty».
0 Stars.

This company offers the best customer service I have ever received. Anywhere. From any company. Ever.
My car broke down spectacularly in Sequoia National Park. (Side note: Why do these things always happen 350 miles away from home, in the middle of nowhere where you get NO cell phone reception??) It took 3 hours for a tow truck to arrive, and 2 hours to tow the car to Visalia, the nearest city. By the time I got into town it was close to 6, after closing time for auto repair places. I called four shops and got responses like «Oh, we’ll be closed by then», «there’s nothing we can do», and «good luck with that!»
I called D&S and spoke to Santos, the owner. He said that the shop would be closed, but he gave me his cell number and said to call when I got into town and he would meet me at the shop. Which he did; when I finally got there, he got my car all ready to be the first thing worked on the next morning. Then he called five different hotels for me, trying to find a nice one, near restaurants, with a good price. He drove me to my hotel, pointed out good places to eat, and picked me up the next morning to bring me back to the shop. Wow. Nicest guy ever.
My car was a train wreck. The mechanic called first thing in the morning to give me estimates of cost and repair time. The work was done quickly (ahead of schedule!), and the mechanics took the time to show me what was wrong, and also offered some theories on how it could have happened (one of which was faulty service by my service shop back in San Diego). Santos explained all the charges to me (which were less than he estimated), gave me a AAA discount without me asking, gave me the broken parts on my car, and coached me on what to say to my mechanics back home. Plus, they washed and vacuumed my car. Bonus!
My excellent experience at D&S almost erased the agony of breaking down in a national park after 3 days of camping. It certainly would’ve been a 28 397 times suckier experience if Santos hadn’t helped me out. If I ever have need of auto repair in Visalia again (*fingers crossed that this never happens*) I will definitely come back to this place.