Economy Muffler & Brake

Rom is a crook. I bought a car off of him in January- his moms car- that had high mileage but he said he had replaced the engine an the new engine only 60k on it. Generally I could be wary about purchasing a used car in the way but he was a ""friend of my boyfriends"" so I figured he was trustworthy. I stressed to him that I needed something really reliable for maybe a year or so since as a single female living far away from home or friends and without triple a, breaking down somewhere is a very scary process an could leave me stranded. He assured me the car was good for another ""100k miles!"" The check engine light went on while we were test driving it and claimed that he would check all the fluids and make sure everything was running smoothly before I took it to San Diego. When picking it up for purchase i asked him if the car was mechanically sound since thats all i cared about and I did not have the money for extensive repairs (hence why buying an I expensive car from a ""friend"") and once again he assured me the car was in great condition. About a month later the engine lighy came on and it started stalling out at lights or stop signs. I took it to a mechanic who said something was wrong with the fuel system, the struts needed to be replaced, all of the engine fluids were polluted and needed to be flushed. Essentially what they told me was that he sold me a lemon and as a car person who knew this car well should have been able to anticipate problems like this down the line yet he failed to mention anything other than the obvious faded paint to me. And now on top of it, 6 months later, the car won't even start. After trying to resolve the issue with Rom where he took no responsibility for misleading me he promptly hung up on me. Super professional. Anyways- long story short- this guy is a hustler and will try to take advantage of anyone. DO NOT give him your business. more

I had a horrible experience at this shop. I left my car one morning for a simple resonator replacement. I picked it up at the shop's closing time and noticed that there's something weird with it. The car radio anti theft system was locked, but I ignored it. \r \r Later I figured out that my seat adjustment doesn't work. I looked underneath the seat to find a piece (a bar) that connects the power motor with the seat broken! This bar sits right under the seat, and apparently without noticing that the seat is a power seat, someone at the shop tried to adjust the seat by forcefully pulling the bar, which broke it.\r \r I went back to the shop to complain, but the guy who works there denied everything and even accused me for breaking my own car! In addition, there was another guy who doesn't even work there (just this worker's friend) who was very hostile to me. They said that even if it was broken while the car was in the shop, it wasn't them, and that they take no responsibility for the cars taken for a repair. The guy who works there even said ""Look, all these cars parked around the store, they are all unlocked, I don't guarantee anything, but bad things don't happen"". Well, guess what, bad things happen, and I strongly advise you not to leave your car to a shop that couldn't care less if you get your car back in one piece or not. more

Even though the high amount of rust / corrosion on the bottom of my van (it spent its first 15 years in Ohio) turned fixing the exhaust into a two day job, the guys at Economy Muffler stuck with the original quote. They were really friendly and courteous throughout. I wouldn more

Avoid this place at all costs!!!!!!!! I needed body work done on my car and one of the workers there reffered me to a gentleman that works in coordination with their business on their property. Had to bring the car back four times because the paint job was aweful. They refused to refund my money and now I'm left to take my business elsewhere and spend even more money to get the car looking the way it was promised. Buyer beware. Cons: Unsatisfactory work more

I went in to get new brake pads and have my rotors refinished asking them if they could get it done properly by that evening because I had to drive to LA to take the GRE exam. I waited for 5 hours in the shop only to be told that they had the wrong brake pads. During the brake refinishing, I also went out to take a look and noticed they stopped in the middle of the process to change the bushing that held the rotor in place. They were carving the rotor with the wrong bushing! So I drove to LA with my old brakes and when I came back I returned to the shop to have the new brake pads put it. Again I had to wait because the reordered pads did not fit my car. That following weekend, while I was driving home I noticed that when I pressed the brake pedal, my whole car started shaking. In addition, as soon as I released the accelerator pedal, the speed of my car would drop 15mhp immediately in a matter of 2-3 seconds. When I complained to the shop and took the mechanic out for a test drive, they said there was nothing wrong with the car without even looking at the brakes! I got fed up and went to Acura to get my brakes checked. They took apart my brake assembly and showed me that my brakes were warped and my pads were glazed and cracked. When I went back to Economy Muffler and Brake with the pads that were cracked and glazed, a document written up by the mechanic at Acura stating the problems, as well as a dealership stamp, the mechanic disregarded the proof and got upset saying he has a problem with Acura. When I asked for the owner's number he would not give me his number. DO NOT GET YOUR CAR REPAIRED HERE UNLESS YOU WANT TO WASTE YOUR MONEY AND RUIN YOUR VEHICLE. Pros: It is located near a couple restaurants. Cons: horrible service, worst quality, need a calander, aweful repair, expertise is zero more

Nice mechanics who care, and will go the extra mile to help you out. They base their work off your trust, not your wallet. Which in the end makes me happy to take my car over there for service and am completely confident in referring my friends to Economy Muffler and Brake. Pros: Service+, FAST+, professional+ Cons: didn't find any. more

These guys are fabulous. I took my car to them after taking it to the dealer for an oil change. The dealer called me back and quoted almost as much as the car was worth to fix a bunch of super urgent problems. I took it to Economy muffler and instantly trusted them. They dropped me off and picked me up since I didn't have any other transportation, and when he dropped me off the guy said ""Don't worry, we'll take care of your car."" And I knew he would. The kept the car all day and did a very thorough search of all the things the dealer recommended. Not only were the problems not urgent...some were non-existent. They recommended waiting on maintenance that will need to be done later and said they thought it was best to do nothing for now. They didn't charge me a dime for all of the diagnostic work (Toyota charges $120 for a diagnostic). Months later, the car is still running fine and I will definitely take it back to them when it does need the work. (Just to show how reliable and professional they were, my dad is a fabulous auto mechanic, but lives out of state, and I talked to him about everything they said to me before I made any decisions. He said he agreed with all of their recommendations and respected their advice and service policies.) I'll never take it back to the dealership. Ever. Oh, and they don't just do mufflers - tune-ups, oil change, tire rotation, breaks. They do it all. I've found my mechanic in Santa Barbara. :) more