Santa Monica Auto Service

I came here after a HORRIBLE experience at Honda of Santa Monica. I love, love this place and have come here twice now for my car. First the service is really personal. The owner cares about his community and is involved with the people around him and that includes his customers. He is always polished, nicely dressed and friendly. The mechanics are great and show me things on my car as they work because I don't know a ton about cars. But they are teaching me about my car. The prices are reasonable and cheaper than the dealership. They don't have a huge area to wait which is a downside but Virginia Park is right across the street so on a nice day (pretty much every day in LA, right?), you can go over there and read a magazine or eat lunch and relax outside.Go here, you won't be disappointed! Avoid the dealerships.

I called to make an appointment, but was told that their policy is "First Come, First Serve." The representative told me that one of the two garage spaces was open and now was the time to go. I left my office at the Santa Monica City Hall at 1:48pm. The drive to the shop at the southwest corner of Pico and Cloverfield took about 7 minutes one-way. I'm typing this in my office at 2:28pm. (Whoa, I just realized that this sounds a lot like an intro to those f'ed up LSAT problems with the question, "Who was sitting next to Bob?") Don't worry-- I can't do math either, so suffice it to say that they were fast and efficient. The moment I got there, an Asian tech told me to leave the keys in the ignition and go in the office to do paperwork. Once inside, a Latino tech accepted my $10 off coupon and quickly filled out a form. (The reason why I'm specifying ethnicity is because there are only three licensed techs at the shop. The third tech wasn't there at the time.) Then I sat down... for less than 20 minutes. Before the Asian tech told me that I passed, he'd already forwarded my smog check paperwork to the DMV. All I had to do was renew my registration online. The total, after the $10 discount, was $55 (testing fee plus certification docs fee). These guys had it so under control that I can barely remember anything about the office. They had me in-and-out fast! I hardly had time to finish reading an ESPN article on my BBerry. The place was clean; I remember that. Oh, and there was a Sparklett's tank in the corner and plenty of seats. I always go to auto shops with my guard up. I must have "Fuck Me" written on my forehead until I reveal my contact info. However, these guys gave me absolutely no b.s. and did their jobs quickly and efficiently. I highly recommend this place.

Like the other reviewers I had a terrific experience at this shop. I have a 2003 Honda Element and, as soon as the warranty ran out, discovered that the cost of servicing my car at the dealership was prohibitive. Kareem the owner of Santa Monica Motors was extremely straight forward and honest, giving me a series of options for my repair and then getting the car back the same day.

It's just a smog check place - they do 1 thing and do it well. Very friendly front desk person. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes on a Sat afternoon! Use your Yelp coupon to save $10.

The only problem I have to this honest repair shop is that the location is the opposite direction from my place to work... Otherwise, I can't complain.I took my car once to a shop near my work and it was a disaster : I also tried other shop in between my place to my work, they told me that they need to fix the possible problems one by one, because This is very difficult part to find the problem. I thought about Well, if they can't pin point the problem before they start to fix, what's the professionals for? And of course, Santa Monica Motors told me what exactly was wrong before they start to repair, as the good shops do, and fixed my car in a day.It's not so convenient when I'll be working I won't be able to pick up my car during my lunch time nor after my work, but if I'm not working I work as a freelance, I can get a ride from the shop to my place and vice versa, so it's a good compromise for me not to look for another shop.They mentioned that a new rent-a-car place is open next to the shop, so it's a bit of more convenient than before as well.

Going to get your car serviced sucks and as a woman I'm always wondering if I'm going to get swindled. Not the case at Santa Monica motors Kareem the owner (?) is extremely friendly and tells you how it is. His goal, in my opinion, is to develop a lasting relationship and customers life and not take you for a ride. Also I've been to other places to get my car serviced and this has got to be one of the cleanest establishments I've come across. Maybe not a huge deal but it counts to feel comfortable somewhere and not smell like oil when you leave.

I called 4 places checking on prices and fees and checked the yelp reviews. I found a place $20 cheaper but all the fees were extra and I decided, based on the yelp reviews, to choose this station. One of my best ever choices. These people are amazing. First, my hood latch was broken and it looked like I'd have to leave without the test when the person servicing my car announced that as they weren't busy, would I mind if he tried (carefully) to open the hood manually? What? Someone actually stepping up to do something outside of their routine. 5 stars to this place. AND, I passed the smog AND, they honored the coupon I read about but couldn't find. And Bob really nice :) But so is the OTHER GUY. Take your care HERE.

Went in today and met the famous Bob you all are talking about and he could not have been nicer. This place is clean, well organized, quick service and made smogging a car as painless as possible. I would definitely recommend and return to this business.

Brought my car in on a Saturday just after noon. I was in and out in less than 20 minutes, and the guy at the counter was extremely nice. When I paid, I told him that I had seen the coupon online but didn't have a home printer to print it out. He told me that was no problem and took the $10 off anyway! I've tried to do similar things elsewhere, and their attitude was always, well, sucks for you. This dude was awesome. They're also conveniently located about 3 minutes from the AAA office in Santa Monica (where I needed to get my CA registration taken care of).

I'm pretty surprised at the number of low-star reviews from people who were angry that they were charged for failing the test, "even though the tech knew" the car would fail. You're already online. Go over to the California Smog Check FAQ website (address is ON the paperwork mailed to you telling you to get your car smogged in the first place!) and read for yourself all the reasons you will fail. This includes a check engine light, plumes of black or white smoke flowing out of your tailpipe and nutty after-market equipment installed without the proper EO documentation. The techs are *required by the state* to run the entire test in a particular order - this means the "check engine" light is checked LAST. YOU WILL FAIL if the check engine light is on. Don't blame the tech because you brought in a car doomed to fail and then had to pay for your ignorance. In any event, I took my car to this location on a Friday at 5 PM. I was out the door again at 5:20. I looked online and found a $15 off coupon. This is handy, because the cost for my 1994 car would've been $75. This isn't the cheapest place for Test Only smog checks, but I have been to the $40 places and ended up spending more with their additional charges for transmitting the certificate and what have you. Bob explained the (passing) results to me and suggested that I have the car looked at by my mechanic. Even though the car passed, he thought I could be getting better gas mileage if the mechanic saw the results and made some changes. Since the Test Only center can't diagnose your specific problem, I was glad for the information.