Tune up service near Studio City, CA

Established in 1992. This business is a family owned and operated auto repair shop. In 1991 Alfonso Gonzalez left his regular day job as an auto mechanic to work on cars at home. Just having a couple of customers a day helped him pay the bills and his recently purchased home. In 1992 his amount of customers grew and was able to open his official licensed auto repair facility in the city of Hawthorne CA, for the next 5 years the businesses boomed from one bay to a 3 bay, 1500 square foot facility, not having enough room he was forced to move to a 2500 square shop in Inglewood, CA. Ten years later he moved to 1129 S. La Brea. Inglewood CA. with 10,000 square foot lot and 4 employees Universal Auto Service still offers great prices and an awesome customer service.

I am new to the area so I relied on Yelp and Google ratings to help me find Hank's Tire. It's an "old school" place - been in business since the 50's and it is second generation family owned - a gem of a find. They educated me, didn't pressure me and made me and my car much happier. Thank you guys!

You should know a few things about Pep Boys right off the bat. First, they charge about the same as many dealer mechanics. So, you should basically just take the car to the dealer or an upmarket independent who has more reason to care about your car. In addition, you will wait an awful lot for service with such a markup. Again, if one pays a premium, one expects a certain amount of service. The last thing you should know is that they seem to lack an enforced policy with regard to their work. If you walk in, you are just dealing with Mike, and if Mike does not feel like giving you a refund, that is that. My story is that I took my Buick in to have it checked out since I was going to drive it across country. They charged me $485 for a belt and two radiator hoses. This is somewhat of a premium price and I will discuss that is just a minute. I got my car and drove it for a few days (it was repaired on 6/5/2014). The radiator then blew out in Jackson Hole Wyoming (on 6/13/2014). This is pretty far from where I live and it really created a lot of problems for me. The fluid it leaked was green. It turns out that they put regular pro-line coolant and not Dex-Cool as the manufacturer recommends. This is documented in the receipt and I saw it with my own eyes. Did this cause my blow out? It’s hard to say, but if a surgeon leaves a surgical sponge in the patient and they get sepsis, it’s likely they will blame the surgeon. When I brought my receipts and material to Mike Zdralek the service manager, his opinion was that I needed to prove it was their fault. The funny thing was I was extremely polite and was trying not to point any fingers. Even a simple apology would have been nice. Now I’m out $485 for the repairs which had absolutely no effect in preventing what they were intended to do. I brought the car in to prevent a radiator blow out, and they did the job wrong and it blew out … in the middle of nowhere. The extra repair cost me $471 (plus $200 to have the part driven in from Idaho Falls). So I’m out over a thousand dollars now with nothing to show for it. The interesting thing to note is that a whole new radiator at a standard mechanic costs the same as two hoses and a belt from Pep Boys. This gives you an idea of the markup they charge on work. In the future, I will not bring any business to Pep Boys. I hope that the %20 margin they made was worth it. That’s the last they will see of me and the last dollar I will spend with their store.

Best PRICE and SERVICE I'vd had in a long time you earned my the right to fix my car for ever!!!!

This place was great! They fixed my flat tire for free and got me in and out in less than an hour. Vasken helped me and was super nice! The waiting room was also very clean and comfortable. I'll for sure go here when I buy new tires and service like oil change and brakes. Maggie S. Glendale, CA

Fair prices, great work, and incredibly clean. Also, Aldo (the owner) is great at communicating with you. It's great to have a mechanic that you trust to shoot straight with you. They go above and beyond, can't recommend them enough.

ok, well, i just suddenly appeared at the shop, because my car had trouble starting. being a dummy, i thought it was my battery, but, when i explained the attempts and the clicking, he knew the exact problem. i can always trust the guys at the shop. i have an old car, and they have been doing the upkeep for years now. it is a toyota truck, so it is priceless to me, and they always fix it with a smile! heros!

For the last 3 times I have taken the car in for something big, it has always needed something more the next day. The limited hours (no nights or weekends) make finding a time for service difficult. Gary et.al. are accommodating about giving me a ride if the job requires several hours which I appreciate, but it is hard to get the shop to make repairs if I can't get the car in early on a weekday morn. appreciate car being washed after being worked on.