Playa Vista Automotive in
East Los Angeles (CA)

Playa Vista Automotive at Shell is trustworthy and offers fair prices. The staff is always professional, and I appreciate how convenient the location is from where I live. Today, I had the chance to meet the owner—he also provided excellent customer service. I highly recommend this automotive repair shop in Playa Vista! Especially being a woman and not knowing anything about cars, some places take advantage.

Great service, good prices & honest work. Cody & his team are the best, would recommend to all my family & friends.

Many thanks to Maurice, Cody and Ryan! I have trusted this repair shop with my car for over 8 years. They take the time to thoroughly inspect my vehicle to confirm if any repairs are needed. They are very knowledgeable and honest. As a woman, it’s refreshing to work with a shop that’s straightforward, respectful, and dependable every time! I have recommended this shop to my family and friends over the years. It’s located down the street from LMU, so I like to take walks through campus and sometimes work there remotely while waiting on my car.

Not only certified mechanics friendly problem solving staff--complete service trust and fair competitive pricing

Cody and team are personable, fast, straightforward, and know cars! Talked through 3 vehicles. 1st car, 1st experience exceptional. Look forward to the working on the next two.

I love this place. I have had two cars worked on here after fleeing the respective dealerships for a 2009 Volvo 230 (Volvo Culver City) and a 2015 All-Electric Smart Car (Mercedes Beverly Hills). Friendly, Fast and Very Reasonably Priced. I found out about Playa Vista Shell from a friend with a 25 year old Volvo who swore by them. I do, too.

Always exceptional service. Great communication and trustworthy. Reliable, personable, and fair.

I’ve been here for vehicle repairs several times. The customer service is outstanding. Employees are very pleasant, knowledgeable and friendly. I highly recommend them. Absolutely no comparison to a dealer… 5 stars!!!!!

Leaving this review for Ryan. My ’97 Wrangler died and I had to leave it overnight in a gas station lot with no money for a tow. The next day, another Jeep guy gave me Ryan’s number and said he might be able to help. Ryan showed up, spent maybe 5–10 minutes looking at it, and immediately figured out the issue — the negative battery terminal was shot. He told me exactly what I needed and how to fix it. Never asked for money or made me feel like I owed him anything; he genuinely helped out of kindness. He even walked me through the fix, and the Jeep started right up. Because of that, I’ll be bringing my Jeep to Playa Vista Shell Auto Repair for any future work. Honest people are rare, and Ryan is one of them. Thanks again, man.

Playa Vista Shell Automotive took care of my Tahoe without any hassle. Straight answers, fair pricing, and fast work. They kept me updated the whole way and the truck came back running smooth. Easy place to trust. I’ll be back for sure.

Great service, going to keep bringing my cars back for maintenance.

My car is running great now! Thanks to Cory for running a diagnostic check! I definitely learned a lot from buying off market sensors. I ended up buying the fuel pressure sensor directly from Ford. Thank you a million. I'll definitely be back in case the future calls for it!

I had a GREAT experience at Playa Vista Shell Auto Repair recently. I took my car in for an oil change and they discovered through their free 27 point inspection that I needed front brakes. The price was fair and the service was excellent! I especially enjoyed the customer service that I got from everybody there. I will definitely go back for my next service on my Honda Civic!

I don't take any pleasure in writing a negative review but the public needs to be warned about this business. We were selling a car and the buyer, a young lady, wanted us to take the car to this shop and have Cody do an inspection, which she paid for. In his inspection report he wrote that the car needed front lower control arms. $1000 estimate. I asked the buyer to find out what he saw that suggested this repair was needed. He sent a picture of one of the control arms that clearly showed a torn bushing, he said the other one was cracked. So, to make her happy, we ordered the parts and took the car to our mechanic, $500 total cost. We requested the old parts be given to us. As a mechanic myself, I was shocked to see there was no tear or cracks in either bushing. We did show the old parts to the buyer as well. Cody must have found a picture on-line and told her it was our car. In my 50 years in the car business, I've never seen a more compelling case for fraud than what I saw here. Gas stations don't make alot on selling gas so they make it up on repairs. Stay clear of this place.

They are very nice, efficient and helpful. They matched the cost of another oil change offer.

This auto shop is a keeper! They do everything! You don’t have to wait long and the prices are great! I’m definitely coming back!

Cody and the team are outstanding. I felt confident with their suggestions on my repairs. The pricing was fair and they were committed to really ensuring my safety. I highly recommend this repair shop.

These guys are great! Mauricio, Jerry and Cody are fair, helpful and informative. Every crazy car crisis is smoothed out by their kindness, professionalism and expertise! Thanks guys for helping out us regular folks and treating us like we matter! It's definitely not common these days!

Very prompt service at a competitive price on a complete 4 wheel rotors and pads job.

This shop is THE ONLY place I go to keep my BMW X3 in tip-top shape! I have absolutely no problems out of my vehicle and they keep her tuned up at a very fair cost!

I had an amazing experience at Playa Vista Shell Auto Repair! From the moment I arrived, the team was professional, honest, and incredibly knowledgeable. They diagnosed my car’s issue quickly, explained everything clearly, and provided a fair and transparent estimate.

I don't trust these guys. They may be good for an oil change or simple maintenance. I had some trouble of starting the engine on my Audi and let them check what happened to the car, I told them there was some burning smell. They told me it was just some error codes, but the car needed to replace brake and change oil and filter and charged me $900 for the work. I agreed. I drove the car for two weeks ( but really three days on weekends ), this car stopped in the middle of the traffic again. I tried to ignite the engine but I got 'drive system malfunction' code. The engine wouldn't start. I had to tow it back to the shop. The repairman told me my car functions well, nothing wrong with it, . as long as I turn off the 'auto start/off' button on the control panel it should work fine. But it may need a software update from a dealership. Today, one week later, I tried to start the car, the engine wouldn't turn on again. I tried pressing the start button for a few more seconds, still didn't work. When I left my car I saw smoke coming out of the hood, so I opened it and saw a small flame!!! I panicked and rushed to put out the fire with fire distinguisher. I don't believe my car 'just need a software update' as they told me.

Possibly my best experience at a mechanic ever. My check engine light went on, so I took it in. I had barely opened the door of my car before someone greeted me. They checked my check engine light, fixed the problem (gas cap was loose), and I was on my way perhaps three minutes after I arrived. They didn’t charge me a dime. I’ve never been treated that kindly at a mechanic.

Excellent service. Got my front suspension and steering hardware rebuilt. My car feels amazing! Gil had a look at the issue and answered my questions. Gave me some technical background which was appreciated, as I am an Engineer. They ordered the parts for me to arrive the following morning, with a deposit. The next morning they were waiting for me when I pulled up and the job was done very smoothly. I saved at least 40% compared to the prices at the dealership, and having already checked the costs of service with some websites per my zip code, I found them to be very fair and honest. Part of owning a car is spending money to keep it in great shape so it takes care of you. Good service, good price, good people. 5/5 Recommend.

This "auto repair" shop completely took advantage of me. If you want to waste your money without getting your car's initial problem solved, then this is the place for you. I came here for the first time ever needing to get my brake lights replaced. I came with the bulbs and was told I would be charged $30 for it to be installed. After telling the two old guys there that another auto repair shop told me $10 (the reason why I couldn't go there was because they were busy during my lunch break and I was running on time, this shop was near my job) they told me they would charge $20 instead because I was affiliated with the college nearby. Desperately, I accepted the deal. After one of the old guys changed the light bulbs, he told me the ones I bought weren't correct because it didn't work. Annoying but FAIR. He proceeded to give me back the light bulbs and told me I still needed to pay $20. Irritating but it is what is although NOTHING was fixed in the first place. He gives me my receipt and my card was charged $30. I ask why and he tells me it was an extra $10 for labor. NEVER NOT ONCE DID HE TELL ME IT WOULD BE $20 to put the light bulbs in AND $10 for labor. I would've appreciated them communicating this with me from the jump. The price was fabricated and I was taken advantage of and gaslighted because I'm a woman. My brake lights were not fixed and I was charged $30 for literally nothing. I get this business is money hungry but this was unacceptable and unfortunate. I will not be coming here again and will make sure to tell people I know to not come here either. TERRIBLE!

SUMMARY: I lost $690 plus more on car repairs. Problem was never fixed. Later on shop asked me to take this car to Lexus dealership for repairs as he was not authorized for such repairs. No refunds. I asked for only half of refund that was strongly denied as totally unfair demand. This never happened with me that I paid for service that was not delivered. Generally, repair shop always help customers and share financial aspect. If shop was truthful and contacted me that the problem was different than originally thought then I could have saved on $400 plus on new parts. I would have gladly paid their full labor. Shop owner did not honor his words or warranty promises made to me to get my car to his shop for repairs. This shop could be just an oil change shop that takes on repairs they can NOT do but they won't refund customer's money and may end up doing damage to the car for lack of experience or focus (handling several different businesses at same location) . This shop did not provide any written documentation for diagnosis or warranty or repair details that other shops provide. DETAILS: One cylinder on my car started misfiring on start and at stops. I was recommended to replace all 3 ignition coils and spark plugs on back side due to high labor cost of $270. Shop charged me more for parts and less for labor. Shop charged me $90 for 3 spark plugs..... Lexus dealership sells 3 spark plugs exact same part number for $45 and Auto zone for $36. (Note: Car had 194,000 miles on it and five body panels needed paint and minor dent repairs from a recent incident with $5000 plus estimates for repairs. ) So, I was not ready to spend more than $500 on new mechanical repairs. It was better for me to sell this car to salvage yard for parts. I finally sold it to salvage yard after wasting $690 with this shop. Shop owner sucked me into his sales pitch with promise of 12000 miles/12 months warranty. He told me that he has fixed 100s of cars with this problem. I thought okay if car would be surely fixed then I can sell it to private party and recover my money. Shop never honored their words and warranty assurance given to me that led me to believe that car would be surely fixed. This is where the whole problem lies with this shop on this incident. The shop was focused to get my car for repairs but did not pay any attention what if they could not fix it or problem turned out to be different. The shop knew they would never refund my money so they were good to go ahead with repairs at my risk and my money. They also collected my money by lying that car was fixed. Later when I called to tell the problem re-appeared...misfires is reported only after certain counts. So, if shop clears everything from computer memory by removing battery for more than 30 minutes. Misfire will comeback as reported in a few days or after 5 or more miles. Owner asked me to bring back car. He claimed that he spent 6 hours of labor in trying to fix this car. Shop told me the problem seemed to be PCM (no diagnosis of PCM, just assumed everything else is good) and advised me go to Lexus dealership which would cost me $2000 plus. I later learnt from web research it could be easily several other simple things including bad and faulty repairs. Shop charged me another $105 for this trip but refunded later on after much discussions and arguments. I never approved this charge. Afterwards, I called other shops in same area to check out. They were truthful, no shop assured that problem would be fixed for sure after replacing spark plugs and ignition coils. They advised me the problem can also be different and can be very costly for repairs running into thousands of dollars. This is where I hold this shop owner responsible for misleading me, consciously or not, and they must bear at least half of cost. Hopefully, owner learns and changes his attitude to start listening to customer, inform and involve customer in decision making if he is going to collect money from customer for his bad choices, mistakes and false assurances of warranty.

Kelly is a very honest owner with huge patience and knowledge. My daughter goes to LMU and she told me how helpful he and staff were which I was a little sceptical until I met him. He put our car on the hoist and gave us a referral to another shop as he does not weld. This was very helpful and considerate and the referral work was great. He also did a quick code check to ensure a potential check engine light was not serious. I will return for assistance on an dditional mechanical issue he is familiar with fixing which even the dealer did not fix correctly.