California Auto Center in
Millbrae (CA)

I paid for a wheel alignment but they did the job incorrectly, causing “uneven tire wear” on one of my tires. When I returned to address the issue, they refused to take responsibility, claiming it wasn’t their fault—despite the alignment being their only job. A proper alignment should prevent uneven tire wear, not cause it. Now I’m left with a damaged tire and no accountability from the shop. Avoid this place if you care about your tires.

**Stay Away from HERE – AC Repair Scam!** I paid $285 for an AC recharge, and **two weeks later**, my AC failed again. They **lied**, claiming my alternator was leaking (it wasn’t), then tried charging me **$250 more** for a fake inspection. The Asian owner was **rude**, and the younger worker just smirked—clearly a scam. Below are pictures proving their lies. There is clearly no active leak. Don’t waste your money here!** They **overcharge and deliver nothing.** Spread the word—this shop is **dishonest and unprofessional.

This has been my goto shop for oil changes for about 4 years now. Excellent and timely service. Always do a good job of inspecting and reccomending general maintenance and then not pressuring you to get it done there or right now. I'll be back...

Good service and genuine people. They truly care and are passionate about what they do. Yes they may be more on the abrasive side, but they get the job done. I came here just for a tire alignment, but the guys here went above and beyond to help me further. The mechanic noted that I had a tire light on which was previously dismissed by another shop. He gave me a reasonable price and did the job swiftly. As much as I would love to gate keep this spot, they are great at what they do and others need to know. On a side note: I left my credit card accidentally in my car and nothing happened to it. 🤣

I've done oil change and maintenance with them for about 5 years so far. They delivere a fine and honest service with a competitive price.

Imagine how you feel when your transmission suddenly goes out on a car that you like and depend on. Sell it ? Fix it? It’s a dilemma. Let me call around and see how much for a replacement transmission would cost. But when I thought of the next challenge, I suddenly became apprehensive. I have to find a skilled, honest, reasonably priced place to do this. So I called around to a few places I knew. and fortunately this included California Auto Center. I had taken my car there several times previously for smaller service and wheel alignments and was always treated very well and satisfied with their degree of skill and customer service. When I communicated with Mr Po, the manager, he explained straight up what this would involve. He seemed confident and prepared to do it right. He called me back with a transmission that seemed the right one. The story is that Mr Po had selected the best transmission he could find and for a fair price, and with a skilled staff, gave me a transmission that was better than the original. In my mind , I thank him and his staff almost every day, as I drive my car and enjoy the perfect feeling of driving after this, among the most difficult of repairs, that often fails, but done professionally, skillfully, and for a fair price. I highly recommend Mr Po and the skilled staff at California. Auto Center. At all points in the transaction, I was treated with straight up honesty, informed about what this repair entailed, and how much it would cost. And there were no changes throughout the process. So, honest, skillful, diligent, with great customer service. Can’t ask for anything more from a car repair shop. Thanks Mr Po and California Auto Center

The owner is so rude & so meant. Yesterday I did change oil and after finished he said I had to fix this that this. I took some to fix but they did not give me the new one all. I asked the owner, he was mad at me. so sad.Please thinking again 100X before come there!!!And be careful they give you very high price. Check price first before say yes to fix with them. I have to pay almost 100 for cabin filter n light bulp and all were not new one. I decide not coming there anymore!!! Don't trust this auto if you are not loosing money lots and they are fake super duper lying !!!!

Thank you so much for taking my car in today and checking it out so thoroughly and verifying with myself and my brother about what we should have done on the car versus what is needed or what can wait. We really appreciate you working with me and how fast and courteous you guys were 10 out of 10.

I had a great experience getting my wheel alignment done here. The younger team at the storefront is clearly learning but remains very professional, courteous, and eager to help. The owner, who manages the rest of the business, is extremely knowledgeable and ensures everything runs smoothly. Plus, I got a pretty good deal on the service. It’s a perfect mix of experience and fresh energy. Highly recommend!

My review is mostly on oil change and it’s overdue. I have been coming here about 10 (prob more) years for, mainly, oil changes and I don’t see myself going anywhere else. I always appreciated their honest and sincere work. Each time I go, they do a thorough inspection on my car and yet never pushed me with any unnecessary work. If they found an issue, they explained to me what the issue is with great details, honest recommendations and a price quote. Thank you for always taking a great care of my car!

They told me on the phone that a front wheel aliment was all my car needed. When I got there told me I needed to give them more money for an all wheel alignment. Don’t trust them at all.

i went in for an oil change. they charged me extra just because its a luxury car, then i was told i needed cabin air filter and engine air filter but she could not give me difinte price. she said may be $70-80. Then i noticed the receipt says there is an oil leak and cover under hood is missing. When i asked what oil leak is that, no answer given. Then I asked what about the missing cover, she told me is loose. when i talked to another person, he asked the mechanic and found out its not my car. i took the car to another mechanic, there is no oil leak. they always tried to sell you things that is not needed. the woman cashier is not knowledgable. i will not go back there.

The only drawback is limited parking but normally you can pull into the garage entrance and they will take it from there. Full service shop. I have used him for both body work and mechanical issues. Never had a problem and feels like I'm supporting a family owned business

These people use fake offers of free services just to get business in the door. They offered me a free tire alignment then charged me for a bunch of things i didnt even need. Once I brought up the free alignment, they acted like they didnt even know what I was talking about. They lie and customer service is very poor. Take your car to someone who actually cares to run a decent business.

Service was good, fairly timed. I would come back for next oil change. Wish it was where I didn’t have to wait out my car for oil change. Overall, good!

They charged me $927 for only replacing vapor canister and purge valve! They charged full price of parts, instead of the ~40% discounted price you can find on any official dealer’s website. I am fine with that, they want to make money from parts. But when you look at the labor fee: $589.03, how can they come up with this number? Their hourly rate is 100 per hour. Does that mean it took them 5.8903 hours? How accurate do they record their time? By hours? By minutes? Or by seconds? I quoted some other repair shops, and was told labor fee definitely would not reach more than $300 for such a small fix. So be careful when you try to use their service, do not be surprised by a big bite!

I went to this shop after reading through the reviews. When i arrived, told the person infront that i scheduled for a front alignment. With a rude tone he asked me why, so told him that steering wheel is shaking at high speed. He then replied "it's wheel balancing, we don't do that!". I also mentioned that steering hard to turn sometimes. He replied, "so it's not the alignment, you need a mechanic for that!. I was not able to tell him that car is not going straight because he already had me fill out a paper with my information. Got my car in, and he said "1 hour!". After 20 minutes of waiting in the lobby, he called me and said my car is ready. That front right is little bit off so they corrected it. Again with no so good tone. I left the shop feeling not good because of the WORST customer service. Also the lobby's place is so dirty. Maybe i was just not lucky like everybody else. Waste of money. Lesson learned, if this is your first time, go to the shop and inquire first before buying any coupon. I'm so dissatisfied with this shop.

Please beware that if you use Groupon, you must pay additional fees and taxes when you get the oil changes. This information was not disclosed anywhere. My additional fee and tax were around $12 on top of the Groupon cost

TL; DR Yet another dishonest shop. Stay away, you've been warned! File a complaint with DCA BAR California if you are also a victim. Here are the details. I am an ASE certified Master Technician who had been working at three different dealership's service department. For those who don't know what ASE Master Tech is, you only need to know that in each dealership's service department, there is usually only one person per shop who passed all 8 certifications to get the Master Tech certification (think of it as head of technicians), and it generally takes about 25 to 30 years to get there. I left the industry because it does not pay honest technicians enough, but that's a story for another day. I had a recent injury and am unable to lift anything heavy and my car needs an oil change. So I bought a Groupon for 2 conventional oil changes for California Auto Center in Millbrae, CA and made an appointment. My car engine takes 5W-20 viscosity motor oil per manufacturer's specifications. The only other viscosity this engine could take per manufacturer is 0W-20, which came out years after the engine was designed and cost more than 5W-20 with no additional benefits to the engine. No other viscosity fits my engine. After my oil change was done, I noticed that my invoice says they put 5W-30 conventional motor oil in my car. To my horror, I asked the service advisor, and he confirmed that 5W-30 was put into my car. I pointed out that my car actually takes 5W-20, and here comes the dishonest part: 1) The service advisor claims that the Groupon deal that I purchased is only for 5W-30 conventional oil, which is not true. The Groupon deal only states conventional oil with no restrictions on viscosity. 2) I insisted that my car only takes 5W-20 engine oil, then the service advisor said that 5W-20 only comes with fully synthetic, which is also not true. Go to Walmart or your favorite engine oil store, and you will see a great selection of brands of 5W-20 conventional oil. At the point, I realized this is a typical bait-and-switch scheme that almost all car shops do. Giving you oil changes or any service items that they lose money on, but then upsell you other stuff like "upgrading to full synthetic", etc. I know that they put the wrong viscosity and refuse to admit it. I was beyond arguing with them knowing that this is yet another dishonest shop that I have seen too many over the years in my automotive service career. Wasting my time and energy at this shop is just not an ideal way to spend an afternoon that would very likely end up nowhere. Luckily for me, I could wait until my injury recovers and change it back to the correct 5W-20 engine oil. I have 2 cars, and I could just drive my other car until then. For those of you reading this far, there is still hope for the majority of drivers who do not know everything there is to know about their cars and feel HELPLESS when dishonest shops like this become part of their lives. The Bureau of Automotive Repairs (BAR) of California has a complaint department that you could fill out a form online (google DCA BAR complaint). DCA is the government entity that issues and renews Automotive Repair shops and smog check / repair licenses in California, and they are more powerful than you think. I've heard of stories where they send undercover agents to shops to catch illegal behavior. There is also a point system for technicians who conduct questionable behavior. A shop is required to hire technicians that average point is a certain level for certain activities. My point here is, if something unfair happens to you, don't just stand there and argue. They are most likely just laugh at you calling you a Karen behind your back. Get the BAR involved, and maybe share your story in these review website so everyone would know about it and gradually push all these dishonest shops out of business. Oh and of course, buy an all electric car next time you are in the market, so you can avoid oil changes, belts, spark plugs, check engine lights, etc. This will greatly reduce your need to visit a shop.

They expert in foreign cars. Aligned my very rare BMW that had front wheels towed out for some reason. They did all that in 45 mins & honored my coupon! Excellent!!

I had just moved to the Bay Area and I needed a pre-purchase inspection to buy an used car. I found California Auto Center in Yelp, and decided to do the service with them given their high ratings. Andrew received the car and did an honest and amazing job. At first, no issues were found. Later on the next day, the console displayed an airbag light. I took it back to Andrew and he fixed it with no extra charges.

The groupon got me Synthetic Oil change Coupon under $40. They also helped me verify what's wrong in my car besides Oil chage and basic PM. But, they could be a little humble/polite to customer intead of being hostile.

An awesome, very flexible place to get your car fixed, and they have many good deals! Check their website! The staff is very kind and helpful. They let us tow our car here a little bit after they closed, which was very generous.

I have 3 cars they all have been serviced at California Auto Center. This is usually the first place I go to when I have car problems because they are trustworthy in terms of their expertise, pricing and time to do the service. Andrew is a fine mechanics and a good businessman.

Efficient and excellent: Periodic tire check found some evidence of uneven wear from misalignment. Took advantage of Groupon deal to get alignment checked and corrected as needed, and indeed, I did need alignment. I highly recommend California Auto Center (even without a Groupon deal).

Brought my two cars for alignment. One of them had a wear problem and the shop went above and beyond what they had to do, to make my car drive as best as possible. The guys here are very courteous and knowledgeable. They also do a great job of explaining the repair process.

I love these guys! Very honest and reliable. They noticed my brake light was out and helped me install it for free since I had a spare bulb. Oil change was cheap.