SOS Auto Service

I’ve been coming to SOS ever since I moved to the East Bay 15 years ago. Lucky and his son Fabrice are great. They have always taken great care of my Subaru and jeep and if I ever have concerns or questions they are always addressed.

best best best best best best BEST ever

I am a big fan of Lucky and SOS. He has been so helpful in telling me what’s going on with my 2012 Suburu, and pointing me back to the dealership when things under warranty go wrong, which another shop might charge me to fix. I like being able to count on this kind of honesty and service, so when I need non-​warranty services, I use SOS. Much cheaper than the 2 local Suburu dealership repair shops. And more reliable: it took 3 attempts for the Albany/​Berkeley dealership to fix something under warranty that Lucky uncovered!

I use to go to Unitech for my Subaru and Honda. Two great mechanics, very honest. They would even pick you up and take you home. Sadly I found out last year that they went back to their old country. On their outgoing phone message saying good bye to everyone they say to go and try SOS. I figured if they recommend a place then all should be pretty good. Well, you see my one star don’t you. Turns out that the guy from Unitech started out working for SOS and then started his own place. This is what LUCKY, the owner of sos told me. Anyway, took my Subaru in for a electric window motor replacement. Drivers side. This is a 1992 with 80,000 on it. Anyway, after picking it up at the expected time (Hence one star for promptness) I took it home happily. Next day while sweeping the floor out I found a piece of plastic and a screw. I looked at the bottom corner of the door and found they had cracked a corner of the door panel off and also cracked the frame around my radio speaker. I took it back and showed (not so) Lucky and he immediately started making embarrassingly weak excuses that I will not even go into. He had his son come out who had worked on it and he would not take responsibility either. Bottom line is I would not even be writing this if they had just been honest. I took this door panel off myself 5 years ago when I replaced the door handle. It is not hard, you just take your time. His son missed a screw which caused the damage.
FYI, I see the photo here of at least 5 employees. At this date, I never saw any more than the owner, the son and one other guy. And the garage is PACKED full of cars.
I think too pressed for time now. But no excuse for fibbing.
So, anyone out there know of a local mechanic that is honest and knows what they are doing?
Thanks

I really want to be able to give these guys a higher rating because they are so friendly and close to where I live, unfortunately I don’t think that I’ll be going back here for any of my Subaru repairs going forward.
They did a fairly decent job of going over my recently purchased 2005 Subaru and found plenty of things that needed to be taken care of, both in the immediate term and in the near future, but they didn’t notice the massive coolant leak out of the radiator, and I’m pretty sure that the alternator didn’t need to be replaced. Because of the radiator (though this is partly my fault), my engine needed to have the head gaskets replaced and this is where all the problems that I currently have started.
First off, after I replaced the broken radiator I had a good flush and refill, but after the head gasket replacement there is this sloshing sound that I’m fairly certain is air in the cooling system. I asked them to fix the issue, it is still there.
Secondly, the air conditioner no longer works. I’m not sure if the compressor is at fault yet or the system needs to be recharged, but it really sucked travelling through the central valley without any cooling.
Third, the power steering pump has been acting pretty funky since I got the car back, and now I’m pretty sure I need to replace that now. The belt squeals like a stuck pig for a while after starting the car. I’ve tightened the serpentine belt, which has helped a bit, but the pulley is definitely on its way out as there is quite a bit of play and I’m sure there is air leaking into the pump now.
And to wrap it all up, the car is acting very sluggish and the fog lights no longer work. I’ll need to track down the wiring to find out why the lights no longer work (thanks ebay for getting me the repair manual for the car!) and I hope that the Mass Air Sensor just needs a good cleaning to fix the sluggishness, but when I asked SOS to look into both these things, they basically wrote me off.
I’m definitely not going back there, I can do a better job on the car myself, at least the easy unbolt-​replace-​rebolt operations.

They botched the installation of my AC condenser. It ended up rubbing against an after market part that they had also installed and not secured properly, getting a hole in it, and failing within six months. I approached them to correct the issue. Lucky, the owner, first tried to pretend like it was damaged because of an external event, like somebody hit my car. That didn’t add up, and when I pointed that out, he yelled at me for disturbing him during his lunch. Really? I’m never going back there, and would recommend you stay away.

I had another great experience with SOS. They went far out of their way to help me out during a complicated situation — when my Saab was stolen and then recovered.
I was out of town for an extended period of time, and they handled all everything for me — evaluating the car and making a decision about what to do next, and tons of other details that had to be worked out. They charged me only for the cost of evaluating the car — which we had agreed to — and nothing for everything else they took care of.

I’m having some electrical problems, so I called SOS. The person who answered the phone told me it would be $ 95 to diagnose why some dash lights weren’t working, and another $ 95 to diagnose whether the brake lights needed new bulbs or had another problem. Those fees would not be deducted from the cost of actually fixing them. I can understand charging a fee if I chose not to get the repairs done, but most mechanics see figuring out what’s wrong as the first step in the repair, not as a separate service to be charged separately. I did not use this garage.

I just left SOS and needed to leave a review because I left with a smile. The owner and his son are very sweet and took my concern seriously (my car does this really awesome and loud squealing when I reverse). As a young female who regrettably knows nothing about cars, it’s difficult to go to a male mechanic because oftentimes they treat you with little respect.
The son, who is quite handsome (sue me, it just needed to be said), did a test drive with me around the block so he could hear what my car sounded like when it was also in drive. I call that customer service. Oh, and the father has a great accent and great «Dad jokes.» You know what I’m talking about. I laughed a lot.
Unfortunately they were booked for the rest of the day, but they assured me that I would not be unsafe driving my car. They didn’t charge me ANYTHING. The Subaru place on San Pablo was going to charge me $ 150 for a diagnosis. Psh.
I’ll be back for sure!

I brought my Subaru Legacy Outback in for intermittent problems starting.
When it didn’t work nothing happened but the panel lights came on. The starter
motor made no sound, nothing. A fellow parent from my kids camp called it right
away but I didn’t listen.
Lucky called the first day and told me he had great news. The battery terminals needed
cleaning and it was done. I said I’d be in the next morning to get it because I didn’t have
a ride. I got a ride and showed up that afternoon to find my hood up and the wires pulled out.
They went to move it and it wouldn’t start. I got no call to warn me or authorize more work
so I wasn’t expecting it. Lucky asked if I’d had any trouble with the alarm and I said «No.»
He said it would take a «little more time» to fix it.
A few days later I get a call that it was fixed but the battery wasn’t holding a charge.
I told him I only drove it once a week and had no trouble and he said that was impossible.
I volunteered for the price of a new battery (I could have done it myself for half the cost)
because I didn’t trust the «fix» wasn’t killing the battery.
Ultimately I’d approved $ 65.00, a battery, and a «little more time» and paid over $ 450 for
them to jury rig a fix by bypassing the bad alarm switch. It starts, but its not even fixed!
Plus they charged me for the original work that didn’t fix it.
I had to wait for Lucky to finish arguing with another customer to complain. He told me I didn’t
need the alarm box anyway and that there was labor to put in the battery (It takes me about 10 min?).
When I complained he told me he was going to quit and sell peanuts and be happy. Good idea, Lucky!

I’ve been a member of Unilocal since ’11 but I have always been too lazy to review things until today!
Anyways, my check engine light on my Acura TSX came on and it had started to vibrate in the morning. I was completely freaking out but I knew it had something to do with my spark plugs, ignition coil, or even my O2 sensor but I needed to be sure what my exact problem was. So I ended up calling the auto repair shops around Shattuck to see if I could read my ECU codes because I knew that that was the only way to figure out what my acutal problem was. I called Berkeley Auto Care, Dan Chin Auto, and Henry Chin Auto Care and wanted to charge me a ridiculous amount of money ($ 100) just to run a «diagnostics test» and see some codes that would really only take 2 minutes! It was like they didn’t care that I knew about my problem; they just really wanted my money!
So I called SOS Auto Service and I explained myself, clearly stating that I only wanted to get an ECU code out of my car. I didn’t get his name, I’m assuming he was the owner, but he just quickly told me to come there. I asked how much it was going to be and all he told me was to go there and get the code. I went there 10 minutes later and I drove in and I told him that I was the guy that called about the ECU. He told his son to get the ECU reader and promptly plugged it into my car and showed me the code. One of my cylinders was misfiring and he explained to me what I needed to do with my car as well. I felt so happy that he didn’t ask me for anything, I literally reached out for my wallet and tried to see if I had money to give him. Unfortunately I didn’t have any money and I told him that. All he said was to write a Unilocal review.
So here I am writing my first Unilocal review and I want to say that SOS Auto Service has great customer service and was very friendly to someone who came randomly, didn’t have a Toyota or Subaru (In which they specialize), and didn’t have money. I highly recommend SOS Auto Service if you’re looking for mechanics who actually care and I would LOVE to go back to them just to support their family owned (?) business. Also it’s great to know there are still good people out there haha.

Reliable — Thoughtful — Experienced
I have been a number of time through the years at SOS and the owner Lucky has always been complaisant and helpful with me. He easily found solution with is 30 years experience, always thinking about finding a solution that does not brake the bank for you. That’s a talent! Before you can think it, he has found a solution for you, that’s speak volume! In an era where no-​one appreciate experience and pay the right value for it, I can still recognize true effortless thinking through experience. Like I said to any employer, you are not paying for my time but for my thinking! This is the case here…

Fabulous customer service. They fixed my 1999 Saab convertible for over $ 300 less than the Saab «expert» of the east bay. Parts and labor were both less than the other guy and now I’m getting better performance and mileage. Highly recommended.

I have a 1997 Subaru Impreza and I’ve been coming here for the past 6 years. I think these guys are amazing. I used to take my car to a dealership and SOS is half the price on all services and they’ve never overcharged me for anything. One time I came in with a strange smell and they spent 2 hours trying to find it. Since they couldn’t locate the smell, they didn’t charge me for their time. How amazing is that! Another time, the owners son worked on my car and discovered that my water pump was sticking and he took the time to show me the old part and why it was causing a problem. My car always runs better after I take to them and I plan on going back for many years to come.

A friend of mine recommended SOS to me years and years ago and I am so glad she did. I love this place! Lucky and the staff at SOS have always treated me in a professional and courteous manner. I used to own a Subaru and have since purchased a Honda and I still come here because I know they will take good care of me.
They’re also very good at explaining not only what needs to be done, but WHY it needs to be done. That is one of my pet peeves with most auto shops. They throw a lot of nonsense at you and in the end, you still aren’t really sure why you need the repair work they’re recommending. Not here. Lucky has always done a great job explaining the in’s and out’s of the repairs.
Prior to finding this place, I used to take me car to the dealership because it was closer to my office. However, SOS offers you a free shuttle service to BART which is really convenient.
I can tell you that the prices at SOS might be a little more than some other shops but they are definitely less expensive than the dealership. Just remember, you always get what you pay for and skimping on your car repairs usually ends up costing more in the end. I bring my car here all the way from Walnut Creek because I trust the guys here and have never been disappointed with their quality of work.
I have even recommended my grandma here for her Volvo and she thinks they’re great too. They even gave her a senior citizen discount of 5% off her bill.

I have a very old Saab. Everyone recommended me to let it go but I am attached to my convertible. Plus, when people tell me that a car from 1999 is very old it makes me think «what about me ?», I am from 1967 LoL
I have been using SOS for the past ⁶⁄₇ years and I never felt disappointed. They were never pushy with me, I don’t really understand the other reviews. Indeed they are not on the cheap side but in my case way cheaper than Saab Dealer in Oakland.
I am French and so is the boss so maybe we understand each other better. I have been recommending them to very close friends of mine, and Ill keep doing so. I will go to SOS til my poor Saab dies.

Do not take your car to this «business!»
I have a 1997 Subaru Legacy Outback that was constantly overheating, so on recommendation from the original owner, I took it to this place to get it diagnosed. Based on research I had done on my own, I assumed it to be a blown head gasket, though of course I needed a professional to diagnose it. I took the car to SOS and had it diagnosed, with the full intention on doing the repair myself. I wasn’t surprised when the mechanic here diagnosed it as a blown head gasket.
Now, some issues came up and I wasn’t able to repair the vehicle myself. So I ended up bringing it to my uncle’s repair shop and having them repair it. My uncle and one of the mechs he hired looks at the car, and the head gasket is fine! There was no problem with the head gasket whatsoever! The car was repaired at my uncle’s and drives great now.
The guy here is a liar and a cheat, don’t even bother bringing your car here, he’ll just rip you off.

I wish I could sue these guys.
I just had some work done by my new mechanic (Neuhaus in San Rafael, btw). They had to be under the dash where the central computer is (the one replaced twice by SoS… once with a new computer, and once with a used part for which they charged me full price).
Guess what? The computer in my car is the original computer it was sold with.
So in other words, SoS replaced my computer, it didn’t work, so they switched out the new computer with my ORIGINAL COMPUTER THEY REMOVED!!!
And they charged me $ 2000 each time.
After reading down to some of the other one-​star reviews it seems that reselling customers their own used parts is not an unheard-​of occurrence.
Do. Not. Use.

These guys are fantastic. Don’t listen to those crazy naysayers.
My 1999 Saab 9 – 3 had a massive steering fluid leak at the tail end of a 3,000+ mile road trip with Berkeley as my final destination. On a whim I had my car towed here given its close proximity to my new apartment.
Thank goodness I did. Lucky is amazing and this shop is my new favorite find in Berkeley. They are attentive, caring and quick with their turnaround. Lucky even takes the time to talk with you about your car and how to keep it in tip top shape.
With any leak repair they offer a free 500 mile check-​up. My baby’s about to hit 100,000 miles, and now that I’ve found SSS I’m confident these guys will be able to keep her going.

Avoid this place like the plague.
This is hands down the WORST repair shop I’ve been to.
They suggested a year ago to replace my neutral safety switch when my jeep wouldn’t start reliably — This didn’t fix the issue. After 6 months of putting up with the issue I brought it back and was told I needed to replace something else. When I picked up my jeep Lucky told me it was the neutral safety switch again — and that he had a part on his shelf that was for my make model and yr. He replaced the part and charged me near full price for a used part. Turned out — that part was the same one he had pulled from my vehicle 6 months earlier! They charged me for my own part! Sleazy and unprofessional shop.