Karl’s Smog & Repair

Not going back! I’ve been going to Karl’s for several years (3 vehicles)… but, no more. BTW… Karl is not the owner’s name… Karl sold the business a few years ago. My biggest problem was the 4 letter words he used with me over, what I feel, was a reasonable & polite partial-​refund request. Enough said.

This place is like a #throwbackthursday to what American automotive shops used to look like; local, reasonable pricing and a lounge area with playboys. I needed a car smogged in a day because I was selling it and the buyer must’ve thought I was a slimy guy. Karl’s was quick and easy and had me out the door in 20 minutes. Probably $ 10-​$ 15 more than the guy down the street but I can appreciate quick service.

Fast, efficient, available and less expensive than the other smog check stations ($ 65). I’ll be going back.

Hands down the best smog shop in GV and surrounding! I’ll continue to take all my vehicles there even the older ones the tech is very helpful and knowledgeable.

Took my car here today to be smogged. I called in the AM to find out prices. I told hm the year and model and the fact it was a van and karl told me 65 «out the door». So knowing they charge vans more I was happy to go there and did. Becasue it is a large van I parked across the drive and went inside (no cars in the bays) to find Karl.
Someone, assuming it was Karl, came in and told me «Move you van». Not «how are you», not «hey I will be with you in a minute» no it was just «MOVE YOUR VAN». then he started to tell me that he was going to charge me 20 dollars to remove the engine cover. Which is why I called him and told him the make and model, so i knew how much it was going to be. Again the person (Karl) was absolutely the least pleasant person I have ever encountered and mentioned that it was «No wonder you have such bad Unilocal reviews» he said «I have bad Unilocal reviews?» Which flummoxed me. How can you possibly run a business without following your reviews?
I tried to tell him that I would not give him my business then or ever and he became even more unpleasant. He then tried to run down another competing smog shop, (so unprofessional). Then I tired to tell him again why and his attitude got worse.
Early I told him I would not write a bad review, I hate to do that to people, but his attitude became worse and I felt I cannot in my mind let it go now.
Easily the worst five minutes I have spent in five years.
BTW, I took my car to aforementioned competing shop (A one name shop like Karl’s but not Karl’s)and they were cheaper in base price, were nice to me, dealt with my car being parked incorrectly and greeted me warmly like they wanted my business and only charged me nominally to remove the engine cover.
I also went to a place on Rough and Ready Highway and they were amazing. Amazing. They could not do the smog due to not being a STAR station/​DMV issue but would take my car there anytime as well. They did not charge me to remove the engine cover on my estimate (and were less than 65 dollars «out the door»)…

Do not go here for smog checks. One, they overcharge massively, and two, it should never take 45 minutes to get a check done when there are literally no other cars in the lot.
While i will not specifically make any recommendations, I would call around. Karl’s charges $ 68 for smog and certificate, whereas every other grass valley automotive business charges $ 35-​$ 48 for the same thing (certificate included). This is based off 12 calls to other automotive places.

I have a Vanagon that I converted to run on a Subaru engine. Karl is knowledgeable about this legal conversion where others have just rolled their eyes and told me, ‘good luck!’. It’s always easy and fast over there. Customer for life.

I have been taking my car to get a smog by Karl since he opened his doors. My experience has been consistently great. They are quick, efficient, and affordable. The thrift store next door is a great place to kill time while your vehicle is getting serviced;)

Went and had smog done. Cheaper, faster, and really friendly! I will def go there again.

In a nutshell Karl made a promise to me that he didn’t keep. This cost me $ 155.00 in wasted towing charges, hundreds of dollars in car rental fees, and lots of unpleasantness and inconvenience. Furthermore, when I tried to work something out in a very reasonable way to have them pay for one of the tows, the mechanic refused. When I told him that unfortunately I would have to write an honest review on Unilocal about my experience he swore at me and hung up. Here’s the whole story:
I talked to Karl on a Friday about my Audi needing a new head gasket. I explained that I was looking for someone who could do the repair before the next weekend because I needed the car for a trip that I was already committed to taking. Karl said he would be able to finish the job by that time unless there was some part that needed to be shipped from outside the US. I wasn’t worried about parts being difficult to find, so I paid to have the car towed to his shop that afternoon.
The following Monday I called to talk to the mechanic about the Audi. He said he would take a look and let me know. The next day I hadn’t heard anything so I called back and asked about it. He hadn’t looked at it yet, and it was already Tuesday, so I became a little worried that he didn’t seem to be working very fast on the car. I wondered whether Karl had told him that I needed the car fixed that week?
I mentioned this to the mechanic, and he seemed upset to hear about it. He said Karl had told him nothing about my car, and hadn’t checked with him before saying he could fix it that week. He said there were two big jobs ahead of me, and he wouldn’t even be able to look at my car until Thursday or Friday. Furthermore, Karl was now on vacation.
I was very disappointed because I would now have to find someone else to fix it and I only had 3 days left instead of 5. I called around trying to find someone who could get it done by the end of the week, but with only three days left no one could guarantee it.
The ONLY reason I had it towed to Karl’s shop in the first place was because he said he would have it done that week. So now I would have to pay for a rental car for my trip, and I would have to pay another towing charge.
It didn’t seem right to me that I should be paying for a rental car and two towing charges, and be put through all this inconvenience just because Karl didn’t keep his word to me. So I called the mechanic and in a very polite tone of voice asked him if he would at least pay to have the car towed out of his shop. He said he wouldn’t. I explained that I was going to be out $ 155.00 because of this. He said that wasn’t his fault. I told him I understood it wasn’t his fault, but it was Karl’s fault, and Karl is the owner of the business.
Here is the disappointing part with the mechanic. He really didn’t care that I was out all that money. He didn’t care that I was inconvenienced. He just kept saying it wasn’t his fault. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to pay the towing charge out of his shop, I explained in a reasonable and polite tone of voice that I would have to write a review about this on Unilocal,and suggested he call Karl first and get permission to pay for the tow. He refused but also told me not to write the review. Like, it was okay that I’m out $ 155, but it’s not okay for me to write a review about it!
I told him I was going to write an honest review if they didn’t stand by their word. He said, «That’s bullshit!» I asked him what? «That’s bullshit!» I asked again what I had said that was bullshit? He said if I wrote that review it would hurt his business.
I was really amazed at this point! Like, does this guy really only care about himself? Does he really not care that I’m now out 155 dollars because they, as a business, aren’t keeping their word to me?
I wasn’t even mentioning the hundreds I will now need to spend in car rental fees. I wasn’t even asking him to pay both towing charges, which in fairness they were responsible for. I was asking him to pay only ONE TOWING CHARGE out of their shop!
I tried once more to calmly reason with this guy, but I only got about three words into my sentence before he suddenly yelled, «You know what? This is bullshit! Go ahead and write your fucking review! BYE!» and then slammed the phone down.
…sigh…
So we paid for another tow to bring it back home, where our friendly and cheap mobile mechanic will fix it over the next two weekends. That’s who we wanted to fix it in the first place, but he couldn’t get to it this week. Now it’s too late and no one else can fix it this week either…
So Karl’s was clearly a bad experience for me, but I wouldn’t even be writing this review if they would have met me even halfway and handled their mistake with just a little bit of fairness. Thankfully now there’s Unilocal,so people like me no longer have to be complete victims in these situations.

I take my car to Bob at the Downtown location and I am VERY HAPPY with not only the service and quality of repair but also the prices. This is my go to Auto Repair now.