Smog Shop

I refused to get my car smog done here. I work at a doctors office and I don’t simply have time to wait around for you to finish your conversations in the back. I’m on my phone reading something and I hear someone scream at me «ILL BE RIGHT WITH YOU.» I’m still in the middle of reading so I waved my hand to acknowledge him. Then he screams at me again «ILL BE RIGHT WITH YOU.» But with a heavily more sarcastic tone. I don’t need your attitude, or your terrible customer service skills. I’ll take my car to the hundreds of other smog places. You’ve lost my business for good, my family and I have been coming to this place for years. Not anymore.

Patience is a virtue people! I arrived on a Saturday morning about 15 minutes after opening. There was already two people in front of me on the wait list; one who was about be taken care of and the other gentleman who will be waiting. The nice guy working there was pleasant, gave us a registration form and assured that we will be taken care of after his first customer. Thirty minutes went by and then it turned it turned into a little under an hour. I wasn’t sure why it took forever. The second guy before gets mad and storms out saying «you have more patience than I do». No problem with me since I’ll be going next. As soon as the second guy leaves, the clerk returns finished with examining his first customers vehicle. My car didn’t take too long, about 20 minutes. At the time of payment, he told me he had technical difficulties with some equipment that pushed him 15 minutes behind schedule. They have a ten dollar off coupon on their site I was going to use but the guy just took it off for not leaving with the second guy and save the site coupon for another time. Get there early if you’re planning on coming here, it’s best to be the first one and waiting doesn’t hurt neither.

Horrible customer service over the phone– I think it was Anthony?, who I spoke with– he made me feel like he didn’t want to be there & could care less if I brought my business to them– he was curt & rude & made me feel like I was wasting his time!
So I called up Kyle over at Pass & Go Smog and what a difference! I will NEVER bring my business to a place that treats me so rude!
Smog & Go is the only place I’ll go from now on, even if they are 10 $ more expensive! They currently have 154 positive (almost all) 5 star reviews! That should tell you something!

Kevin is a great help. He tested my 1984 Mercedes and it failed smog. He only charger me a reasonable fee and asked me to add Seafoam to me gas and drive the car for a few hundred miles and return.
Thanks Kevin for your great help and honesty.
P.S he only works on Saturday’s and Sunday’s.
Robert W.

Travis sent me a very nice email explaining that he is no longer affiliated with the Smog Shop. He’s now over at the Leucadia Shell in Encinitas. I’ll be taking the truck there for service. Thanks again Travis for clarifying things!

Best service ever. Affordable and super fast. Had a Jeep that had prior service done and he checked it before running the smog test. Jeeps computer was still resetting and he didn’t charge us one bit. Told us to drive the car a little more till computer was all reset. Drive for about 35 miles back and forth and then he ran the computer on it and it was good to get tested. Jeep passed smog with flying colors. Cool and awesome dude :)

Great experience! Fast, friendly service — out in 20 minutes. Be sure to use coupon from Unilocal or website!

I came earlier today to get a smog. I arrived around 10:40am and I was out by 11:00. Shop is very clean, and organize. There’s a couple of magazines for you to read while waiting. Wayne was really helpful and explained to me everything. I will definitely recommend smog shop to other people. Also, don’t forget to print the coupon or show the $ 10 off when you check in at Unilocal.Thanks Smog shop, I will coming back in 2 years.

Disappointed! In the great tradition of the far too many automotive service shops that are dishonest and/​or untrustworthy, this shop fits the bill unfortunately. I’m a very fair and reasonable customer, which I hope is obvious in my explanation, so there is no attempt on my part to be unfair to this shop, I’ve simply shared the facts and a few obvious conclusions based upon the full experience. I’m happy to pay well for any service, but dishonest and deceitful repair shops need to be called out and held accountable when they skirt the truth for silly gain. I’m sure if your car passes here, it’s a nice experience, as the tech ‘Anthony’ (says Wayne on my exam so who knows) seems friendly and professional enough to provide a nice experience. However, in my opinion, it’s when there are issues that a companies mettle is tested. I was able to get in quickly on short notice, so that was helpful as I had limited time this morning. When I met the tech, I explained I had a check engine light recently illuminated which had been checked and was transmission related but unlikely related to emissions. At this point, I received a carefully ‘crafted’ speech which, at the moment, seemed like it was simply an explanation that any info related to the light would be helpful for the repair shop to further diagnose whatever was going on, but in reality it was the techs subtle and deceptive way of covering himself at the end when he would tell me my smog failed simply because of the check engine light. At NO POINT did he simply say, ‘your smog may fail simply because of that light’, which is exactly what happened. It wasn’t until after the ‘fail’, which he clearly expected since there was no surprise or explanation beyond ‘it’s because of the light’, that I saw a ‘Notice’ posted at the front desk asking to make sure you alert them if your check engine light is on, which I did. He purposely and carefully talked ‘around’ that simple fact, and avoided telling me in plain terms that the light would make the car fail, instead presenting it as a helpful ‘service’ he was providing by giving me a test which would have ‘helpful’ information. Needless to say, this was nothing more than a way to convince me to get the test done in spite of him knowing clearly it would fail because of the light. Had he been up front and honest, I would have simply declined the test and had it addressed with a facility that could actually repair it. At no point did I expect it to fail because of a light which I understood to be unrelated anyway. Instead, I was ‘scammed’ into thinking I was getting a test that might pass, though he was obviously aware it would not. This is the worst kind of dishonesty to me, well thought out and designed to provide cover in advance. Nothing rude or unfriendly about the experience, and the place is clean. I did tell him that I chose his shop because of Unilocal and would be sure to provide my review as well. He directed me to information related to who deals with their regulations and complaints but for me, there is no better accountability than providing true and honest feedback to other ‘potential’ targets of a dishonest facility. We all know that the chances of a government agency providing help or accountability is basically zero. Hope you choose another facility who will be transparent with you up front, as I’m sure there are plenty to choose from, and not one who will simply set you up for the ‘fail’ explanation like this one is willing to.

I went in and they said that they will try and smog my jeep. If it didn’t pass they will give me a free retest and he wrote it on the paper. I went back and they didn’t honor the writen note on the paper and wanted to charge me 40 more for a retest. This is the second time I have been to the place and nothing but hassles. My advice stay away from here.

Wayne is awesome !!! I had my car in and out in 20 minutes. He was super personable, made me laugh a lot, quick and efficient ! Little waiting area is very clean too. I highly recommend getting your smog check done here!

First time customer of Smog Shop today but was really blown away by the professional and courteous service I received from the technician Ken. I arrived at 3:30 pm on a Saturday, which was 30 minutes before they closed, and Ken greeted me promptly. As there were no other customers present he took my car back right away, performed the smog check and had me ready-​to-​go by 3:50. The waiting room is simple but clean. Thanks to Ken’s helpful and professional service, I will be coming back here for all my Smog test only center needs.

Quick and easy service for something everyone hates. I think I was in and out in about 30 minutes and I was behind another woman when I first arrived. If the wait is any longer than that there are plenty of great places within walking distance to grab lunch.

Super fast! Clean waiting area and professional staff. I was in and out in less than 20 min. Only $ 40 with the coupon from their website. (Use the link out to their website from this Unilocal page, may or may not show up on mobile.)
Pro tip: The place filled up with people after I left at precisely 12:00 pm, so if you can, try to arrive before the lunch breakers rush.

Unfortunately my car did not pass due to some serious mechanical issues, but the guy was nice and he worked quick. I left upset but the guy does his job and he wasn’t shady.

Pros:
Great clean shop
Very courteous
Quick service
Cons
Bit pricer then other places (still reasonable plus they have a coupon on Unilocal)
Highly recommend

I called around to several spots and after reading the other Unilocal reviews I just decided to print the coupon and go. Let me just say these reviews were dead on. Travis was courteous, prompt and friendly. Coupon was honored and I was in and out in less then 30 minutes. I will definitely be taking my other car here for its test.

The dude Travis (owner) was super nice and very fast. He had another car in the back when I got there. With him finishing that and checking my car, I was there less than 20 minutes. The Unilocal check-​in offer is a good $ 10 off, but click on the coupon and print that instead for a $ 20 off!

Fantastic service. Travis is great and did the test in record time. Always great to get fast and great customer service.

Travis is very professional and provides excellent customer service. Went in sometime in the afternoon, was immediately greeted and given an explanation of the process. Reasonable pricing. Was in and out in about 15 minutes. Definitely would recommend this place.