Del Mar Auto and Radiator

I was looking to buy a car and took it in to Del Mar Auto to get looked at before I bought it. And these guys were amazing! So honest and kind and knew what they’re were doing! I am so glad I got their help. I would recommend these guys to anyone in the area.
Thanks so much!

Del mar auto has been our go to auto repair for the last 10 years. The owner, Hutch, is very attentive and has fixed our cars from minor to major repairs. We have 3 kids so it can be a challenge to pick the car up but we live fairly close and if needed they will go the extra mile and will drop off the car at our house. I have recommended this place numerous times to my friends and have always had good feedback. If you are looking for honest, reliable repair shop you will find it here!

My family and I have been coming to Del Mar Auto for at least ten years. Hutch, the owner and head mechanic, has consistently given us excellent service. More importantly, he’s shown himself to be an honest businessman who doesn’t push unnecessary services. He helps us reduce or spread costs so that we rarely, if ever, face big bills. I’ve more than once had other mechanics tell me that my car needs something done, and Hutch just says, «Nope. They were just trying to get your money.» As a person with no knowledge of cars, I’m super grateful to have someone like Hutch in my corner!

Hutch is my go to guy when I have a car issue. He always fixes it and always gets me the best deal he can. Very happy to have found a mechanics I know I can trust.

In short, I would not recommend this shop for any major repairs. Pay the extra 25%-35% and take your vehicle to a specialist.
For minor maintenance work, they may be good. They are nice people to deal with, reasonably priced, and pretty quick. I personally can’t trust them for small repairs though. Once burned…
The long story:
As Radu M. mentioned in his review, this place is quite perplexing. I tried them out by taking my pickup to them for some minor maintenance work (brake system flush and replacing my serpentine belt), which they seemed to do a good job on. Plus, they have so many good reviews on Unilocal!
So, I decided to go with them for my front end suspension/​steering rebuild, and things went south! First, they forgot to put the rubber spring isolators for my coil springs in, so they had to remove them and put them back in. Then, they did not grease the greasable ball joints and tie rod ends which they installed (as pointed out by the alignment/​tire shop which I took it to for a alignment), so I had to take it back in. All this made me loose a lot of time from work, not to mention the inconvenience of having to take the bus to work because my truck was out of service.
Having picked it up (for the last time, I promised my self) from the shop, I noticed that my ABS light was on. I took it back to them, and they said it looks like a wire was pinched for one of the ABS sensors. I was so sick of dealing with this that I decided not to take it to them for repairing this issue, but rather take it to the dealer and pay big money to replace the entire sensor, including the wiring loom.
Fast forward 6 months, and my steering starts to make a clunking sound. I took it to a local shop for a quick inspection, and they pointed out to me that one of the shock absorber bolts was so loose that it could be moved by hand. They also showed me how the control arm bushings which Del Mar Auto pressed in were only half in, which made it flex excessively and also movable by hand. This was a major safety hazard! I am so glad it gave me a warning by clunking instead of just coming off while i was driving at 70MPH down the freeway! So now, I am having to get the control arm removed and new bushings pressed in by another shop just 6 months after I had this done by Del Mar Auto.
Overall, I am very disappointed and would not go back here again.

I’m so glad I found this place! The staff there was very kind and helpful. They answered any and all questions I had and made me feel comfortable. I will definitely be back for any of my mechanical needs!

I’ve been bringing my cars here for the last 10 years and they have always done a great job, give honest advice, and the best prices. Family owned and I trust them. You won’t regret it!

My wife has been taking her cars to Hutch for over 15 years. We take over 5 cars to him currently that includes other family member cars. Always takes care of them with great prices. We live in West Covina but make the trip to Pasadena because we do not trust anyone else with our cars. Not even the Dealers!

Hutch is the best!!! He always takes care of my family and I. Very Honest.. I can make a pit stop and he will always answer any questions I have. As a women me never take advantage of me by price gouging. I couldn’t ask for a better mechanic.. DEL MAR AUTO is the best.

I have been a happy Del Mar Auto customer for over a dozen years. Hutch, Lisa and the Del Mar crew take great care of my cars, and make me feel like a good friend. If you are looking for a honest, reliable auto repair shop, with old school customer service at fair prices, this is the place. My 2001 work truck has 300k miles, and it runs great. Hutch has been the only mechanic to work on it for the past 13 years, and he has kept all the other family vehicles running great too. Whether it’s a simple oil change or a real repair issue, Del Mar Auto is the only place I will take any of my vehicles.

Very happy with my first experience. I’m not quite the bargain girl when it comes to cars. honestly cause I have no idea what I’m dealing with as long as the job gets done. Being a full time college kid I left my car for an oil and AC filter change and came back after class to pick it up.
The total came out to about 125.00. Now I don’t know if it’s a good deal or not but I’m really happy with their service. Would I recommend? Yea! Definitely yes.

This is the only place I trust to take care of my car. They are SUPER NICE and the prices are great! I walk by them almost everyday to get to school and they always wave and say hello, and they even did a tire repair for me on the house once! Sometimes, if you walk by around noon, you can see them sitting together having lunch like a family; I’d take my car to a nice, hard working family over a big dog auto shop any day! Well done, Del Mar Auto and Radiator!

I came to Hutch due to searching for a place to repair my car in Pasadena. I saw all the great reviews and tried it out. My boyfriend and I will not go anywhere else now. Hutch is friendly, explains everything to me in terms I can understand and has great pricing.
When something breaks on your car, it can be stressful, but I am thankful to have a place nearby I can go where I don’t feel ripped off, the work is done timely and the staff is very friendly. I would definitely recommend them to anyone in the area.

Took my car here after noticing some parts dragging from underneath the car. Turns out there was some major issues that required filing an insurance claim.
Hutch worked with the insurance company and got everything all squared away and made the process extremely easy. The work was done quickly and looks great.
Make sure you go visit this place and you’ll get great service and be extremely satisfied with the work done.

I’ve been getting work on my truck at this place for over 10 years as it still runs great. It’s a great family atmosphere and work is always done in a timely manner and the prices here are better than any other shop around. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get some auto repairs.

Wouldn’t trust my car with anyone else. Hutch is honest an fair an treats you as if you where family.

This place is so close to PCC, I had just gotten to school when I realized my trunk was broken. Unable to leave my trunk open in a crowded parking lot, I tried driving home. My trunk kept flying open, so I pulled over LUCKILY in front of Del Mar Auto. I drove in and this really nice mechanic Hutch came out and took one look and he fixed it. It took him less than 2 minutes to repair the bottom latch of my trunk, and he did it free of charge. I was so impressed, that I asked him about some work that my usual mechanic had suggested. I was pleased to get a much lower quote, and information about the cost and differences between parts.
Thank you so much Del Mar Auto, especially you Hutch! :-)

I stopped in to the Del Mar Auto shop earlier in the week with very flat tires on my bike. The owner was super generous with his time and filled them air. I’m a new cycler, so I am still working out how to do this. He didn’t charge me anything either. So you should all come to the friendliest garage in Pasadena!
Thank you!

I’m quite confused with this place considering the fact that the owner, Hutch seams very approachable, friendly and comes up with quite competitive labour prices.
I usually have my own parts since I own BMW & Lexus cars, so saving some $$$ for parts and labour is good.
For the Lexus I had my own 4 Struts to install and his labour price was great, made an appointment and then I waited there for the job to be done. The elder mechanic got the job and then I observed that he was NOT familiar at all how to install the spring on the new strut, so I had to waste more than 30 minutes looking at him unsuccessfully working on it while Hutch was a few feet away talking to some Bosh sales people. The painful part was that the mechanic was NOT asking for help or directions how to do it. After the sales people left, Hutch observed him and took over the job, finally completing the installation.
A few weeks after I went back to change the Power Steering Rack, the Lower Control Arms & have the front Brake Rotors resurfaced, but this time I left the car there for the whole day (the price was great but I paid almost $ 1,000 in cash).
After picking up the car and bringing it right away to have the mandatory Wheel Alignment at a Firestone shop a few blocks away, I realized that they did NOT install the Brake Rotors correctly (they were swapped from left to right and you can tell since they were the slotted kind) and also the whole Skid Plate Shield located under the engine and transmission was missing. After Alignment I went back and I got lucky to find him still in the shop, so I left the car there till the next day that was Saturday… ruined plans!!!
I got the car and after inspection (a few days after) I realized that the Skid Plate Shield was installed improperly since sine retainers were missing and different bolts were used to barely keep it in place.
I’m quite disappointed and I would be very careful considering this shop since Quality Control is NOT their forte since screwing up on «minor» things is nonsense for professionals.

They are nice, but expensive!
They charged me $ 42,43 to remove and replace a passanger front head light bulb.
From this 42,43, just $ 15,99 cost the little light.