Matt’s Smog & Car Care

We were traveling down south to Disneyland on a Friday. I 5 and highway 58 was closed to the mud slides. We were redirected to use the 101, we got into Paso Robles and filled up. Got onto the 101 and my 2002 Tahoe stalled out. We got a hold of a few shops and no one could take a look at it since it was late in the afternoon. I called Matt’s Smog and Car Care back and he said he would try and help us out but no guarantees. We got the car towed there, within a few minutes they diagnosed it having a fuel pump issue. We were quoted about $ 600 and I told them go for it. About 1 ½ hours later we were on the road again. I can say they are very professional, honest and reasonable on the price. Thank you, Matt and your crew. Don S.

Not much to look at on the outside, but great service and friendly people on the inside. Took my wife’s car here yesterday, not a lot of parking and it was a little tough to spot off the road, but once I was in, they were very nice, worked quick and didn’t try to up sale. A great place.

Matt runs an honest business. I’ve been neighbors with him for nearly five years and he has done smog and some repairs that we can’t handle on my fleet vehicles. I would recommend setting an appointment because he does get busy, although he has squeezed us in on numerous occasions, if you’re on a tight schedule, it’s best to not gamble your time. I trust his work and his integrity.

I just bought my first motorhome and had to get it smogged… Matt’s was recommended by a friend so I called for an appointment. Got in within a couple of days — I guess motorhomes are a bit more troublesome so more time — and space — is needed. But I got right in at my appointed time, the young girl at the front desk was very friendly, Matt was very professional and happy to explain everything to me regarding the RV. We passed! I see why this family owned business is so popular!

Matt was extremely helpful in getting my truck smogged. He told me what needed to be done and where I could buy the parts to do it.

I brought in one of my vehicles because it needed a desperate oil change and even tho matt was extremely busy, he still found the time to get me in without an appointment. Its customer service at matts that will keep me coming back and telling everyone i know about this place. I have 2 vehicles due for smog and you can guess where they will be going to.

Sent my Son down to get a PRE Smog to see whats wrong with the truck and they did a regular smog instead. UGH! now we have to find a star smog station and jump through even more hoops. Thanks Matt’s Smog for backing up your customers like that, as if California doesn’t make it difficult enough.

Matt is a great guy. I ran into car issues just as I arrived into The area on my way up to San Jose from Texas. I called him at 6pm on a Saturday and he stayed open just to help me. His willingness to help me out saved my day.
Thank you Matt!

I’ve been coming here for years and love the service. Proud to support a family owned business.

I called with questions and got answers. asked for available appointment they said now is good. brought in my car for Smog Cert for DMV. Car was done in ½ hour. They sent all the info to the DMV.

Matt and his staff were friendly, and very efficient. I arrived at 2:55 PM for a 3:00 PM appointment for a Smog Check. Matt took my truck right in, and I was on my way less than 20 minutes later. I highly recommend them.

I made a same day appt. I was in and out in 30 min. Professional, clean, decent pricing and complimentary cookies. Thumbs up!

I do not write Unilocal reviews very often but I felt that I had to share my particularly bad experience with this shop. What happened is that I called the shop to set up an appointment, explaining that I needed a smog check and that my check engine light wouldn’t turn on. The guy on the phone was nice enough, setting me up for a time and he seemed to understand what was going on. He had me come in at 10:30 as opposed to 11 because that would «give the guy a little more time to check that out.» So I thought, alright I’m going to have my smog and light taken care of! I go in and drop off my car, then I don’t get a call back from the guy until after 5 in the evening. Not only that but he was calling to say that he couldn’t do the repair on the check engine light. I don’t understand what else took so long that nobody could give me a ring until after normal business hours for most people, but this is just the start of many things the owner said and did to me to show me that he did not value me or my time. I go in the next day, obviously annoyed that I have wasted an entire day just to have this guy tell me he can’t do the repair I specifically asked for on the phone and I have a vision of how things will be made right: he might give me the number of a friend who can do the repair, then I swing by and quickly get my smog sticker and pay him for his service. Needless to say, this is not what transpired. The guy tried to make me pay for the failed smog, which I wasn’t about to do. I mean I wasn’t not paying because I had failed, I was not paying because some minion on the phone had screwed up and then nobody had gotten back to me all day long. I understand needing to pay for failed emissions tests (I have done it more than once before!) but needing to pay to terrible customer service when you could barely say that a service has even been done in the first place? The guy tried to make it seem like I was just some dumb guy who didn’t know his check engine light didn’t work or that I didn’t know I needed that for my smog to pass. I am sorry sir, but when you insult my intelligence on top of waste my time, that is where I must make a stand on principle, and many customers would agree with me there. There is never an excuse to be so rude to a customer. I would’ve paid, and I would’ve come back, year after year, potentially spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars at his shop, but the minute you stop trying to find a way to make the customer happy you kill that possibility. This man raised his voice to me in his office in front of other customers who I hope saw how poorly he handled one of his employee’s errors. The way I see it, if it is not my fault, then I shouldn’t have to pay and if I had been made to pay, I wouldn’t have wanted to come back, so I refused. The fact that the owner made such a fuss already guaranteed the fact that I would not return but this guy actually went one step further and told me not to come back. In short, this man does not know how to provide quality, personable, customer service. He cares more about his time than yours. Maybe he looked at me and thought I look like a loser, and he doesn’t realize that I’m an educated working person. Maybe if you know the guys there personally, then I’m sure you’ll have a good time with them. I will not be going back to this shop and I will not be going to his associate’s shop either: European Car Specialist at 805−238−6400. I recommend you think long and hard before going to this shop if it is your first time dealing with them.
One final message to the owner: this was not your fault or mine, but one of your employees! Tell them to give their names over the phone because that is another thing that made me look like a chump! Finally, make sure all of your employees know EXACTLY what your capabilities are in the shop because if it wasn’t some trainee who took me on the phone two days ago, then you have a real problem.

Great service! I showed up without an appointment for smog. Even with their very full day, they squeezed me in. Very quick, reasonably priced and extremely friendly. They even had these amazing hand-​crafted cross necklaces (I got one for my son for Easter).

My husband and I cannot say enough about Matt and Christian (hopefully that is his name). We had so many problems trying to get our vehicle to pass a smog. They were very helpful and never charged us until it did finally pass. We must have made 7 or 8 appts in a week and a half, they suggested things for us to fix. We fix our own vehicles and as this one sat for over a year we knew we we would have problems with it. They were always busy but never rushed us and always made us feel well taken care of. Definitely recommend them, and we will be taking all of our vehicles there from now on!

Matt is a very helpful and very friendly guy!
He can get really busy at times so don’t expect to just show up and him take you in and fix your car, he has other customers to keep happy as well! I had problems passing smog last time and he was able to point me in the right direction on what to fix (I usually work on my own vehicles) and was able to reschedule and pass smog after what he told me I probably needed.
Highly recommend going here!

Went in and tried to set up an appointment. Seems like a simple enough thing to do, but the owner was surly barked questions at me like I was wasting his time. A perfect example of how NOT to deal with customers. Previous experience there was bad as well, but I gave him a pass thinking everybody has a bad day. Will not try my luck again.

just went to Matt’s smog care to get my smog check, the guys are great got me in right away went inspecting my car they noticed that my headlamp was out. They had one in stock were able to get it in there and had me back on the road in less than an hour. I take all my cars to Matt’s for smog and they continue to impress thanks guys.

Great honest service! Easy to trust.
Matt and his crew are super friendly.
AND they do more than just SMOGS! Matt changes my oil, rotates my tires, and check’s out and fixes those annoying noises older cars make! He listens to my concerns and doesn’t rush me out!
I reccommend Matt’s Smog & Car Care to anyone who likes an honest job done at a fair price!

These are the only guys in the area that knew the new rules about Diesel trucks and programmers/​chips. My chip is on the «in progress» CARB list, which makes it legal… Every other smog place said I had to take it out. Matt said «Nope, it’s on the the in progress list, which means its approved». No problems, really easy. Friendly service, good prices, I’d go back.
Thanks!