Smog Diagnostic Specialists

These guys are crooks, they will fail your car on a visual inspection while telling you, you need a diagnostic for $ 85 and a re-​test for $ 35. after I left their phony smog within the same hour I took my car to Northgate Smog and passed. beware of these crooks… I also filed a complaint with the bureau of Automotive Repair. These guys are using employees to write positive reviews. I dont see how they can hide all the real reviews but i’ll just keep reposting. My original post was on 12/​16/​2015

Going to make this simple this place has awesome guest service. They were so polite on the phone and even when I got there. A awesome place to get your car feeling brand new again. And they Also do Brakes as well. Very honest company.

So it’s smog time for my car, and I look on the dash and see that my check engine light is on. Luckily I see a coupon in the local penny saver that’s for a free check engine light diagnostic, with repair A $ 90 dollar value.
This coupon led me to Smog Diagnostic Specialists. I called them and the guy on the phone told me that they could get my car in that afternoon. I’m thinking, this is great I’m going to get my car fixed.
I dropped my car off and told the tech that there was a check engine light on, and that it was emissions related, most likely a vacuum hose, but it could be the o2 sensor. They called me a couple hours later and wanted to replace a vacuum hose, an o2 sensor, and my oil dipstick. The total for this estimate was almost $ 500.
They were charging $ 220 for an o2 sensor, and I guess labor is quite expensive to unplug the old one and plug in the new one. They also wanted to replace the oil dipstick because the one I had was broken. I denied the o2 sensor, since I have seen them online for sale for $ 27.50. Even if the one on ebay is not an OEM part, I figure I could buy like 10 of them for what they wanted to charge me for one. I know that when you buy parts from the autoparts store they cost more, but 10 times more. That seems excessive.
I decided to get the vacuum hose, and the dipstick fixed. I stated that I had a coupon for a free diagnostic with repair and that since I had decided to get a repair that then the diagnostic should be free. He said that since I did not agree to all of the repairs, that the coupon was not able to be used. The coupon said Free Diagnostic with repair. It didn’t have a minimum amount, It didn’t say, with all recommended repairs, it just said see store for details, which I guess in legal speak gets them out of ever accepting this coupon. So instead of costing me around 100 dollars to repair a vacuum hose and install a dipstick, it was closer to 200.
Here’s the kicker: To remove and replace an oil dipstick, it cost me $ 26.92 in labor. This is a job that probably took 30 seconds or less, and somehow cost me $ 26.92. Let’s say it took them twice as long as it takes me to remove the dipstick and replace it. Call it a whole minute. That would be 60 minutes x $ 26.92 per minute for a total of $ 1,615 dollars an hour. Not sure how I just paid 1600 dollars an hour for a mechanic. But that’s what happened.
Needless to say. I won’t be back.
UPDATE: I have now driven the car more than 2000 miles, the check engine light is still off. It has been over a month since I took my car here. I even passed smog at a different shop with no problem. So, my vehicle did not need the O2 sensor they tried to sell me. Car drives fine, and I have not seen the check engine light come on at all. This seems like a scenario where I learned a 200 dollar lesson, instead of learning a 500 dollar lesson. Just thought I needed to update here so, people can save themselves the time and money that it costs to deal with these guys.
TL:DR
The shop tried to charge me for an unnecessary O2 sensor, quoted a price that was close to ten times what the part can be bought for, charged me the equivalent of $ 1,615 dollars an hour labor to replace an oil dipstick and wouldn’t honor my coupon. These are not the mechanics you’re looking for.

It’s that time where registration needs to be renewed and a smog test has to be done, yadda yadda.
My dad mentioned about a place in this area and told me I’ll know what I’m looking for when I drive down northgate. Guess I did!
Quick. Easy. Friendly.
The man said it’ll take up to 25 minutes and it was more like 10!
Smog Check — $ 49.95
After tax and fees, it’s just $ 60. Not too bad after all.

If you’re looking for a quick, convenient, friendly place to get your smog check and certificate done, then look no further than the folks at Smog Diagnostic Specialists!
They usually have $ 10 off coupons in the Natomas Shopper, and the Pennysaver sometimes. I got mine in the mail in the form of a postcard because Hubby had just gone there to get his biannual smog done. Basically, $ 50 out the door for the smog check and certificate… awesome!
They got me right in, and the whole thing was done in less than 15 minutes. So cool!
If y’all need your smog check done, I highly recommend these guys! :)

I’ve been going to Smog Diagnostic Specialists for a few years now, and they do some great work. I can take my auto in for Smog and I’m out in less than 30 mins. I just had repair done on my Lincoln truck due to faulty gas, and they have to replace all our Injectors, Fuel Filter, Flushed out Fuel Lines, etc. My truck is running like new. You can’t tell it’s even running while idling.
They are very professional, courteous and gives me a quote prior to service. They called me before they serviced my truck to let me know what they needed to do and how much it would cost. I recommend this shop. They even honor coupons for certain jobs they do. If I took my autos to the dealer they would have charged me much, much more for all the work they have done on my vehicles.
Another great thing is, when I pick up my truck/​car, I don’t have grease and oil all over my steering wheel or door handles, and my seat and mirrors are not adjusted. They are just like they were when I took it in for service! Great Job Guys! ;)

Quite possibly the worst experience I’ve ever had with a car shop. I had my car towed here around 2:30 in the afternoon on a weekday. First off, I went to them because I had a coupon for a free diagnostic. They said I had the «wrong kind of coupon» for what was likely wrong with my car. After complaining some more, they finally said they would waive the fee if I ended up getting the car fixed there. Most shops do this already. The fact that I had to complain to get them to agree to that, I already knew I had picked the wrong place to take my car. They told me they would call to let me know what they find out. I never received a call from them. I have no other means of transportation, so I had stayed in the area waiting for a call. I had to walk back to their shop to find out they were closed. And then walk 2.5 miles home. Next day, I finally got a call in the morning telling me my AC compressor was bad and that’s why my engine wouldn’t turn over. $ 850 to fix it or $ 320 to bypass it. $ 320 to bypass and not even really fix what’s wrong with the car? By the way, I found out an AC compressor for my car would cost about $ 150. So where do they get $ 850? All labor? You have to be kidding me. I told them to bypass and that I’m a AAA member, so I would like a discount. They said because they were already «waiving the diagnostic fee, which is $ 90, that’s the best they can do for me.» I still haven’t even gotten my car back, but I’m so beyond frustrated. How can a business treat people like this? They don’t even deserve 1 star.

Horrible service! A smog station should advise you that there aren’t free re-​checks and the price of re-​checks before accepting your vehicle for a re-​test! I have never used a smog station that didn’t do free re-​checks and if I had known this place didn’t, I wouldn’t have come here!!! Never going there again

I have taken several cars here and have never had a problem. All technicians are curteous and very knowledgeable. They give me the price of repairs before any work is done. I feel very confident doing business with SMOG DIAGNOSTICS. I recommend them to everyone. Thank You again SMOG DIAGNOSTICS.

Great customer service and quick service… I will def continue coming for my smog and repair needs. Thanks Miguel and team

Took car in for Star Smog check, I was in and out in 20mins. Staff was friendly and quick.

Don’t smog here!!! No free retest and you will fail visual inspection, timing and gas cap!.They tried to sell me services from the CAP program which is welfare. They also broke my gas cap. Trying to milk the state cap program by failing peoples smog.
Not a good deal, not honest sales. Go somewhere else for cheaper.

On ²⁄₂₅ i took my car in for a smog after I called and was welcomed down for service. I was in and out within 30 min with a pass, cert, smile and a Thank you from the staff. Warm people and a great value. I will use them for all service work in the future. My 2000 Crown Vic will need front end work soon and this is where I will go. Thanx for the great service.
Jody

Worst place I’ve ever taken my car to. Had to take it in for a smog but the check engine light was on. They said they could repair and pass for smog. Well it passed for smog and they charged me plenty for the repair, but a day later the check engine light comes back on. I thought I got this fixed. When i took it back again they are saying this was not diagnosed, this is problem with speed sensor. When i asked why it was not diagnosed, they are saying it is a different problem.
Now they are saying i have to pay more amount to get this repaired. They dont do their job properly.
Will never trust this place again for repairs, or even smog for that matter.
Never ever take your car here. Very bad… i would say there should be negative rating for these guys.

Great little shop! I have been using them for years for Smog checks on my two vehicles. They are always fast, knowledgeable and polite. Just had them replace the brakes/​do an oil change on my minivan, and it’s never run better!

Been here several times with different cars for repair and smog checks. Always experienced great customer service and honest estimates from these guys. Recommend a visit!

Overall: excellent experience. Enjoyed meeting Miguel and Juan who have great attitudes and are transparent, which I value in a mechanic. Time efficient as well, at just 15 minutes for a smog check. Definitely will be back again.

Worst place I’ve ever taken my car to. Had to take it in for a smog but the check engine light was on. They said they could repair and pass for smog. Well it passed for smog and they charged me plenty for the repair, but a day later the check engine light comes back on. I thought I got this fixed…
The only positive is they scanned it again for free which is great and all, but they still wanted to charge me almost the same amount of money to do «more repairs» because «those things can go out at any time, even the next day.» Yeah… They told me an 02 sensor was out among other things that didn’t register the previous time I brought it in because it was apparently working fine.
And just to be clear, everything was reset in the car, clocks and whatnot, so it appears they simply disconnected the battery to turn off the check engine light so it could pass smog. I’m just glad the DMV accepted their paperwork, because I can almost guarantee if I had taken it somewhere else to get it smogged after they «repaired» it, it would have failed.
Took it someplace else. They fixed it for nearly half the price and said there were no errors on the 02 sensor at all. It was a temp sensor making the car think it was well below zero and flooding the engine because of it.
Will never trust this place again for repairs, or even smog for that matter.

I really like this place. All the people here are cool. The owners Manny and Miguel are really nice and helpful.

Needed it done right and within my budget. It’s all about budget these days. These guys got it done quickly and there’s plenty of food places within walking distance if you don’t want to sit and wait.