Sunset Cliffs Automotive

WOW!!! You do not find people this nice now a days. Frank at Sunset Cliffs Automotive is the MAN!!!
My son’s car had an issue. I work on all of my own cars but he is over 3 hours away (without traffic) at college in San Diego, so it is hard to fix issues that might come up. I called Frank and spoke with him about the issue the car was having. My son took the car done and had it tested. Frank spent almost an hour working on the car and found nothing wrong. He had a couple of suggestion to replace a radiator cap. He did all of this and didn’t charge me anything. Next time I am down in his neck of the woods I owe him a drink.

I’ve gone to them for brake work and when my check engine light was on before I needed to get my car smogged. They even offered to let me come back before my smog to make sure no codes came up before I took it in. They are easy to work with and do fast work. I would definitely recommend you trying them!

Really great place! Needed work done to the car. Mostly brake stuff. Was nervous about going alone because I’ve been screwed over at a few places before. But I saw the reviews for this place and checked it out. It was also not too far from home so if I needed to leave the car, I could walk.
Really small shop on a corner off sunset cliffs. A little cluttered but it works for them. I came, told them the problem, he looked at the car right away and told me what needed to be done and gave me a quote. It was about what I was expecting which didn’t make it hurt any less. I said ok and was on my way.
He called about an hour later and said he looked at the car a little more and said turns out, less work needed to be done and it’ll save me a $ 100+ and he’ll call me when he’s done.
Wow! Anyone else would kept with the original pricing. I’ve been to places that have done that. Very honest and cool dude. Picked up my car first thing the next morning and it drives like a dream.
Thanks guys!

I have been taking my car here for years now and every time I leave here I feel confident that I got the best price and the best service in San Diego. Frank and the rest of the employees here are honest and try to explain exactly what is wrong with your vehicle. They also always seem to get my car back in a timely manner.

Frank is the best! I’ve been taking my car to him for the past few years, and I wish I had found him sooner. I trust him to do a great job, and he’s always honest and up front about what’s going on before he does any work.
I find it easy for some shops to take advantage of individuals without knowledge of what’s going on under the hood (especially women), I’ve had personal experience with them before finding Frank. I stumbled upon him after being told I needed a $ 2500-​$ 4000 transmission exploration and repair. I went to Frank for a second opinion, and it turned out to be a spark plug issue that was cheap to fix. He’s been my go to mechanic ever since. I suggest calling ahead to schedule an appt, he’s never been booked more than a few days out.

After two years of trying to get my 88 Corvette to pass smog, Frank and his team got the job done. And for less than ½ what the dealer wanted to charge (which also would have been the wrong part to replace & thus a total waste of money). Frank thoroughly researched my car’s history and what could be fixed. He has always been fair & honest with me on any of my three vehicles I’ve taken to him. But this was over the top. Thank you!!! I’d recommend Sunset Cliffs to everyone!

I will never go anywhere else. When I first moved to OB I tried to register my car but kept failing the smog test. Brought it over to Frank, after another garage had worked on my car which continued to fail. He took the car overnight and tried to figure out what was going on. Tried to make some minor adjustments before figuring out I needed a new catalytic converter. First he calls me and says «you might still be under warranty, call Chryseler and see if they can do it for free, I don’t want to take your money if you can have this done by them» Now there’s someone good hearted and honest, looking out for the consumer. Sadly I was not under warranty, so Frank went and ordered the parts. Replaced cat. (Which was expensive but necessary) and thought, okay I’m good. The engine light came back on, so frank says drop the car off again. Takes the car for the weekend and plays with it, figuring out the new Spark plugs the last garage put in were bad. So he talks to the other garage and they figure it out together, replace the parts and voila! Car is fixed. Walk back to pick up my car which is finally working (this ordeal took a few weeks cuz my car was being so wonky) and I expected to pay for all the time the car was at the garage. Nope, he asks for 10 bucks for a spark plug he replaced and that’s it. I had little money and no job, so that meant the world to me. Frank is da man!!!

Guy who picked up the phone was very rude when explaining limited hours. I’ll take my business elsewhere. If you’re in OB, learn some OB respect folks.

I would be absolutely clueless, carless, and broke If it wasn’t for Frank and his crew at Sunset Cliffs automotive.
Last February my previous vehicle shut down, out of nowhere! I was absolutely carless and hopeless. Last January I previously open a mobile personal training business. My car was my everything! I need in my car to travel to my clients homes. I made a quick decision and purchased 2005 Mitsubishi eclipse spider for $ 4000 cash. I have never had good luck with cars in the past. Actually, I have never had luck with cars in the past at all! No more than two months later I blew had gasket! I had no idea what that. All I knew is going to be money out of my pocket. My fun Teresa told me about her great off auto repair guy. She said that he is so great and nothing but wonderful things to say about him. She was pretty certain he could help. Hours after blowing my head gasket, my car was in the parking at Sunset Cliffs automotive. If you hours later I received a phone call from Frank, the owner. He gave me the bad news of my head gasket being blown and the cost ranging anywhere from $ 1500-​$ 2000. Quite frankly I didn’t have an extra two Grantling around. I sort of flipped out and tell Frank give me the good news. He told me that he would be happy to work on my car and have it back to me as soon as possible I would not have to pay him the full price at the time of the pick up. He offered to put me on monthly payments, he saved my life! Four or five days later my car was in my possession and running like magic!
Sadly that was not my last visit to Sunset Cliffs automotive. As much as I do love their company and their Great work, I’d rather have my car running smoothly all the time. A few months later, I brought my car back to Frank for new brakes, I taillight, oil change, tire rotation and fill up, and of course my air-​conditioning was leaking. Each and every single time I had lunch with the huge smile on my face.

I just picked up my Jeep from Sunset Cliffs Automotive and I have to say that Frank and Jim (if I got his name right) were absolute pleasure to work with. I will refer my friends to this shop and they got themselves another customer.

knowledgable mechanics, who know how to go above and beyond to make sure you and your car are happy! reasonable prices, great turnaround. great at explaining to you the situations as well in detail. not many places work on VOLKSWAGONS but they do and would recommend.

This will forever be the only place i’ll bring my car in San Diego!
I have had great success every time I’ve needed a mechanic or just needed a question answered. They NEVER charge me for my questions or minor help needed, which is rare in the car industry.
I have recommended them on several occasions and all of my friend have had an equally wonderful experience.

I’ve been taking my trucks and vans here for years. I own a business that requires my vans to be operational. If I don’t have them I don’t work. Frank gets it done right and on time the 1^st time. I won’t go anywhere else.

I brought my VW GTI in here and Frank helped work on my car problems. He was up front and honest and worked hard to solve the problems quickly and efficiently. At one point he worked with me to call VW to see if one item was on recall and it was so I saved money by taking it to VW.
I highly recommend Sunset Cliffs Automative!

I live in El Cajon yet take my car to OB for repairs, why? Because Frank is awesome! I have an older car that I bought used, so I always have things popping up. So I can’t and won’t blame Sunset Cliffs if I have a POS car. I’m just grateful that everytime something happens, Frank is always helpful and fair in his pricing. He finds time to see me on short notice and gives me a realistic idea of what to expect price and time wise.
There’s a coffee joint in the parking lot if you’re just getting an oil change and an awesome German restaurant next door if you just need to kill an hour or so while he adjusts your brakes.

I had to write this new review because I feel bad about leaving such a low score, but what happened happened. So I will write this one to bring it up a bit.
If you go to Sunset Cliffs Automotive and are helped by Frank and he does the work for you, you will without a doubt be incredibly happy and satisfied. He is very quick, knows his stuff, is 100% honest, and you will get a good price on the work done.
I will definitely continue to be a customer of these guys and just hope that my car doesn’t get lost in the shuffle again. If it wasn’t for my girlfriend having such great experiences every time she has taken her car there they might have lost me as a customer. I’m glad they didn’t.

THIS PLACE IS TERRIBLE. DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR HERE.
I brought my 1995 VW Jetta here and was having some oil leak problems. The mechanic made me replace a fan and some other things — $ 400! I needed my car as I am a student and have a job. So I picked it up and after $ 400 he still wanted me to bring my car back. Then I drove my car and it was still leaking oil and making noise! Brought it back and he wanted me to pay more & leave it. I said no… he had NO IDEA what the problem was.
It ran fine for awhile and then it started leaking oil so I was taking my car into a great place that I finally found and my ENGINE BLEW!
THIS GUY DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE’S DOING.

Frank & Tom are great and honest. My husband and I have been going to them for everything –small fixes-​big problems even oil changes.
So happy to have a reliable mechanic in SD!

Why I love Unilocal: I can find honest veterinarians, dentists, mechanics and more! Unreal. :]
Needed some routine service done and thought we needed brakes too, so we went here since it’s just down the street from us and the reviews were great. You always expect to pay a grip load on repairs but they quoted me just over a $ 100 for a few things. Wow! When I asked to check the brakes because we were told by the Toyota dealer they were almost done with, Tom on the other hand said they were in awesome shape. Honest mechanics do indeed exist!

I love this place! The guys are always friendly, willing to educate me on whatever topic I’m asking, give me options, diagnose for free even if they have to reproduce the problem by housing it overnight.
My car is actually still under warranty and I could get repairs and replacements for free if I take it to the dealership. But I still opt to take it here out of convenience of the easy in and out!