SW Auto Collision Center

My family and I have come here 3 times in the past couple of years for car repair, and every time, it took at least a few to several days longer than promised to complete the work on our cars. In the most recent case, the front of our sedan was damaged. Mark said it would take 10 days to fix it. In reality, it took them a whole month… I kid you not. As another Unilocaler mentioned, they never called us to say there’d be a delay. We had to call them to find out it that it would take 3x longer than promised and then had to extend our car rental and shell out more money.
Also, Mark said it was cost x amount when we first brought in the car. He called us the next day and said after he opened the hood though, the damage was worst than initially thought, and would cost hundreds more. I don’t know anything about cars and that might have been true, but I feel like as a mechanic he probably could have anticipated that and gave us a warning ahead of time, versus us already submitting the car to him for work and making the decision to pull out at that point tougher.
We went there 3 times because they’re nearby and seemed like a good place to get a decent and cheap (vs excellent and expensive) job done. But we’ve finally woken up and honestly, there are dozens of other auto shops in the 626 that can do the same thing, at probably the same or more competitive price, and within a more honest timeframe. I would not go out of my way to recommend this place and won’t be coming back.

I’ve been coming to Mark and Cathy at SW for about 10 years now. They are fast, do good work, and are reasonably priced. The main thing is that they don’t try to push unnecessary services on you. Coming from someone who knows little about cars, I have definitely come across a fair share of mechanics who try to cheat you. Mark is the exact opposite – he tells you his honest opinion about what type of service your car needs, how long you can wait until you absolutely need it, and different buying methods (i.e. used or OEM). All in all, Mark and Cathy are wonderful people and I will continue to be a loyal customer because of their good work and sincerity.

Definitely sad to see that the New Avenue location closed down, because it was just minutes from my house. But it gave me the peace of mind to know that Mark is working at the San Gabriel Blvd. location of SW Auto.
SW Auto has been my mechanic for over 15 years. They were always great at solving my car problems, and always gave me fast & reliable services.
I recently had the world’s most awful screeching sound when I drove my car. Instead of asking me to drop of my car for hours (like the dealers), I describe my issue with Mark, and he instantaneously told me what is wrong with my car, and got it fixed for a fraction of the price at the dealership.
They are open Monday-​Saturday. If you know what type of repair work you need, I highly recommend that you call their shop and let them know you are coming a day or 2 in advance so that they can order the car part for you. This would simply save everyone time!

I was actually recommended by this place by my friend. I thought it would of been great because it was a friend of a friend. However, all auto repair places have it’s perks, either good or bad.
I went to install new automatic car locks on a car with only manual locks. The service was great and friendly. Although, it took them a whole entire day to install automatic locks on just TWO doors, driver and passenger side. I had to come back the next day right before they closed.
During the process, it was difficult to get a hold of owner. I was unable to get an exact time on when I was able to pick up my car. They never call, YOU have to call them.
And when I called the last time, they finally told me it was ready long time ago. When I got there, he kept trying to sell me off more things of my car. Telling me all these other things are bad.
To top it off, I was over charged for my automatic locks on just TWO doors. $ 120.00 PER DOOR! That’s a huge rip-​off!
A few months later, one of my automatic locks weren’t working. I decided to go somewhere else where I wouldn’t get overcharged. I went to my original Auto Repair shop from many years ago. He ONLY charged me $ 60.00 PER DOOR! He actually re-​installed it on ALL FOUR doors ON THE SAME DAY!
During the process of getting my locks fixed, he was telling me all the things that SW did wrong. They created their OWN hooks on the locks and created a few holes into my door. They cut my wires short, so when my locks are being switched to lock/​open, it has a higher chance of snapping off at a tight space.
While I was watching my Original Auto Repair mechanic take apart my faulty door lock, You can really tell these parts were salvaged.
I may not know so much about auto repair, but honestly, if you can see the fault in their work, even IF it was a few months. It’s bad.

This place is GREAT!
I got an accident last month and visited several body shops for quote and assistance. This shop is very helpful and leave me peace in mind. Staffs explain to me about everything from overall procedures to approximate pick up date. The paint job is great and they carry warranty.
I like their excellent customer service!