Tom Eplin’s Automotive Center

Rude. The people that work here are so rude and clearly do not care about customer service. Take your business elsewhere. Made an appointment to get a quote for repairs because my insurance company sent me to this place. I had forgotten who I had set up an appointment with and the owner or manger (not sure who) got upset and told me I can’t show up without an appointment. But I made one? Literally just forgot who with. He continued to be extremely rude about me «showing up.» Definitely will never take my business here and I would never recommend anyone to come here.

After my wife’s car was rear ended on September 30, 2015, we were referred to this body shop by our insurance carrier, Safeco. The car, 2015 Hyundai Sonata 2.0 Limited was bought new just months ago. Although no fault on her part as the other party accepted full liability, this was still a stressful experience. Things go through our minds like dealing with insurance, getting medical help for my wife and kids, dealing with legal stuff, and etc.
As I reflect back on this experience, the referral from Safeco to go to Tom Eplin’s Body Shop was one of the greatest referrals made by an insurance company. The quality of the fix was amazing. The bumper and the matching color look like identical and if I didn’t tell the bumper was replaced, you couldn’t tell. The staff of Adam Cummings, Dan Eplin, and John Barnes was sympathetic for experience but was very reassuring that they can restore the car back to its precollision condition. I wasn’t a believer until I pick up the car late afternoon today. The shine, the color match, and the safety mechanisms (back up camera and cross traffic sensors) were working like «just off the lot» state. All of their staff was professional, friendly, and supportive during one of the most stressful time we can have in our lives. They showed empathy not rudeness like some other body shops that I heard others experienced.
Though I hope I don’t need to return to them for any future fix, because I don’t want another accident. However, I know where to go if crap happens and where to refer others if they have an accident.
I really want to thank their crew for their exquisite work and also the great referral to this honest and trustworthy body shop.

I hardly leave reviews for companies because for the most part service is average at best. However, I just finished having my truck repaired at Tom Eplins Auto Center and the experience was wonderful!
The day after the accident I was shopping around for body shops. I spoke with Adam, he said he could fit me in as soon as my insurance adjuster had finished his estimate. Once they had started work on my truck they found more damage than initially was covered. Adam worked directly with my adjuster and kept me in the loop the entire time.
The guys at Tom Eplins Auto Center were great. Adam had them give me a ride to a nearby car rental agency. He even had them pick up my rental car once my truck was repaired. My truck hadn’t been washed for months before the accident. Adam had his guys, wash and wax the entire truck, making it look like I just drove it off the lot.
I will be referring all my friends and family to these guys. Its rare to find a business that goes the extra mile to provide excellent customer service!

Was sent to this auto body shop after an accident at the end of November. Went in for an estimate toward the beginning of December. It’s now February and I hadn’t heard back from this shop about my estimate until today (²⁄₆) when they called and asked me to come in for an estimate. WHAT?! I called back and was told that Dan (representative who called me) was on lunch. That’s fair, I work and need to eat lunch too. When I asked to try to find out why I needed to go back in, the representative on the phone just spoke over me while I was talking. That’s pretty rude. He said he saw the claim, but no additional information and that Dan would call me back. Okay, fair again.. . Dan never called. I’m definitely never dealing with this shop again and I’ll be sure to tell everyone I know. I’d rather drive to another city for better service than what I’ve received here. I hope my insurance company provides better choices this time around and I suggested to them that they not use this company either.
Looks like I’ll have to take another day off work to get an estimate.

My car was hit so of course I get in touch with my insurance and they look in to getting me in to a body shop as soon as possible and referred me to Tom Eplins because it was very close to my home. My insurance tells me to wait for their call on Monday since it was already Friday night. Come Monday morning and no call so I call the next day and Tom Eplins tells me to bring it over any time so they can take a look at it, So I did… first of the man who went out side to do a estimate was very short with me and says doesn’t look bad bring it by tomorrow so we can get U set up. So I leave and come back the next day and walk in and to the office and no greeting just a blank stare so I greet him and ask if I could leave my car today and he again just stared at me blankly… another gentleman for involved and said I would have to get make an appointment and unfortunately they had no time till maybe next week but he would set me up and give me a call. I left it at that and left. NEVER heard from them so I decided to take my business else where! They seriously need to get some customer service skills and learn how to run their business better.

The best thing that can happen to you after your car gets hit is, getting a good bodyshop to fix your car. I am so glad AllState recommended this place to me. My car, C300 was hit in the parking lot and had 2 side doors damaged. «Dan Eplin» helped me all through. He was thorough and fixed the car in 5 days. I got it back, the day it was promised and the work was well done. Thanks so much «Dan». I highly recommend his service.

I took my car in to Tom Eplin’s to get repaired after being rear ended. The service was wonderful, everyone was so pleasant and the repairs were done in a very reasonable amount of time. My family now uses Eplin’s bodyshop for all our car needs –they’re the best!

My niece had an accident while driving my car on Christmas and our insurance sent us to Tom Eplin’s for an estimate. I was suspicious when their estimate was lower than other shops I had checked out, but they were able to repair my car faster than the other shops so we decided to take the chance. I’m glad that I did. The work was flawless and I couldn’t believe how quickly I got my car back. Unfortunately for us, someone ran into our other vehicle in the BART parking lot not two months later. This time there was no hesitation. This time our insurer gave us a number of choices but we went right back to Tom Eplin’s and had our vehicle back, good as new, before the week was out. Couldn’t be happier with the service or with the quality of the work.

Side swiped on 880. AAA recommended Epplin’s body shop. Epplin’s made the whole repair process seamless. There was a comparable rent-​a-​car waiting for me when I dropped off my truck. The time they took to do the work was moderate but I had a nice rental so I didn’t care how long they took. Just picked up my truck and the work they did was awesome. I left the rental car with them, paid my deductible and was on my way. I would recommend Epplins to anyone without hesitation. Thank you!

This shop is absolutely fabulous. I am extremely happy with the service I received from them. My car looks fantastic. Not only did they fix the bumper, they completely replaced it with a brand new one. I also lost one hub cap during the collision I had. They replaced not just one, but all four with brand new hub caps. I had a small chip on the corner of my hood to be repaired. They completely painted the entire hood which corrected the other chips I had not associated with my accident. They completely detailed & waxed my car. Even though my car is 15 years old, my car now looks brand new.

My 17 year old daughter just had her first accident. Her new car (lil Chevy Aveo) had had its back passenger door crunched by a hummer! When we went to pick up the car it looked perfect. They fixed all the paint chips/​cracks around the door and the door its self. I may add that the paint also matched perfect! The car was also ready in a few days and they were very friendly. i am hoping that i wont ever need to come back but i will highly recommend them to family and friends.

I also had to take my car here due to my insurance company I had at the time. Had a new windshield replaced. The paper work said OEM BMW direct windshield. I’m assuming they billed the insurance company for a OEM one at the OEM price but when I picked up my car, it was an off-​brand. I didn’t pay no mind to it until now. Kinda shady business here. I should have received what the paper work said. Agreed?

Great service, great technical jobs, and extra stuff beyond the call of duty.
All State driver rear-​ended me in California, so All State sent me to this shop. I got there at exactly 8am, and they were ready for me. However, Enterprise wasn’t ready with a pick up, so one of the shop’s people drove me. I got a call everyday to update me and tell me a progress report. One report was a different in price from the insurance quote, but that was already taken care of. In 4 days, the rear bumper was refurnished like new AND they detailed the car. Here is a great kicker, they found some dollars I left in the car’s center console for emergency, and when they handed me my keys at the end, there was also an envelope with all of the money. Plus, the same shop guy I was working with came in at 720am, before their normal 8am open time, so that I could pick up my car before I went to work.
Incredible service and Honesty.

AAA recommended this place to me when my car was in an accident and needed repairs. They had my car in the area where the sandblasting was done with the windows rolled down. When I saw my car filled up with all the sandblasting debris I wasn’t a happy camper. That should have been my first clue that they wouldn’t take good care of my car. They ordered a piece for the inside of my car that needed to be replaced except it was the wrong piece. They ordered the «correct» piece which ended up being the wrong piece again. I got tired of dealing with them and ended up just never getting it fixed.

Got in an accident with a AAA member and they gave me a list of repair shops close. Tom Eplin’s was closest to me so I called them right away to see if they could take my car immediately. The insurance company would only pay for a rental from the time my car was in the shop, since it was 4:45 on a Friday night I was hoping they would take it or else I would be without a car for the week end. They were so nice and waited open for me to bring my car in the same day.
Once I got there, even though it was after there closing time, they called the rental car company for me and arranged for them to pick me up from the shop. They called me every step of the way regarding what was going on with my car. Always extremely friendly. They even detailed my car so it was nice and shiny inside and out when I came to pick it up. I would recommend them. Hopefully I will not need body shop services in the near future, but if I do I will sure bring my car back here.

Brought my car in to get my hood fixed after someone backed up into my car with their hitch and decided to drive off without a care. I also got my driver’s side mirror fixed because that was also hit and hanging from my door.
They did a great job on my hood. Looks brand new. And my mirror is back in the place it should be and all the electrical works again! To top it off they gave it back to me clean both on the inside and outside and with a fresh wax job. The totally cost was very reasonably priced, $ 600 dollars cheaper than the other place that quoted me.
The guys that work there are so nice, especially Adam. Love that guy; he’s the best!

too bad I cannot write a review unless I give a star, I would have given them NO star!
I had to go there for the same reason as other Unilocalers, that they are the preferred body shop by an insurance company. My fender was scratched and pushed bent, every time I open the driver side door there is a loud metal against metal squeak. Before I was made to go there I had an estimate from a body shop that fixed my car a couple of time at reasonable price. My body shop’s estimate was $ 1400.
When I get to talk to the adjuster at Tom Eplins, the first thing he ask was if I will be dropping off the car. I told him that no, I am only getting an estimate. Then everything went downhill. The guy became cold and unresponsive to questions. He was taking his time working on the estimate. After all, he made we wait some more in the office (so I can get a copy of the estimate), and come out saying to me: it will be $ 46.90 … yup, forty-​six dollar and ninety cents. But it will take 3 days, hmm, something is wrong here.
After talking with different people at the insurance company I think I realizes what the guy is trying to do: since insurance company pays other body shop based on the preferred shop’s estimate, no body will be willing to take my job. And if I leave it with them, then then can always «find some more damage» and raise the price.
Luckily my body shop was willing to talk to the insurance company to send an adjuster to a direct inspection, I have my car fixed.
Will not go near that place, rude and dishonest.

Let me start off by saying I am forced by my insurance company to come here. Been here two times now. The first time was to replace the front bumper and left headlight. This second time was to replace the rear bumper.
After they fixed the front bumper, we had to come back twice because the bumper kept falling off. I suggested they use more glue and the front desk guy snaps back that they don’t use glue.
All their work has a lifetime warranty and that’s great, but insurance only covered for a rental the first time I brought the car in. Not the second and third. Oh… and I had to miss work both times.
This second time around, I did everything I could to avoid bringing my car here. My deductable is $ 500, so I looked into replacing it myself. Looked all over the internet for the bumper and the best I could find came to about $ 450 with the matching paint. Minus well pay the $ 500 for a professional to do it. So I took it here again.
They quoted the job for $ 1500!!! No wonder we all pay an arm and a leg for auto insurance. Because of places like this!

I am currently in the process of turning in my leased vehicle. Since Tom Eplin’s did a good job of a repair on the same car a few months back, I thought I would go back for an estimate on fixing a small 1.5″ scratch and 2″ dent on the driver’s side panel.
The estimator tried to show me another dent, that upon my careful inspection, appeared to be nonexistent. After a fairly long wait, he came back to me with a staggering dollar amount. I thanked him for his time and went to Wilma’s Collision Repair in Hayward for a second opinion. I was referred to Wilma’s by a friend who has had body work done there. The quote at Wilma’s came in at $ 400 LESS than Tom Eplin’s! Astonished at the price differential, I showed Tom Eplin’s quote to the estimator at Wilma’s. It seems that a few extra hours of «unnecessary» labor where to blame for the excessive cost. The staff at Wilma’s are very helpful, friendly and upfront, unfortunately, I did not get the same experience at T.E.‘s
In summary, if your insurance company is paying for the repairs, Tom Eplin’s does fine work and you should expect good results. If you are paying out of pocket and looking for a positive experience, check out Wilma’s!

This is the body shop my insurance company picked out, so I didn’t know what to expect.
The things that make it the four stars I was going to initially give them.
1) The people were friendly and professional. John was terrific to work with.
2) When they found more damage after removing the panel, they showed me this damage and provided a new time and money estimate.
3) They arranged for a rental car to be there when I arrived to drop off my car, no hassles.
4) When I left my cell phone in the car I dropped off, they phoned me at home to let me know it was at the desk and what their hours were
5) They fixed my car perfectly, it looks great
6) They detailed my car… it has never been so clean since we drove it off the dealership lot the first time.
… and for the fifth star…
7) When I left my child’s backpack, lunchbox and leapster in a chair outside their office after transferring my carseats from the rental, they phoned me at home to let me know it was at the desk and what their hours were. They weren’t even audibly snickering at my ditziness. I would have been. Guess I was even more absent minded than usual this week. That’s quite a feat.
They do not take credit cards, and only take checks with certain insurance companies.
Hours are 8 – 5 on weekdays, not sure about weekends.