Sun Devil Auto

I brought my car in to the Tempe Store at Elliot and McClintock for very slow leaking flat, oil change, and tire rotation. When I picked it up they at first were startled at the question «Did you find the leak?» Then told me there was no visible signs of a foreign object in the outside of the tire. Heck I knew that as I told them it leaks 2lbs a week. I asked them why they didn’t take the tire off the rim (since they would have to do so to fix the leak) and they said to go to Discount Tire. When I asked how long to check the two managers said the crew is at lunch. Know these men are promoted from the ranks and could have checked the leak themselves. Due to their laziness, they have lost my business and I am going to check the oil level and filter to make sure they are full and snug. I am sorry I know the owner personally but if he doesn’t know of these situations his business will dry up. If his managers have an attitude of sending me down the road to another competitor with a careless attitude — he might have his answer to the profit margins at his shop. Sorry Joel

I have been a loyal costumer to sun devil for over a decade now. Unfortunately, it is time to take my loyalty elsewhere. I took my disel in for a basic oil change and top to bottom inspection for a cross country 1500 mile road trip that I was about to take. They came back with that I needed a new radiator system and quoted me $ 1400.
I took my truck for a second opinion to Crawford auto, who also did a full vehicle inspection… And said and I quote «i wish I could tell you your truck needed service because that’s the business were in. but it doesn’t. Your vehicle is in perfect working order. I would have no problem taking it cross country».
Crawford had the perfect opportunity and setup to confirm its need for a new radiator system and quote me a little less to ensure my business with them. I did communicate exactly what sun devil said and quoted as well as showed them in the system exactly what they showed me. They were LOOKING for the problem!!! And still NOTHING!
Sun devil auto are thieves! They take advantage when they see opportunity to. Then conduct high pressure sales as they told me that I should think twice about driving my truck off their lot without getting the repair done. That I could blow my engine at the next stop light. A pretty bold statement considering the truck checked out PERFECTLY the next day elsewhere? Do not go here…
On a side note, since the owner called my husband offended that I called them asshats on Unilocal.I did them the service of removing it.
Regarding your comment: nice back stroke sun devil! Appreciate your twist on words in attempts to not look like the thieves you are. Thought I’d edit this post and let you know that I did indeed take it for a third opinion like we discussed! Can you take a wild guess how it Checked out? Damn straight. Perfectly!!!

Sun Devil Auto is top notch. I have never had a bad experience at any Sun Devil.
Thank you to Jeff for the great customer service!

I’ve been going to Sun Devil for about 15 years but never use them for any job over $ 200 because they have demonstrated many times that they are either untrustworthy or unskilled (sometimes both). I’ve gone to many locations all over the valley and two weeks ago I went to the Elliot location for an oil change.
I always do my oil changes at Sun Devil because the price cannot be beat and they have Valvoline Max Life which I like to run in a few of my vehicles. Also, they include a tire rotation and in depth inspection with each oil change. Oil changes must be a loss for them to do but they make up for it with the inspection which always results in many findings no matter what condition your vehicle is in. And i actually kinda like that because even though 80% of what they say is wrong or totally made up, the other 20% of the time I get a heads up on something that I can take care of at my own place either by myself or at a better shop.
Anyways, I told them that my vehicle was vibrating during acceleration and to look for a possible culprit during the inspection. So about 20 minutes later they call me out to the shop to show me their findings/​recommendation: A bad wheel bearing and an entire front end suspension rebuild (lower and upper control arms, stabilizer bar, etc). Total quote: $ 2300.
So we are looking at the vehicle and I grab the tire and shake it and there is indeed play and thus the wheel bearing is bad. I don’t believe the control arms diagnosis so I ask the mechanic «did you check the U joints?» And he says «yeah, everything else looks great.»
So I pay for the oil change and get out of there. This past weekend I took the same vehicle to Firestone to have the tire balance checked and while it was on the lift I asked them to check the U joints since I never believed Sun Devil and sure enough the front joint on the rear driveshaft was totally shot: tons of movement and orange dust around the housing (u joints 101). I went home, jacked up the rear end, and removed the driveshaft and the u joint and looking inside the joint there was no grease whatsoever and several broken needle bearings. So $ 15 later my truck is running smoothly with zero vibrations.
So again, the ⁸⁰⁄₂₀ rule: they were right about the wheel bearing (which i had replaced for $ 125 elsewhere) but the $ 2000+ suspension quote was totally off base and wouldn’t have done anything to stop the vibrations. And the most important part being that they lied to my face when I asked if they checked the u joints. What makes the story even sadder is that this vehicle in question is 20 years old, has 216,000 miles, and is worth $ 500-​$ 1,000. If you’re going to try and hustle someone for $ 2,000 then make sure the car is worth more than that and that they don’t know anything about auto repair. It’s hard to believe they could be that bad at picking their victims though so that points to the bad mechanics theory. Unscrupulous or Incompetent? The world may never know.
I’ll be back in 3k miles for another oil change :-)

I have had such a good experience here, Dave has always taken great care of me. Last night, I was leaving work (located right next to them), and my car wouldn’t start. It was 5 minutes before they closed, I ran over to ask if there was anything they could do, and Dustin & Austin were able to help me! They brought a jump pack over and got my car started immediately. They saved me hours of inconvenience, I am so grateful!!! Thanks guys!!!

I’ve been a regular customer at Sun Devil Auto for 3 years; spent around $ 3,000 there in that time because the customer service was always good, the guys always stood by their work, and you can go to any location for warranty work. That all changed in the last 72 hours and its likely to result in legal action. If you want the gist of this before reading it all, the manager of this store called my employer and said I «threatened» him because I left a negative Google review about his behavior. Yes, you read that right… this guy attempt to «tell on me» as if my employer is my mother and father; and was hoping I’d be fired or something. Of course my workplace was just as confused and dumbfounded as I was that a grown man in a position of manager at a corporate franchise took this unprecedented, bizarre action. Read on for the entire incident.
I went in to have my brakes looked at due to a grinding noise. They are warrantied via Sun Devil Auto. As always the guys got my van in quickly (even though they were busy), tinkered a bit, and sent me on my way. This is the customer service I’ve grown accustomed to. I noticed my passenger-​side door handle was broken later that day. The only person who had exited it was the mechanic when I was driving the van to demonstrate the noise. I called, let them know about the issue, and the same guy I’d talked to earlier in the day said bring it back in and we’ll look at it. I went back in and he, again, tinkered with it and told me it would take a while to fix; and told me to bring it back Friday. Today I brought it back in and Dave (Hyland I believe is his last name), the manager, came out of the building as the tech was looking at the handle and accused me of trying to scam them. I recorded the entire conversation and posted part of it on my blog. He said «you can’t just come back days later and say we broke your door handle and demand we fix it.» He said the van is old and we’re not liable for it.
When I informed him I brought it back the same day and they would have fixed it that day had I not had other obligations he said he would have fired the technician (s) if they fixed it for free. Again this is all on tape and published online. There was no way to have a conversation with this guy after he accused me of trying to scam them out of a $ 15 part despite records of me spending $ 3,000 there in 3 years. I even had an appointment to get my 36,000 mile transmission service done tomorrow (another $ 150-​$ 200, but obviously I will not be doing that now. This Dave character does not fit the company culture of Sun Devil that I’ve grown to know over three years: empathetic, good listeners, good workers; explain things you don’t understand, stand behind their work, etc. They may be a bit overpriced, but they always stand by their work, of course except this situation. It was just a humiliating experience all together and this guy should not be a manager for any Sun Devil location. Dave does not fit the high-​level customer service of the overall culture.
My plan was to simply let this whole situation go after the weekend and fix the door myself. Customer relations wrote me personally on Facebook and said they would follow up on Monday (today). But apparently they did not have a chance to do so. The Sun Devil Auto manager referenced above (Hyland) called my workplace and told them I tried to «fight» him and «threatened» him. He saw the company logo on my the shirt I was wearing and wanted to do anything to retaliate for the negative online review. His goal was to get me fired, take down the review I left on Google, and/​or apologize to him; none of which happened nor will happen. I’ve never heard of a store manager from a company harass and threaten a customer at their workplace because of an online review; and I actually believe this could be unprecedented. Therefore the next steps are 1) exploration of legal action and 2) potentially filing a police report.
To all future Sun Devil customers: make sure if you had a bad experience and share it with the public online that you are prepared for this manager to harass you, threaten you and retaliate further by calling or showing up at your workplace, home or anywhere else in your personal lives. This has now turned into a scary situation as this guy is obviously unstable, but it will be handled accordingly. I doubt their customer relations department will even do anything about this now. Its become a criminal and civil matter now when a simple acknowledgment and apology would have been fine.

So — my battery was dying on my car and I knew it.
It was really on its last legs and I was scared that the next time was going to be the time that my car wouldn’t start, and with it being 100,000 degrees in the summer in Phoenix, I was not looking forward to that time, because my luck — I would be stuck at a gas station or somewhere strange and be sitting there.
Anyway, I called around and they were able to get me in and change out my battery quickly (under an hour). Which was awesome! Fast service! Wonderful. Now, I know that batteries are relatively easy operation and I get that. But I had been to two other places the night before and neither had the type of battery I needed. In fact, Sun Devil Auto didn’t have it either, and were able to courier the correct one over to the store and still have it completed very quickly.
My only grievance — it was a very expensive battery. I would say between $ 40 – 50 more than what I would have expected. However, you do get a 5 year warranty on the battery, so this is pretty awesome. Especially given that we run through batteries quickly here in the desert. So, I am able to justify that extra expense with the warranty.
Overall, I was impressed with the team and had a great experience here.

Checked the reviews for this location and they seemed good. I decided I would check it out myself since I’m new to the neighborhood and I couldn’t have been more pleased. Friendly, fast service and they don’t skip a beat. Quality care. I have very high mileage on my Kia Soul and they did not try over sell me when just getting an oil change. Also thought my brakes were in need of replacement and they could have lied and said yes but they did not. The gentlemen let me know sometimes breaks just squeak especially since I had rotors changed a little while back.

Car overheated on the freeway and a few things went wrong at once. After I had it towed to the Tempe location, they put in a new radiator which had cracked during the overheating, thermostat which got shot in the process, hoses, system flush and a new battery with a 5 year free battery warranty for just 800 and that was without coupons etc.

Today was my third amazingly positive experience with Sun Devil Auto and specifically dealt with David Hyland, service manager… I was so impressed with the caring and competence shown by all with some serious repair work, like replacing a radiator, tires, and so on; it has restored my confidence in the auto repair industry, which I normally compare to going to the dentist, expensive and painful, but necessary. David went above and beyond the call of duty (ABCD) in so many ways. Loved the communication and texting back and forth was another service provided. On another occasion, David arranged for me to receive top quality service at another Sun Devil location, where I happened to be close to at the time I needed service. Wow, what a team! You can trust this shop. David and his team will creatively go out of their way to help make the whole repair experience as comfortable and stress-​free as can be. I’m not talking about fluffy oil changes; I’ve had radiator replaced and more serious stuff on an OLD car! If you’ve never been here before, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. Nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Honest, nice, helpful. They fixed my car for far less than I was expecting and their lobby has free WiFi. Not the worst way to spend a Monday morning.

This is a great place to take your car if you want to have an oil change turn into a costly repair. These guys are the kind of place your dad warned you about.

I greatly appreciate this Sun Devil Auto location. The staff was very friendly and they took great care of me. After dropping off my car, they let me know a timeline of the couple things that I should get fixed (from low priority to high priority). I was very pleased to know the same recommendations that Sun Devil Auto made, our family auto repair guy suggested them as well. The pricing was fair, and they provided financing options that don’t involve opening an additional line of credit. I waited two months before posting this to Unilocal,because I tend to be skeptical of auto shops. Sun Devil Auto was timely, fair in price, honest, and friendly. Thank you for providing such great service!

Store management went out of there way to make sure they did everything they could to make sure I had a good experience.

First Tip — Go to their website before you go to see if any coupons might be of use!
I am a fairly young disabled woman who drives a pretty sporty car and *just the type* mechanics with no scruples try to take advantage of. I’m new to the area and nobody was able to give me a recommendation, so Unilocal to the rescue! Sun Devil Auto at the corner of McClintock and E. Elliot is great!
I really know my car and I went in for a basic oil change, tire rotation, fluid top off before heading out of the area on about a 400 mile trip. I knew what they should come back suggesting in terms of additional work I might consider doing on the car and I knew just how urgent the work in question *isn’t*! lol They came back mentioning just the things I already knew about, were honest that my car is perfectly safe and that the repairs in question are just something I’ll want to take care of at some point… but there’s no urgency about any of them. Big points right there. They caught all my cars little problem areas and were straight with me. That’s HUGE from an auto shop. (At least in my book!)
I had an appointment — something I suggest to one and all whether you’re *just* after an oil change or your car is needing to spend more time at the car doctor. They’re kept busy and yet it was clear that they are still being thorough and taking appropriate time tending to each customer’s car. They got my car back right on time and it was done in about 45 minutes.
The «front desk Daves» were both really friendly and I ended up having a lovely chat with one of them while I waited on my car. They honored an online coupon I’d found even though I’d been unable to print it out per the instructions! I had all my fluids topped off, my oil changed, and they rotated my tires — I was out the door for under $ 23.00! That’s QUITE the deal. (Oil changes are typically more like $ 40 and it’s usually another ten bucks or so to rotate tires.)
I had the opportunity to listen to the Dave I hadn’t been in conversation with talk with a woman about the problems they’d found with her vehicle and she needed it all broken down and explained in «bite-​sized» chunks in order to be comfortable and make decisions about what work she wanted them to do. (She’d brought the car in because it was having some troubles and Dave was going over what they’d found and the estimates for the work the shop suggested be done.) I thought his explanations were *fantastic*. He made the whole thing very accessible for her and she was clearly at ease when deciding what to do. They get a lot of credit from me for that. A lot of shops lack the ability to explain complicated car problems to non-​car savvy people… and even if they’ve got the skill, they so often lack the patience! This leaves customers really wondering if they’re doing the right thing agreeing to put all this money into fixing things they don’t exactly understand. Good Job, Sun Devil Auto! I also got to overhear the Dave I did spend time talking with «breaking the important news» over the phone to someone that their car repairs had come in a couple hundred dollars UNDER what had been quoted… so they have a sense humor, to boot!
The only thing they didn’t do that I’m sort of used to places doing when they do an oil change was vacuum out my car, but at $ 22 and some change — a timely but thorough job — a totally pleasant experience — and where NO attempt was made to talk me into additional things not necessary — I’m NOT really complaining. I can vac my own car! lol
There folks do about every kind of work on cars/​trucks/​vans imaginable. The only things they don’t really do is much in the way of body work or upholstery.
I only went in for something very basic, but after having the experience I had and getting to see their employees interact with customers whose cars had bigger problems, I wouldn’t hesitate bringing my car here again… be it for the maintenance they suggested that does need to be done at some point or for something far more major.
Three Cheers for Sun Devil Auto!!!
P. S. I think if you mention my name they’ll give you a bit of a discount. Tell them you read Dahlia’s review! Can’t hurt!

These guys are wonderful!
I am a meineke victim and would have not known without Sun Devil Auto. They brought me in the garage and literally pointed out what i paid for and what i should have paid for and how much. They pointed out the horrible «repair» job that meineke did and let me know that the job i paid $ 700 for was actually no more than $ 120! Sun Devil Auto fixed my real problem and let me know what needed to be done and what can wait. The job was fast and true. I recommend Sun Devil Auto to anyone, these are real mechanics who actually care about their customers and their cars. they will not scam you. I will never go anywhere else but here.

I was recommended here by a family friend. I am from out of town and don’t know much about cars or oil changes but they are reasonably prices especially for a college student and have a friendly staff. I would recommend this place to anyone looking for any auto repairs.

Great service here! Dave and Maurice are always so nice! I take my car here for everything. Had to have my entire brake system replaced and Dave made sure it was handled at the best price and timely manner. Everyone I speak with is always super friendly too. Oil changes are always under an hour too. Everytime I’m in here I hear singing from the office or in the shop. Who doesn’t enjoy singing working men? Recommended

Stopped into Sun Devil after a recommendation from my mom when I needed to have a connector to my battery looked at, and a standard oil change. First of all, right away they were super welcoming and friendly. I could tell when I walked in that they were definitely busy because almost all of the lifts were full, and the parking lot was almost totally full, but I came in with my car without an appointment, they didn’t make it seem like it was an inconvenience (which I have experienced at other places when I have come in during busy times). They gave me an estimated hour wait for my car to be finished, and it was done in a little over 40 minutes! The waiting area had current reading material, and there was complimentary coffee. I am used to paying nearly $ 50 for my oil changes at Jiffy Lube… I know nothing about cars, so I will openly admit now that I was sucked into their marketing and seeing them all over town. I was literally SHOCKED when it only cost me $ 17.03 for them to fix the part on my battery, and for my oil change (this was after the $ 5 Unilocal check-​in discount). Definitely will be a longtime customer after today’s experience… I highly suggest taking your car here. They are friendly, honest, reasonable and really put the customer first!

Stopped in to get a crack in my windshield fixed. The manager Dave was extremely friendly and chatted with me for a bit as I waited for the repairs to finish. All of the staff were friendly and professional. The damage to my windshield was fixed perfectly, and best of all they comped the cost of the repair! Great place! I plan on making Sun Devil Auto my go to repair shop.

I recently had my car worked on at the Sun Devil Auto on E. Elliot Road, Tempe, AZ. The staff were professional and pleasant to deal with. This is one auto repair shop that definitely stands behind their work. I will recommend them to all my friends.

I came to Sun Devil to get a diagnosis, since it was acting up after a collision. My friend recommended it, and these guys were beyond amazing. David Hyland, the store manager, had my car looked over and kept it over night since it was late when I took it in, and he wanted a few guys to test drive it. He sent me pics of my tires, two of which had wires showing. He told me what I needed to fix now, and never once tried to up sell anything. They gave me rides to and from my house, and all were nothing but sweet! Never once talked down to since I know nada about cars, and David explained everything so I could understand. These guys, especially David went out of there way to check over my car, and for that reason, I will only ever come to Sun Devil! Thanks guys, and David I’m still bringing you Starbucks!:)

I have been taking my car here for quite some time now for oil changes, and I have always been satisfied with the service. The guys who work here are always polite &friendly and they don’t PUSH you to get other things fixed on your car, they simply inform you of a few things (if any) and give you an estimate should you decide to go through them. The price (for oil changes) aren’t too expensive either. I am very satisfied with their service.

I’ve been taking my vehicles to Sun Devil Auto on Elliot since 2007, when I moved to Tempe. Over the years, they have earned my trust through honest work and fair pricing. When I’ve been given a quote for a large repair, I’ve always researched the estimated cost for the work and found Sun Devil to be fairly priced.
Some times when I bring my car in for an oil change, they will recommend a routine maintenance service that the car could use. I’m fine with this, as it has allowed me to do the needed maintenance on my vehicle over time. The result of the maintenance is a paid off vehicle with 100k miles that runs like it was brand new.
I’ll continue to bring my vehicles to Sun Devil as long as this level of treatment and service continues.