Snow's Auto Repair Center

This is not a legitimate place of business. They don’t pay their employees and it’s more of a storage lot.....my car has been here 2 yrs. snows financial....haven’t filed my taxes for three years. They never have time to talk to you. Stay away!

I brought my car into Snow's automotive to have the timing belt replaced. Snow's Automotive is located at 324 W Chapman Ave, Orange, CA 92866. There were no issue's with the car. This was done as preventative maintenance. I also agreed to have the thermostat replaced. I dropped the car off on a Thursday morning and was assured by the service writer that the car would be finished by Monday. This type of work is typically finshed the same day with a morning drop off and making arrangements for the parts to be ordered which I did. I received a call telling me the car wasn't going to ready for a Monday pickup due to the car not "running right". I was told later that the mechanic improperly installed the timing belt. The message also said that this mechanic was "probably going to be fired". I have saved the message. The mechanic installed the belt off one tooth on both the exhaust and intake camshafts. It obviously ran poorly and would not hold an idle. Instead of fixing this problem he advanced the timing and raised the idle speed. They knew that this was unacceptable and were working to fix the problem. I appreciated the honesty and if no damage was done, I was ok with the extra time it would take to make it right. They said the car would be ready on Tuesday. I picked up the car that afternoon and thought it was running properly. At a stop light the temperature started to bounce around and neared overheating. I brought the car back AGAIN the next morning. Daniel Snow was not at the shop so his lead mechanic took a look at it. I was called at the end of the day by Daniel and was told that he found debris in the new thermostat and this was the problem. When I arrived to pick up the car I spoke to the head mechanic about the problem. I was told that the thermostat had been installed backwards! Daniel lied to me. Not wanting to get his mechanic in trouble for telling me the truth I didn't say anything. I picked up the car on Wednesday and all seems good. After less than a half a tank worth of driving I put the car into park and the idle started to surge wildly! It would go from 600 rpm to 1500 rpm. I captured this on my phone. In addition the check engine light came on. I looked closely at the engine and noticed that two of the valve cover studs had been replaced. The work was poor and the result is that the nuts holding the valve cover on are barely holding by a couple of threads(I have pictures)! On top of that I found an oil leak! There wasn't a leak of any kind before. I called Daniel in the morning and brought the car in yet again! I pointed out the issues and he just moved on and started to talk about things that weren't of importance to the repair. He never owned up to any of the issues. He then told me to bring it back later! Not a chance! My brother had used Snow's some years back and had a great experience. I had hoped for the same service. Sadly I didn't get it. I now have an oil leak, a check engine light, and a valve cover that might pop off at any time. I brought in a car without any problems and now have to take it to a competent mechanic to fix these issues. I'm writing this review so that you can be informed. Do not bring your car to this mechanic! His lead mechanic was helpful and seemed to be very competent. However the tech who worked on my car was a unqualified, poorly supervised. Daniel is difficult to talk too and sadly he will lie to you when it comes down to it. The effect of negative reviews are hard to reconcile. I try to give positive feedback on services redered whenever possible. However in this case I feel it important to get this type of service exposed for people to see before they become a victim. I have posted on Yelp and other sites. I'm also sending this info to the Orange Chamber of Commerce, BBB, as well as NAPA since he uses them as a parts supplier.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR HOT RODS HERE. My experience was an absolute nightmare! I took my rod over there about 2 months ago to look at what it would take to get the overdrive working on the transmission. I left it there for 2 days and told them I am not in a rush, I just want to know what it will take to get it fixed. While it was there I asked them to check if the alternator was dead. They charged me $140 for this without asking approval, I didn't find out until I got my receipt for what I thought was $280 to inspect the transmission. A new alternator is $85, why would they charge me $140 just to check if its dead!!! Anyway, I picked up the truck after they told me they have a colleague who would be back in town in a few weeks that can fix the transmission for $700. They told me the $280 I spent would go towards that repair. So, fast forward a month and I drop it off to have them repair it. They told me it would be done in one week. Then they call me the next day and tell me it won't be $700, but rather $1500!!. That in my opinion is unacceptable because I left it there for them to diagnose for 2 days and apparently that wasn't enough? Then it ended up taking 2 weeks to repair. I called them several times during this two weeks because they weren't giving me any status updates whatsoever and caught them lying to me about receiving the transmission back from a rebuild shop on two separate days (Why did they tell me they can fix it when they just sent it somewhere else to get rebuilt?!). I had to bully them into assuring me it would be done on Friday by 6pm. I again got no status update and called them at 530pm to ask if I can come by to pick it up and pay. They told me it was almost ready and to come by. I showed up and at this time they tell me that only half of the $280 I originally paid would be credited towards the transmission repair, even though that was never explained at any other time. As if I wasn't already mad I then waited until 930pm to get it back. They were telling me during this time that my starter wiring was bad because they couldn't start it. My wiring was not bad, it was their improper connection to the gear selector that was causing the issue. Then after they finally get it finished I noticed that they had somehow managed to ground out the brake lights so that when you turn the car on the brake lights come on automatically! I didn't even care anymore, I just took it and told myself I would fix that issue myself! Then, the next morning I woke up to a puddle of transmission fluid in my driveway because they didn't properly tighten the TV bracket to the transmission housing to fluid was leaking all over the place. This was by far the worst experience I have ever had at any mechanic and I will forever discourage anyone from ever using this shop!!!

Outstanding service and customer care. Van runs so much better after all the fixes

Never ever bring your car here. Owner is extremely difficult to deal with and thinks he is above the law. I have had TWO separate judges issue judgements against Snow's after they damaged my car and they still refuse to pay the Court ordered judgement. They are going to be taken to court again soon to enforce the judgements. Check the Yelp reviews - others have left bad reviews as well. You've been warned, not worth the risk when there are honest and reliable shops nearby.