Complaint Review: Sun Valley Automotive

I took my late model car to Sun Valley to have it smoged.  The tech. saw that the check engine and maintenance lights on the dash were lite.  He did the smog check.  While he was doing so I mentioned that I might get my car's service done there.  His face lite up as he qoted me various prices for things he suggested to have done.  I told him that I was a senior on a fixed income and that I could not afford to have all of those things done at once.  He said, "Well, your car won't pass the smog test unless I do them.  It will never pass while those maintenance lights are on.  I'll have to do all of those repairs before you can pass."

He knew before he did the smog test that the car would not pass because of the dash lights.  Yet he did the test anyway and charged me $19.95.  He wanted to get me for more but I said that was it.  That was all of the money he was going to swindle me out of.  I complained to the manage at the register.  He gave me a line of balony that it was illegal to not do the test once I had signed the work order!

All the tech. had to do is reset the car's computer to turn of the dash lights.  Instead he wanted to do over a hundred dollars of bogus repairs.

On the receipt was listed parts I never received and not a word about the dash lights.  It merely stated that the emissions were more than the maximum allowable.  That was just a computer glich caused by the maintenance lights needing to be reset.

I have had my car smoged with those lights on twice before.  Both times the tech. merely reset the computer to turn of the warning lights and the car passed.  The lights merely come on after so many miles past the last servicing and do not reflect the smog emissions.  Now I am listed with the DMV as having failed a test and have the added expense of yet another smog test.

Don't go there to have them do anything to your car!  They are crooks and scammers.  I am just thankful I had the sense to leave before they really ripped me off.