Hamilton Union 76

Totally cool guy here (I think his name was Alex?), got my oil change from him last time real quick. This time, he quotes me 20 minutes, I set a timer on my phone immediately. Walk across the street for a drink, come back, place a phone call to a friend, timer goes off at the exact moment he's pulling the car around. Excellent time, price, and nice guy to boot.

The last two times I came here it was fast and great service, and that's what I'm looking for.

Coming back next time!

Having had wonderful experiences in the past, we came here for our Smog Check. During that time the Manager pointed out that our Brake, Power Steering and Transmission Fluids were critically dirty and need to be flushed and replenished. He did it all, including the Smog, for under $300, which is below what is recommended on the RepairPal App.
We were very happy get our fluids replaced before serious damage and resulting repairs occurred.

I always scratch the top of my oil filter so that I can verify it's changed when I get an oil change. Took my car here for an oil change a couple years ago and they didn't change the filter. I confronted Shady McGee about it, not in a mean way or anything, just "hey, you forgot to change the filter". He tried to claim that they just use the same filters as my previous one. I told him that, while perhaps that's true, the filter that was currently on there was the same one that was on there when I came in. He gave in and said something along the lines of "fine, I'll change it again", to which I replied, "you mean you'll change it for the first time? Cool".

So yeah, my advice is don't go here.

And the new filter that he reluctantly installed wasn't the same brand as the one I had before... so much for that defense.

I'm pretty shocked by all the negative reviews.

I was born and raised in the Bay Area and grew up on Monica which is almost behind this station. While there in high school; my mom's boyfriend took his car to these guys for service and Frank was always a great help.

Years later I moved to the apartments near ebay and then across from Kohls and lived there for a little over 7 years. During that time my husband and I both had several cars serviced by them. From oil changes to smog checks to the more major repairs like installing a cold air intake in my Nissan to all sorts of engine and brake problems. You name it and they were able to work with us on fixing it in a timely and courteous manner.

We have since moved to the east bay and I was actually looking at a used car right off of Stevens Creek right after Christmas 2014 and decided to take it here for a pre-buy safety inspection. Not only were they $40 cheaper than my new mechanic, they provided me with a very detailed list of what was good/bad and what their recommendation was based on their almost 3 hours of looking over the car. Once I purchased the car, I took it to my mechanic to have the repairs done that were brought to my attention by these guys and they confirmed exactly what I was told here; nothing more and nothing less!

Frank is still there however it appears the station is being converted to a Chevron now.

I give these guys high marks and will continue to come back as needed when I'm down in the south bay!

Abysmal. I needed to get my car smogged so I found them on the DMV site and gave them a call at 12:45 today. I spoke to the guy and he said I could come in around 2 because the guy that does them was on lunch. I said OK I will come in around 2 then and then I took a late lunch and purposefully went in at 2:20 just in case to give them a little extra time.

So I get there and speak to the guy standing there that i called and brought in my car for a smog check. He then tells me it is going to be about 30 minutes before they can start because the guy that does them is on lunch. I told them I was told to come around 2 to which he replied, well he went to lunch at 2 and it is after 2 now.

I was floored. I told him, then why did you guys tell me he was at lunch when I called before 1 and to come in at 2 if he just left for lunch at 2? He just shrugged his shoulders, so I turned around and left. As i was getting into my car, he said I can come back in 30 minutes and said, yeah whatever, and drove away.

That was definitely poor management or lying, but it does not matter because I will not be back through, not even to get gas anymore. I will go to Rotten Robbie across the street instead.

If you need a smog check, go to the Shell on Winchester and Williams, as they charge just over $40 bucks for a smog check and are way more friendly!

My husband took my car here because the coolant light came on and I could smell burn. I asked him to take in (assuming he would take to my own mechanic). My husband told me the price and I thought no way. So I call this shop to tell them not to do the work - they, however, had already began the work based on my husbands approval.

Right away I look up the YELP reviews and think ohhhh noooooo. I call my husband exchange words for not taking to my mechanic. I spoke with the owner who at no point for defensive or argumentative when I was expressing my concerns. He only explained they've been there 20+ yrs and have generations that stay with him. He even called a few days later to be sure all was well, this was after my tirade.

After taking to my mechanic - my guy says prices are in range of what should be and all work was performed on bill. My mechanic explained the labor involved. Took one star only because I'm not a regular customer here. 4 Stars because of the honesty and patience during my concerns.

If I had an emergency and could not get my car to my regular mechanic I would def trust this company again.

If I could give this place zero star I would. I really really wish I read the Yelp reviews before coming h'ere. My car needed a smog check, I lived close by and I had a coupon, so I thought "Why not." Long story short, my car failed, they tried to charge me an arm and a leg for something I know didn't cost that much, I took it somewhere else to get it fixed for much cheaper, and then they wouldn't do the free retest. They will say anything just to charge you for whatever they can. I'm sure they'll try to charge you for just talking to them if they can. Ugh just thinking about it is making my blood boil.

STAY AWAY!

Why bother?

We came here for a smog check. Car passed the test with FLYING COLORS except for the gas cap.

That's a $8 part down the street at the auto parts store, so it wasn't a big concern.

EXCEPT unlike other Smog Check places, this Union 76 shop does not offer a "pass or retest free" guarantee.

Well, they are cheaper, you say, so it evens out.

Yeah, no. Turns out, even with their usual coupon, they are no cheaper than a dozen other places in the valley.

Well, at least they have good customer service, you say. Yeah well, no. If they had called us during the test and let us know there was a problem with the cap, we could have had the new one there within ten minutes. But they didn't.

So, my question is "Why bother?" Costs as much as other places, even with the discounts. No retest option. Poor customer service.

And don't even get me started on the premium surcharge for European cars! That might make sense when doing an oil change, since a BMW requires synthetic oil which is more expensive. But for a smog check??? That's what I would call simply exploiting the market and assuming people with certain brands have more money. So even if you do write, in fine print, about that upcharge, what have the extra charge there, anyway? No one else does.

Stay as far away from this place a possible. I had a flat tire that I removed from my car myself. Took it to these guys and they charged me $30.00 to find and plug a hole in the tire. They mounted it and off I went. Two hours later the tire was completely flat again so I had to put the spare back on and go back to the station. They found another hole right next to the one they had just fixed.

After they fixed the tire they asked if I wanted them to remount it on my car. I told them I would do it myself. As I was leaving they told me I had to pay another $30.00. First of all, I gave them my tire and told them it was leaking and they supposedly fixed it. Most stations charge around $15 or $20 to plug a hole. $30.00 was a lot to begin with. Now they want to charge me again? After they told me it was fixed.

Of course I put up a fight but I'm sure most people would rather avoid a confrontation and just pay. They told me it was fixed and then tried to charge me twice to do what they were supposed to do in the first place.

Stay away from this place!

Avoid this service station. They do shoddy work and I will not go back to them.
(I am an amature mechanic and I have worked on many cars in the past.)

I had been coming here for the past 5 years or so and they were quick and friendly and the work was fine. Now I came there about 2 weeks ago for an oil change, and they botched it up. They were supposed to do a simple oil change and they did it. Then I had an oil leak at the oil filter less than 4 days later. I first noticed something wrong when I smelled a burnt oil smell and saw a pool of oil under my car. I brought it back and the guy tells me the filter I had was known to leak. Really? Then why when you tightened it more did it stop leaking? This was on a brand new car BTW. The manager was not there either to speak to about this.

I don't know if they changed owners recently or they have some other reason why the service was not done right.
The reason I went there in the first place instead of doing my own oil change, is because I don't have my own ramps to get my car high enough to do the work.

One star partly because they did try to fix it. But they could not even back my car off of their own ramp and the guy hit my door on the equipment next to the car too.