The prior reviewer gives one star for supposedly being overcharged $10 on a $30 bulb? Please. Labor rates vary between auto mechanics.



There's a reason why Ronnie's has such high ratings on Yelp, etc., why his customers ar so loyal, and why his shop is stacked with cars. It's because he's an excellent and honest mechanic, whose reputation, on big jobs and small, has been earned over two decades. Enough said.

How could Ronnie’s Auto Service have so many great reviews all over the net and be so dishonest? After what happened to me at Ronnie’s I wonder if any of those reviews are legitimate and were not written by Chris, the owner, himself. I needed to replace a headlight bulb in my 1999 Ford Taurus and asked my neighbor if he knows of anyone in Silverlake that can do this without ripping me off and he enthusiastically recommended Ronnie’s. I usually check the places and prices around doing my usual caveat emptor. This time I just took my car to Ronnie’s. After all it’s just a light bulb. When I got to the place I talked to Chris, the owner, and he assigned one of his worker’s, David, to replace the bulb. We did not discuss the price up front. BIG MISSTAKE ON MY PART. But I trusted the guy based on my neighbor’s recommendation. The job was done in about 20 minutes. So far so good, right? But then, time to ‘settle the score’ and I was shocked. Even he said later on during our conversations that my face changed when I saw his bill. which was for $30.00. When I checked with other places afterwards the highest quote I got was for $20.00. I called Chris to tell him that he overcharged me and he agreed to refund me $10.00. I’m in business myself and want to make a fair profit. I would never issue a refund if I knew my price was fair. Well, when couple of days later I came by Ronnie’s in couple of days to get my refund Chris came out a gave me a bunch of bills rolled up almost in a ball. I took it without checking again. ANOTHER MISTAKE. When I came back to work and checked he only gave me back $8.00. I called him again and after he, in a very guilty manner, offered an intelligence insulting story asking me to come back and get my $2.00 I said that I will never use his shop again and will publish this experience to warn the public about his practices. I have the paper work if anyone is interested that can e-mail upon request. My e-mail is michaelcamen@gmail.com. I think his shop is new to North Hoover Street relocating from his Sunset address. Is this the way to earn a good reputation? BEWARE of this guy. Unfortunately, people like this force the public to be distrustful and apprehensive. By the way they also told me that my break fluid was leaking and I needed a master cylinder. Well, I didn’t. They did add break fluid and Chris said that he didn’t charge me for it. It's not the money, it's the principle. One can only imagine if what he can do on a bigger job.