Pep Boys Avis 254

On 09/03/2025I took my car in due to a leaking radiator. I am told that the reservoir is leaking. I authorized for the repair to be done. I stayed in the waiting room for about 4 hours. Finally the work is done. I drive my car home and the hood starts smoking. I opened the hood and found the engine drenched with coolant. I barely was able to finish driving the car home. The next day I had my car towed in. By this time I am furious. I left the car again for them to work on the radiator issue and now it appeared that the part they put in was defected. I waited again for 4 hours. Now, I thought it was all done. They give me the keys to the car. They left my car parked on an car lift. They didn't have the professionalism to drive the car to a space for me to drive off. I drove the car off the lift. Now, I'm experiencing the exact same issue. My car is leaving a puddle of coolant in the carport. I say with all honesty and sincerity that this is the worse experience I've had in my 50 years of driving. I've taken my car to multiple mechanics within that time and this is the worse. And the corporate office was not helping me at all. If I am able to reach anyone, I get the run around. DO NOT I repeat DO NOT have this shop work on your car. They cannot do their jobs. There is no professionalism, no concern about getting their jobs correctly. The staff seems to have an "I don't give a shit" kind of attitude. I'm talking to the automotive bureau to see if I can get my money refunded and have another mechanic fix the problem. Again, look elsewhere to have your car worked on.
UPDATE: On 01/27/2026 I get a call back from Area manager Art. I explained the situation, he sided with the mechanic's inferior service. I am entitled to no refund after I pay almost $500 for the job not being completed. DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT have these mechanics work on your car. The work will not be completed and you will not be entitled to a refund. After this hellish experience I took my car to Elite Auto Garage in Hollywood and they fixed the problem. The problem hasn't resurfaced. I highly recommend Elite Auto Garage. But DO NOT take your car to this Pep Boys location.
Update: Today, 04/13/2026 I received a final decision from the corporate office saying that they will NOT be refunding my money for the work they failed to perform properly on my car. No good reason was given to me about why my refund will not be processed. In my 50 years of driving, I have never experienced this situation where a refund is refused when work is not properly performed by their mechanics. I REPEAT, DO NOT DO NOT take your car to Pep Boys on 3904 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029 or any Pep Boys if you wish to throw your money away to this company that cannot do their work properly. I'm still working with the Bureau of Automotive repair to have this situation corrected.

I dropped my car off at Pep Boys Baymeadows Rd in Jacksonville Fl for an oil change and tire rotation. I heard noise from left time , I use this location because it's close to my job. I took it in to check on the noise. Not the same place and they determined that the left front tires guard was not put back correctly, therefore it was scrubbing . I will not be going back there and will be contacting to get this flap replaced.

Pep Boys in Mystic, CT is great! Roger provides wonderful customer service. He listens to my needs/concerns and helps me get quality service! I have been taking my 13 year old car there for 4 years. Everything is explained clearly to me, and I’m made aware of what is needed and what it will cost before any work is done. I have recommended this location to others, and they have also had a great experience there!

1 star - Pep Boys Lake View Ave, Dracut, MA

UNACCEPTABLE experience. Promised car would be ready by 1 PM, still waiting 4 hours later. Called to check status, they HUNG UP ON ME. Made me late for work. No communication, no respect for customers. Dropped off for simple tire install & balance. Never again. 10-year-old could run things better.

Spent over a week looking at my car couldnt tell me what was wrong, they spent so long trying to figure it out they started ordering things without my permission, kept charging me for labor despite no one working on it, everytime I called they were waiting for something. They kept telling me my car would b ready and they I wouldn't hear from them again untill I called and suddenly they dont know what I'm talking about and talking to me like I'm stupid. Truely the worst experience anyone could have. Over 2000 to tell me they dont know and I have to pay.

Bro they told me my rear shock were blown , i put them on new last year wtf? When u know how to work on cars but they dont know u do , and this happends because i told them the 4 tires they gave me for 800 they shake at high speed , omg stay away from the one in north main st pawtucket rhode island

I made an appointment for an oil change. I was there 90 minutes with 2 other people in the waiting area. They moved my seat to drive the car 40 yards, changed my radio station and left my window open while it was raining. Go somewhere else.

The Pep Boys located on 8091 Oswego Road in Liverpool, New York is a well orchestrated Theft Machine. Judging by their dismal National rating of 1.8 out of 5, it appears the same can is true of all Pep Boys locations Nationwide. Considering a rating scale of 0 to 5 whereby all "1" ratings would be zero, their actual score is more realistically .8 out of 5. Please consider this review a zero.
We took our 2017 Jeep Cherokee in for an oil leak. They charged us $1400. They fixed the leak but broke the Heater. Imagine having no heat in the dead of a Central NY winter when it is 6º outside. We returned the car back the next day. They fixed the heater (no charge) but literally handed the car back to us with the "Service Parking Brake Light" on. This time the left caliper locked up and it had to be towed back. This time the bill was $1100! You see the more they break -the more they make. What get me is how rude and god-like they become once you call them out on it. Tech Artificial Intelligence is no match against real intelligence. We have driven this car 9 years/92,000 miles without ever having any issues with either the heater or the parking brake. The car has been inspected by local Jeep Dealerships it's entire life. The money takers at the counters have stone cold apathy towards the customer, especially with the fact that continue, by design, to "Fix and Break" things on the car to run up the bill. It's the owner, Karl Icahn's way. I look for this billionaire clown to sell out the Pep Boys ASAP. Their no way he can fix such a dysfunctional auto repair service such as this.

I wish I read reviews before I went there. It was my first and second time visiting pep boys, first I thoughts it was my mistake then came second. I took a car for oil change than as soon as I left oil started leaking really bad. When I went back there they didn't have a record of me having oil changed there!?!?! Really? Bias, vulgar language, and other things I can't mention because I never believed that it could be happening to.me in this era. Following this issue I was forced to change oil twice in one week this time from a different shop where they told me what was done to.my car and was forced to pay around 1300to fix it. PEPBOYS' keep it up that is how last dance are do e before shamely one exit the stage. However remember this is not 1050 where you depend on one superior culture for business. Even minority do contribute to your growth.

Could not afford them but Shaun worked with me to find a more reasonable price

The employes keep walking around and talking instead of getting to work. This cause me to be late for work today. No sense of urgency or pride on what they do. Extremely desapointed.

Before I left my car here at this Pep Boys at 1000 S Christopher Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19147 for engine diagnosis, I came here to ask a mechanic who I saw in the receptionist room, " Could ask you just one question about the issue of the engine of my car?", that male replied in an unfriendly rude voice, "If I answer your question, that means I diagnose your car for free." I then described the issues of my car to the receptionist and asked the receptionist if that could be the VVT Solenoid Issue but he said he was not sure. Then I told the receptionist I would leave my car here for the engine diagnoses. After about one hour or so, the mechanic of this pep boys told me my car had issue with the transmission. I then called a mechanic whom I often went there to fix my car in South West Philadelphia (The reason I did not go there this time because It was far from where I lived).and I told him what the mechanic at this Pep Boys told me about the issue of my car. That mechanic told me usually Pep Boys did nothing, they just took money of the customers and they did nothing so their engine diagnose was not reliable and If I could, I should bring my car there for him and his colleagues to do diagnoses to find out what wrong with my car. Then I drove my car there, he and his colleagues used OBD and did the engine diagnoses right there in front of me. They said the VVT Solenoid Bank 1 was dead and some other minor issues but the engine issue I had been having issue was VVT Solenoid Bank 1. So I had them replacing VVT Solenoid Bank 1 (Surprisingly, they said here, they did not charge for engine diagnose). After the replacement of VVT Solenoid Bank 1, my car has been running normally. I felt so happy because that was not the transmission issue.

I update my review with the followings:

I emailed and called Pep Boys to request for the refund but they denied. Pep Boys said they denied my refund request because their recommendation of the engine diagnoses on my car was good. So I lost $118.xx. Now realize Pep Boys provide us with the customer service information to show everyone that they care their customers. In reality, they care no body. Once money in their pockets that is final. Pep Boys provides very bad auto services. They deserve for zero star. If we use services here, we will lose money.

I do another update of my reviews after I called Pepboys several times:

My Engine Diagnoses Report provided and texted to me by Pep boys was automatically deleted after I posted my first review here. Before I made appointment to meet the shop manager named Aaron, the receptionist and the Aaron said when I came back to see Aaron again, he would give me a transmission engine report which would include all the diagnosed transmission engine codes.
After spending some time and efforts, I eventually could meet Aaron, the shop manager on Saturday March 7, 2006 about 2pm. When I first met him, he took the key of my car and left. After I waited for a while then I asked receptionist why Aaron did so. The receptionist said he wanted to take your car. I told receptionist, my car was not here. Then, receptionist came in and let Aaron know. When Aaron came out, I asked him, why he wanted to take my car. Aaron said, he needed to redo the engine diagnoses to have all the engine diagnosed codes. I told Aaron, my car was not here. I then asked for my last original engine diagnose report, Aaron said it was deleted.
Other mechanics said, the diagnosed engine report without diagnosed codes was considered invalid. Without diagnosed codes, they would have no idea what wrong with the transmission in this case.
I have been calling the Pep Boys customer service several times, they always refused to refund me money for doing nothing and charge me $118.xx. I feel their auto repair service is like a scam.

I took my car in for rough idling and only bcuz I thought their synchrony bank automatically gave 6 to 18 mos to pay with no interest. Otherwise I would have taken it to Firestone.

Over $1000 later, there's still rough idling even ten times worse after I picked up my car and when I came to a stop light. Called pep boys and Joe gave me some lame excuse as to why this was happening.
Took car back in and before at a stop light, the car jolted really hard and car started vibrating really hard and strong. The bolting continued periodically while at a stop and my car still continues to rough idle when not in motion.
Took car back in and my car was at the shop for five hours with nobody calling me with the status of my car for close to 5 hrs so I thinking my car was being worked on Called pep boys and specifically said to Thomas, go ahead and keep my car overnight if you're still working on it.
The manager called me and said he didn't hear any noise when he came to a stop regarding the bolting. I explained to him we don't hear any noise. Just feel a jolting periodically along with the continuing rough idling.
Come to find out that the whole time my car was at the shop, for five hours the mechanic just test drove it, and did absolutely nothing to my car claiming he didn't hear any rough idling. They kept the car overnight and the manager Gary test drove it with me and I could still hear and feel rough idling but no jolting. Gary looked at me totally in denial that my car was still moderately rough idling. Worse when the air conditioning was on and now he claims that there's probably something wrong with the air conditioning which I know isn't true.
I wish I had taken my car to Firestone bcuz they offer a great warranty where with pep boys, I had to pay an extra I believe $129 for an extended warranty and my car still has a moderate rough idling.

Never again!

Pep boys. Said it would be an hour. I was inbthe store from 1230 until 630pm. So yeah horrible experience . I would recommend taking them off your list of tire installers

Hamburg, NY Location: The manager of this store is a con-artist. We phoned ahead for specific tires and were told they were in stock, drove 45 minutes, only to be told they didn't have the tires, and then that we should buy more expensive tires, lower miles, because all tires rot out after 3 years so buying higher mileage tires is pointless. All of this was said to me, a woman, while my boyfriend hung in the back. At which point, my BF told the guy in no uncertain terms that he had wasted our time, was lying through his teeth, and was a complete buttwipe. The guy then threatened to call the police because he is more than willing to setup the scam but doesn't want to deal with somebody calling him on being a scumbag. Corporate was contacted regarding this experience, which lost PepBoys $800 and a lifetime of additional business, as I "shared" with all of my facebook and nextdoor friends so they wouldn't drive out of their way in order to be conned into buying more expensive tires by a liar. However, it needs to be said that if PepBoys employs such a person, as a manager, that its hard to believe that they aren't dishonest in other ways.

I brought my daughters car in and had questions since I had a warranty company through Carvana. The gentleman took the time to explain the process to me. Before I even walked out the door, he was on the phone, starting out claim. The next day, someone called early afternoon to update me on the status and again once they knew what was and wasn't covered and to confirm pricing. They went out of their way to make sure everything was covered that could be. Great timing, knowledge and communication, as well as super friendly.

It is always the same with them. Once you get there, they want to repair a lot of stuff that doesnt exist. This time was my tire in Pepboys CELEBRATION. I had a flat tire, hyundai sonata 22.000 miles. They said they cannot repair because the tire is "old", only replace it. Ofcourse I was expecting that. When they showed the picture of their guidelines of tire repair in the wall, it was a joke... all pictured from tires with at least 100k miles. Just dont go there, unfortunately it was the closest place from my house and my tire was flat. Never go back there again.I went to a guy in Kissimmee who repaired it without any issues.

DO NOT TRUST PEP BOYS IN TOMS RIVER NJ, THEY TOOK MY DAUGHTERS MONEY FOR AN ALIGNMENT AND SENT HER ON THE WAY, NOW THE CAR IS CLUNKING AND NOT SAFE TO DRIVE DUE TO RUST, I KNOW THEY DID NOT CAUSE THE RUST, BUT WHY TAKE HER MONEY? DID AN ONLINE COMPLAINT, SPOKE TO CUSTOMER SERVICE, WAS TOLD FU BY THE LOCAL EMPLOYEE, AND EVEN SPOKE TO THEIR LEGAL LEADER AND NO RESPOSE. DO NOT TRUST THEM!

NICE FORM LETTER

NICE FORM LETTER...... IF YOU HAD ACTUALLY READ MY POST YOU WOULD HAVE NOTED ALL THE INFORMATION YOU REQUESTED AT THE TOP OF THE POST. COMPLETE INCOMPETANCE FROM THE TOP DOWN. TELL ME I'M WRONG! I’ll try to keep what could easily be an epic novel as short and on point as possible.

RE: Pep Boys Auto Service & Tires #1823
8705 N. Dale Mabry
Tampa, Fla 33614
Work Order#2045390
CASE#301234

FIRST VISIT Spoke with Store Mgr. Larry, on 12/9/2025, about a tire pressure issue. Larry told me they were too busy to help me and asked me to return the next day. OK.
SECOND VISIT Returned and spoke with the Asst. Store Manager, Tom who informed me there was NO appointment booked for me and further, Larry (who was not there) had NOT left any information that I would be returning. Tom was however courteous enough to book an appointment for me.
THIRD VISIT Returned and spoke with Larry. I attempted to explain I had a slow leak which I thought might have been a Schrader valve or valve stem. I was dismissed by Larry, who told me without looking at my car, I needed a new tire pressure sensor. OK.
After waiting 90 min, Larry told me they were not able to obtain a matching part. I told him that was unacceptable and asked that he return the original part or order the correct one from the dealer. Larry again cut me short and said "We only use PEP Boys Parts". Five min later, he miraculously found the correct TPS! OK
After leaving, I found my dashboard gages were no longer working correctly and now displaying TWO error messages!
FOURTH VISIT. Returned and spoke with Larry. He told me;
1. I just needed to drive the car and the computer would reset. I then mentioned my 40+mile trip the day before. NEXT TRY,
2. My car has a bad computer. I then asked him why the tire pressure was being displayed for ALL 4 wheels before the “repair” and now only THREE? NEXT TRY,
3. Larry then stated that he would order a part from the dealer. He further stated that I should come back the next day ... then thought for a minute and said “come back on Tuesday”. OK.
QUESTION ??? I thought you "Only use PEP Boys parts” Now I’m confused, do you, OR, don’t you?
FIFTH VISIT Returned and spoke with Tom. No appointment, No part, and of course, no message from Larry, who was now on vacation!

I called 1 800 PEP BOYS and asked to speak with a General Mgr. Several days later (1/6/26) I received a message from Chris Cook, asking me to call him at 813 557-XXXX, which was clearly an incorrect number. (I have the recording). After some detective work on my part, I found the correct number 813 557-1513. When I called, it was answered “This is Chris Cook” and silence! Nothing! Not you have reached my VM. Not, please leave a message. NOTHING BUT SILENCE!! I did leave a message. In-fact I left two messages, which to date, Mr. Cook has not shown me the courtesy of a response.
Approx. 45 min after Chris Cook’s message, I also received another VM from Larry, the store manager stating “This is Larry at Pep Boys, please call me with your credit card number so I can process your refund”.

The offer of a refund is very much appreciated, but was never requested !!

My issue with the tire has now become a distant second to the poor service, stall tactics, inconsistent answers, and what I consider possible upselling.

My bigger issue has become being put in the middle of whatever drama exists within PEP Boys. This drama has caused me to make FIVE visits so far.
As to the refund, Thank you again, but I will NEVER TRUST LARRY with my CC number, especially over the phone. To obtain this refund will require a …
SIXTH VISIT I will need to return to PEP Boys when Tom is working so I am able to process my refund in person.
SEVENTH VISIT Now, I will need to have to a competent shop properly complete the repair.

THANK YOU PEP Boys. Seven trips to fix a leaky tire. Possibly a new world record.

This is for the Encinitas location is San Diego- Not online
I brought my car to Pep Boys in Encinitas because my car is getting older and I assumed I needed new brakes.
I dropped it off expecting a big bill.

Shortly after I got a call from Jorge.
He told me I actually had plenty of brake life left on all four brakes.
No upsell.
No pressure.
Just honesty.

That kind of integrity is rare in auto repair.
Jorge could have easily sold me work I did not need.
Instead he did the right thing. He is a highly ethical person.

This Pep Boys location has earned my trust and my loyalty.
I will absolutely be a customer for life.
Highly recommend asking for Jorge if you want honest service.