Hi Tech Automotive - Los Angeles (CA)

5 /5 Theo Salter: Art and Hutch run a top notch shop over in Silver Lake. We have been taking our Subaru to them for several years now and they are always thorough, give a fair quote, and compliment that with excellent and punctual work. While they do work on some very expensive and vintage cars in the shop its nice to feel that theyll accept any make or model and give the same comprehensive and quality service.

5 /5 Suzanne: I never feel like Im being over-charged or unnecessarily advised to do things that arent necessary. Theyre clear, efficient, and the turn around is very fast. Its easy to make an appointment and communicate. Its a tight honest run ship

1 /5 Benjamin Massing: I switched to Hi-Tec Auto after a bad experience with another shop that performed unauthorized work. I explained this to Hutch and made it crystal clear: no repairs without my approval. Despite that, I was notified after the fact that my front rotors and pads had been replaced—without my sign-off—resulting in a nearly $4,000 bill. I was frustrated, but they assured me the brake squealing was fixed. It wasn’t. I heard it the moment I pulled into my garage. Over the next two months, I returned multiple times (more than 10) for the same unresolved issues—squealing brakes, rattling windows, an oil overfill issue that I never had. For a moment, I would go in for one thing and then leave with it still being a problem and then have a new one added... I was told it was now the rear rotors. Again, I was quoted an outrageous price and told I’d get a call before anything was done. Instead, I got a text: “Your car is ready.” Same move, again. I looked up the parts myself—what they quoted at $2,800 I found for $1,100. When I confronted them, they magically found the same parts nearby for the lower price. It felt like a bait-and-switch. Final straw - I brought in my 2016 G-Wagon before selling it. I asked them to replace the window regulator, then referred my buyer directly to Hutch. Hutch offered to do a PPI for free—which I appreciated—until he sent me and my buyer a $14K repair list full of fluff: steam cleaning carpets, windshield wipers, you name it. I told him clearly: keep it to essentials. Instead, it was a full-blown laundry list. My buyer took it elsewhere and got a real PPI for $8K—no nonsense. But I’d already knocked $5K off the price based on Hutch’s list, just to be fair. Damage done. I’ve spent more on Ubers dealing with Hi-Tec than I care to admit. They do the work before approvals, apologize later, and hope you eat the bill. Hi-Tec cost me time, money, and trust. Constant back-and-forths, zero follow-through on approvals, and inflated quotes. I have plenty of texts and video of the quality of what I was left with over the course of 2 months nonstop saga that was extremely costly, not just monetarily, but in time as well.

1 /5 Pablo De La Cueva: Let me preface this with two facts. The first, I got a pre purchase inspection for my car (2002 CLK 320) prior to purchasing, so I walked in to Hi Tech knowing what my car needed already, save for the reason I came in (convertible rooftop whining and stopping mid cycle). The second is that I drove about three of these cars prior to purchasing one. I know what a structurally unsound car drives, feels, and looks like. Anyway, upon calling Hi Tech, I explained that I was coming in to get my rooftop hydraulics looked at. The operation stops mid cycle, and a gentle push helps the car finish it electronically. From my pre purchase inspection, I knew I had to replace my valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket. My mechanic in the OC quoted me $500 for both services. Art at Hi Tech wanted to charge me $1800 for this. Which makes no sense. Now back to the rooftop. He says, there’s a bad cylinder and I have to replace it. That will be $1400, and even then, we might fix this one and the others might go bad once we do it. Sounds shady enough. For your context, these cylinders cost anywhere from $150-300, and labor is about 1.5-2 hours. Either way, I don’t trust this shop to say with certainty that the cylinder needs to be replaced and can’t be fixed. The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was that I wanted the shop to help me put in/ find a lug bolt in my car. I purchased the wrong one from autozone, manually installed it, drove 6 feet, heard a clacking sound. Stopped and removed the wrong bolt. Art at Hi Tech claimed the hub and brake system had to be replaced, because this bolt had ruined it. He wanted $1100 to fix this. After this, I just left. Got a second look at the left rear tire and my hub is fine. These people try to upsell you HARD. If you have all the money in the world to burn, go for them. It’s a nice looking shop. But if you don’t have unlimited resources, I recommend going elsewhere. Another funny thing is that when I told Art I already knew of the fixes my car needed, he was surprised. He also said my car was excessively rusty and that I was cooked. We looked under there and there’s normal rust for a 22 year ild car. He said “bet you haven’t looked under”. Sir, I did. I spent $200 getting this car inspected and we looked at every inch of it. Careful y’all!