By: ERIKA AYA
The Associated Press
Monday, April 12, 2010; 5:16 PM
CALIFORNIA -- Don’t you just dread getting that DMV registration letter in the mail? We all know that taking your car for a smog check in the Bay Area is no walk in the park. Long lines, overpriced bills, and not to mention dealing with shady mechanics. To make matters worse, if your car doesn’t pass, you could end up spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars to fix it. That is why it is even more important than ever that you choose the right shop when going for your next smog check.
Let’s face it, everyone needs a smog check, but most people have no clue about where to go and where to stay far far away from. That is why at Bay Area Local1, we stand committed to uncover the Bay Area’s top places to go for a smog check. To help us with our investigation, we employed Hung Luu, a Master ASE Certified Technician that has been doing smog checks in the bay area for over 28 years. With over 10,000 smog checks under his belt, he’s probably been there and done that. Whatever car you might have, I’m sure he’s seen it all.
We also broke things down into 5 different criteria’s that we feel matter the most when considering the top choice for a smog station. The top 5 categories are: Price, Customer Service, Quality, Speed, and Reputation
After much contemplation and a few honorable mentions, we were finally able to narrow down and select the bay area’s top 5 places to get a smog check. Our 2010 top 5 choices are:
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Price: Anything too expensive was automatically knocked off of our list (ie. $150 per smog at the dealerships). We also found that the super cheap $20 smog check centers did very poorly amongst our tests, primarily due to pressure upselling.
Customer Services: Were they friendly? With this day in age, you can’t get away without service with a smile. Getting a smog check is such a nerve racking activity, the least you could do is pretend like you are on our side.
Quality: Accuracy of the test, latest technology equipment, ASE certifications and step by step procedures were all taken into consideration while coming up with our ratings.
Speed: Nobody likes sitting in a dirty old shop waiting 2 hours to get your smog check done. The faster the car is smogged, the better. 15 minutes or less equals a 5 star rating. 2 hours or more (some shops took 5 hrs) resulted in a 1 star.
Reputation: How well are the shops viewed on outside sources such as yelp.com, better business bureau, citysearch.com and google local? You’ll be surprised what type of dirt you can dig up.
See what our experts voted as the top 5 Auto Repair Stations
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