Always timely and accurate, Rich provides excellent service for your daily driver no matter what the issue might be. The previous owner of my vehicle always had Rich do his service on this vehicle and he is the best local mechanic shop in La Mesa. Engine light had come on and had to replace one of the ignition coils; diagnosed and back on the road very quickly. His great service means so much to me because I have two jobs and I cannot afford to be without my vehicle. Trust Rich to give the same care with your car. read more

Honest! Rich goes above and beyond to give you an excellent value for your dollar. No up sells here, just a nice honest guy. We read more

One of our cars needed a smog check. Rich was there on a Sat and was able to smog it right away. He uses a new type of smog machine that was super quick. I was glad to be referred to Rich. For fair and honest service, give him a shot at your business. read more

Rich is honest, thorough, he gets the job done, and his prices are very reasonable. He even tried to help me get Honda to help warranty the catalytic converter on my car (Honda refused, of course). I will continue using Rich's services for future smog checks. read more

Stopped in today for an oil change. The main mechanic,I'm assuming was Rich, was so nice. He talked to me while my oil was being changed. His mechanic was fast and I was pleased with the job. Like the other reviews state he doesn't take advantage of you and try to charge you for unnecessary things. I didn't rate 5 stars because it was about $50 for an oil change and right down the street was a deal advertised at $20 for an oil change and free car wash. But like anything else In life you get what you pay for and I'd go to Rich again because of how he treated me. read more

Rich and his team are honest, skilled, and knowledgable. I first took my van to him twenty years ago after being frustrated with the dealer, and have been a customer ever since. I send my mother to him, and he works with me to keep her car safe on her very limited budget. I worked my way through Engineering school as a mechanic, so I am a knowledgable customer, and Rich consistently impresses me with his ability to understand the problem, explain the options, and accurately communicate the advantages and disadvantages of each. He's your partner in making decisions rather than telling you what you should do. I recommend this business to everyone. read more

I will NEVER go to Rich Phillips again! The other reviewer had a good experience with Rich, but I had a terrible one! He quoted me one price and then !surprise! charged me a HIGHER price! After he takes my car apart, he tells me the service will cost at least $400 MORE than what he originally told me! He started making excuses about how he already took it apart, how his parts cost more than at other places (huh?), he's already into it for the labor, and I totally believed he might sabotage my car if I didn't pay him the extra money! I really felt he took advantage of the situation! He didn't even try to work with me on the outrageous increase in the cost!!!! I found out later that the exact same service would have been oodles cheaper at the Honda place!!!! I am going to report him to the BBB and I'm going to tell ALL my college friends and their parents about this!!!! Why take a chance? AVOID him because IMHO Rich is getting richer this way! read more

Rich is sooooo nice. Not a schemer at all. My car failed smog and I took it here to get it checked out. I'm a chick and I don't know much about cars so he could have easily ripped me off but instead he gave me FREE, great advice. In the end, I passed smog and I didn't end up needing any work done on my car. Very honest person, hard to find this trait in people nowadays. read more

I have been going to Rich for a little over a year now. He is excellent, attentive and very knowledgeable. I wish I would of know about him before I had my engine rebuilt. I'm constantly doing restoration projects for Chevelle. If Rich can't do it, he knows someone that can. He is very reasonably priced, work is pristine and the customer service is great. read more

It's always hard to find a mechanic you trust, and I hate taking my car to the dealership whenever I need something looked at. I was recommended to Rich by a coworker at my former job a couple years ago. Been going there ever since. Today I drove in with a whining noise in my CRV, Rich and his guys found the problem, fixed it, and I was able to drive out with a silent smooth ride! read more

Rich is an amazing guy who will go above and beyond to make sure his customer is taken care of. I really appreciate his integrity and work. Thanks Rich! read more

Great service! Rich is so nice, and got me right in. They do a thorough inspection an you feel taken care of. Pep boys is cheaper...but there service is awful. You get what you pay for! :) I will be back. read more

Rich is great! He is honest and thorough and very personable. I plan to take my car to him for everything from now on. He also explained what he needed to do so I could understand it. It is really nice to find someone who I trust to fix my car, and know he is not over charging me or telling me things are wrong when they are not. read more

I have recently had both of my cars serviced there, one for a smog test and the other for every service needed to get it "road ready" for a cross country trip. He was friendly, helpful and patiently explained the work he performed. He was straight forward, honest and fairly priced. He even gave me a lift home, and drove my car back to the shop! I highly recommend him. read more

I was first told about Rich years ago (like 7 years ago) from a co-worker. She recommends everyone to Rich. I have been going to him ever since. He is honest, reasonable and once again...HONEST! No one likes getting their car serviced, and Rich is the only mechanic I've met that is ethical and has integrity. Highly recommend! read more

BEWARE! Charged $110 to diagnosing check engine light for smog check. Made appt to discuss repairs, for first thing the next morning but after 3 HOURS he still didn't show up. He also said vehicle needed unnecessary work to pass smog check. NO MILITARY DISCOUNT OFFERED! Took vehicle to another shop to find out diagnoses were wrong and would have had even more overcharges for work not needed. read more

We have been taking our vehicles to Rich for years. We recently had a problem getting one of them to pass smog but, once again, they took care of it with ease and optimum convenience. They truly care about the customer. I would advise anyone that needs work on their car to take it here! read more

Rich Phillips Auto Service is a great place for wheel alignments! I was looking around for an affordable place to get an alignment done on my Honda, and ran across their ad on craigslist. It was, by far, the best deal I found. They did a GREAT job on the alignment, guaranteed it until next year, and even did a free quick brake inspection while it was in there. Very professional and knowledgeable...I would highly recommend this shop. read more

Rich was so nice to me and my daughter. Her car failed smog, was idling like a mack truck and had other problems as well. He found the problems, offered me a couple of options for fixing it and let us decide how much we wanted or could spend on the repairs, what HAD to be done to pass and what WOULD HAVE to be done at some point in the future. Very reasonably priced and honest - we will definitely take our other cars to him! read more

I've been going to Mr. Phillips for over 20 years. He is a true "Ole School" mechanic, meaning that you get great service, honesty, and he's not out to squeeze every dime out of you. He has become a personal friend and I recommend all my friends and family to him only. read more

Second time taking the car to Rich for a basic smog check and oil change and normally we prefer going to Rich's...supporting our local businesses. The first time was for our other car (which has always had issues). This time I took my very well taken care 5 year old car with $10K miles on it and up to date on service maintenance. Naturally I baby this car because I want to keep its value as high as possible in today's economy and especially since we had to ship it in from a special dealer in Los Angeles and that we use the vehicle for extensive road trips. Not to mention we just used it less than a week ago for a road trip and it was fine then, it had a check engine light on but an oil change was only needed. We did have the choice to pick a competitor for a cheap price (for both it was like $50). We were quoted $60 for the service, so great, just fine, looks competitive with these coupons, why bother haggling....it would cost maybe $10 less elsewhere but this would be easier. So we left the car there to be checked and oil changed first thing in the morning and was told the car would be ready at 2pm. Around 11am Rich called to notify that the oil change was done and they were starting the diagnostics on the smog, ok awesome, love the customer service, that's why we go to Rich instead and pay the extra few bucks. Got another call around 1pm to notify the car didn't pass the smog because one light in the car did fail the diagnostics, one check out of 10 protocols to look for. Turns out the timing switch needed to be reset (About $30 quoted) and air filter (which was supposed to be under $50 for parts and labor), ok fine, might as well. So we are at around less than $140 for everything, great, no big deal. At around 3pm the car was done and passed the smog check. The final bill was $260, $120 MORE than quoted for all services. The invoice was also handwritten and difficult to read. They under-quoted actual parts costs and added extra for labor when implying labor was inclusive. We also know the car wasn't being worked on for the entire 6 hours it was at the shop. In fact we witnessed the car parked on the street for most of the day waiting its turn and when it did move it was for 30 minutes in the shop, so how that amount to more than $100 in labor as it states on the invoice? If we had plans after 1pm we needed the car for this would have ruined the entire day. I could it parked on the street from my office window all day and only saw it moved once for about a half an hour. I also wish we knew the car we take longer than 2pm. They were not even that busy to begin with, maybe a few cars in the shop. So I am torn on how to review Rich, do you reward polite customer service and forget about mismanaged and misquoted services or do you have a normal expectation of service providers across the board no matter the industry. The service level was top notch, friendly, professional and informative, HOWEVER you had to wait and wait with no advance notice of changes and some of the information was INCORRECT in the end. And the mere fact alone they were caught in the act of not working on the car for a solid 6 hours but 30 minutes instead with only having a few cars ahead and plenty of room for the service that just came in. I'd say if they were more efficiently and accurate in their estimates it would be even better service. especially when the same service costs less elsewhere. Then the cost would have been justified. I'm all for paying for quality service when its comparable to actual costs and not heavily inflated and when the service is 100% worthy of the price. With all service providers you have to be upfront and honest about everything, even if it may or may not be an issue. If its a possibility that one of the 10 things on the list that a car has to pass on to get smog certified can happen you need to list the possible costs of fixing each item (not difficult to provide up front). What our $260 of our food budget went to was resetting a simple timing switch, an oil change, a smog certificate and an air filter replacement. It would appear that common sense troubleshooting was done last because they only serviced the vehicle in 30 minutes as to not keep us waiting even further. The car has a manual to it in the glove compartment which states exactly that. I really want to love this business, not just because of the friendly informative service, but because I know Rich is a stand up guy and employs stand up guys to work for him and this service establishment has been in the hood for a long while, but I think they still need work in the customer service department with the estimates and timing. Customer service is included in the service you receive not an perk or amenity and its not just about politeness, its also about professionalism, timeliness, accuracy and being efficient, and its quite obvious consumers have forgotten that concept. read more