MURFS AUTO TECH CENTER - LOS ANGELES, CA

Avoid!Avoid!AVOID!! Multiple less than satisfactory experiences. I have a classic American car, i.e., generally pretty easy to work on and no computerized components, that I put very little mileage on since I mostly get around on a motorcycle. I had been taking my car to Murf for a few years when in October 2015, I needed a valve job. Work completed and car ran great.... for all of 100 miles before I threw a rod in April 2016, supposedly on the opposite side of my V8 from where the valve work had just been done. Kinda fishy, but I suppose it happens; it's just really hard to swallow having a significant engine event right after having substantial work done on the engine.

Almost $5k later for the combined valve job and engine rebuild, car ran well, as should be expected. Except shortly thereafter, the engine compartment would constantly be splattered with oil and the oil pressure gauge needle would dance about wildly while the car was running. I hoped nothing serious and that was just a feature of an older car. Still, didn't drive it much. In 2018, I took the car in for a brake job (that I was charged $750 for, which is very high; Murf also changed my battery and charged me $200+ for a battery that I could buy retail at AutoZone for $120). Upon picking the car up, I noticed that the floor on the passenger side was completely and significantly bubbled up, indicative of where the mechanic had apparently jacked the car up or placed it on the lift. Extremely careless, inexcusable, and not indicative of taking the best care of my vehicle.

I later had to take the car to a body shop to have a bent cross-member replaced, that was damaged in the same area of the passenger compartment floor bubble. Hmmmm. $650 later, body shop mechanic mentioned that MULTIPLE serious oil leaks were apparent while underneath my car changing the cross-member. So I took my car to different shop in August 2019 and found out exactly how shoddy Murf's work on the engine rebuild had been, and well over $2000 later (significantly more), I had to replace numerous cheap, janky, and second-rate seals, gaskets (including the "new" valve cover gaskets, engine main seal, and oil pan "rope" gasket), and crappy Korean-made engine mounts that collapsed (on my American classic car!), as well as engine-adjacent but connected issues that should've been addressed at the time of the rebuild (oil pressure gauge line, transmission output shaft seal, differential pinion seal, etc). I don't understand how a competent auto tech can work on an issue and not even take a look at other potential issues in the same area (tunnel vision); as but one example, my motorcycle mechanic checks the tire pressure and life remaining on my brakes EVERY TIME, even when the bike is there for unrelated matters. New mechanic was in utter shock at how awful and shitty the previous work had been. Oh, and by the way, I have put less than 3000 miles on the new engine (although the stated symptoms manifested long ago). Murf is a really nice guy and all, but his techs, and whomever he farms his significant engine work out to, will NEVER be touching my car again. While I don't believe it to be Murf's intent, I do feel like I got ripped off. Multiple times.

In January 2020, I sent a draft of this review as an email to Murf to engage in some kind of constructive dialogue and elicit a response. Murf contacted me and told me he would look into things and get back to me. I provided detailed invoices reflecting the shoddy work that had to be redone. I followed up in April 2020 via email, and never heard back from Murf. In March 2021, I stopped by his shop, but he wasn’t there, so I asked his head mechanic to relay a message that I wanted Murf to get in contact with me. Here we are in June 2021, or 16 months after initially raising the issue with him, and Murf has never responded or explained why I was the victim of his substandard work, nor done