Penner Automotive Inc.

They responded very quickly to my message. They are very honest with me. The cost is comparable and a little less than the dealership. They will give recommendations, but if I want to wait on anything they don't push me. They are incredibly thorough. Their mechanics actually found a small nail in one of my tires. They notice everything. They had a five page list of notes and went over it with me. They had a much smaller list for recommendations of things that needed to be fixed. My car is not cheap.

My clutch failed near Santa Rosa. It was a Sunday, and I had the car towed to their lot. They were contacted on Monday and diagnosed the problem, but said they would not be able to do the repair that week (it was the week before Labor Day). They did eventually complete the job 10 days later. Five months and 6K miles later, the clutch failed again, this time at home. I took it to my regular mechanic who said I should contact Penner because the job should be under warranty. The owner, Jeff, immediately tried to blame abuse, even though in the four years I have owned the car I have never had to replace a clutch before. Ultimately he replaced the clutch, charging me 50% of the cost and the tow to his facility, refusing to cover 50% of my car rental and the diagnostic fee I had to pay my mechanic, complaining bitterly the whole time about having to do a "warranty" job. It once again took him a week to complete the job. Overall a very bad experience.