Shops I Actually Trust

Marcus Deleon

@jedi_marcus77

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Owning a car in this town is an elective hardship. Hills, salt air, potholes that feel like poorly healed fractures. But I still drive a stick, still park on Bernal’s slopes, still need people who can keep metal alive without drama. These are the places I actually send residents to after I finish charting their cholesterol and we end up talking about CV joints instead. No saints here, just competent adults who pick up the phone, explain what’s wrong in plain language, and mostly get it right the first time. Which is more than I can say for our EMR. Mix of generalists, tire people, EV nerds, and folks who will vacuum the dog hair out of the hatch after a rainy-season mud run. None of this is sponsored. It’s just where my own car, and a few colleagues’ mistakes, have ended up over the years.

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Shops I Actually Trust — 4 items
Name	Address	City	Type	Best for	My take
1A & C Auto Clinic	2800 Oakdale Ave, San Francisco, CA 94124	San Francisco, CA	General mechanic & smog	Straightforward diagnosis, southeast SF drivers	Frank and crew are how I wish consults worked in the hospital: listen, poke, give you the real story without a lecture. Good for work vans and tired commuter sedans that live under 280 grime.
2International Sport Motors	440 9th St, San Francisco, CA 94103	San Francisco, CA	Full-service repair & body	Modern imports, accident cleanup	If you treat your German car like a therapy animal, this is where you board it. Organized, communicative, and they don’t roll their eyes when you bring a list of noises, which is more than I can say for some residents.
3Pat’s Garage	1090 26th St, San Francisco, CA 94107	San Francisco, CA	Japanese-specialist mechanic	Subaru, Honda, Toyota, Dogpatch crowd	Subarus with mystery rattles, aging Prii, all the usual Dogpatch fauna. They think in long-term organ function, not quick cosmetic fixes, which I appreciate professionally.
4Earthling Automotive	615 Bayshore Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94124	San Francisco, CA	EV & hybrid specialist	Prius, Tesla, anything with too many high-voltage warnings	If your car hums more than it idles, go here. They talk about battery health the way cardiology talks about ejection fraction, but somehow it’s less condescending.