American Custom Tire & Wheel

These guys ARE MY HERO! The day prior to visiting their shop, I had a botched oil change in LA from a hack shop in Glendale, CA. As I began my journey from LA to Phoenix the next morning, my oil pressure light kept coming on. I first stopped in Indio to find my oil bone dry so I added 3 quarts. From Indio to Quartzite, my oil light came on again and upon finding my oil once again bone dry at the Terribles Gas Station, an older man noticed I was in distress and suggested I follow him next door to "American Custom Tire and Wheel" because they were honest and reputable.

Upon arrival at this shop, Robby was so attentive and eager to help me as quickly as possible. When they put my car on the lift, Robbie immediately identified a busted O ring for my oil filter that was never correctly installed, causing my engine to continuously lose oil. Not only did Robbie quickly repair my oil filter, he would NOT accept any money for the new O ring or any of the labor involved. As a woman that doesn't know much about car repairs, I've been so used to repair shops nickel and diming me for every little thing and often times taking advantage of me. Not only were these guys so very cool, courteous, and honest, they were extremely generous! I will NEVER forget how impressed I was with their professionalism and generosity! Robby saved my engine from seizing on the way to PHX!!

Keeping this summary short in order to avoid high blood pressure, this video will tell you about my 'adventure' at a Quartzsite repair shop regarding my brakes.

What is not on the video was the fact that when I finally got the go ahead to leave with my new brakes, the repair shop person told me the brake lines had collapsed because of a thicker grease used to pack the wheel bearings (prior) and that's what caused them to collapse. ???

I asked them then if they repacked the bearings in the correct viscosity of grease and he told me, "no" but replaced the lines. ??? (Why would you leave the same problem with new lines, unless of course it was a BS excuse for dinking around?)

*He also told me that he didn't think that he would need to drive the RV to confirm the issues I originally told him about to make sure the issue was fixed correctly, the first time. What kind of shop doesn't do the due diligence to correctly diagnose the problem that the customer remarks about in the first place???

A different mechanic (with whom I've stayed in contact & not associated with this business), who had inspected the rig before I bought it, had done some undercarriage work to begin with regarding the steering, and had told me there was no grease/leaks on the underside of the vehicle agreed with me that it was a BS excuse.

And instead of the original $650 + tax and shop supplies I was originally quoted, I left with a bill of $1,011.xx.

I won't say which business it was, but if you're familiar with Quartzsite, AZ, and recognize both the backlot view of the shop as well as the mention of the restaurant name, located across the street, you'll know the business that took me on this little ride of crappy service.

I'll add, prior to this appt, I paid this business $1600+ to put 6 new tires on this rig. They didn't screw that up, so I brought the RV in for brakes. From here on out, though, I wouldn't even bring a tricycle in for service at their establishment.

Lastly, when I mention 'knowing my way around the law and insurance' on the video, had I still been there for a fourth night, points like city zoning laws (not having someone living in your backlot), and insurance policy terms including not having someone in your backlot, would have been brought up to the proper offices and authorities that deal with those issues, not to mention the AZ Consumer Protection, and the State AG for the basic jacking around of a customer.

For people who are still willing to do business with this shop, I truly wish you the best and that you won't get jacked around like I did.


TIMELINE OF EVENTS:
3/7/24 - I made the appt for 3/19/24 at 11am

3/19/24 - I arrive to the shop to be told that I wasn't entered into their calendar for an appt (the manager acknowledged that sometimes the older gentleman who answers the phones tends to forget to enter appts into their calendar.) So, rather than getting my brakes done, they 'fit me in' to diagnose it which took roughly 3 hours, and then was told he looked at it for 10 minutes to decide that it was just the front brakes and it would run me $650.00

3/26/24: I bring the RV in at 7:30-ish am so I'm prompt and they can start on it, right away, at 8am (as they said they would.)

3/28/24: Regarding the trip to Palm Springs to visit family, when I brought this up to David, with whom I had been dealing with the entire time, and who had been stringing me along, he flips it around and admonishes me, telling me that I'm being unfair to him for bringing up the fact that I'm missing Easter weekend with family members I haven't seen in 22 years. 'Shame on me' for trying to make him feel bad, when I was simply seeing if any of my plans could be salvaged.

3/29/24: I finally leave their lot a little after 12 noon.


I understand that sometimes businesses have bad days, or are short-staffed, etc. However, this business made the mistake of stringing along someone who has roughly 85,000 Followers across several social media platforms and has shared the YouTube video link with all of these Followers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7IO8p30auw&t=259s For the full story and description of this dumpster fire business dealing, please view that link. The points of views shared and the conversations between the business and myself are strictly from my own experience during the last week of March 2024.

Lastly, to the business - I have no interest in speaking to you further. I will not change my mind about your business and/or huge lack of service and professionalism. As a business owner myself, I am fairly lenient in my understanding of certain situations, however, this fiasco was exactly that; an absolute fiasco. After I post this review on as many websites that I can find, I will be done with this situation and your business.

There are all kinds of reviews here for this place.

This is my story and experience.

We blew a tire some 20-miles past this spot. Where we were... was the middle of nowhere.. and i was calling around tire places to make sure i get towed to someone who has my tire size. Nobody, not one business.

Since no one had my tire size and some would mention one guy who had my tire size but he was closed that day. Our tow truck said our insurance would only tow us to the closest place and this was it. On Yelp, it says they are opened till 6, when i called, the guy who answered seemed very inconvenienced by me and my asks- AND that they were closing at 5 today. It was 4 something- I was like- okay, so you are saying i gotta get there before 5. I could tell he was irritated that i was even considering coming but literally there was "No where" else to go. And my flatbed tow truck just arrived and was takinng me there anyways since they are the closest.

I thought; get there, unload the car and put on the spare and drive "super slow" to the next big town. 100+ miles.

We Get there- i jump into tow truck- who knows the guy and place he;s taking me and he's circling to figure out where to put my car.

I go inside and it's dark and quiet and I am asking, "hello, hello? and this guy pops out from behind with big eyes, visibly irked that I am there and he's telling me that he's closing. He is turning and cursing and i am kind of frozen to his reaction manner. He says he's "closed up already- it's too late" and I said, "you said to get here before 5 and it was 15 minutes till." It was like a movie and really how he was acting put put a bit of fear in me. Not cool.

He runs out frustrated- I think, he's wondering where my car has been put. A chill, quiet guy, from behind steps forward- I am apologizing,"i know you said you're closing early-i got here before 5pm. I see you guys are trying to get out of here. Can you just put on the spare and we;ll be out of here?"

I didn't want to have an angry guy work on my car but this... is what it was- i just need the spare thrown on. It's 114 degrees and we have got to keep on moving.

My car is on the side of the building. We empty the contents to - No spare tire! Doh! New Electric Car with no spare.

We are stranded. There's nothing that can happen from this place or here today.

Those guys leave and the calm guy mentions to my husband ~they can't have "every" size in stock, but he can put an order in by 7pm if we decide and he'd get it delivered in the morning from a tire delivery guy by 8am. Which we did do.

Now what?!? we thought.

Next thing, that chill guy calls my husband back and "was thinking do you need a ride? to a hotel?, there's really just one place so you should call and see if it's available and I could help you and your family with a ride over there."

KINDNESS!! PREVAILS!!! This amazing guy saved us in a MOST thoughtful way. 114 degrees heat, we couldn't even think. We had a half bottle of water between 4 of us. By him giving us a ride and offering if we wanted to do a 2nd run of emptying the car..BLESS this LOVELY GUY! I want to say his name is David. We may travel the world over, here and there and really, the kindness of strangers that springs from an unlikely situation is just GOLD. Thank GOD for this guy! Good Juju for this guy, for this Great Deed. We were in a hotel and not schlepping stuff in the heat or sitting in the car figuring out what to do. He gave us food advice and he was spot on that tip too. The other guy had me fearful to even leave my car there and I would have left it at 1 star~ but this Kind Hearted soul restored my faith in humanity & his Customer Service. 4 stars! ~he went above and beyond.

He called us in the morning when he had the new tires, estimated to us when it would be ready and the price was very fair for them being ordered and brought in. My Dealership later took a 2nd look before our long drive back and was like, Yeah, your tires and install looks great! So yeah, well done, great service. Must be hard if you are the only gig in town and when a tire blows and everyone relies on you, they seem to get backed up a lot and I think I came in at the end of an obviously record HOT LONG day and lots of Customers. I think they have to cut out their breaks for themselves or it'll never happen. So yeah, give these guys a break if you do come here and are quick to judge. They will get your sorted in due time.

Great customer service and product availability

I. Would recommend!
Dave really helped me out.

David went above and beyond helping a friend of mine who was in desperate need. Thank you David!

The tire mech (I think name was Rigo) was great. But the fat guy (owner's son, I think) was a certified USDA Grade A Prime PRICK.

I dropped off a flat on Tuesday to be fixed and reinstalled around noon the next day. I arrived, paid the $25 bill, and was told here's your tire; you're ready to go.

I said I needed it to be put back on my vehicle as I was told would happen. Fat Guy acted like I was out of line to request what they had told me would be done (as do most, if not all, tire shops) and it would be about an hour to get on it.

Luckily, about 20 minutes later, the mech had a little time to put my wheel/tire on. Only took a few minutes.

Fat Guy came around and accused me of "jumping to the head of the line" ahead of other customers - which I obviously did not do.

The job was done well, but little thanks to Fat Guy, also known as "Mr Personality."

If you find yourself with a flat tire and you're in need of repair, this is the only place in Quartzsite that will work on cargo vans and smaller vehicles. Long story short, my tire was repaired pretty quickly (which I was grateful for) but left with a very negative experience at this place. Not only was I berated by the person helping me, they were over the top rude and combative. I was fine paying the extra fee to get help on the weekend, but this person very obviously didn't want to open up the shop. I don't know if he was having a bad day or what, but he seemed to have some anger issues. I'm laughing about it now, but at the time it was really off putting. Suffice to say, you don't have many options in Quartzsite and they know it, so any type of politeness or human decency goes out the window. It's not a place I would recommend unless you have no other choice.

Very grateful we stopped by after noticing our tire pressure was lowering! David helped us get back on the road quickly and was very kind to us and our dog Smokie and kitty Widget!
I highly recommend David's services!!! Thank you so much again!!!

we had American Custom Tire, change the oil on our Minnie Winnie. They did a great job, were curteous and helpfull. They are a owner operated business and I would highly recommend them.

Bought a new (to me) RV, 31 ft, and was having nightmare with the tires, 3 valve stem and a blow out, needing to be in California the next night we stayed at the stagecoach motel and go to these folks first thing in the morning, the service was awesome and quick, the owner and employees were really nice and helpful, and the price was very reasonable, they got us on the road in with 2 new tires and all new valve stems customized to our tire setup. Shout out to the technician rigo, thanks for everything!