Belmont Motor Works

My friend brought in some of my parts to be fixed at this place, they said it would take one week and only a couple hundred bucks, three months later the part is back and not even put together properly! I do not suggest this place for anybody with a quality BMW.
The owner is cool, the kid of his needs some help. He’s lied and told us stories about his father being sick and this and that — but I don’t see him delaying everyone else’s stuff. Why ours? Sad.

Gave these guys the benefit of the doubt multiple times but in the end I had to throw in the towel. I’ve had multiple experiences where I’ve had to return for a repair they made on two BMWs I own (I stopped taking my newer one there but still relied on them for the older of the two). With my last experience my car was there for over a week for a simple repair and after I got it back the problem still persisted. Communication was poor («call you back in less than an hour» or «call you back in 2 minutes» — never a call) and I spent money I shouldn’t have after taking it to another shop and finding out the parts they said they replaced were not replaced. I was always polite and cordial so this was not a case of a rude customer who got poor customer service. In the end I feel cheated and regret taking my cars there. If you want better service and value your time and money check out Alternative BMW Service in San Mateo or Bimmers in San Carlos.

DO NOT take your car there, especially if Gerry Schulba still works there. He is dishonest, has an ego and gets VERY diffensive if you question him. WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER!!! He needs to retire!

This review is specifically to the old man who works there and helps his son, Gerry.
Do not take your BMW here unless you are only dealing with the younger son.
I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve held off on writing a review for three weeks because I thought I wouldn’t be mad if I waited long enough, but every time I get into my car I get more upset. The more I think about what happened to me as a customer there makes me extremely angry.
I took my car in with a list of things I needed fix that ranged in difficulty. Horn not working. Replace front control arms, bushings, tie rods. Replace rear bushings and trailing arm on passenger side, A/​C recharge.
The son quoted me 10 – 12 hours @ $ 120/​hr and I agreed.
Took my car in on the following Monday and that’s when I met Gerry. I told him the scenario that the son and I discussed on the previous Friday. Gerry seemed fine with that and was like, «OK give me the keys and we will get to work.» And I was like, «Shouldn’t you be writing down a work order or an invoice/​estimate or something??»
That was my first red flag. He agreed that a written estimate should be made. WTF???
My car was there for a whole week and they called me and said it was done. When I come back to the shop… it was NOT done. Horn still not working and rear trailing arm was NOT replaced. They put the rear bushing in the old trailing arm which was bent and causing my camber to be way off and out of alignment.
Gerry’s tone immediately changed when I pointed that out. He got very defensive and argumentative when I had to point out that the work was clearly written on the estimate. He said it was impossible to complete that kind of work within the timeframe they estimated. Again… WTF???
He then preceeded to tell me to pay for the full estimate and then drop the car off at a later time and they will complete the rest of the work. I really needed the car that day so I was like whatever, I don’t have time for this. I paid the full amount, and he wrote on the estimate that he would complete the «pre-​paid» work at a later date.
A week later I dropped the car off on Monday again. I called him every day to see how the progress was going for a week. He came up with several thousands of excuses, went off on weird political, racial, business, economic rants that lead to absolutely no where. Ultimately he said the car would be done by Friday.
Friday rolls around, I call Gerry and he says he’s got it on the lift and is taking a look at it, but then asks me for $ 270 to get it going. WTFFFFFFF??? NO.
I wound up going to the shop during my lunch break. My car was out on the street, exactly where I left it with bird shit all over it, unmoved for the entire week. I requested the keys from the son (Gerry was no where on site).
Maybe they are good for oil changes, brake jobs or whatever, but I get the feeling that unless you are spending millions of dollars on repairs, they don’t really care about you as a customer. Otherwise, why haven’t I received a phone call saying to bring my car back? I basically paid an extra $ 400 for nothing, and then was asked to pay an extra $ 270 to «look» at the rear wheel trailing arm.
I wish I had the energy to sue these MFers.
Hope this review was helpful… I see there are many positive reviews here so that’s great but I also see a few negative ones that are pretty much inline with my experience.
I would recommend ONLY dealing with the son (Chris) and getting everything in writing and calling them every single day to harass them on the progress of the car and be prepared for your car to be in the shop for at least a week.
OR…take it somewhere else.

When I first took my BMW’s there to Schulba’s years ago, I was happy. Years later the place has eroded. You can tell by the messy unorganized office area. I am an engineer and have evaluated factories and you can tell a lot from the organization of the shop floor. It often correlates well with performance.
I took my car there to get some work done before selling it. Jerry recommended that I replace the brake rotors all the way around as they are thin. As an engineer, I basically asked if they were within specs. He dodged the question. I then asked him to tell me the BMW service spec… he did and I asked him the measurement from his digital calipers. After having that info, I concluded it was within specs although on the low end… but it had more miles to go… so why do it now? Basically the dude was trying to upsell me. Then he went on about how some people don’t want to spend money on their cars and BMW specs isn’t always right and went on a liberal political rant about people with money screwing over the little guy. Serious back pedaling and weird. By that time, he lost credibility in my mind and I will never go there again.
I disclosed to the buyer of my car that the rotors were in specs but thin and he could get more miles on it before having it done. I didn’t want to spend the money on the brakes and pass the cost onto him when he could keep getting more miles on the rotors.

The best way for me to describe how much I appreciate the work they do here can be summarized by my desire NOT to write a review here. I want to keep this place my own best secret.
Gerry is a BMW genius, and he’s always up for a challenge. I’ve thrown some curve balls at him, but he’s always willing to step up and deliver. I do not take my cars anywhere else for service.

I am re-​posting this review since it had mysteriously disappeared from Unilocal???
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I called this shop to inquiry about an oil change for my 745li, Peter Pan BMW wanted to charge me more than $ 500 for it. When I asked the owner Gerry he coated me less than ¹⁄₃ of this, which was much better than what I was going to pay with Peter Pan. Gerry the owner is a straight shooter, very honest and has a great personality. You can tell that he loves what he does and is very knowledgeable; his son works there along with one of his long time employee. As I was waiting for my car, he gave me a great history of Belmont, smart guy!!! Without a reservation I recommend this shop to all the BMW owners, you will get the same service as the BMW dealer for a fraction of the price. Excellent service!!!

Very knowledgeable and honest. Only knock I have against them is one time they didn’t call me back that my car wouldn’t be ready (and this was a Friday evening). Can be tough getting out the place cause Gerry will talk to for an hour about your repair.

The owner, Gerry, really likes to get to the root of the problem with repairs instead of just slapping on a band-​aid. I think that attitude is what makes the difference between a so-​so/​good-​enough job and one you don’t have to worry about ever again.

Just a note, Schulba’s is open on Saturday by appointment. Call ahead if you want to get your work done on a Saturday. In my experience it’s about 1 Saturday a month that they are open.

My Mercedes CLK500 was past due for a B service and I also knew I needed new brakes… Yikes, just what one needs in the middle of a recession. Anyway, on the recommendation of a friend, I took my car to Shulba rather than to the Mercedes dealership service center as I had planned. Good choice, indeed! Shulba did great work, did the work very quickly, and provided friendly and professional service. Their prices were also quite less than the quote I received from Mercedes. I would highly recommend them!

I have been taking my 249k 97 M3 to Schulba for the last 8 years. They have done everything from general maintenance to completely rebuilding my suspension and engine. Gerry and Chris are very customer service minded and completely understand the intricacies of BMWs. I have found them very performance oriented and always willing to give a fare price for work that needs to be done. I would highly recommend their auto mechanics abilities and services.

Although the other reviews are good, I didn’t have a good experience at Schulba. I went to this place based on Unilocal reviews but did not have a good experience. I had some inspections and brake work done, but had some reoccurring problems with the brakes squeeking, so I took it back and it took a few hours for them to fix the problem. And the owner, Gerry, got upset at the problem and started swearing like a mad man, which I overheard in the background! Eventually the problem was solved but I felt I was overcharged overall for everything and the environment was very unprofessional. I highly don’t recommend this place.

They are very honest, very nice and always trying to help. Their price are very reasonable and they are doing their best to get you on your way the same day… I’m glad I found them (using Unilocal!) and that I have a good shop.

I used to be a big fan of Schulba. After several years of taking my BMW there I started finding him to be a bit too methodical. It seemed like it would take forever to get my car back after doing all kinds of diagnostics and then doing some more to find the root of a problem. I appreciate that this is the nature of the beast with German cars with multiple incompatible on-​board systems and that he’s just trying to be thorough, but he seems to take it a bit too far sometimes.

After my normal BMW mechanic retired, I need to find one I can trust. I called about 10 places to get new front brakes and settled on Schulba after speaking to them. Their price wasn’t the lowest, but I could tell that they know what they are talking about. While waiting for my brakes, a guy came into the store to get some switch for is 740i. I struck up a conversation, and he has been coming here for 15 years. Oh, and after they put in the part, they said it was on the house. The owner also showed me around the shop and I was surprised they had the expensive diagnostic computer that most BMW Independent shops don’t have. I think I found my new indy mechanic! Someone trustworthy, that knows BMWs, and is reliable. They may advertise as a brake and lube shop, but they are so much more.

Definitely awesome. Gerry, the owner, has been running the place for a long time. I was recommended Schulba by a friend who said Gerry offered his car’s headlight to replace that of my friend’s because they were out of spare headlights.
I got a car I bought off Craigslist inspected here before I bought it and they did a thorough job and charged me very little.

Did a good job, charged a fair price, was courteous and finished the job on time. Can’t ask for more !

Not open on a Saturday (at least, not for me) BUT very happy with the service here. They were all respectful, courteous, and, above all, HONEST. AND they gave me a ride to the train station! AND they charged me for front and rear brakes what BMW Mountain View were going to charge me for the rear brakes only. AND they said the trim had just slipped (and didn’t need replacing like BMW MV said for $ 270). Definitely going back there again.