Lakeside International Auto Service

Updating my review. On the last major set of work on my car, I’d asked for a tune up and when I picked up the car, several charges were more than what I’d anticipated, some were items I’d not directly asked for and a few parts charges were for significantly more than what I would have been able to get from the dealer. I didn’t challenge Henry on it at the time because I’d trusted him before and he’d done a fair amount of work for me in the past. I can’t say he billed me for any work inappropriately, but he did a fair amount of work that I didn’t directly ask for or approve in advance.
My sense is the quality of the work Lakeside does is good, but I’ve shifted my repairs to another shop that consistently confirms exactly what work they will do before they do it or bill me for it. In a pinch, I’d go back to Henry, but I’d make it clear I wanted to run through all work and costs prior to him doing it.

Henry and his team are by far the most honorable mechanics I’ve met. I’ve had a Land Rover and Range Rover repaired here. They are quick efficient and priced accordingly. They even go the extra mile and wash/​clean your car prior to pickup. I would highly recommend if you have a Land Rover Mercedes BMW or Porsche.
On one occasion Henry was even kind enough to drive me home and take the car to be serviced. A true gem in the neighborhood!

Solved an electrical problem on an 1956 Austin Healey in no time. Henry the owner very friendly and knows a lot. Excellent!

Look Henry and his team are extremely deep technically to work on Range Rovers. I agree the price points are tough to stomach, but he is far better than the «trainees» at the dealership. If you are looking to have quality work done on your Rover go to Lakeside. I have been all over the city for the last 8 years with my car and have been screwed over enough with people that say they know how to work on these cars and really dont. Henry knows what he is doing and will fix it right and guarantee his work

If you need work on your mercedes, bmw, audi, this place has excellent expertise. Henry, the owner, has many years of experience working on these cars and will be able to diagnose your problems and come up with a solution. I have used this shop for probably 15 years now and when I have a complicated problem I always go to Lakeside Automotive.

I am shocked to read a bad review on this business. Henry is a honorable mechanic, a rare commodity in today’s world. I took my Rover to the dealer for years until after a three month ordeal where every trip in there was another issue, each one costing $ 2,000 to $ 3,000. After another «issue» and a quote of $ 3,000 to deal with it, I went to see Henry, a friend had used him for years and the owner at Ashland Tire, another wonderful man, said I should go see Henry. He dealt with all the issues for maybe a $ 1,000 and none of them had anything to do with the 3,000 the dealer wanted from me.
Mind you I was crushed to have to leave my dealer, they had been lovely. I thought they had been fair until this. I was annoyed they never fixed things, just replaced parts. I was willing to accept that reality for the trade off of confidence. Then to have the experience of being a part of a quota they must have been told to meet. Just greed, they could have kept milking me for 10,000 a year.
My truck is old, I want keep it forever. To have found Henry and his guys, I believe that is now possible. For just what it takes to keep an old gal going.

I have been going to Lakeside international for the past 6 years since I moved to Chicago. I found the shop from a friend of mine who has been getting her Porsche serviced there for years.
Long story short, I have felt very taken care of at this shop and I have recommended several of my friends and coworkers to have their cars serviced here as well. I have Henry’s crew work on 2004 BMW M3 for all of my routine maintenance and also a few minor repairs. I often have sat in the shop with Henry waiting for my work to be done and have heard him save several callers hundreds of dollars.
This is the kind of shop that looks out for the best of the car owner and is not out to make a quick buck and rip you off. They understand that if they do good service on your car, you will likely be coming back year after year because its hard to trust people in this city with our foreign cars. Give this place a shot and trust Henry when you talk to him on the phone. He likes to look at a car before he can tell you what is wrong with it just based on what your other mechanic told you. So just take the car in to see him. You won’t be disappointed!

I called asking to change my struts replaced. I bought my own struts and Henry said no because the ones I bought were not the ones he likes. Typical mechanic rude European won’t recommend

After reading the on-​line reviews of this shop I had to add my 2 cents. I’ve visited this shop for both my beater Jeep Cherokee and my well loved BMWs. If you want a cheap repair this isn’t your guy. If you want a quality repair using OEM (that’s original equipment manufacturer for you newbies) parts, you get it here. Before I found Lakeside, I had another shop repaint the hood of my 330xi because I was seeing some rust. 2 years laters I see the same rust and take it to Henry. He explains to me the hood wasn’t an original BMW hood (I’d bought the car used), so rust would continue to be a problem even if I repainted it. Boy, I wish the first shop had told me that before I’d paid them to repaint it. Henry found me an OEM BMW hood used, sourced it for me and painted it good as new. No more problems.
On a 2009 BMW 335xi I bought, an indicator light came on the day I bought it (gotta love buying used cars). The service light on the car said a brake light was out. The car was under factory warranty, but Henry was local so I had him look at it. He gave the car the once over, told me what the problem was and that it wasn’t a simple bulb replacement. His advice was to take it to the dealer and get it fixed for free under the existing BMW warranty. How much did he charge me for this advice? Nada. And it took his shop a moderate amount of time to track downt the problem because it wasn’t obvious.
This isn’t the shop you take your car to if you are planning to sell it. This is the shop you take your car to if you are planning to keep it.

I’ve been dealing w/​Henry ever since I bought my ’98 Range Rover 4.6 (used back in 2002). He’s always been fair and honest, has cut me deals on things that took a LONG time (i.e. tracking down an electrical issue) and has saved me A LOT of money over the dealership. My father was a pit crew mechanic so I know and understand more than the average person when it comes to cars, and I’ve never found Henry to cut corners or try to pull a fast one. He’s a pleasure to deal w/​and his mechanics are first rate. They regularly attend courses updating their knowledge and will ALWAYS save the parts they replaced and thoroughly explain all that was done. I have recommended Henry to friends and they’ve all been very satisfied. He’s VERY picky and won’t let it out of his shop unless it’s perfect (which can be frustrating if waiting), but it’s certainly worth the wait and the not-​so-​convenient location!

In contrast to some of the reviewers, my experience with Henry and his shop has been totally positive.
The first time I went in with my rare 71 Volvo 1800E I thought my exhaust pipe was loose because of a loud noise. While I was waiting to get served I asked another customer who was on his way out with a BMW whether he was satisfied with this shop. He said they are great, cheaper than the dealer, and «You are in good hands.» The, Henry had me open the hood and he put his hand next to the engine. He told me to do that, too, which I did, and I felt hot air. He told me I needed a new flange gasket and for about $ 30 and two hours later the car was fixed. Another job involved a bunch of things and I was finally given a bill that, too, was very reasonable, almost cheap.
I returned to have him install an A/​C kit. It was a lot of work and some fabrication of parts was needed. But they did a great («clean») job (per the service mgr. at Orloff Volvo) and the cost was way under previous estimates I got.
I would recommend him and his shop to others with German cars, Land Rovers, or Volvos.

This guy is a CRIMINAL! Don’t go here!
My A/​C wasn’t working so I took it here and asked Henry to give me an estimate. I left the car with him overnight because he told me he couldn’t diagnose the problem without letting it run for an hour. The next day, he called me and told me it would be $ 1,800 to replace the entire A/​C unit. WHOA?!
I didn’t really need the A/​C fixed so I told him that was way more than I was expecting. Hearing this, Henry LOST HIS MIND!!! And started screaming at me over the phone. Something along the lines of «I don’t work for free» so I calmly asked him how much he would like for the estimate… 3 times… while he continued to scream at me. By now I was surely not giving him my business. Then… he yelled to «Come get your f… n car then.» Well, ok…
When I got there he continued to berate me and tell me he was a businessman. (he wasn’t acting like one). That he was giving me a fair price and I was wasting his time. He kept screaming about how I had to pay for the estimate and each time I asked «Ok, how much» but he just wanted to yell. I finally saw a sign on the wall that said «$ 50 estimates» so i just put $ 50 on his desk in cash and asked «Can I just have my car?»
Side note: A few months later when I took my car in for regular service to the Volvo dealer they fixed it for $ 359… $ 1,400 less than Henry. He’s a crook and a lunatic.

RIP OFF ALERT. Henry, the owner of Lakeside International Auto, is a liar and a cheat. DO NOT utilize this shop.
I went in to get a headlight bulb changed. Henry did not have a replacement bulb in the shop and said he’d get one delivered immediately. After waiting for an hour I asked if I couldn’t go to the auto parts store 2.5 blocks away and pick one up. Henry said the bulb I needed was not available in an auto parts store, «they are specialty items» used only on this model of car for 1 year. I didn’t have time to wait any longer so I asked him to put the burned out bulb back in so I could leave. He did and I left.
I stopped by another auto repair shop and asked about getting the bulb changed. They did so and assured me that the bulb was not a specialty bulb. I took the burned out bulb and the box the new bulb (an H7) came in, thanked him and left.
I took the burned out bulb and the carton to an auto supply store. They assured me that the burned out bulb was not a specialty bulb, that the repair shop had replaced it with the correct bulb and said that they had about 30 in stock. When I told them about my experience with Lakeside Auto, they said «Oh, Henry, he’s always got a story» and laughed.
I took the burned out bulb and the carton to another auto supply store, the one near Lakeside Auto. They too examined the burned out bulb and assured me it was a common bulb, that new bulb was the correct replacement, and told me that they have more than 20 in stock.
About a year ago I went to Lakeside Auto with an after market part to be installed that would allow me to play my MP3 player through the car radio. The part plugs into the radio where the antenna plugs in and the antenna plugs into it. Henry charged me $ 450 to install it. I paid it because I trusted Henry AND I didn’t ask the cost to install before I asked him to do it. Henry said it was a very complicated installation and it took several hours to install it. When I recently had the car radio replaced I watched the technician pull the radio exposing the point where the antenna plugs into the radio. It took him less than 10 minutes to do so, and about three minutes to put the radio back in.
My next communication about Lakeside Auto will be with the Illinois State Attorney General.

Having moved to the neighborhood a couple months ago I wasn’t sure where I could take my Infinity G35 Coupe in for quality service maintenance.
I reviewed their website, and it seemed professional. I checked out the building on Google maps, and it looked like a hole in the wall as the other garages in the area do. But I was pleasantly surprised.
Henry and Willy were very professional and polite. I called in at noon on Monday to schedule my car to be dropped off, I left it with them that evening shortly before closing after getting a fair price in writing for the service and parts, and they were calling me up at noon the following day saying my car was ready to be picked up.
Not only did they do a great job on the workmanship and were a pleasure to deal with, but they also washed my car to perfection and buffed out 2 little paint spots my parking spot neighbor put in my door… for free!!!
I will definitely be going back for my next service.

My husband got a great deal on a late 90’s Range Rover on eBay. Trouble was, shortly after we got it, we realized why the owners were happy to sell at such a low price.
After taking it to a couple of shops in the West Loop and Wicker Park area, supposedly good with imports. One of them kept diagnosing a different problem, «fixed» it, and then we’d have something else go wrong shortly after we got the truck back. It was a nightmare. It added such a yucky dimension to my marriage… the truck was this nagging, frustrating issue that we kept having to throw money at. There were so many trips to the shop and no one seemed to be able to identify the exact source of the problems, much less fix them.
Finally, as a last effort before ditching the truck, I looked for recommendations on Unilocal.Thankfully, we found Henry and Lakeside International.
On our first visit, Henry immediately assessed the problem and explained why all the attempted fixes in the past just didn’t work. We left the car with him, fingers crossed… when we went to pick it up, it drove great. Not like new (the car has over 100k miles) but WAY better than any time before. He completely fixed the problems that the other shops were saying were unfixable, or could only be fixed by replacing the engine and transmission.
I highly recommend Henry for your import auto needs. You can tell he totally loves and knows cars, and I get the feeling he’d be honest with you if he didn’ t know the answer to an issue. I totally credit him with saving our truck (and making my marriage a little less stressful)!

I actually have to rescind my review of Lakeside International Auto Service… After getting my brakes and rotors replaced a couple of years ago and after $ 1100, i found a new mechanic and he said he could have done the work for $ 600-​$ 700. So i got snowed… I forgot I even had this review up until now… When I needed my Service B done Henry sad it would cost me about $ 800…I took it to my other mechanic and he did my Service B and charged me $ 359!!! I now no longer own the Mercedes and am glad that I will never have Henry work on our car and rip us off…

Henry is cool. One of those great mechanics who loves to stand around and talk about your car with you. I needed a bunch of work done on my Range Rover 4.0, and I was referred to Lakeside by the dudes at Ashland Tire & Auto. One thing is for certain: this guy knows these trucks. He owns one himself, which is always a heartening thing.
I had a pile of work to be done: four new brake pads, two new bellows for the air suspension, a complete overhaul of the A/​C, some minor electrical problems, an oil change, and a partridge in a pair tree. Henry called every step of the way to explain what he found, tell me how much it was going to cost me, and how long it was going to take. For all of that, he had the car only two full business days, and only that long because he had to order one of the bellows. I’m not sure it could have gotten done any faster.
The total cost was pretty backbreaking, but not any more than it would have been anywhere else (maybe even less?), and it came with some helpful advice – like, don’t waste anymore money on premium gas because the engine is designed to take regular, and don’t bother trying to fix the little niggling problem with the power locks until one of them goes out completely (because a less honest mechanic would replace all four locks and charge you for them).
I’ve got perfect faith in this guy to keep my car on the road for as long as I want it, and I’m thrilled to have found a new mechanic.