John’s Foreign Car Service

I wish I had found these guys long ago. I bought new tires for my car. Great price & in and out in an hour.
They work on German cars. I asked for prices on a couple of things I have done myself and had priced at the dealership. Amazingly, they will charge for less than an hour. And the parts were about retail prices, for fluids, anyway.

Best auto tech in South OC. Russ the owner gives it to you straight and gets the job done first time around. Im a repeat customer and strongly recommend him for your German car repair.

I’ve been taking my cars here for 3 years now, and I would highly recommend them to anyone. Russ, Kevin, and Christian are all extremely skilled, personable, knowledgeable, and honest.

The owner, Russ, is a highly skilled mechanic. Seems like he can diagnose and repair everything. And I especially appreciate that he’s honest. when Russ says a repair is needed, it really is. I’ve been going here for over 20 years. thanks to Russ my cars have lasted over 10 years (and counting). John’s Foreign Car Service gets my highest recommendation.

Very pleased with engine work done on my BMW. Russ Graham is a competent mechanic with a wealth of integrity. I recommend him for European & Japanese vehicles. His son Kevin «JFC Xpress Tire Center» has unbeatable prices and service for tires as well
Tim McGivern, Mission Viejo

Assured that they knew my motor front to back I took it here so they could solve a chirping possible boost leak problem. Quoted $ 55 dollars to start looking into it they called me up to say they couldn’t figure it out and «I owed them $ 110», they simply flat out refused to follow through with the problem any further. So $ 110 dollars later I have the same problem I went in there with. Not sure how I could give them anything more than two stars.

I brought in a 2009 MB SUV that was showing the «maintenance required» alert, they checked it out, discovered that only an oil change was needed and explained how the schedule works with the more long-​term maintenance work, and changed the oil. I arrived at 8:40 am (for an 8:30 am appointment) and the whole experience took 1 hour 15 minutes.
+ Fair, honest, and clear communicators that know German cars!
+ Russ owns the business and he is very knowledgable.
+ There is an intersection with a stoplight so it’s very easy to access from the 5, either direction on Crown Valley, etc.
— the seating area is small: a row of four chairs that face the front desk

I’ve been using Russ since 1988 for service on both foreign and domestic cars I’ve owned. THERE IS NOBODY BETTER! I wouldn’t think of bringing my cars anyplace else. He evaluates the options with you, explains the details, performs the work and has saved me countless $$ by being HONEST. Never a problem for him and his crew. He gets my highest recommendation as a professional!

My BMW had a loud noise coming from the rear axle and I was looking for a good local shop. After calling a few different places I drove over to John’s and was promptly greeted by Russ who was able to diagnose and fix the problem the same day. After a short test drive he confirmed that it was indeed a bad wheel bearing, had the part in stock, and went to work on it right away. Picked the car up at 5, problem solved. He also showed me the old bearing which was pitted, and without a doubt the cause of the noise that had been getting progressively worse. Seemed like a real nice honest guy. One other shop that listened to it and even drove the car had told me that the droning noise was just caused by noisy run-​flat tires, wrong. My car now drives nice and smooth again, thanks Russ. I’ll definitely be back next time I need work done.

Great and honest service. Today was an example of how Russ diagnosed a problem my car had and made a phone call to a dealer and found out that the issue I had was under recall. He could have taken a different direction but instead steered me the right way. That’s why anybody who wants their car taken care of by honest business people, should go here.

HONEST! HONEST! HONEST!
Russ is a honest guy, does a good job and is reasonable on his charges. No surprises!
Dave R.

These guys rock! I have been taking my Boxster here for yeras. Excellent service and great prices!!! Russ is awesome.

Brought my Jetta TDI in for an oil change and couldn’t be happier with the service! Russ was very helpful and also replaced my headlight and repaired a tire for me. I’ll definitely be coming back here for all my repair needs.

Went in to get rear brakes done on my wife’s SUV. I’m a DIYer when it comes to cars (son of a mechanic) but I didn’t feel like getting down and dirty; I think I’m getting old and lazy :-) It’s a fairly new SUV (year and a half old) with just 29,000 miles and I knew that the rotors didn’t have to be machined-​just the brake pads replaced. I called around for a price quote and every one of these shops wanted me to come in. I told them that it’s a newer SUV and that it’ll just probably need the pads replaced (no machining of the rotors necessary). It’s not a German vehicle so the rotors are not soft. I just about gave up and thought about doing it myself.
I called JFC Service and Russ gave me a price quote over the phone and the work was completed the same day. First guy to tell me what I was thinking — just need pads replaced… thank you. That’s a honest man! Price was good with excellent workmanship. Definitely will return!

Great staff, and honest, experienced mechanics. I’ve been through a bunch of mechanics, but Russ and his staff are unbeatable. I can’t say enough positive things about this shop

After taking my Toyota to the local dealership and being recommended to have repairs done in excess of $ 3,000.00 I decided to go to Russ for an opinion. Under $ 1,000.00 to have everything that needed to be fixed. I will NEVER go back to the dealership again. I highly recommend Russ.

My BMW has had (or rather, DID have) a condition for over 5 years. It was affecting performance, fuel efficiency, smog tests, etc. etc. Over the years, I have taken it to 5. .. FIVE. .. mechanics here in Santa Barbara and no one could fix it. Finally, a friend told me about Russ. I drove all the way down to his place and HE FOUND IT AND FIXED IT IN 30 MINUTES! So I threw some other stuff at him — wiring problems, rattles, an oil leak — and he fixed all that too! I was at the point of getting a new car. Now I don’t need it and I like my car again! He saved me thousands of dollars! FINALLY, A MECHANIC WHO CAN EXPLAIN THIS «BLACK BOX» I CALL MY CAR IN LANGUAGE I CAN UNDERSTAND. HANDS DOWN. .. NO QUESTION ABOUT IT. .. RUSS IS THE BEST MECHANIC I EVER SAW.

Don’t take your E60 anywhere else! Russ was able to diagnose a problem with my 2006 BMW 550i better than one of the local BMW dealerships! If it wasn’t for his incredible knowledge of cars and professionalism, I would have had to spend thousands instead of the hundreds to fix my baby. Yes, believe it or not, BMW couldn’t correctly diagnose a very common problem with my E60 but Russ nailed it within an hour. He even took the time to explain the repair which is not something BMW does well. The repair was fast and the cost was incredibly low. It’s fortunate that my mom and sister both use Russ and were able to recommended him. I live in Las Vegas but will make the drive to see Russ again. Thank you Russ for taking such great care of me and my car!

I have been to this shop about 4 or 5 times now and wanted to wait until I had a track record with them before writing a review. I found this shop when I noticed fluid leaking from the Coolant Flange in my engine one morning and needed to find the closest VW specialty mechanic, because I didn’t want to risk driving too far and overheating on my way to the garage. Rus was very straight forward and honest when it came to the part cost and labor needed to get the job done. I have been very pleased with this shop and happy I now had a local mechanic I could go to when needed.

Great shop. Rus is extremely pleasant to deal with and very fair and honest about pricing. For example, BMW wanted close to $ 600 to replace front brakes and rotors, this place did it for around half the price using the same OEM parts.
When I move up to LA, I’ll probably still take my car here for scheduled maintenance.