L & M Automotive

The owner and his assistant seem very honest and respectable. They work quickly and get the job done. Their prices are comparable. I need to get my brakes done but didn’t have time today so they scheduled for a later date and told me I could have a loaner car for the day. Also, they give free alignment if you get your tires from them. That’s a great perk!
They have a nice small lobby area complete with coffee and soft drinks (although we didn’t help ourselves).
Overall, I’m very pleased and look forward to future work.

Amongst all the options here at Lake Forest, this is probably the best & the finest. The owner Charlie personally looks into maintenance and service. The manufacturer recommended maintenance was carried out in a more organized and professional way with complete transparency at about half the cost for my Honda Civic. This facility provides a complimentary car wash, pick up & drop (as a matter of fact Charlie drove to and fro to my residence), the delivery was on time. The chip in my windshield was repaired as if it was a Midas touch. I am thoroughly impressed.

I visited the shop for the first time to have my brakes checked and did not have any expectations except for the typical feeling of possibly being ripped off when you drive a luxury brand auto but I was proven wrong. The owner Chris and his staff were honest and very helpful. I even got a ride home from the owner while my car was being evaluated. I was given an honest evaluation stating that the brakes still have life in them and was not swindled into getting them done when they were still good. It is quite hard to find a shop you can keep for a long time as we will continue to own cars forever so I’m very happy to have finally find a shop that I feel I can start building a relationship with.

L and M Auto is a wonderful ! Can you say that about a mechanic?
First I was very impressed with the look of the shop. It’s very clean and professional looking. You can tell they care about their appearance. You only get one chance to make a first impression and I was impressed.
I ended up bring my work van to them to fix what NOBODY COULD!
Low and behold they did their job and they did it well!
My van IS MY BUSINESS and it must work. When I need a repair I need it done asap and done right so I can continue to work.
L and M Auto address professionals and don’t expect anything lad from them and that’s all they deliver.
I highly recommend L and M Auto!

I love this place! Very thrual and honest. Are you tired of searching for a good mechanic? Well, look no more! Great staff, updated progress and very professional. Reasonable prices, if not, better prices plus they actually take the time to find out what is really wrong your vehicle. Very happy customer! Highly, recommend!

This is my first time ever writing a review. I used to wonder what kind of people have time to write a Unilocal review. And yet here I am because L and M automotive has been so good about keeping my old car running. My car is over 25 years old. It needs a lot of TLC and parts are hard to find. I have taken it to many different local mechanics over the years and I have had every bad experience possible. My last mechanic just refused to keep working in it since in his opinion it wasn’t worth fixing. So my poor car sat non-​op for 6 years. Then a few years ago my friend told me about L and M. They are the best! My car needed so much work and they have put so much time and effort into advising me and locating parts. It now runs better than it did when it was new.!! They got my A/​C working better than my brand new car. Everyone there is always nice and professional. They give me rides home and back. Wash my car if it needs it. I even got my windows tinted there. I totally trust L and M to do a great job, be honest with me and give me a really good price. I will never take my car anywhere else

I have been going to L&M for more than 15 years and they have always been fair and honest. But my last visit was was terrible, first I brought my van into them for a leak and they couldn’t find it at first, so they told me they needed more time. I left the shop and then a bit later received a call letting me know they have to charge me for more time to find the problem. Since I needed my car fixed I agreed. I then got the call letting me know they found several problems and gave a quote that I felt was high. I called another shop for a 2^nd quote and the 2^nd shop was about $ 100 cheaper. I called L&M back and asked for any price break and they said the price is what it is and I can come and get my car but will have to pay them for their time, which was over $ 100.00. So at that point I had no choice but to let them finish the work or I would have had no car for 2 days + pay two shops for the work. When I went to pick up my van and asked Charlie if there was any discount for me being a long time customer, he took off 10% which wasn’t much. But I wasn’t happy the way they treated me very disrespectful and I did not like or appreciate it at all. I have to say for all the choices out there for mechanics you would think that they would treat customers with more respect. I use to refer people to them and now they lost a customer and I will make sure to tell everyone not to go to them.

I like L and M automotive when I’m at my work in Lake Forest. I like to use these guys because they’re just close to the office.
They always give me the straight scoop: good, bad, or ugly.
They let me know what’s going on with my car that kind of gives me peace of mind.
I can trust what they’re saying because I’ve been using them and friends at work have been using them and we all say the same thing: they do good work.
They’ve never lied to me, they never exaggerate the truth, they show me everything with pictures or used parts so I know what they say is true.
They don’t recommend things that don’t need to be replaced. The reason I know that is cause I’ve got a second shop that I’ll go to sometimes when I’m at home in Orange.
I can recommend L and M automotive with full confidence. Cindy their service writer is fantastic.

Dear Charlie and the L&M crew,
Thank you for taking care of my wife’s minivan. We brought it in for a
follow up to some rack and pinion work you did. With the new tires and your
special touch the van is driving great again. Not only is it driving well,
but you saved me over $ 400 had the work been done at the dealer. Thank you
for your great customer service and quality work.

If one doesn’t know anything about car repair it is really hard to know if one is being ripped off. I’ve been taking my 1999 BMW here for several years now and I always
feel like I’m getting honest high quality work done for a reasonable price. Cindy is awesome– she is really great at explaining what work has to be done and why and getting the best price for parts. Today I went to pick up my car after having some repairs that we’re going to cost over $ 1000. I mentioned to Cindy that I think they had replaced a part fairly recently-​Cindy checked the records & the part was replaced less than two years ago. She took the charge off– about $ 180 because they have a two year warranty on parts-​I didn’t know this and I really appreciate the honesty & integrity of getting the charge off of the bill. I will recommend L & M to my friends/​neighbors & let them know they are
trustworthy & fair.

10:30 I was there because of sign of leakage in my garage. I dropped my car there and they offered ride back but I live very close by.

I have been taking all my cars to L & M Automotive for at least 15 years. They are simply the most trustworthy and reliable mechanics I have ever found and I am proud to recommend them to all my friends and family. From the honest opinions on what needs to be done to what can wait a bit, the shuttle service, car wash, pleasant attitudes, etc. right on down to the reliable work, I have never been disappointed! Actually, the only disappointment that I have is that I no longer live in the area. I do make it a point however to get my car serviced at L&M whenever I am back in OC and I have to tell you, they are always so great. They have stayed late to check out my car knowing I am on my way from LA and have serviced my car on a moments notice before heading back to LA to keep me safe on the road. I have called them throughout the years before road trips for advice and from the side of the road for help. They truly want to keep you safe and trouble free on the road. L & M has handled everything on my cars from basic oil changes, brake jobs, AC repairs, transmissions, you name it. Auto repairs are usually a stressful thing and at L&M what they offer best is peace of mind. If you are looking for a mechanic you can trust… look no further!

My husband and I LOVE L&M Automotive and have referred many of our friends/​family here! They really do provide quality work and don’t try to rip you off. It’s really hard to find a trusted car mechanic, so when we found L&M we never looked back.
We’ve had multiple services performed here — oil changes, new tires, tire plugs, and major engine work. Every time it’s been a quick, hassle free experience. I don’t think it’s any more expensive than competing places, but the service you are provided with is definitely an added bonus.
They have a free shuttle service to take you to and from home/​work while your car is being service, and we’ve used this service multiple times. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. They offer you an estimate before they perform any work, and if the actual cost is more than the estimate, they’ll let you know before completing the job.
Plus, they leave a little bag of candy in your car when you pick it up… who doesn’t like free candy?! :)

This a review on them a few years ago.
I bought my car in to be fixed.
Next day the CEL light was on.
They charged me to check the CEL and to fix the part that was broken.
1 month later I noticed the broken part is located UNDER the part they fixed. So in my mind, I believe that they might have accidentally broke the part while fixing the other. So I won’t be back.

L&M Automotive did a great job on my car this afternoon. I brought my car in for multiple problems and the technicians were able to solve each of the issues for less that what I thought I was going to have to pay. They actually saved me some money by using a part that I bought online even though it turns out that I bought the wrong part. Instead of just telling me I had to buy the correct part from them, they modified the part (a window regulator) and made it work.
I highly recommend these mechanics. Fast work at a great price.

I see that after my review L&M are getting better — who knows maybe Unilocal works after all. Some customers are even getting their cars washed with service. After my service, my car was not washed at all.
Oh and Mr Charles, the use of the coupons are not related to the tough economic times. I simply decided to use them, because I thought the fair price for that little service was not worth what I was charged for. In addition, the work done was not even demonstrated to me!!!
Anyway, Mr Charles, I learned my lesson on how to deal in situations like this in the future and don’t be fooled! I hope you learned yours… Good luck to you and your small business!

After my check engine light came on a few weeks back I quickly ran to my social media accounts and began pleading with everyone I know for a mechanic recommendation in the Lake Forest area. L & M was recommended to me by a friend so I thought I would give them a shot. Now, I normally enjoy a trip to the mechanic about as much as I do my yearly trip to the dentist or my tax accountant, but L & M is definitely not your average shop.
I was impressed with the time each employee spent with me detailing the problem I had with my engine and offering possible solutions. The faulty part was saved for my inspection (even though they could of pulled the part out of a 747 and I wouldn’t have known the difference) and they washed my car after the repair was complete!
In terms of cost, the initial quote I was given was cut in half when the issue was identified to be not as serious as originally thought. NO I’M NOT KIDDING Ask yourself, how many mechanics have the integrity to actually LOWER the initial bid or cut in half? I have to say this is the first time it’s ever happened to me.
I will be back again and I highly recommend L & M to anyone.

We used L & M for the first time a few weeks ago based on these Unilocal reviews, and we were impressed. From Cindy in the front office to the mechanic who worked on my car, everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. The mechanic even did a test ride with me after the work, just to ensure that everything was done to my satisfaction — good customer service.
What really impressed me though was that they didn’t try to talk me into repairs I didn’t need: in fact, they talked me OUT of unnecessary repairs! My RAV4 needed some brake work, and I was prepared to have both the front & back brakes done at once. It turns out only the front brakes needed work, and the back brakes were still okay. I said to L & M that they might as well go ahead and do all the brakes at once, but Cindy told me that would be a waste of my money. Such straightforward honesty from an auto shop! I expect to keep going here.

Forthright about the cost of repairs. Quick and reliable.
In tough economic times, too many repair shops are out to gouge.
Not these guys. They seem to understand the value of retaining customers for future business.

Mark helped me feel totally as ease with this company replacing my radiator. The repair was completed in a couple of hours and they returned it to me grand spanking clean inside and out. My car has been running perfectly since. The estimate they gave me was fair and reasonable. I will definately return to L&M for future auto repair needs. Thank you Mark, Charlie and crew!!!