Autobahn Los Gatos

The most overpriced auto repair shop I have seen in 50+ years of owning a car.
Replacement of mass flow sensor, $ 150 part at most, cost $ 659 parts and labor, Mercedes c230
Last time I had it done the cost was $ 350, slightly overpriced at that.
Jim

Background: I have owned 5 different used BMW’s over the years in several different locations across the USA. I appreciate having a good relationship with a knowledgable BMW Mechanic and am willing to pay for the expertise, and put up with quirky behavior if the work is on point.
Autobahn appeared to check all the boxes:
Clean, only works on European cars, quick turn around, seemingly organized, dealer trained mechanics
Dave talks quickly, and will talk over you when trying to explain a problem. This off putting habit is not a deal breaker for me as I have experienced this from other good Mechanics. However, with my first visit to Autobahn they performed repairs on my vehicle that I specifically told Dave I did not want done. It was nothing major (Loose but functional door handle), but it was about $ 600 worth of repairs on things that were on the ‘would be nice to fix’ list. When they called me to tell me the door was done and an update on the requested diagnostic, I mentioned that I specifically told Dave not to touch the door. I was called back later and was told that I can pay full price or I can have them take the door apart and ‘unrepair’ the door.
So this is how we started out. Either pay for something you don’t want or the nice guy who drove me to work has to spend another 2 hours to undo a repair he just did. Not how I want to start out with a mechanic that I need, so I paid for a repair that I told Dave (Several times) that I did not want on the work order. Dave also blamed the guy doing the repair saying, «I put the part on his bench but told him to call you first before doing it». This illustrates that he did not listen to me at all when I explained to him that I did not want the work done, only a diagnostic on a different system.
Second visit I had a fuel pump and filter replaced. The service was quick and the price was decent (For Los Gatos) When I took the car home there was some residue on the bottom of the car and it was causing a lot of smoke. The guys at the shop were kind enough to point out that it was just a chemical used to loosen the bolts.
Third visit, car was making some noise. They checked it out real quick and identified the front air shock was blown. I went out of town for a bit and let the car sit. Just recently called to get a detailed quote.
When calling for the quote I had done my research on the OEM part, who manufactures the individual pieces of it, prices from various distributors etc. When asking questions about the price of labor vs parts, Dave talked over me. He suggested that, «We end this right now» when I mentioned that his price for the OEM part was $ 400 more than the next highest price online. I then asked if his price for the part was including the labor. He ignored me then went on a tirade about ‘Chinese Internet Parts’ and how he can’t be sued if he uses only parts he purchases, and that he does not know what kind of ‘internet crap’ I’m looking at. I mentioned a common supplier of parts for air shocks and that it would be odd for this type of German part to be supplied by a Chinese company, and that I am only looking at OEM parts. He then laughed at me and said that manufacture only makes one type of part and not shocks (This is not accurate). At this point I decided I would be better off towing the car to a shop further away vs limping down the street to Dave, but I held out for the full quote. When I got all the information I was asking for it appears the price he quoted me could have included labor (Meaning the prior exchange was for naught), but it is still hard to tell as he would not elaborate.
If you are in a pickle and or willing to pay slightly less than dealer prices to let Dave and Autobahn maintain your car, or replace some ‘plug and play’ parts this is probably a good shop for you.
If you need a professional explanation of the costs involved in a repair, or work more complicated than ‘plugging in’ of a new OEM part I would suggest looking for a different mechanic.

I was so happy to find a local Mercedes repair shop, and the first time they worked on my car it was less expensive than the dealer. But after that, they got oil all over the engine and broke the oil filler cap so I needed to buy a new one, and they had the nerve to charge me for it. They tried to give me some weird story about a squirrel chewing on the cap. B… The worst part was I had to have someone wipe down the engine as it could not safely be steamcleaned after they messed it up. Now, my once clean beautiful engine looks old and dirty. So in the long run, it cost more, plus ended up to be very disappointing.

You won’t find a better BMW/​Mercedes repair shop in the Los Gatos area.
I first found them when BMW Stevens Creek quoted me a huge sum of money to fix the convertible roof on my 3 Series. Autobahn did it the same day for half the price.
From that day on, I’ve had them service both my BMW and my ML350 Merc for a variety of jobs — some big, some small. The owner Dave and his head mechanic Gary are super nice people and super competent. And honest as the day is long — you won’t get ripped off here.
Another story — I just stopped by for a replacement brake lamp. One of the technicians broke away from another job and fixed it for me there and then, and refused to take a penny in exchange — not even the price of the bulb.
You’d maybe think this was because I’m a regular customer but the technician who helped me was new — had never seen me or my car before. He just did it as a nice gesture.
Old-​fashioned customer service at its best — that’s why I keep going back.
Highly recommended!

The warranty on my BMW finally expired so I thought I would try these guys out as if nothing else they are closer to home. Quality work at a fair price. Super responsive. Very professional.

According to the person I talked to by phone, there is no ABDIII scan tool available for clearing of codes at this Garage. How do you make diagnoses of complicated issues without one? Maybe they have a tool but simply don’t offer to erase codes for customers. If this were the case, it would beg the question «Why not??»

My daughter’s BMW had a warning light come on indicating that it was low on oil. Autobahn fit us in first thing Monday morning and took care of this in a few minutes. We have been going to Autobahn for several years and have been very satisfied with the quality of their work, prices, and friendly people. We highly recommend them for servicing your BMW.

I’ve been taking my cars here since they first opened, recommend to friends as well, and never had a negative experience. They’re honest, reasonable and thorough. They help out even in cases when it’s not a vehicle they typically service but are able to [like my current Honda]. They’ve checked for problems and not charged when no issue was found. What more can you ask for?

Took my 328i there and it ended up needing a new water pump. they told us they were going to just replace the water pump but also did other did other UNAUTHORIZED work on the car didn’t tell us and then CHARGED us for it. and by the level of gas it seems they took it for a long drive also. more then needed to see that it was working. we’ve always taken it to BRRacing but theyre a bit pricey so we decided so try autobahn but they were even more pricey and didnt do half as good work as BRRacing. They were not nearly as friendly and bad customer service.

We went to this shop based on the positive reviews, but our experience did not live up to those reviews. They may be fine for routine maintenance, but their inability to diagnose and repair a problem cost us $ 180 and we still have the problem.
We took our X5 to Autobahn Los Gatos because the ABS was activating when it shouldn’t. One of the techs test drove it in the parking lot and confirmed that the ABS was not functioning properly. Dave wrote up the work order while I gave him the recent repair history of the car, as we suspected the problem was related to a previous repair done by another shop. I told him that the car has the self-​leveling air spring suspension that mechanics dread, and that there was abnormal leveling activity that had started at the same time as the ABS problem. Dave confidently said it was unlikely the suspension issue was related to the ABS problem.
Later that afternoon Dave called and said the car was fixed. He stated they spent sometime troubleshooting the problem and were unable to figure it out, as the car’s computer was not giving any fault codes. He said that they ended up rotating the wheels and that this fixed the ABS problem, though he was at a loss as to how this fixed it. He assured me that they had test driven the car after rotating the wheels and the ABS was not acting up.
We had to pick up the car after hours, and noticed the ABS problem was still present on the drive home. Perhaps the ABS had behaved itself for a brief test drive after the rotation, but the problem was apparent again within 1 mile of leaving the shop. I called the next day and told Dave that rotating the wheels had failed to fix the problem, and scheduled another appointment to have it looked at again.
We brought the car back today. My husband did an extensive test drive with Dan, one of the techs. Everyone was in agreement that the ABS problem was still there and that the suspension was not leveling the car properly. Dave said it would be $ 400 more to try to fix the problem, and partially justified this cost because we hadn’t said the suspension was a problem when we first brought it in. I resented this, as I had clearly told him about the suspension at the first appointment. Perhaps he had forgotten. Nevertheless, the discussion about the ABS and suspension problems among Dave, Gary and Dan and my husband and myself made us feel that they did not have the expertise to accurately diagnose and correct the problems. We felt like we would be spending a lot more money without much confidence that a fix would be found, as we were already $ 180 into it without a resolution.
We also weren’t comfortable with how they write their invoices. I understand (and expect) to pay for diagnostic time. Other shops we’ve taken our vehicles to have a clear breakdown of the labor rate multiplied by the time spent, as well as itemized parts costs. The invoice for the tire rotation was vague and did not show the labor rate or the time spent. $ 180 is a lot for a tire rotation, so it would have been helpful to know what else was done and how the time was spent, particularly when the problem is still present. As a customer, I like to know what I’m paying for. This vague invoicing system is another reason I won’t return.

Once my warranty and service agreement ended with Mercedes I started using Autobahn Los Gatos. The service is incredible here. I have delt with both Dave and Gary and they have never led me wrong. They even help me decide when it was time for me to let my old CLK 320 (13 years old — I loved that car) go. When I purchased my GLK I decided not to buy the service agreement with MBZ as I knew I had a good source for maintenance.
I have cheated on Autobahn in the past with less costly repair and maintenance places but the cost savings ended up being spent on waiting for car parts, not getting things right the first time, continued back and forth, etc. Sorry but my time is precious too.
I highly recommend Autobahn Los Gatos. Dave and Gary run a business that is high quality, honest and efficient!

We sought out Autobahn Los Gatos after our regular shop attempted to repair a door lock problem 3 times without success. Dave diagnosed the issue, sent us back to our original shop so they could repair it for no additional cost under their service warranty. Imagine their surprise when I told them what the problem would be, and was right! Dave has our business going forward.

I stopped by to get my oil changed and during that process they found that rats nested in my car. If you looked into my engine, you can see where the rats ate some of the insulation.
Instead of charging me a huge fee to fix it they recommended that I get rat poision and they showed me exactly where to pour it into the car.
Since I know nothing about cars, they could have charged me a really high fee to get rid of the rats and I wouldn’t have known the difference. I am very thankful that Dave was honest with me, and he provided me with great service.
I needed a few things fixed with my car, and I had them write out a list of priorities that needed to be done. What needs to be done NOW, in the next year etc etc. It really helped having this list, because I just graduated college and I am on a right budget.
I highly recommend Autobahn of Los Gatos.

I found Autobahn of Los Gatos (Dave) to be honest, very reasonably priced and provide great service. I no longer feel the need to go to the dealer for any repairs or service, I know when I drop my car off it’s in good hands!

I just stopped by today to get my micro filter changed. Dave was great. Ordered the part and I swung by later that day to him them swap it out. Totally did me a solid. These guys are always great to work with.

They have no good reason to be so expensive when there are equally well reputed places that charge much lower. Maybe just being in Los Gatos does it for them.

Took my car (2005 BMW 530) here for the first time today. Good communication. Quick service. This is the first time I’d had this car serviced outside of the dealership and it was a great experience. I’ll be getting it serviced here in the future as well.

Drove by last month and saw this place. So glad I did since my M3 soon after prompted for new front and rear brakes. I brought it here and Dave took all my info. He is a very polite and direct person. Some might take that as rude, but I appreciate that approach since I don’t have the patience to deal with sugar coating and ass kissing. He took care of everything and even went beyond when he found a rats nest hidden on the engine. The car has been sitting for a couple of weeks so the nest wasn’t a major problem but he gave a few recommendations on how to take care of the problem before it becomes an expensive repair.

I am so happy I found this place. Dave is polite, honest and an awesome guy to deal with. He took the time to explain everything to me and made sure I was comfortable with all repairs before moving forward.
My E320 is healthy again and I am happy :) Will also bring in my ML in future.

Don’t waist your time and money bringing your car to a dealerships these guys are your one stop auto shop. I’ve had issues in the past with other shops: the bill is higher than expected, I don’t quite understand what service they are preforming, etc. etc. Gary and Dave always take time to fully explain the problem and what steps they’re going to take to fix them and what the cost is before they start the work! The staff is friendly and professional. I don’t plan on looking for another repair shop any time soon.