Japanese Car Specialties

Bob, Tony & the crew have given our family great car care & gone the extra mile for us many times throughout the years. Honest, & explain clearly the problem, options, cost options, etc when we’ve needed repairs. They know their stuff! They’ve been around long enough to have developed a network of resources to get the parts I need quickly so I don’t have to leave a car with them over night. I’ve even asked them shop around for tires for me & have them installed by the time I pick the car up. Never any problems! Great Service! Highly recommended!!!

A couple months ago I had my Japanese car break down so I looked for a mechanic along the lines of what I though we’re best… my pops goes here and has said nothing but the best about this place. Me on the other hand have a different opinion, based on my many visits there with out actually getting my car there bob is a good talker but doesn’t seem to relay any messages or call back when he says he will, Tony seemed to be uninterested in what I had to say and said he was busy to take any more cars in for another 2 to 3 weeks and my car would take an equal amount of time to fix with «what ever was wrong with it» they did tell me they do free diagnostic test on it but I would need to come at a better time for them. decided to take my car else where after paying them 3 different times and the other mechanics were more than happy to take my car and fix it out in Camarillo. Avoid the head aches and time with these guys, you don’t want to hear bobs war stories trust me…

My wife brought in her 2009 RAV4 with ~40k miles on it about a year ago for an oil change. After doing the oil, they told her the water pump was leaking and the rear shocks needed to be changed.
I am a car guy and perform most maintenance and repairs on my vehicles time permitting, so I checked the water pump and it didn’t show any obvious signs of leaking. Over the next 4 weeks I checked coolant level weekly with no change that would indicate a leak. A year later, still no change and everything was running smoothly
The shocks were also still fine, although RAV4 shocks are known to fail prematurely, but that was not the case here.

Most people consider going to the mechanics is like going to the dentist. You complain of a toothache and then they find you’ll need 3 fillings, a root canal, and a deep cleaning ($$$)! Coming here is NOT like that. My second visit here and I’ve already found that this is the place I ONLY want to take my car. Bob and Tony are straightforward and offer no BS when you speak with them. They hit you with truth and offer prices the dealer can’t even get close to.
The technicians are also great to work with. I came in for an oil change, and asked the mechanic to check the leaky windshield wiper reservoir if he could. He came back 5 minutes later telling me it was a simple fix of the hose, and fixed it at no cost. Love it. You can not find better prices, time estimations, and quality customer service for your car.

I’m shocked to see that this shop has so many good reviews and few real ones. The mechanics are probably good, but the customer service is beyond bad… it’s atrocious!
1. They will not call you with any updates. You have to call them. Here’s what I was told, in a very annoyed tone — «We have 27 cars in the shop. I cannot call 27 customers with updates!»
2. Tony (who I’m told is the owner) told me my oil change should be done in 1−½ hrs. When I call 2−½ hrs later, I’m told the car is still in the shop. When I call 3−½ hrs later I’m told the car is still in the stop. When I mention what Tony said, here’s what I was told, again in a very annoyed tone — «If Tony said 1−½ hrs, go ask Tony why he said that!»
3. Ok so you’re too busy to call your customers. I get it! But you get 2 phone calls from a customer checking on the status over a number of hours. Don’t you have an obligation to call back with an update after that at least? Apparently not! Here’s what I was told, in a rather sarcastic tone, «Oh well, I’m sorry!» before the phone was hung up on me.
4. So I walk in and ask why the car was in the shop so long. They don’t know. The mechanic who worked on it isn’t there. They’re too busy, duh…
Never have I seen a business hang up on a customer. I wasn’t even angry until that point and I was kicking myself for being so polite. You see why I’m so surprised that such ineptitude is not reflected on Unilocal.If you have unlimited time, patience, and the wherewithal to call repeatedly to check on the status, this is a great ‘super busy’ place with wonderful Unilocal reviews to waste ‘your useless time’ at.
Tony, please do yourself and your hard working employees a favor, since you wouldn’t even call me back regarding my complaint. Read this review, when you’re not ‘busy’, of course. Then please do something about it!
Thanks
A Customer …(poof)… Gone!

I know that when I take my car here it will only have the work that needs to be done performed, the work will be quality, and it will be at the best price possible.
I move quite often throughout the us and whenever possible, I wait until I am in town visiting family to have work done on my car here.
Bob is a pleasure to work with — very knowledgeable, friendly, and straightforward.

I CANNOT and WILL NOT say anything bad about this place. I’ve taken my last car, new car, boyfriends car, all family friends car’s here for anything and everything. I love the man behind the desk, Bob, for many reasons, partly because he says Unilocal reviews are ruining him by bringing in so many people, but I trust him and will write one anyway. I have turned down many great ‘first timer deals’ elsewhere based on my trust in him and how well he has taken care of my vehicles! The mechanics are very, VERY good at what they do. Great prices, excellent service. Stop reading at take your vehicle here.

I took my car to these people because they once fixed my car for $ 300 less than Nissan said they would do it for. However this time was very different. They told me to leave it once day and they will fix the issue. It turned into 4 days and $ 730 later. About 5 days goes by and the same thing that was wrong with it before happens again!!! I call them to make an appointment to bring it back. So I do. I get up there and after talking in circles to me about what’s wrong with my car I finally ask «can you fix it or not? That’s all I need to know.» The mechanic tells me «no we don’t know what wrong with it» what? Ok. I was referred my my friend to another mechanic who told me that she he out my car on the diagnostic machine the same codes the first shop came up with, he came up with. The only problem is that they didn’t fix anything that was pertaining to the codes that came up!!! So $ 730 of work for nothing and there is no guarantee on their work. I would say I got taken.

Let’s face it, car repairs are never fun. But if you’ve got to get your car fixed, it helps to have a friendly shop that gets back to you with an estimate promptly, and completes the work in a timely manner.
I’ve brought two of my cars to Japanese Car Specialties, and even though I brought the cars in late in the afternoon, in one case on the back of a tow truck, they still got back to me within a couple of hours with an estimate and had the work done by the next day.
Bob is a really nice guy. I called him three times with questions, and every time I called he was courteous and answered my questions without making me feel like I was taking up his time.
Sooner or later everyone who has a car needs a mechanic. I’m really glad to have a local shop that provides great service at reasonable prices.

Honest Honest Honest… They diagnosed and fixed the problems on my son’s car at a fair price

I love this place. I’m sad that I moved into LA and now I can’t go to them for my oil changes anymore. Always efficient with great customer service!

Poor Customer service over the phone I was trying to understand the recommended fix to my brake problem and asked if I could mill my rotors vs replacing them his response was «If you could mill them I would have told you to mill them» However when I went into the shop Bob was much much nicer just a bit rough on the phone. Go in to talk and he will explain everything.

I had my car taken in for simple repairs and they didn’t successfully fix the issue. I was told my car was fine to drive, which turned out to being false. My car broke down later and I took it to another shop and they told me the reason my car broke down was the previous mechanics didn’t check the bolts. They are good at some repairs just make sure they check your bolts before telling you your car is safe to drive. It was a very costly repair and almost led to myself being injured.

I was on my way to LA from Santa Barbara for a concert, when my car decided to overheat right in Newbury Park. Luckily, my dad looked online and found this place that was only .6 miles away so AAA towed my car there. It was already 5 pm, which is when they closed, but Bob waited for me to get there. He also called Enterprise and set up a rental car for me. Nicest dude ever! He waited with me until I got picked up for the car, and the next morning called me with the good news. It was simply a bad radiator cap. This place is awesome, honest, and fair. Doesn’t get much better than this place! I would definitely bring my car back here for all repairs!

These guys are awesome. I discovered them on accident a year ago after receiving some less than stellar service from their next door neighbor. We’ve gone to them for oil changes, brake service, and will be visiting them in a couple of months for a tune up. Their prices are great (they ended up charging me less than they quoted me for the brake service), they get the job done quickly, and Bob at the front desk is super friendly. The only downside is that they don’t take appointments, so be prepared to drop your car off bright and early in the morning.
Best car place I’ve ever been too… by far.

FANTASTIC PLACE!!! I found Japanese Car Specialties by accident. I had horrible service from «Classic Tire» in the same plaze, so I decided to try JCS as a walk-​in customer. What a pleasant surprise! Bob just called me a few minutes ago to tell me that my brakes were in good condition and that I didn’t need any unnecessary work done. What?! Did I hear this correctly? This place should be called «Honest Automotive» instead. It’s hard to find honest, friendly auto repair shops, so I guarantee this place has my business going forward. As a matter of fact, I’ll recommend this place to all my co-​workers and post their business on my company Intranet. I HIGHLY recommend Japanese Car Specialties!

This place is amazing! I live in Irvine, but they are the only mechanics I go to.
I got into some situation with a shady LA mechanic. They talked to the guy on the phone. They towed my car from LA, and have me a great deal on that. They are very honest. Best mechanic shop!

I’ve been going here for a few years now. They tell you exactly what is going on with your car and they tell you how much the parts are and how much they are charging you for labor. Bob is really friendly too. I see no reason to go to the dealer when these guys are so reliable and knowledgable.

After Mazda f***ed up my car by selling me the wrong brake pads, which in turn chewed up my rear rotors, Bob at Japanese Car Specialties was able to verify the problem and fix it right up, at a lower price than their original estimate! We did the math, and they were definitely not ripping us off, and were offering a very reasonable price.
Bob is super awesome, and he hooked us up. Now my car is running like a champ, and more importantly, stopping like a champ.
Also, I won’t get my oil changed anywhere else. $ 25 for the best, most honest mechanics I have ever met? SOLD.

Theres just something really great about honest, hard-​working mechanics. Tony and the guys have serviced every car my family and I have ever owned. I no longer live in Ventura County, but now, when my wife and I drive home, getting the car over to Tony is often a priority. I know next to nothing about car maintenance and it is such a wonderful peace of mind to just be able to drop the car off, tell them what is happening, and a few hours later have them call me with options. They are especially great about telling me exactly what happened and the various options I have have to fix it and the recommendations they have. Excellent turnaround too (even for things they have to order)
Pros
–just plain HONEST. They aren’t here to sell you anything. Many times they’ve been able to jerry-​rig something instead of replacing it outright saving me tons, but they are always really straightforward about exactly what I’m getting into.
–Great service. They make it really easy to get in/​out and their really kind, friendly, and informative demeanors alleviate a lot of potential stress that car repairs can create.
Cons
–first come, first serve. You gotta want it. Best thing to do is drop your car off and slip your keys with a note through the mail-​slot of their door and have a buddy give you a ride to/​from work. You really gotta plan it into your day.
Thanks guys!