Oakland Auto Tech

Wow this review is so long overdue! Frank and the entire team at Oakland Auto Tech are incredible.
I moved to the Bay 5 years ago and have had intermittent car troubles with my old Honda that came across with me from Boston. At every turn these guys have been there to help me identify problems as soon as they arise and fix them quickly and often on a budget. They have always been honest with me and have spent extra time to explain the problems and educate me about my own vehicle.
When my car got totaled by another driving making an unprotected left Frank arranged to have my car towed to his shop and stored for the duration of the insurance ordeal that followed. His support through the process was beyond helpful!
Thank you so much Oakland Auto Tech. What a relief to have such good mechanics that I can trust!

I went in about to weeks ago with my check engine light on. Frank told me that it was because my gas cap wasn’t on tight enough and told me to go purchase a new one. I did just that and the light went off. Lo and behold it turned back on within a few days. I got off work on last Friday and made it out to them just in time. As Frank checked underneath my hood he discovered that two of my spark plugs were rising and that one of them had oil underneath it. He informed me that I may need a whole new engine so I left my car with them. A week later my car is still in the shop. I am mainly writing this review because when I called this morning and spoke with their receptionist Cat she was amazing, as usual. She called me on Monday to let me know that they were expecting my engine by Thursday evening. When I called this morning she let me know that they were working on my car as we spoke and that she would call me later today if they somehow completed the process before closing time. Cat has a way of making me feel as if everything is going to be okay. When I told her that I apologize for calling she said don’t worry about it I understand that you want your car back. I am being extremely patient and can’t wait to get my car back by Monday!

My clutch had been dying a slow death, and I finally decided to shell out the money to replace it. Frank gave me the lowest quote and a breakdown of all the work. I also asked him to realign the steering since it had been off for a while. The alignment quote he gave me was also much lower than most of the other shops I had called before. I dropped off my car on Monday before closing time, and they called me on Tuesday afternoon to say it was ready. I picked it up on Wednesday morning and everything felt great. As a bonus, Frank said the alignment was on the house! It was a great experience overall and I will return for future service.

These guys are honest and won’t try to go for your money. My air compressor just fell from the broken base, which made the belt to come off. They couldn’t find the base but manage to solve the problem till I get home in Humboldt! Didn’t charge me a penny.
God Bless these guys!

I called today at 12:30 and asked if I needed to have an appointment to get a smog. The person who answered the phone said I didn’t need an appointment and I can come anytime after 1 p.m. today. I showed up at 3:15. The woman who answered the phone said the smog person was too busy to see me and I would have to come back tomorrow. Instead I’m going to go somewhere that understands the schedule of their own workers so my time doesn’t get wasted.
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Update after seeing this reply from the business–
What you wrote is not at all an accurate account of what happened. It was not a misunderstanding. Your reply is a falsehood designed to invalidate my experience so you can save face. You are probably the most dishonest business I’ve ever encountered and I’ll never return.

I have never had such awful customer service. I brought my gfs 91 camero because it failed smog. They claimed to have fixed a number of things on the car but none of which were related to why the car actually failed the smog. Also, one thing didn’t need fixing! However, not being car experts we took the car back to the original smog shop for our free re-​test and like we suspected the car failed AGAIN for the same exact reason. So we decided lets not be hasty lets just talk to Mo who is the smog guy and settle it. However Mo decided to be extremely rude, defensive and condescending and basically kicked us out the shop. This is unacceptable! They sent a bogus smog check to the dmv with our info on it and refused to settle things with us. The bogus smog alone could get us in a heap of trouble if its discovered to be fake due to the large amount of smig fraud. Because of that I will be reporting the shop to the better business bureau, dmv as well as the smog bureau. We are very big on customer service and getting what we paid for and we didn’t get decent customer service or what we paid them to do! If I could give them zero stars I would!

Cool staff, the alternator went out on my car one morning and I had it towed to Oakland Auto Tech because my regular mechanic wasn’t available and this place is near my house. They were able to fix everything in a reasonable amount of time and under the previous repair estimate amounts that I received from two other repair shops over the phone. I was able to pick my car up the same day and haven’t had any problems since. I also got my smog inspection done here a few months ago, really fast and quality customer service!

I dropped in to get an inspection of a vehicle, and the staff here were extremely informative and helpful! I would take my vehicles into them first! They’re a busy (good sign), dependable, and an honest mechanic shop: this is rare these days.

Really great service, extremely fair, fast and cheap! The owner and office clerk are very friendly and really do their best to help you get in and out. Highly recommended.

Frank the owner is great. This is the 2^nd time I have been back. This time he is saving me hundreds on tires. He explained that with tires you pay for the brand name which has nothing to do with quality. He showse a set he uses on his personal vehicles for a price of $ 260.00 for asset of 4. That is an amazing price.

I’ve been taking my car here for several years after reading the good reviews on Unilocal.I never had a 4 or 5 star experience, but they they were good enough for me to keep coming. I always felt like like the mechanics were talking down to me and, and they’d get patronizing and dismissive if I asked any questions instead of just doing what they recommend. At other times I’ve been told that they can’t diagnose what’s wrong with my car unless I leave it overnight, or that I’m flat out wrong about the symptoms I’m reporting. But they did good work for a fair price, so I tolerated the bad attitude and inconvenience.
Then last Thursday afternoon I took my car in for an oil change, something I’ve done many times before. Even though it was two hours before closing, the shop was quiet and almost empty, with just one mechanic working on a car in the back, and no other clients there. The receptionist told me that everyone was busy and they couldn’t do the oil change, and invited me to come back the next day. I thought it was odd that they were too busy to do an oil change when I was the only customer there, but whatever. I made an appointment for the next afternoon, and the receptionist took down my name and phone number, and the make and model of my car. So I went back on Friday at the appointed time, only to be told that they were too busy, couldn’t possibly fit me in, and they had no record of my appointment. On top of not getting an oil change, I got another jerky, condescending lecture from Frank.
Enough. Time to find a new mechanic.

I have great service from Frank and his staff
they have worked on all of my vehicles and have been very happy with there work.
thanks Frank

$ 27.50 for a basic auto change, and they fixed my blown-​out brake light at no charge.
I will definitely return for the next oil change, and for whatever else my 10+ old car needs to age gracefully. Friendly guys, and efficient.
Tip: they techs go to lunch together, so you may want to avoid dropping off your car at around noon, when they’re likely away.

I called on a Saturday about 10 a.m. as I needed the regular maintenance done but didn’t want to pay Honda the $ 300 + it would cost. Because it was late morning I didn’t expect to be able to bring it that day but they said come in. I was pleasantly surprised by the clean shop, friendliness of the employees and the price. They did everything we asked including engine cleaning and the price was under $ 300. These guys are good and the car was ready by 4:30!
Also, the work was done in August and I wanted to be sure there would be no additional problems. You can trust these guys with your car.

Came in for a smog repair, quote was $ 200. That was fine.
Then I got a call from the mechanic said the steering column was busted came by to checked it out yup it was busted alright. it was in perfect shape when I brought it in. Of course nobody is going to admit somebody broke it. Said the steering column was $ 350 I found out it was only $ 150.00 when I checked.
Total cost was $ 800.13 out the door That was really expensive coming in for just a smog repair. If they were honest enough to say they broke the steering column maybe I would have felt better, not felt ripped off.
I would bring it again for smog but I would be really careful and keep an eye on my truck next time. I would never recommend leaving your car there just say.
Update;
The new owner responded (i did not know Ed is not the owner anymore), called me in respond to my post.
Instead of making things right and working things out.
He was really upset, insinuating for me to remove my post explaining to me he had to drive 45 min to get my steering part as a big favor, isn’t that part for paying parts and labor? From that conversation he made me feel like don’t bring my truck there again.
«Like I said its just my opinion» Do yourself a favor just keep an eye on your car at the end of the day its coming out of your pocket not theirs even if its their fault.

Frank is awesome. Whoever thought you could ever find a car mechanic who would always repair the right thing and not overcharge you for things you don’t need. I’m very distrustful of car mechanics in general and I’m so glad I found Frank. He is honest, fair priced, and doesn’t have a problem teaching you about your car. I don’t mind talking turkey to figure out if I’m getting ripped off or not but my fiancé doesn’t know the first thing about cars and gets uncomfortable if the repair has to be analyzed. I’m so glad I can send her to this place and not have to worry a bunch while I’m at work if she’s getting screwed. I can’t say enough good things about Frank and hopefully I get to use him a bunch before he becomes rediculously busy all the time.

Mechanics: Frank and Mo
Car: Honda Accord 2002 EX 4DR
Job: Timing Belt Tune up
After reading several reviews about this place and finding out that the location was merely 5 minutes away from my house I had to check it out.
Like most, I was always skeptical about independently owned mechanic shops because of their money hungry nature. However, Frank and his staff certainly disproved that.
Frank (owner) and his staff has shown nothing more but professionalism and pure customer service. Unlike other locations where the money is their primary goal, Frank understands relationships and customer satisfaction.
I actually came in unexpectedly and still had my car finished in a timely matter. I would like to mention and suggest to anyone looking for any engine/​drive related repairs to call in first and create an appointment or give a heads up so that Frank and his staff can have enough time to prepare and order the necessary parts. Also, sometimes the lot can be full.
What I appreciate the most is that Frank always tries his best to keep you up to date by periodically calling during certain intervals of the repair. For example, while working on my timing belt my harmonic balance pulley was cracked and instead of automatically fixing it and adding it onto my bill, he graciously called to confirm whether or not I would like to pursue the repair, but also gave me his own opinion on whether or not I should. He mentioned that I would be fine without it and that the car would still run, but may present a problem later down the road. And of course, at no extra cost of labor, I had it replaced.
Not only that, Frank is upfront about the part prices and to my knowledge from what he has shown and what was charged on the bill, is only profiting from the labor. And in particular, the Harmonic Balance Pulley that was ordered was shown as approximately $ 80 dollars, but when it arrived the warehouse had charged Frank $ 150 instead due to a mis-​communication, but of course Frank only charged me the initial estimate, understanding it would be unfair to me as a customer.
Overall, my experience was definitely a pleasant one and I would definitely return for major car repairs. I’m a DIY’er kind of person, proficient in basic tune ups and brake jobs but for anything major I’m going to Frank for sure.
Besides, you can tell when a shop is serious about their work when they have a full set of Matco tools.

Went here for an oil change. Accommodated my unannounced late arrival close to closing time in a nice way. Got an elusive honest vibe. Sorry I forget how much it was but I remember it was a good price. Fast, friendly Frank.
TIPS
* Check Unilocal for check-​in offers.
* Take advantage of the cash price :)

The driver side window on my Honda fell off its tracks, and the lift mechanism broke. So I did the *dumb* thing and took it to the dealership thinking I could just get it done, and get on with my life. After paying Honda a $ 135 fee to look at it (they don’t include that or even PART of that fee in the overall cost if you decide to get the work done), they said that it would cost 200 in labor, and 90 for the part. They also noticed other things wrong with my car (as mechanics always do) and I should get them fixed also. It would take 3 days, and would cost me $ 1600 in addition to the original window. I said I would think about it, and they said ok, but be sure to come back etc…
So I thought about it, and decided I didn’t have the money. (And it felt like I was getting robbed anyhow.)
So checked out Unilocal,and found Oakland Auto Tech. We talked about my window, and I was asked to come in so they could take a look… For free. (Surprised!)
After they checked it out, they said the whole thing would cost $ 120 out the door, and would be done in an hour or so! I had planned to drop off the car for the day anyhow, and the price sounded good, so I went with it. 45 min later, I got a call from them.. They also noticed other things wrong with my car (as mechanics always do) and I should get them fixed also. They listed the same things that the Honda dealership did, and a few MORE things. I asked how much to get the entire batch done, and held my breath.
700 bucks! (smiley face)
Since that sounded FAR BETTER than I expected, I asked how long until I get my car back. They said by end of day. I was stoked, and went with it. I got the car back, and all was well. They said that since I was a first timer, (and I guess spent over 5 hundy) I got a card for a free oil change. Damn cool! These guys just might be my go to place when something is wrong with my car.
Good stuff!

After reading the great reviews I took my Toyota to this shop to get the check engine light and jerky movements checked out. All I have to say is that this place was really effed up!!!
The guy said it was my transmission, and that it would be really expensive — $ 600 just to open it up and take a look. I told him I didn’t have $ 600. Then he said maybe he should check the transmission fluid and said it looked fine, but to bring the car back later to drop $ 600 to start finding out what was wrong.
I then took it to my girlfriend’s trusty mechanic — the transmission fluid was dangerously dry and so my gf added more on the spot. (My friend who knows about cars after Mackgivering all her hoopties went with me and concurred.)
All I know is how are you going to a) start droppin numbers like $ 600 when you haven’t even checked the related fluid level? b) not know how to check or lie about my transmission fluid level? I’ll let you know how it works out at the other mechanic I’m trying, but I def won’t be back here again.
UPDATE:
It turns out that for whatever reason, my car just needed transmission fluid and voila, it was fixed. $ 26 fic versus $ 600 just to look open heart surgery!
The owner of Oakland Auto Tech responded to my posting to apologize for this misunderstanding, saying they don’t do transmissions, so his mechanic shouldn’t have offered. Ed was very polite in his response, but I still can’t recommend this shop after that trip down shady street his mechanic tried to take me on!