William Michael Automotive

I choose this place solely based on fair cost reviews and their diamond certified status. The costs they quoted me to do routine things were well over many quotes I got elsewhere. When I did pick up my car from a 90k maintenance, one of the sensors came on. My husband and I both knew what it meant but we asked the tech and he said it was a rear brake pad sensor because I needed new brakes. How ironic is that. They wanted almost $ 400 for rear brake pads and resurface rotors. We kept saying that the sensor was a lightbulb sensor. Tech said he checked the service manual and it was a rear brake sensor. I happened to have an extra bulb in my car so my husband checked the brake light and sure enough. Swapped it out and boom. Sensor turned off. Funny thing is, my car doesn’t even have a rear brake sensor. Little things like that makes me lose trust in mechanics. As well as high prices. Took my car elsewhere for the brake job for almost half the price and totally satisfied with that shop and the work they did.

I am still a loyal customer of William Michael Auto and am still just as happy. I will continue to be a customer for many years to come because of the fantastic service, great prices and the trust they’ve built with me. I highly recommend Frank and his team!

I had a great experience with William Michael Automotive. I brought my car in with a weird noise and they were able to quickly diagnose the problem and propose a solution. I was blown away by the emails I received from them with photos of my actual problem along with diagrams of how it should look and function. They really go out of their way to make the customer feel comfortable that they are getting great service. I really appreciate the level a detail they took in their work and would highly recommend them to anyone I know looking for a mechanic they can trust!

I took my Ford Escape to William Michael Automotive for several standard services: 60k service three years ago, an oil change (with a Groupon) last year, and a 75k service (almost).
Now as a 20-​something girl, getting my car serviced stresses me out. I always feel like I’m expected not to know much, so I get overcharged. I want reliable service for a reasonable price. And when I went to WM and paid about $ 1500 for the 60k service, I felt like it was a little too high, but you know, I’m happy to support small businesses, I don’t know much about cars anyway, it was the first time I had to do everything for myself, etc. The car was serviced effectively, and I paid extra to ‘fix’ a squeaky window with some silicone. It was not fixed. I still had to pay. That’s fine.
At the oil change, I said «Could you please look at the window? It’s still not fixed.» And they recommended the same solution that didn’t solve the problem. That’s fine– who knows what causes the squeak. The kicker was when, as I was sitting in the waiting room, Frank was speaking with a salesman, and I overheard them discussing– in front of me, a paying customer– advertising strategies and how groupons for oil changes get people in the door, and then they make money on service. I understand that. Business need to make money somehow. But this wasn’t professional at ALL and mentally made a note to not come back if they’d price gouge me later.
But really, where everything went wrong was with my 75k service. I stupidly ignored the inkling in my gut and decided to go back to WM since they «know my car». I even called Ford dealerships beforehand to ask what they charged on 75k service, and they told me $ 40, and I thought, «Well that’s too low, they must be missing something.» So I dropped off my car and signed the estimate for $ 120.31, figuring I was getting more. Went home, called another Ford dealership to clarify what the service entails and check it against WM’s estimate, and nope– the closest dealership charges A THIRD OF WILLIAM MICHAEL’S ESTIMATE for the exact same services. That is an outrageous difference. I called WM to let them know that I would not receive service, went back to pick up my car before they could start work on it, and the cashier who I spoke with on the phone did not even look me in the eye or say a word beyond «Here’s your keys”– no apology, no explanation, nada. Very unprofessional. For what is essentially an oil change and multi-​point inspection, WM quoted me $ 88.79 in labor alone.
I took my car to a dealership this morning, and they were quicker (done in 1.5 hours, not all day) and delivered on the estimate ($ 42.30). I actually feel great about my car service now. That’s a first!
Bottom line: William Michael charges unnecessarily high rates and has been unprofessional in my experiences with them. I felt taken advantage of for not having shopped around more, and thus distrust any further services they provide. Would not recommend.
It looks like other commenters have had issues with comments being erased, so Frank, if you’d like to follow up with me, I was in last Friday on 9÷22÷2014 with the Ford Escape and I’d be happy to discuss this more.

William Michael Automotive was extremely professional, beyond detailed, and provided an easy to understand quote and punch list of items that needed attention. We have a 1999 Chevy Silverado that has the «check engine light soon» lit. They did a very thorough «nose to tail» inspection along with the «check engine light» inspection. Needless to say, this is an older vehicle which I am intending to keep, so I asked them to do a very thorough inspection.
They were very honest as to which were the most critical and gave us the order in which they should be done, providing us with scenarios as to what could occur when replacing one belt (i.e. tension rod may need to be replaced but cannot be determined until the bad belt has been removed) and when doing a detailed 4WD inspection, which allows us to plan for any additional repair if necessary.
This is an establishment that I am passing along to all of my friends and family as a place to get honest work at a fair price.

Always excellent service. They do thorough, high quality repairs, and they explain everything in detail. I have been using their services for many years and would not think of going anywhere else. Very trustworthy.

This is a NO BS Shop. They do not lure you in and get you with the bait and hook method. A Straight Up Shop with TRAINED Technicians and a caring owner, and reeking of professionalism. You will not be disappointed. If you are looking for someone that does cheap installation with cheap knock-​off parts, then this is not the place for you. ONLY Quality here, certainly you pay for it, why shouldn’t you? Isn’t your car worth it? Do you really want to be stranded on the side of the road because you elected to go with someone that was «cheaper»?
Nothing but FIVE STARS HERE!

Nothing but positive reviews for this place! I have been here 3 times in the last year. Every 3 – 4 months for an oil change. I bought a groupon for 3 oil changes for $ 40 – 50 and have no complaints at all! There is a $ 5 – 6 recycling fee when you check out. No big deal. I always make an appointment and arrive 10 minutes early to check in. There is wifi and a wonderful little machine called the keurig. The staff is friendly and professional. You can definitely tell it’s a family business. Oil changes always finished in about 45 mins which is a blessing to the 1 – 2 hour waits I’ve had endure. I highly recommend this place and am looking forward to come back without the groupon.

All I had done was an oil change, and I went to WM Auto because I got a Groupon that made it pretty cheap. From what I can tell, they do good work. Everyone was friendly at the shop and it seemed fairly clean and upscale, especially compared to your typical auto shop that can be pretty run down.
My only complaint about the business is that they work a strict M-​F, 9 – 5 schedule… which is pretty inconvenient for me since I work in Los Gatos. If it wasn’t so out of the way, I’d be pretty likely to head back sometime. They’re good people.

Just had my oil changed at this automotive place that I found a Groupon for. Great and quick service, plus very clean, spacious and looks very professional. Will be back for sure. I highly recommend this place for automotive services!

Snagged a great deal from Groupon for one synthetic oil change, (39 $) which covered up to 5 quarts of 5W-​30. Going in I knew my 325i BMW (06) needed ~7quarts so I expected additional charges on the 2 qts not covered by the voucher. (READ PEOPLE!)
Like a previous user said, I’m no mechanic either so I’m not certified to say how the car service went, but all I know is that I was taken care by some great employees who knew how to treat people! Frank was cool and Bob, who took care of me today, was genuinely really kind and professional. It was a real pleasure getting my car serviced there.
Took about 40minutes just like the appointment said.
I ended up paying around 65 $ for my oil change, which is still a lot cheaper than If I had gone to the dealership, which would have been 78 $ or 110 $ at this other autoshop.
Thanks for the great service and the fair price.
I hope to return in the future for oil change and such :)

I took my 2005 Jeep Rubicon into William Michaels because I had a very strange problem with my air conditioning and vent system. They not only repaired it completely, but saved some of the original parts and were able to re-​use them in the repair process, saving me quite a bit of money. It was done within 6 hours of bringing it in, and the fix is perfect. It was refreshing not to get «upsold» on parts and services I didn’t really need. I would highly recommend them for any auto repairs.

Went there for an oil change and returned to find an oil leaked due to improper gasket and bolt installation. How hard is it to do an oil change right…

Eh, after my initial experience, I’ve changed my mind about this place. I still think the staff are friendly, but after the first time, they are just normal nice and the woman behind the counter shares a bit too much on her political/​moral beliefs. When you’re in a customer service field, there is such a thing as too opinionated.
They changed a light, broke the snaps of the lens, but made good on it and fixed. Seemed to do well with the oil change.
However, the real reason I’m downgrading my stars is because one of the reasons I brought my car was for a check engine light and the smell of burning oil (like there was an oil leak). This light would stay on for a few days. Turn off for a few days. Back and forth. Since even before moving to this area. Supposedly, they fixed it and it did stay off for a month or two or three. To diagnose the oil leak, they cleaned off my engine left filthy by a shop in LA, and put some dye in there. Diagnosis: no oil leak. The smell of burning oil never went away. I’m not impressed.
I bring my car in to do some routine check on the AC because they are running a special. Normal experience.
Fast forward to the next oil change, I buy a Groupon to another place and I’m having issues with the check engine light, power steering hose is leaking, there’s an obvious oil leak, and a big issue with coolant leaks. I don’t have a good feeling from new place .so I check out another. Still not thrilled with next place (a whole other story). I ask friends for recommendations. I bring to LadyParts Automotive (awesome experience, but I’m wary of writing car reviews until a few months pass by).
LadyParts looks at my car for a few days. Finds the oil leak, coolant leaks, and the engine light is on because the last shop to put in the air filter didn’t do it right at all. It was shoved in there and crinkled and squished. And say they can’t say how long it’s been like that, but that it has been quite some time. I’m guessing it was done in LA where the check engine light first started coming on. Which brings me to conclude that William Michael should have caught this during regular maintenance and the oil leak when they did that test.
Perhaps this place is A-​Okay at 3 stars, but not for me. Not the worst place, not the best place.

furious! i’m talking throwing chairs kind of furious! Waited 2 weeks for an appt, woke up early even tho i work the night shift, waited 40 minutes for them to actually take the car to change the oil, then they come out to up sell me. Turns out my shitty hybrid now only takes the fancy oil and it’s double the fee… what the fuck? strange how for years all these other places were charging me 25 bucks for the regular run of the mill oil. Now it’s double. Maybe it’s not me or my car? took it over to all tune and lube on el camino real and had a quick and fuckery free oil change. Now to waste even more time getting my cash back from groupon. thanks for being a huge ass sucking time waster.

Do not go here!
Especially if you are thinking of buying their groupon!!!
They tack on an extra $ 10 – 15 for an oil change because they claim the fine print doesn’t include certain types of oil and the full amount of oil that most cars need. And that’s just the beginning.
I brought my car in for a typical oil change and my car sounded fine when I brought it in. Immediately after I leave, my car sounds HORRIBLE. They pointed it out to me and said that they can do a diagnostic and such and that it would cost about $ 4,000 to $ 6,000 to fix a serious problem (that hadn’t existed before I went in).
Terrible, terrible, shady business that will try to take advantage of you.
I brought my car to another shop to get it appropriately fixed for way less.

I went in there because of an awful vibration under the hood. They could have said, «Sir, we found the problem: your roto-​tilled cake mount is worn out; it’ll cost you 600 dollars,» and I wouldn’t have known the difference. Instead, they said, «We found the problem: a bolt fell out of your alternator, so we put another one in.» And when said, «Hey, you could have told me that my roto-​tilled cake mount was worn out, and I wouldn’t have known the difference,» the owner replied, «Well, that wouldn’t be very honest.»
Bottom line: I think I found my regular place.
Bonus: Nice coffee and tea selection.

We chose this place because of its high Unilocal ratings.
But when I saw the «People Love Us on Unilocal» sticker on display, alarm bells went off in my head. The sticker made me think of the rash of allegations about Unilocal manipulating ratings in favor of businesses that buy advertising products from Unilocal.
My qualms were quickly dispelled after speaking with the guy behind the counter. His affable mien and frank demeanor made it apparent why customers would like this place.
Friendly service aside, I have no idea whether William Michael did a good job or not because I’m not a mechanic. All I can say is that (a) it was a pleasant experience getting my car serviced here but (b) its regular price (without a coupon) seems kind of high.

I came here to get the rear end of my car checked out after another car rear ended me. They we’re pretty quick and were able to tell me that no damage was fine. I was in and out in less than a half hour.
Service was quick, efficient, and comprehensive. I’ll try to come back if anything needs fixing on my car in the future since they were so quick and accurate. I’m only giving four stars though because I didn’t get any actual work done and want to see how they perform on a car before giving a five star rating. However, no complaints!

I found this place thanks to a Google Offer and couldn’t have been happier.
I just got an oil change and an inspection and the staff is really friendly and seems very honest. I’m used to always being told my car needs some type of work. But they actually told me my car was in perfect shape and didn’t need anything. They also told me that they can take me to and from work next time I come in.
Highly recommended!