Hayes European Auto Service & Repair

We took in my BMW to get the fuses changed for two of my lighters and to get an estimate on a scape on the side of the car. The lighters were fixed in about two hours and he buffed out the scrape without any charge. Love this place! It’s local and great service! I’ll be taking my car here again.

When your car «brakes» down on a road trip, and you’re a woman traveling alone, fear and panic can easily take over and ruin the adventure. Hoping to avoid any unpleasant costly surprises on my trip here from Los Angeles, I actually brought my 2003 Porsche Boxster S for a checkup to my regular mechanic.
It’s true, there are no guarantees, «crap» happens and so forth, but it’s still pretty frustrating to see your «brake wear» light flash on after doing the «right» thing. Turns out my rear inner pads were worn to just one millimeter, which is below the minimum thickness. The outer pads looked okay, but John could not recommend driving back to L.A. without adequate rear brakes.
John and his staff knew what they were doing and did a great job. They instill such confidence I went ahead and asked them to replace my angry starter and change my oil. John threw in some extras like replace my hubcaps, clean my headlight, my wheels — «so you’re Porsche looks like a Porsche.» Yes, thank you. Gratitude.
I totally appreciate Hayes going the extra mile, and if I ever break down nearby (Defined by AAA towing), I’m coming back in. I’ve recommended him to everyone at Wellstone Center in the Redwoods and will recommend him to many others in the area.

Excellent service from this place. John is a stand up guy and someone you can trust your car with. His team did a great job. Fast and made a customer for life. New to the Santa Cruz area and service like this is a prime example for being here. Thank you John and team.

We have been going to Hayes since 2003 for both our cars. The owner John is a charming brit who has often been so kind as to fix minor things immediately for free and since my 1984 Mercedes is a lovely old girl but needs tinkering often, i really appreciate his expertise. He also takes good care of our 2001 Jeep Liberty that runs on BioDiesel, a unique car that he is very knowledgeable about also. Love his new location across from Simpkins Swim Center, so it is easy to drop a car and go swimming and pick it up after!

I took my car in on Friday for a diagnotic around 5. I understood that it was late so I left it there for it to be serviced on Monday. I called in twice and they didnt perform the diagnostic. I will update this review once they call me and inform me about my car

Brian has worked on our 2002 Audi Allroad and did a major job (Over 3K) on it, involving suspension and replacing the timing belt, which was a maintenance item. He did a great job. Recently he drove to our place to replace a dead battery for us, which was aged and leaking acid. Really great service with reasonable rates!

normally I take my e320 mercedes over to perscision. This time I came here and Jon and Brian were so friendly and explained to me everything that they were doing to check why my check engine light was on, so very helpful the knowlageble on their car facts. Deffently will be back again! thank you guys!

I wasn’t planing on coming in to this place but my car had popped a tired and it was fortunately right across from this place, i went in and ask the man at the front desk, if he could possibly help me fix my tire, i had the jack and spare, just didnt have the heavy lifting down, so he walks over and tells me he can plug the hole up in stead of putting the spare on so he saved me a couple hundred in tires, im grateful for him, and hope that he helps others the way he helped me :)

I have taken my car here 3 times, the last time I had some issues with the work, after addressing the issues with them they took the car back and worked on rectifying the issues. I am happy with the service here. They are a small shop and work mostly on European vehicles which is awesome. Jon works the front office and is knowledgable about the cars too which means you can get questions answered without the run around. The other mechanics are available if you have questions after they have worked on the car which is important for me because I know a fair amount about vehicles and would do the work myself if I had the tools and the know how. My older BMW needs a little care put into it and because they are available and back up their work and service if you are willing to work with them it put’s my mind to rest that I will be able to drive my BMW soundly for a few years more.

Best and only shop I will take my car to. Brian the CEO and Chief Mechanic is extremely knowledgeable about BMW, Porsche, Benz cars. I have been taking my 330ci to Brian for two years now. The car is running like new now even after 155.000 miles thanks to Brian. He knows the car inside out and confidently can repair anything at a reasonable cost. Never taking my car to the dealer again. Most ethical and truly spirited and honest man I know in Santa Cruz.

Brian and crew has been great. Our X5 was making a lot of noises and was not driving smoothly at all. My hubby called Hayes and they were very helpful and honest (hard to find in the auto world)
They were very accommodative with our schedule and really worked with us. Our X5 is driving as smooth as ever. We still have another schedule for the door handle. Definitely going back to Hayes for that.

I continue receiving great services from Haye’s! I love that they treat you like family and make sure everything gets solved when you bring a problem to them. You can tell they love what they do.
September 2014: I had two motor mounts fail on my ’02 Jetta TDI causing the motor to drop out of position badly. This car has over 280K miles. It also caused a drive shaft to break. I helped provide some information to John and Brian about these motor mounts – that they need to be replaced during timing belt procedures. Because they felt bad they broke, they were able to discount the labor. It was a stressful time because it took a few days to get special order parts.
I also had a leaking injection pump, which they were able to re-​seal with new seals and it’s been leak free for 10,000 miles. This is a detailed procedure and shows their knowledge on fixing TDI vehicles.
August 2014: Audi A3 2.0T had sub-​par AC performance. It was blowing cold but would kick in and out randomly. They hooked up the car to VAG COM and the AC pressure levels were all over the place. This allowed us to troubleshoot down to the pressure control valve being a low cost item to fix. I really appreciate that they tested the system, ran a recharge, dyes etc and didn’t just say the whole system needs to be replaced. Why fix it if it isn’t broken, right?

On 07/​18/​2013 I wrote a 5 stars review about this business. i came back to write another one!
I couldn’t be happier with these guys!
I own a Audi A4.
They did a diagnostic on something I wasn’t sure and then Brian found one seal/​gasket to be gone due to overheating, they flushed the radiator and then he took it for a test drive and found that it was not only that, but my thermostat was bad, since it was not fluid flowing through the engine
While on the test drive he detected a coil to be defective and threw it in there with no diagnostic charge… who does that nowadays?
These guys are the best in town and on top of that, they are very aware of the hardship on the economy these days…
you guys rock!
I am definitely recommending these guys to everyone i know with European vehicles!
Sergio M.
A loyal customer

I have great confidence in their knowledgeability, fairness and quality of service.
John advocated for me aggressively with the insurance carrier and the car seems flawless after a serious MVA.

Daaaang, what a bummer. My first experience here was great. In my previous review I praised Hayes for their honesty… Lets address that to Brian. BRIAN WAS HONEST. now a couple years later and it’s almost smog time… I took the little Benz in for a diagnostic, as I knew I needed front control arms… But aside from that I could SMELL that the little guy was running very rich. (That’s the exhaust for those of you who don’t speak car). I spoke with the Aussie guy at the front desk, and said «please hook it up to the diagnostic, it’s running rich and I want to know if I’m throwing any codes…» «No problem.» (Easy enough, right?) so I left and waited to hear back. Got the phone call that Murray (the Benz) was ready, and went to pick him up. (Yes, Murray is a man… I know the majority of cars are women, but MURRAY IS A MAN. ;-p). Upon arrival the Australian guy at the front desk told me I needed front and rear control arms, (Aprx $ 900???), that I need an oil change, and that «I took her for a drive and it seems to be running fine to me; didn’t smell anything „rich“ like you say, and she wasn’t throwing any codes.». HMMMM… NO. control arms: yea; oil change? NO. I had just done the oil the week before… So that was a crock… As for not throwing any codes: this was the biggest FAIL of all for them. I went to get a smog, and thanks to the LIAR at Hayes, paid $ 89 (star-​smog) to find out: my check engine light was IN FACT ON. Apparently it had been on so long that the actual bulb burnt out. But this was the «I caught you red handed in your lies, Hayes». The fact that the old man told me I wasn’t throwing any codes, when actually my FRICKEN CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WAS ON, means that they NEVER EVEN HOOKED UP MARRAY TO A DIAGNOSTIC COMPUTER!!! They just charged me $ 89 for an hour of labor to try and get some more unnecessary work out of me & Murray. I may be a female, but Dang it, I’m not completely ignorant/​oblivious to what’s going on with my car… Matter of fact I can change my own oil, spark plugs & wires, replace an alternator… So really guys? I WILL NOT be returning. Bums me out. But I’ve found a new (trustworthy/​honest) Mercedes mechanic. So if you’re an Benz owner looking where to take your baby, send me a message and I’ll let you in on the good good.

I just replaced my Volvo with a Toyota. During the 9 years that I drove the Volvo, I had brought it to 3 different auto service centers in Santa Cruz that specialize in European cars. Hayes was by far the most honest and the most thorough of the three, in my experience, which is why I am giving them 5 stars. Brian and John are both extremely friendly and knowledgable.

I’ve been going to Hayes European for a good three years and have spent thousands in having my 2002 VW Passat rebuilt. I’ve spent hundreds on trying to figure out why the engine light keeps going on, still not solved. Have a new steering rack that needs to have work on it. While I feel that Hayes is not dishonest — Brian and the guys in the garage are awesome — the customer service is beyond questionable. I cannot tolerate the BS that’s given to me by John at the front desk and the numerous errors that he has made and not admitted to which Brian ends up having to take care of.
This is a fabulous garage that is being undermined by having a person working the front desk that shouldn’t be there.
If I didn’t have so many warranties for the work I’ve had done, I’d go elsewhere.

I brought my 2002 BMW 330ci for Brian to check on a DSC and brake warning light that had come on. He reset the lights and said to come back in when the lights came on again to read the trouble codes. It didn’t come on for several months but when they did I brought my car back in and he said it’s definitely the steering angle sensor. Brian worked on it on a Saturday and had it ready to go as promised. I believe the that the repair work was performed competently and fairly priced.
First time to Hayes, but will definitely be back when I need a repair.

Get your estimates before you have any work done, that’s a caveat of any auto repair place.
I came here because of all the great reviews, but my experience was bad. No loaner car (you can ask), cost was exceptionally high.
They Lied to me.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Called two BMW dealers near my home and got a quote of $ 1200 and a quote of $ 1400 for a job on my ’07 328i coupe. I called Hayes because of the good Unilocal reviews, and was out the door for just under $ 800.
They were nice to me, they gave me a beater to drive to work in Santa Cruz while they did the work, and they saved me $ 400-​$ 600. The problem hasn’t come back.
‘Nuff said, really. Can’t speak more highly of a place than this.