Tahoe Blue Automotive

Dave is the best, my fuel filter went out late Friday afternoon. We needed a rental car as Dave was not sure the part would arrive until Monday. He offered to drive us to Reno to get said rental car. He was able to get the parts and fix it on Saturday and we were back on the road. Not only is he a great mechanic but his customer service was incredibly generous. Highly recommend Dave and Tahoe Blue Automotive.

Tahoe Blue is a great resource for your BMW around Lake Tahoe. David diagnosed and fixed my X3’s water pump problems in one day, even though it was the weekend between Xmas and New Years. Not only that, he also topped off all the fluids, gave the car an exterior wash, cleaned the engine compartment and even applied protectant to the plastic pieces. Wow! Dealers could learn something from him!
He was clear in his communication, kept me updated throughout the process, made solid recommendations regarding what needed to be fixed and performed the work on time. And even with all this, he still charges an honest price.
David stands out as a true professional that takes care of each of his customers, no matter whether they are locals or just passing through. I appreciate his integrity and have no reservations recommending his services.
Thanks Dave; you set the standard for service!

Dave is an exceptional technician and really did us a solid on New Years Eve. I wish I could give them 6 stars. If you have a german car, take it here. He’s the best I’ve ever seen.

Where do I start. Well, the positive reviews must come from friends. I would judge someone on how they handle things when they don’t go well and Dave is TERRIBLE and UNETHICAL! A complete LIAR and CHEAT.
My Story: Drop my car off on Oct 26^th at his shop in Truckee… pick it up on Dec 2^nd. Seems like a VERY VERY long time doesn’t it? It does to me. On Oct 26^th, Dave takes my car to Reno (did not know that)…yes Reno and gets in an accident in my car. Does he tell me anything about it ever? No. I get a call from my insurance company that the poor people he rear ended are trying to file a claim under MY insurance. When? Dec 1^st. Not once did he tell me or apologize. Plus he is a complete LIAR even when the gig was up. He told me I couldn’t be reached and made it MY fault. Yes, I went out of town for Thanksgiving and called him to tell him that. I needed to spend extra time with my mom who has cancer. He blamed my mom’s cancer for not reaching me later. Really? We spoke about me leaving… and that was WEEKS after the crash. How low can a person go to use my mom’s cancer as an excuse. I guess my mom’s cancer caused that accident in Reno as well!
But oh yes, he called me a lot to get my credit card number. «His» money was important for the repair and nothing else… like the truth… who needs that, right Dave the low life. Nice attempt to stick the accident on MY insurance. Glad to have that accident history on my carfax now… FOREVER!!! That won’t help on the re-​sell. Glad to have potentially higher insurance rates too!!! Why not Dave the UNETHICAL LIAR… you have no boundaries or morals at this point.
But let’s talk about the repair since he does own a repair shop. He replaced a part that I already replaced before. Does it work today? Nope. And the bill — over $ 800! It wasn’t over $ 800 when he told me originally. Keep trying to cheat all the way to the end. That’s a nice stab in the back of this nightmare.
But is it over… oh no?!? Not unethical Dave. I picked up my car to take it to a body shop. Does he tell me that the bumper scraps the tire on turns. Nope. Why didn’t he tell me? Well, I was an a*s*hole according to him. Now comes the name calling! But wait there’s MORE with «hot head» Dave’s last words — he called me a but*hole and hung up on me. What a child… well, that may be TOO nice!
Plus before that incidence, I called and he acted like I got his answer machine and then hung up on me. What a real pro… which leads me to another example of his poor ethics.
My Insurance company said they couldn’t reach Dave. They wanted to cover those poor people he hit… they thought my car was Dave’s car. Nice to pass my insurance over to them. My Insurance company even called the store. His son said Dave didn’t work there. You have the wrong number. Really? What a cheat. He could have come clean with the Insurance company as well but didn’t. I hope his current insurance company sees this posting so they understand the exposure they have with his business.
Plus they won’t give me his insurance company info so now I can’t get my car fixed. He says he will give it to me but too busy. It’s endless.
But what there’s more…
After his joy ride to Reno and picking up my car, I have no gas in my broken car. I really don’t like posting disagreements. I wanted to be better than that but after several pleas for help here I have no choice. Thanks Dave for nothing but heartache.
ps. And his son who answers the phone. What a gem he is. He is in on it… covering up with me and my Insurance company who called. Just like his Daddy. They are the worst.
pps. His website talks about his BMW dealership experience. I personally prefer small shops over dealerships but perhaps that’s where he learned how to cheat people. Read the reviews where it didn’t go well. That’s a sign of the person you are dealing with.

Dave is a straight up bloke! My BMW broke down in Truckee so we towed it into Tahoe Blue Automotive on a Sunday evening. Dave greeted us and worked on my car into the evening. He worked on it Monday and eventually got it started on Monday evening so I was able to return home on Tuesday. He could have racked me over the coals but charged me only for one-​hours labor.
Cheers Dave!

Negative STAR if possible! STAY CLEAR from this «hot head» shop owner! He is literally impossible to communicate with! He has gone off on us several times during phone conversations when we inquired on updates and he repeatedly made promises/​deadlines he couldn’t commit to (believe me we can back this up, all calls were recorded)! This is what happens when you are an out-​of-​towner and you take the first shop that happened to be open on Labor Day!
Long story short — The car took a total of 3 weeks to complete (not one day less) and when we finally went to pick it up we had to bring it back to our local mechanic to fix what he left undone 1) missed a screw on one of our front brakes — assembly was not complete. 2) Air bag sensor was not put back correctly. 3) Shift gear was jammed and required adjustments 4) During the 3 weeks duration, we were called by the shop that our car was ready… drove there (3.5 hours drive) only to find our transmission sitting on the side of the garage and the owner denied they called, we kept the voice message on our phone and he refused to listened to their own message (my husband lost a full day of work due to this)!!! To top it off, he never once apologized for all the inconveniences he put us through.
Best way to deal with a situation such as ours, simply submit a claim with BBB (Better Business Bureau) and hope others read this review and seriously RECONSIDER bringing their car here! I don’t want anyone to have to go through what we went through.

As we were leaving Squaw Valley for the Bay Area today, the drivers-​side window in our 1996 Honda Accord got stuck in the down position. We called up David and within an hour of arriving at his shop, he had installed a new master switch for the window, checked all of the fluids in the car and got us back on the road. He was terrific — we only wish he were in Walnut Creek instead of Truckee b/​c he would definitely be our regular mechanic.

They squeezed us in for an emergency break job and fixed our A/​C for free. Very nice, decent price and fast service. Definitely recommend them!

Dave is beyond excellent. A BMW master mechanic and extremely knowledgeable, tech-​minded mechanic. He saved my ass when my truck blew a clutch master cylinder on the way back from the desert on Donner Summit. Dave agreed to see me the next day and reserved all the parts ahead of time to get the job done. When I brought the truck in I waited through his previous customers, but he promised that truck would take me home that night.
As someone who is comfortable doing my own engine rebuilids, but lacking in tools in a remote location, Dave did everything right and more, and he even fixed a few small things I had missed in my recent rebuild.
Three cheers for Dave! If you’re in the area, he’s the one to see!
–Cd

Our Chrysler van cooked its freshly rebuilt (by anothr shop) just outside of Truckee. I had the van towed to Tahoe Blue based on the Google and Unilocal reviews. Dave is the kind of mechanic you want. He listened to the story of the symptoms, smelled the fluid and had an instant diagnosis which was confirmed by scoping the transmission later. Dave told me to call my other mechanic and see what he wanted to do. Although his yard was full, he let me keep my car there for a week until my other mechanic could come up and tow my van back to the Bay Area. That was a great favor.
The shop is small, sparkling clean and very organized. The day I was there, the owners son was working there too. I can recommend Tahoe Blue without hesitationm

These guys were great. My daughter and I went skiing up in Tahoe a few weeks ago and ended up being stranded when our car wouldn’t start. Not knowing any shops in the area, I checked out Unilocal and these guys were highly rated… and for good reason. I had our car towed there after hours and caught a ride home with friends, then called them a couple of days later. After shipping them my keys (hopefully they will add a key drop box… or I just missed it), they quickly diagnosed the problem and fixed it. Since I’m located in the Bay Area they were super accommodating and stored my car for almost two weeks before I was able to get back up there. They even picked me up at the Truckee train station after hours. Overall, Dave and Doug were great and I would definitely use them… whether you’re visiting or living in the area. Thanks guys!

Not surprised he has a high star rating here. My brother and I were headed west on the freeway from riding at Boreal. My car’s radiator belt busted and here we were stuck on the side of the small wavy highway on a Sunday night. I called around and he was the only shop that had an emergency number. I called my own at&t service for towing and got towed there. He was very helpful and able to get me back on the road that same night. Highly recommended and he definitely knows what he’s doing when it comes to BMW’s!

Our 2004 Honda Odessey’s transmission overheated and started to fail on our way up to Tahoe. I found Dave’s place on Unilocal and took our car there.
I immediately noticed how Dave runs a very clean and tight shop the moment he opened his garage door. He was slammed with work so we left our car there overnight. We thought we might had to get the transmission rebuilt and started to figure out ways to sell the car. Dave called back saying that the tranny just overheated because of the heavy load and mountainous roads. He said he found mo problems and that we could drive it home after a flush. He needed to do a flush because of how low the tranny fluid was and it was pretty burnt.
We got home back to Oakland safe and sound.
I asked Dave a lot of questions and he was very accommodating. He’s been a professional BMW dealership mechanic for 11 years up on the latest technology and has been on his own for the last four years. If I am ever in trouble again in Tahoe I would definitely call Dave first. Very straightforward and honest guy.

I spent the Labour Day weekend in Tahoe with friends, but on the way there it became clear that there was a problem with the front brakes in my old Chevy van: a rhythmic vibration when braking at high speed or when going downhill. Took it to Tahoe Blue first thing Tuesday morning and Dave immediately diagnosed the problem as a warped rotor. New front brake pads and rotors were ordered and installed asap, and I was on my way home by mid-​afternoon. Dave was pleasant and efficient, and he charged a fair price. Recommend!

I have a 2000 Passat that decided it needed a drink (coolant ran out) and found this out on Sat at 3:30p while camping. Looked up local dealers and saw the awesome Unilocal reviews for Tahoe Blue & Dave so called him right away. He said don’t drive it, call a tow truck and he’d wait for it (I was a few miles outside Truckee at a camp site). When he gets it (SAT after 5pm!), he says he needs it until Sun (SUNDAY!) to flush the system and correct it. OK — what choice do I have? He calls on Sun, he has a temporary fix done (replacing coolant and repairing two hoses that had broken) and I need to get it to my usual repair place asap to get it fixed permanently. The VW dealer gets it when I return and tell me Dave did exactly what they would have done to fix it and it’s all good (they did a couple more flushes and changed out the coolant bottle). They wanted Dave’s card so they could refer him to other stranded people in the area.
Thanks Dave — awesome work (by the way, he had to go to Reno to get a part and dropped me back at my campsite on Sat night so he could go to get that, and work on SUNDAY!)
Now that’s customer service!

These guys are awesome! They replaced the battery in my BMW X3 and got me on my way in no time. They were friendly, efficient, reasonably priced, and saved me from making a trip to the BMW dealership in Reno. I would highly recommend them to anyone who needs auto repair.

While traveling up to Tahoe this past weekend in my newly purchased old Grand Cherokee, I experienced a significant drop in power and immediate engine warnings. I was able to limp it up the Mountain and in the morning (Saturday) called over to Tahoe Blue to get some advice. Doug was great on the phone and very reassuring told me to bring it on over and that they would have a look.
To make quite a long story short they were fantastic, Dave went out of his way it seems to test every possible outcome rather than going on a shopping spree of replacing parts that some places will try to do to you. He really took his time and actually found a manufacturers release that specifically characterized my challenges and the simple ways to fix them. He then went on to validate that the complimentary systems were all in working order and then sent me on my way. Not one minute of skiing (or apres skiing) missed!
I was out the door with very little out of pocket but gained great wealth in piece of mind that my new/​old Jeep had been carefully gone over by the Brothers of Tahoe Blue.

My Subaru Outback was having major issues on my last snowboarding trip. I found this shop online and found it tucked right off Hwy 80. After a diagnosis by Dave I had some repairs on my transmission. He was friendly and knowledgable. I usually feel like I’m being robbed every time my car needs work but this little shop won me over after getting me back to the slopes!

Nice, efficient and cost effective

I was visiting my grandpa recently and noticed his brakes were going out. I googled automotive repair and came across these guys. I don’t know much about cars, and am usually scared i’m going to get ripped off when i need to get work done. NOT HERE! They explained i just needed new pads and didn’t try to upsell me. I appreciate that. They even gave me a discount off future repairs! Work was done quickly and the brakes are as good as new! Will definitely be telling my family and friends about this place :)