Last month I had to come out to the Bay Area to visit my Dad. Fortunately, I was able to borrow a car (2004 Volvo) to use during the visit from some friends who were away.

Question: What’s worse than having your car break down when you’re away from home? Answer: Having the car you’ve borrowed from friends start to emit billowing clouds of smoke, and make chitty-chitty bang-bang noises when you’re trying to cross the Bay Bridge two days before they’re supposed to come back… eek. After being put on perma-hold at a few shops, I was lucky enough to find Bob’s. Chris (the counter guy) was courteous and calm in the face of the time pressure and managed to get my car into queue for service the next day. They even gave me a ride to the place I was staying (fortunately just up the hill in Berkeley), and offered to come get me when the service was complete.

Later that day, they called and told me that the repairs could be done the next day, and would be around $350. I authorized the repair over the phone after calling my local (in CT) mechanic, who told me, he’d charge me around $500 for the same repair. Next day, I picked up the car, which drove like a dream, they actually charged me slightly less than they quoted ($320) and I was able to breath a sigh of relief. I can’t recommend these guys enough.

Moral of the story: don’t borrow your friends cars when on vacation, but if you do, and bad things happen, Bob’s can help you out. My biggest regret is that they aren’t here in CT.

My Lexus IS250 was making a droning noise from the driver side tire/axle area so I suspected a bearing was going out on the vehicle. I took the car into the local Lexus dealership where they confirmed the bearing issue but then came back with a litany of other problems they said required attention and a quote of over 2k to fix them.

I decided to get a second opinion and after reading reviews online called Berkeley Bob’s for a quote. The price for the work on the bearing and other issues was much lower than what Lexus had quoted me so I took the plunge and decided to have my car serviced outside of the dealership for the first time in 7 years of owning the car.

Wouldn’t you know it, Berkeley Bob’s disagreed with Lexus’s assessment of “necessary” repairs and we decided to replace only the bearing for $250 less than what Lexus had quoted. Bob’s was able to order in the needed parts for overnight delivery and fixed my car the very next day. I’m happy to report that it has been running great ever since! Even though I was nervous about having my car serviced outside of the Lexus dealership, Colin and Sean at Berkeley Bob’s helped set my mind at ease by being informative, communicating frequently, and having outstanding customer service!! I highly recommend having your vehicle serviced at Berkeley Bob’s.

I found Berkeley Bob’s through NPR’s Car Talk forum, and have been using them for the past 4 years. My service has consistently been thorough and professional, and I really appreciate the post-service updates on my tires, brakes, etc.. While service costs are slightly higher than other Toyota places, I always feel like I get what I pay for. They pay great attention to details (like greasing my door hinges and topping off my fluids), are always honest (they don’t tell me I need frivolous services) and never make me uncomfortable by trying to sell me things I don’t need.

Here’s the deal, If you have a Volvo you have to have to have a Volvo mechanic. Not a guy that does it all, not a guy that specializes in euro cars, not a guy that worked on one one time in the 90′s whilst on a synthetic drug wearing glitter…. A Volvo mechanic. These cars a just too quirky and have Volvo specific problems. Believe me, good Volvo mechanic will be able to diagnose your problems faster than your therapist can say childhood issues.

I used to go to the dealer to repair my Volvo, which of course was a bad idea, and repeatedly they charged me lots of money, and a couple times they really screwed up, leading to my having the car towed twice in a week. Also, they forgot to do a bunch of things during their servicing, which I only found out like a year later. The team at Bob’s has stayed late, waiting for me when my car broke down (on the Bay Bridge no less), they’ve picked me up and dropped me off for no charge of course, and they’ve repaired stuff for less than they estimated, which they didn’t need to do.

Plus, when I ask them to explain exactly what everything does (I’m not a car person, but I do have an engineering degree), they explain, not treating me like some dumb woman (like the dealer does). So, maybe I am a dupe, since I don’t know much about cars, but so far I’ve had nothing but pleasant experiences there. WAY better than the dealership, anyway.

I took my wife’s 08 Camry Hybrid in for an oil change a few months ago and had a great experience. I found out I needed a water pump but could not replace it at the time. These guys are so honest; they told me we could drive it under normal conditions for awhile and replace it later. I came back today for the water pump replacement and an oil change I experienced superior service once again. There was a bracket that needed replacing these guys took the bracket out and had a welder repair it better than new. Awesome group of guys. They also have a great waiting area with WIFI.

Way to go Berkeley Bob’s!

Berkeley Bob’s is one of the most honest and caring mechanics I have ever dealt with.

Here’s the back story…

My wife and I bought our 93′ Volvo 240 Classic wagon used about 2.5 years ago. A well loved and impressively maintained car from the original owner. It needed work as most used cars do, fortunately there were Berkeley Bob’s license plate frames already mounted on the car.

When the one of many repairs that I couldn’t handle needed to be dealt with we brought it to Sean at Berkeley Bob’s to take a look. The first thing he said when I called at 3p in the afternoon was bring it by first thing in the morning. I was already impressed by the quick service. When I drove up he looked at my 240 and said “Oh yeah, I have been working on this car for at least 15 years!” He opened the hood and claimed ” I did that and that and that but I didn’t do that! I use much higher quality parts”.

Of course that was the fix I did, I already felt like I was in good hands.

He generously gave me a ride to BART and before I knew it he called at 3 p that afternoon and the car was ready to go. I was blown away at how fast and well he serviced the car.

At first I was in sticker shock at the final bill but as I looked closer 3/4 of the cost came from the high quality parts that were used to make my beauty run and the remainder was labor. I felt like I was really getting my money’s worth and knew the quality was in the car.

Since then I have been back a dozen times fixing my car and striking things off the to do list. Each time knowing Sean and his team care about me and my car as much as I do and will continue to service the car hopefully even when the third owner takes her over. Hopefully not any time soon.

If you’ve got a Volvo, or any other type of car, you should only consider Berkeley Bob’s as your ‘go to’ mechanic.

I’ve been taking my Lexus Hybrid to Bob’s since I bought it. I feel I always get treated well there. The shop is super clean and the car is always fixed on time. They even repaired the car once while I waited. I like their candid approach. They are very thorough and check the whole car. I am a regular at Bob’s as I use my car as a daily commuter. I’ve taken it in for everything from a nail in the tire to complete service and timing belt. I recommend Bob’s for their honest, competent and friendly service. Thank you, Sean.