Fred’s Wrenchouse

Easy to deal with and very professional. Get my oil and tire rotation done here on the regular. A bit out of my way to have it done here but worth it. Staff is efficient and knowledgable

Great customer service, quality work, and honest pricing. What more can you ask for in a mechanics shop. Took my car in for scheduled maintenance after walking in and setting up an appointment. They were very thorough on what was going to be done to my vehicle and assured me I’d be notified if anything else was needed. Luckily there were no issues that needed immediate attention so they called me to let me know it was ready, earlier than I expected. Once I picked up the car they even gave me suggestions on how to keep my car running better! This is definitely going to be my go to spot for my car needs. These guys are great, and if you need work done on any of your vehicles give them a call they won’t disappoint.

Really nice mechanic. I can say I trust them. I went in for an oil change and they did a really wonderful job. Nothing was messed up, my messy Benz was just as messy as I left it, but running tons better. I am definitely bringing my car back here to work on other odd and ends. Thanks guys!

Fred and his team are the BEST!
The brake light went on in my ‘little’ car and I did not want to take it to the Dealership Service Department– knowing they would take me to the cleaners. Fred and team were very detailed and checked all my brake lines, filled the brake fluid and cleaned my brakes! It does not get better than that! The ‘Dealership’ has a 39 point check when you have an oil change and are suppose to top off all fluids… so why was my brake fluid almost empty? Maybe they didn’t top off all the fluids– ’cause if they did– the brake light would not have gone off! 5 Stars for Fred and his team. I used Über to take me home while being serviced and to bring me back when my car was ready. No doubt– take your business here! Thanks, Fred!

We are trying to keep our one and only very old car running. It’s been one thing after another because of its age. Fred is our car’s guardian angel. He has dealt with us fairly for years and has helped us plot a strategy for keeping our car on the road as long as is humanly possible. One thing I really appreciate about him is he respects people no matter their financial circumstances and doesn’t pressure you to have things done when you cannot afford it. At the same time if he thinks there is something unsafe going on with your car he is honest with you and tells you it needs to be repaired right away.

Unlike many other reviewers I only had to change some lights in my car, it was reasonable priced considering the labor needed to unhook the bumper and that the car needed to be racked up. Fred is an honest individual that has a humble smile that brings up memories of Santa Claus and because of his service and professionalism if there is any car issues that needed to be resolved in am the island of Alameda he is the man to go to

Flat out no place like Fred’s. Seriously. For honesty, integrity, excellent work. my only concern is that he’ll get too much business :0)

I’ve always been leery where to take my rare, classic muscle car but gave Fred’s a try and have been going ever since.
Professional car care, fair prices and excellent service are the foundations of this business.
I’ve had intake gaskets, oil changes, and shifter linkage work done and there is next to nothing they wont do. Fred is a really nice guy too and I appreciate the extra attention he spends to explain and detail the work they do here.
I’m very crazy and protective of my car. Fred is one of the very, very few I now trust with it.

My experience with Fred’s was very positive. I grew up working on my own car in the backyard and hung out in the auto shop at the high school (back when they wouldn’t let girls actually take shop.) I’ve had my car in several shops in Alameda and have had a real bag of mixed experiences. I took my car to Fred’s for an oil change and some issues with the brakes. Fred was able to turn the rotors, sand down the brake pads and fix the issue for a price I felt was extremely reasonable. I plan to take the car back for a couple of other things I want done and I’m hopeful I will get the same excellent service and great pricing. I didn’t realize there was a parking lot off of Webster so I did cruise a few times looking for street parking, nice to know for next time. Thanks Fred.

FRED’s a great guy.
He has helped me a lot, and gave me great advice in regards to cars. Great customer service, and very personable. Thanks Fred, I appreciate you.

Fred has been great to us and our Jeep since day one! Good prices, good work and fast service!

Fred and his mechanics have always done a good job for me. They also don’t treat me like a fool because I’m a woman. I’ve always dropped the car off in the morning and picked it up later that afternoon, ready to go. When my window got broken, Fred talked me through the differences between genuine replacement glass and aftermarket glass and how much each would cost. When they’ve found problems while doing other work on the car, they’ve let me know promptly and also let me know if it needs to be fixed now or can be fixed later and if so, how much later.
I recently moved out of Alameda and I’m still taking my car here.

Been a regular at Fred’s for a year. Please read this closely if you’re considering auto work there.
1. My car needed follow-​up work THREE times after Fred charged me $ 1700 for repairs. The follow-​up work reflected poorly on the workmanship at his shop: for example, not cleaning the last oil spill, making it difficult for other mechanics to see the new problems. My mechanic from home even found a screw from the power steering in the oil pan. You know, an errant screw just hanging out there. He also said they sublet my car to fix the A/​C, which meant my price was 5x higher than someone else may charge.
2. After they held my car for three days, I didn’t drive it more than 6 miles before it broke down in the Posey tube. Turns out the radiator cap had broken in the repair and they hadn’t fixed it. No refund.
3. After $ 1700 in repairs, I had to pay $ 1000 elsewhere to get the oil leak, the job for which I originally took it in, fixed. The mechanic also caught other problems — whereas Fred assured me there was nothing else wrong with my car, for prices 2−3x what others cost.
This shop caused me weeks of repairs, untold anxiety and I caution you against using them. I hesitated to write this review because I had used them before this repair, but I’m out $ 3000 dollars, have had a car out of commission on and off since mid-​July, and was charged far too much for it.

Great quick service, family owned business, good prices, friendly staff, clean (tho cluttered) office. Definitely will return for all future auto service needs.

I really like the guys… no nonsense, up front about costs… quick. And since they are in alarmeda, the work pace can usually be same day service, rarely a long wait… unless it is for a part.

Been a customer to FW over the last 3 years:
–Upfront pricing, sometimes even less than the estimate
–Quick turnaround, drop off at 8AM, usually receive a call at 3:30PM for pickup
–Respect my car: putting down a paper mat and not changing my seat settings
–Significantly less than the dealer, about 40% less and they don’t charge just to DIAGNOSE
Of course, still not as cheap as those Asian places in Oakland, but c’mon, they use genuine parts.

Read all these reviews recently, and decided to take my car here to check out a steering problem it was having. Fred’s demeanor is about the worst i’ve ever encountered in 30 years of taking cars to mechanics, in about 10 different cities in the U.S. In fact, I’ve never encountered someone so grumpy and listless who owns his own business. Rather remarkable that he has the client base that he does.
That said, I can’t speak to the quality of his work. His estimate was high, and he charged me $ 150 for the analysis — way more than i’ve ever paid for an estimate, particularly for the amount of work involved. Also a great way to drive away a potential new customer. A good mechanic could have diagnosed the problem in about 45 minutes, which is what happened at the shop I took it to later. I ended up taking my car to a shop in Berkeley that specializes in Volvos, and they did the work for about $ 200 less than Fred’s estimate. And with much better customer service.

All the review say Fred is amazing, honest, wonderful… And maybe he is… but YOU’LL PAY UP THE BUTT FOR IT!!!
He gave me a quote that was $ 500 more then the highest of the other three quotes I got for the repairs needed…(Freds: $ 1366.34, shop 2: $ 998.00, shop 3: $ 789.00)

Obviously I will NOT be going with his shop… I don’t know about all these previous reviews but I don’t care how well he treats his customers, other shops do just as well, and I’m not «tipping» Freds $ 500 bucks for the good experience… Proceed with you wallet in mind if you take your car here…
I did find a great shop that was recommended by a friend. He’s been in the biz for 23 years, only works on Mercedes, and could do the work Fred needed 6.5 hours for in 3.5!!!
Oh! And it took Fred 2 days to finally get to my car and tell me what was wrong to begin with and it’s gonna take a half a day for him to get it back to me so I can take it somewhere else…

How often do you go to a mechanic and the bill is *less* than the estimate? That never happened to me – until I went to Fred’s to have my master cylinder replaced.
I had been avoiding getting my car repaired because I didn’t want to deal with the expense. But after checking out some reviews on Unilocal,I decided to take it to Fred. This guy has 5 stars and a number of reviews – he must be doing something right. Fred was extremely helpful from the very first phone call I made to his shop.
I started describing the issues with my car in lay-​speak:
Jamie: Umm, well it’s not really shifting properly.
Fred: What is the size of your engine?
Jamie: Umm, how would I know that? It has two doors. (haha!)
Fred: Okay, well I’ll give you a rough estimate based upon your description of the problem. I think its probably either the master/​slave cylinder or both.
Fred was so cool. Before I even came in, he gave me a couple things to check out to see if I could identify the problem myself. I, avoiding having to actually open the hood of my car – of course, just decided to take it to Fred to figure out. And he did. He had it all fixed and ready to go that afternoon.
I’m not quite sure why I think this is relevant… but I also thought it cool that Fred had a fish aquarium in the waiting room/​reception area.
No one likes having to get their car fixed, but Fred made an undesirable situation a pretty positive experience.

Fred is so cool. He is straight up and will not jerk you around. He told me that my car was a piece of junk and that he would rather me save up for a new one that for me to keep paying him to keep it barely running.
Thanks Fred! I love my new car.