German Car Specialists

Without a doubt, the worse experience I’ve ever had with an auto repair shop! I brought in my CLS55 AMG for one issue originally. There was an odor coming from the vents when the AC was used. Common problem for cars coming from areas that recycle the air to keep the cabin cooler in hot temperatures.
I was told not a problem to fix and they would probably take a couple hours. When I brought in my car I was told they didn’t have the correct tool or cleaning agent and it would take an extra day.
I thought while it was going to take an extra day, I would be interested in their opinion on the car and to give it an inspection as well as change the air filters… I had the car inspected by the dealership one week prior but I wanted to find a shop near my house and was looking to save some money on future repairs. We are a household with no less than three Mercedes at virtually any given moment in time…
The loaner car… They gave me an 80’s Mercedes with the AC broken, duct tape literally over cuts in the seat, a huge dent along the driver side door and it was on fumes with no gas. I didn’t let it bother me at first and thought well, I sure hope the money I’m saving by not going to the dealership is worth it!
Dropped my car off on a Thursday and had to call 4 days later to find out what was going on. The shop technician informed me that he found about $ 8,000 worth of stuff to fix and what did I want to do… I asked if the odor problem I brought my car in for originally was fixed. He said he would be ordering what he needed to fix the odor problem and it would probably arrive in a few days. Remember I already had this car inspected by the dealership one week prior with no major concerns or issues.
I lost it at that point and told him to stop and not to do anything else to the car. He made me very uncomfortable and asked me why I didn’t want to do anything he suggested (spend $ 8,000). I told him I didn’t want to and he kept on about how I should do those things and on and on and on.
Finally he stopped and told me to arrive at 1:00 later that day. I arrived to find my car parked out front and looked like it was ready to go. When I dropped my car off 5 days prior, I had just had it detailed. I noticed a bunch of brake dust on the wheels as though it had been driven quite a bit. There was white paint residue or something inside the car all over the center console and a sign in the back seat that said parts in trunk
I went in to get my car and was told by the shop technician that he was having lunch and to wait about 10 minutes until he was finished then he would bring me the key to my car and the paperwork. I waited in the lobby while he finished his lunch. He finally came out and gave me a bill for over $ 600 for changing the air filters and doing his bogus inspection. He again pressured me and made me very uncomfortable about why I didn’t want to do all of the $ 8000 worth of work to my car. I told him again I just didn’t want to do it.
I left and felt absolutely horrible about how I paid so much for so little and had to drive that loaner car around in 80 degree weather with no AC thinking it was going to be a small price to pay in exchange for saving money by not going to the dealer.
It’s not over… I got home and was trying to get the white residue off my console and was looking around my car and noticed that while at their shop, they had backed over their fire lane or something and put a 24″ long gash into the underside of the drivers side rear bumper. I called the company that regularly details my cars and asked him about the gash and if I somehow missed it between details. He said no, he knows every inch of my cars and he detailed it right before I dropped it of that Thursday the week before. Furious!!!
I received a call from the owner of the shop later that afternoon. He heard I had a negative experience and wanted the details. I told him everything and he offered to fix my odor problem (the original reason I took my car in) for free and would give my car a mini-​detail.
No clue how they will ultimately respond to this post, but honestly I learned a lesson. Trying to save a dollar can cost you one hell of a lot more. It will probably cost me $ 1,500 to fix the gash in my bumper, the paint or whatever, after some cleaning solvents, came off my center console and I still have an odor from the AC. I do however have a new $ 600 air filter.
One more oddity… The technician told me the fuel was low when I brought it in so he filled it up at no cost to me. Now, all the brake dust on the wheels made sense to me… The guilt from someone driving my car during those 5 days must have gotten to someone and by filling my gas tank, it made it all better???
The more I write, the more I remember more details so I’m going to stop. Customers please do your research before putting your already depreciating asset in the hands of a business that doesn’t really have your best interest in mind

Not the easiest to deal with. I don’t think they fixed my car right. Came back. They accepted that they would fix it with free labor but charged me for the parts, etc. I will not be back to this place.

DO NOT BRING YOUR CAR HERE
I would honestly give zero stars if I could. I was treated extremely poorly when I inquired about my brother’s car on the phone and nobody seemed to know what was going on or what repairs had been made/​if any had been made and when the car would be ready to be picked up. My brother brought his car there after he had problems with a repair that had been made by the same shop months before. The car was not properly fixed so he brought it back in and instead of the shop fixing it for free under warranty he was billed again. When he wanted to bring his car to another shop and called Triple A for a tow truck to move it they literally told Triple A that they would not allow them to move the car because work had been already done on the car. When I then called and asked to speak to the manager he hung up on me after laughing at me on the phone and insulting me for being upset. When I threatened to call the police because my brother had wanted to move the car, he said something along the lines that this had happened before and he would not care. I was extremely upset and had never been treated this poorly anywhere else. Later on my brother was not able to pay with credit card but had to pay in cash because the manager was afraid he would try to get his money back. Go somewhere else if you want a trustworthy shop that cares about you and your car.

I brought my MB to this shop for oil change, the owner of the shop told me my car’s timing chain needs replacement (it’s under 100k miles), I asked how he can, he told me by listening to the engine sound!!! I never returned to this shop and my car is doing fine.

Do NOT take your MINI Cooper here. I should have just stopped when the tech called me to have more time authorized to check out my MINI stating «We don’t know what is wrong — we have never seen stuff like this before». I ended up having to take my car back to Northwest MINI because the «diagnosis» I was finally given was for a part that had already been replaced earlier this year, and was still under warranty at NW MINI. After NW MINI inspected my car, and after I had to pay $ 525 to German Car «Specialists» for NOTHING, it was discovered that they not only misdiagnosed the issue, but also didn’t know about a separate KNOWN issue that was still covered under the manufacturer’s warranty. How is it possible that an Auto Specialist doesn’t know about common issues with a car, and how is it possible that the «$ 30,000 testing machine» that the owner bragged to me about over the phone didn’t pick up the same fault warning that NW MINI’s did?

First visit to German Car Specialists. I found the team to be professional, courteous and prompt.
After having our Audi A4 mis-​diagnosed by two other mechanics (dealer and independent), it was nice that they could find the issue.
Having a shuttle service was also a +. I will defiantly return!

The price is excellent and the service is impeccable. They’re straight forward and honest. What more can you want? I’m switching from my dealership to here for all my services now. I’ve had bad experiences with other auto shops and have sworn that the dealership was worth the cost, but these guys give you the same quality with more transparency at ¼ the cost. I got 4 major repairs done for the cost of 1 at the dealership.

Tony sure knows German cars. He and his team will get things done for you. I cannot comment on the price/​time cause I am not used to non-​dealer. I went in for a non-​dealer headlight issue. This place sure has it’s own character.

Great people, very friendly but I had a horrible experience. I left my Audi at 8AM and when I called to see how it was coming at 3PM, they said they hadn’t had a chance to look at it and would need it over night. I was not able to leave it, so had their shuttle come pick me up. When I arrived at the dealer at 4PM, they said they had started working on it… so I had to wait. They had a hard time diagnosing my problem (AC not blowing cold), but ordered a $ 300 part and installed it. At 6:45 I was able to leave their shop after paying a total of $ 600. The AC was no different than when I brought it in. Just blew air, nothing cold. They said when I left that I likely needed a compressor and that they would call with an estimate. They never called. I have since come to realize that only the dealer has the full diagnostic code manual and these smaller shops pretty much have to guess at complex problems. I would have preferred they did not guess but just told me they could not figure it out. I am now out $ 600 and have to go to the Audi dealer for a fix. Very unhappy.

Extremely happy client! I recently had a poor experience with my BMW dealership so I opt’d to walk away from them and have my car serviced at German Car Specialists. I couldn’t be more pleased. Not only did they provide excellent and quick service but they constantly kept me updated on what was going on as well as continuously checked on me while I was waiting.
I absolutely love the shop and everyone that works there and highly recommend them to any and everyone I know!

Amazing car place, period!
I took my audi there and was very happy. Customer service is top notch and they always seem to try to figure out how to save me money on parts & labor. They were very diligent about doing estimates up front which I really appreciated. Rates are decent and still way better then dealers, plus they have monthly coupons. I’ll be taking my car there from now on.

I would never go back to this place, they were rude, couldn’t remember what car was mine and we had to go over the explanation of the car with every car, and what the previous quote had been. my bill was at least 30% more than what we had talked about and I was not notified before the work began to say weather I wanted to proceed with the more expensive work. To top it off the car was not ready when promised. If you have a Mercedes go to Mercedes garage in Bellevue!

It wasn’t raining that day the service wasn’t good.

DON’T BRING YOUR CAR HERE. Read the 67 discarded reviews. This will give you a clearer picture of who the owner is and how he runs his business.
People don’t usually go out of there way to open a Unilocal account to write one single good review. On the other hand, you can see how a pissed off customer would go out of there way. You can tell from the review which ones are real and which ones are fake.
What makes you think this could be a false review. Are you saying you don’t :
Leave 10% off coupons on German cars.
Quote brakes w/​out rotors and brake sensors.
Bait and switch customers once you have their cars «opened up».
Run your business unethically.
You told me the tires on my moms car were over inflated and caused excessive wear.(still don’t remember?) I find it hard to believe you don’t remember me considering how dissatisfied I was with your services. I can only assume you have so many dissatisfied customers you simply can’t remember them all.
BTW I keep getting messages from your dissatisfied customers here on Unilocal (one wanted a statement for court proceedings against you). Still think this is a false review? I could post the messages if you’d like.

My extended warranty expired and took my Audi A4 to German Car for the first time last week. Customer service was great from the moment I called in to make my appointment. Kevin was good at explaining what my car needed done: regular service, other parts needing replacement, front brakes, and repair a noise my car had for a while. I paid $ 1600 for EVERYTHING while the dealer (Barrier in Bellevue) quoted me $ 1500 to repair only that noise! $ 1600 is a lot of money but compared to dealer prices you save lots of money. Oh! did I forget to say German Car also offers shuttle service? :) I am very pleased and will continue taking my car to them.