Dakis Service Center

Fast courteous service! Opened on time on Black Friday and saved me from having a flat on the road! Thanks again!

I’m pretty disappointed in these guys. Let me explain why.
I found a used car off Craigslist that I liked. The price was good, but not «too good to be true,» … it was in the right spot. The seller of the car lived down the street from this shop and had taken it to them for work in the past, so since they had seen it, had the maintenance history, I thought I would take it to them.
What I needed was someone to look at the car to let me know if I was buying myself a headache or if this was a good deal. I wanted the car looked over to see if it was a lemon or not. That is not what I got from these guys. What I got was a MD State Safety Inspection. Which was fine for passing inspection, but has caused me a HUGE and expensive headache.
Here’s the thing, three months and less than 4000 miles into owning the car I have a blown head gasket that is going to cost me $ 3000 to repair. I asked about doing a compression test on the cylinders and the shop specifically waived me off from doing that. The compression test may or may not have caught the blown head gasket — not that it seems that Dakis looked at any of the mechanicals beyond what is flagged in the MD Safety Inspection. (thanks for catching the worn windshield wiper blades and not the blown head gasket)
What would have caught it though was if they had pointed out that the coolant fluid was full of rust. I didn’t notice this (not being in the car inspection business) but the first time I took it to my mechanic near me, he flagged it.
This weekend, one of the radiator hoses blew and when the mechanic flushed the engine to get all the rust out of the cooling system and tested the pressure in the system immediate found the blown head gasket.
Had Dakis flagged the coolant problem (and the brakes that they told me are at about 40% which 4000 miles later are warped and will need to be replaced as well) and we had flushed it then, there’s a decent likelihood I could have caught this problem and avoided a huge headache.
Had they done a more thorough inspection there’s a decent chance we could have caught this problem. These guys seems more interested in getting me out the door than they did in helping me make sure I was buying a decent car that wasn’t going to become a potential money pit.

I took my car here on Tuesday, January 13^th. 2015 because I was hearing clicking noises under the car as I was driving. I came here because of all the positive reviews. However, I did not receive the best service. I was told that I needed brake pads, rotors and calipers and that the cost would be $ 1,050. Thinking that my car was in worse shape than it was, I agreed to bring the car back for service. I could only bring it on the weekend because of my work schedule. I was told that Dakis would order the parts and my car could be fixed Saturday. I dropped it off Friday, January 16^th. I received a call Saturday morning saying that the parts had not come in yet and to bring it back Monday. I called Monday morning and still no parts. I took my car to TNT Auto Repair in Columbia and they told me all I needed was front brake pads. Wow. I should’ve known better. I know next time! $ 1,050 really???

I took my car here based on the positive reviews about their honesty, but now it’s shocking that they have gotten so many. After telling me that I needed my front and rear brake pads and rotors replaced and giving me an estimate of more than $ 800, I took my car elsewhere. I traded cars with my parents (who live an hour away) and they took it to their friend. My front brake pads and rotors were fine, but the rear pads and rotors needed to be replaced. He ended up replacing the front brake pads anyway to save me an hour drive in the future, even though they could have lasted. This cost me $ 160 compared to the $ 800 I was quoted from Dakis. Not only did i save a ton of money, but i also saved myself from some unnecessary work. This was pretty surprising based on all of their great reviews stating that they only do what is necessary. Moral of the story… Befriend a mechanic!

They saved me over a thousand dollars. It’s so hard to find an honest mechanic and I only hope after ownership changes (the owner was selling to a current mechanic in the shop) the quality stays the same

I had to write a review immediately after dealing with Daki’s. I took my car in this morning because the maintenance light and service engine light was on. I have always had issues with mechanics over charging and trying to do un-​needed work. However, at Daki’s they ONLY do what is necessary. They were able to figure out a mistake of why one of the lights went on and suggested a cost effective alternative to the other problem. I am very pleased with my experience at Daki’s and will continue to use them for all my car issues. I definitely trust them… which is hard to find and very valuable when dealing with mechanics and car problems.

To say that they saved me would be an understatement. I arrived at 8:30am with a car that had been sitting dormant for 5 months. Said car had a slew of issues but somehow needed to get me to DC by 1:30pm for a wedding I was shooting. Not an ideal situation, but they handled my madness well and were able to get my car up and running to «get me to the church, get me to the church on time.» — Any Sinatra fans out there?
Everyone was knowledgeable and friendly. THE best customer service!
Oh and because of an error by the last guys who changed my oil, we’ll call them Liffy Jube — they put in the wrong drain plug for my car — I had oil leaking all over the place!
They couldn’t fix it that day because they needed a part so Matt gave me an extra bottle of oil just in case I needed it later. When I finished the wedding I was greeted by a pool of oil all around my car. So yes, I needed it! Crises averted.
I wish they would move their operations out to LA. I have no idea how I’m going to trust anyone else to take as good care of me and my car are these guys. 10 stars!

Once again Matt, Taylor & Rob take care of me while I’m on the verge of a breakdown during work. I make a call in desperation and they take me right away and fix the problem! Now that’s what I’m talking about. Honest and efficient! Thank you guys, you’re the best!

Customer service is great. Work is quality and timely. Price is not cheap, but not outrageous. I’ve serviced my vehicle a few times here, and they have not only done a good job, but also educated me along the way. I recently took it in after running over something on the road, and they fixed the hanging plastic under the car no charge.

They saved me when I would have ended up in Baltimore with a dead car. They helped me out quickly and were really efficient. They were extremely knowledgeable and honest. I will be bringing both of my cars here from now on!

Great mechanic. My husband and I have both used them now and they are very honest. And they have a good warranty. My husband got his brakes fixed by them months ago and then they started
Making a weird noise again and they
Fixed it for free. Really good guys, reasonable prices

I called up Rob after seeing all the positive reviews on here and couldn’t have been happier with his help. He and his guys checked out my car, told me exactly what I needed to do to fix it, and sent me on my way without asking for a dime. They didn’t even pressure me to come back to them when I decided what I wanted to do.
Suffice to say, they’ve got a new customer. Rob was up-​front about everything and didn’t try to BS me into getting 48 other things fixed. On top of that he actually spent some time explaining how to better care for my car so I wouldn’t have the same problem again. Not sure you can ask much more when you need help with your car.

I’ve just went to this place, and the service was really awesome and fast. Rob is very attentive, 100% transparent and clear about what’s needed. 100% recommended.

I had a great experience here. I came in for a much needed oil change and tire rotation. I had called the day before to make an appointment. I dropped off the car and 35 minutes later the car was done. They never once tried to push anything extra on me, which I definitely appreciated.
As a bonus, you can walk a next door and hit up the local shops while u wait.

Finally honest mechanics! As elusive as the albino jackalope unicorn.
Found these guys highly rated and reviewed on Unilocal and decided to dive in and take a chance. Turned out to be a great decision. So my clutch pedal went into the floor and wouldn’t come back up. Before calling these guys, I called at least 3 other local shops (who should, but will not be named) and the 1 that actually got back to me (the next day) gave me a pretty generic assessment and insisted on getting me and my car in and taking my money first before giving me any hint of a scenario.
I called up Rob Dakis who immediately diagnosed the issue as best case master cylinder, worst case slave cylinder and more. To help me save some potentially save costs, he walked me through some troubleshooting steps I could take to attempt my own avoid-​the-​shop diagnosis. That’s old school. I didn’t know people did stuff like that anymore. It’s things like that that make all the difference, so needless to say I was sold.
As he was on the phone, in-​person Rob is a straightforward, old school, no frills, no bs, tell you how the f@#$ it is kind of guy. Some people can’t handle this. But in an automotive world full of master cheats and liars that prey on people’s lack of knowledge and misplaced trust, you appreciate that level of candor. At least you should. I certainly do. Throughout the whole process, it was well-​communicated to me what was going on with my car, how long the repair was going to take, and what else was wrong. At no point did I feel had or blindsided or surprised. And at the end, Matt showed me my worn-​out and broken parts and explained the repairs to me.
I pulled up a generated estimate of average expected costs of parts and labor from
and checked the workorder line by line, item by item, and found Dakis Service Center to only be pretty close. No suspicious little charges to nickel and dime the customer. Everything was in order. A bit pricier sure, but you pay a little extra for quality, trustworthy, honest service. Worth it in my book.
A week later, everything’s running great. In fact, better than it has in a long while. I trust them and will give them my business again. Consider me a satisfied customer.

One more great review from a single mom… I had my car serviced there for the first time last weekend. Doug, Bill and Matt are really great guys — knowledgable and honest — and a pleasure to talk with. I consider myself more mechanically inclined than some guys. And, despite not being too busy that day, they didn’t try to high pressure sell to me. Doug gave me the option of the regular oil change or the more expensive one with synthetic oil, in great detail. I ended up going with the cheaper option but have to say, no one has ever bothered to ask before. As my oil was being changed, I remembered that I was having some vibration when hitting about 60mph so also had them do a full tire rotation and balancing. My 8 year old Pacifica is running like new again.

I was referred to Dakis Service Center after my radiator blew up on 95 — and the shop where the car was towed tried to rip me off for $ 1000 to fix it. Rob and Matt were great to deal with — and calmed my nerves after the maddening experience of the other shop.
Just this past week, my engine started to run hot again — and Rob had the car towed back to his shop — on his dime. When we realized the problem was probably an air pocket in the coolant line, Rob never even charged me for his time to diagnose — or for the towing. Who does that?!!
Unbelievable service at Dakis — Rob and Matt are the best — and honest — mechanics E V E R.

We have been long term customers as well, and I can only hope that when Rob decides he wants to retire he sells the business to his main man Matt. These are the best, most honest mechanics around. Be prepared to get some good spirited ribbing from them if you drive a luxury or an import (my Mini is the object of much amusement). These guys are pros and very fair and I won’t go anywhere else.

Rob Dakis and his Mechanic, Matt have been my mechanics since the day I started driving. They have always given me honest advice, done the repairs right the first time, and don’t try to sell you on tons of un-​necessary work if your car doesn’t really need it.
To me the sign of a good business is one that realizes its in it for the long haul, not the quick buck, and Matt and Rob have proved to me this is their approach time and time again. When my last car started having transmission problems Matt actually advised me not to spend the money doing repairs with him, but rather to use the repair money for a downpayment on a newer car as that one didn’t have long left in it even if I did the repair then. I really remember that as he could have easily cashed in on a one time $ 2000 transmission replacement with me, and probably seen me for another 2 – 3 repairs over the next year out of that car too, but instead gave me good honest advice that only benefitted me. He’s helped me keep that replacement car driving great since then too (though at far less cost and with less to deal with!)
I won’t trust my car with anyone else. I hope you’ll do the same.

It is hard to find an auto mechanic that you can trust. But, every time I take one of my cars to Matt at Dakis Service Center, I know I will get great service and the price will be reasonable. We have been using them for 25 years and wouldn’t go any where else.