Merrifield Auto Service

I like the owner. He never persuade you into fixing anything unnecessary. Always do a great job. Give me advice in everything about my car since he knew I’m a new driver. The price is reasonable, too. He is bilingual, both English and Chinese.

Owner is the real deal. Genuinely a nice guy, a local and a hard worker. Doesn’t charge for unnecessary bull sh*t.

TL;DR — No communication or scheduling organization that resulted in a big load of nothing over the course of almost a week to fix the A/​C.
I wanted the A/​C fixed, but there were no estimates at all which was understandable for something of this nature. However, several times I’ve dropped off my car in the morning, called during the day to follow up, then finally I would pick up my car in the evening to find that nothing has been done to it.
Whatever the reason may be, circumstantial, accidental, ignorance or malicious: nothing has been communicated to me except to drop off the car in the morning. Essentially it was a big waste of time that resulted in nothing. All this could have been prevented if they simply worked on my car when they say they would (which I initially assumed when they told me to drop off my car at this date, before shop opens). Or if it was too busy, tell me to come at a different time, of course it only matters if they work on the car at that hypothetical later date.
And I had to pay him ~$ 100+ for the refrigerant fill that resulted in no answer in the diagnosis.
Other review sites mentioned nationality-​related difference in customer treatment/​experience, which I cannot confirm but must wonder if it was true.

The owner broke my vehicle!!! I came in to the auto shop to get my passenger and driver side h8 bulbs replaced because my passenger bulb had died. The owner changed the passenger side and one of the mechanics changed the driver side. Everything was fine at first until a few days later when it rained. I turned on my vehicle and received 2 dashboard errors related to my headlight and I saw that my passenger D1S light was out. I thought maybe it was just a coincidence that my other light bulb had died, so I went to BMW to have them check it out. They told me that my whole entire passenger side headlight assembly unit was destroyed because whoever changed the bulb earlier broke 1 of the 2 metal clasp that holds the protective covering and water went in to the unit. If I knew it was broken, I would have only needed to spend a few hundred to have it replaced. Instead, I ended up paying thousands because of someone else’s mistake and inexperience. A little honesty would have been nice.

Great price, nice guy that’s all I have to say

Very honest mechanics. A different place Said I needed $ 1700 worth of work. This place explained that nothing is critical and that my car doesn’t need the work as presented by the other auto shop. Will be going here now for my auto needs.

I recommend this place because I feel that the owner, Mr. Tu, is both professional and honest.
Last month I drove a car (a 2005 Ford Five Hundred) I wanted to buy from a dealer to this place to have it inspected. Mr. Tu open the hood and found out the motor mount was broken — within 10 seconds. He then had his men lifted the car and have it thoroughly inspected and found no further problems. He then told me that the price for the car was OK as the motor mount is not expensive to repair. Impressed by his professionalism, I told him I want to repair the motor mount in his shop after buying the car. However, Mr. Tu suggested that I could simply ask the dealer to take care of that problem.
I drove the car back to the dealer and told him about the problem. The dealer (who is also a mechanic), admitted that he overlooked that problem and fixed it for free.
Now I have driven the Five Hundred for over 1000 miles and it drives good.

Quite literally this is a down-​and-​dirty review.
I was driving home from New York City on a Monday night and I hit a pothole, real bad. Immediately the tire pressure sensor went off and I pulled over to the right lane, and eventually pulled over and changed the tire. I don’t use my car for my work commute so I waited until Saturday morning to take it in.
Walked to the shop and a few of the guys were standing outside, I explained that I got a flat and wanted to see about fixing the tire if possible, and getting a rotation. The owner told me to come back around 2:00 PM (about 4 hours later, not unreasonable for a Saturday). As I walked back down the street back home, I realized… did I give them my name? Phone number? Any way of contacting me if anything changes? Nope. Kind of my bad for not insisting but why wouldn’t they have taken 5 seconds to take the info down?
I called at 1:30p because I had to head out for the afternoon, they said they’d quickly look at the tire and see what they could do. Left my name and phone #. They called me back saying tire couldn’t be fixed (and I sure do believe it) and quoted me two different tire prices, I picked the mid-​range tire. Told them I would try to pick it up Monday since they were closed Sundays.
I ended up not picking up until Tuesday. Here’s where the experience kind of goes downhill… I walk in and the guy sends me to their office. It’s a disaster area — filthy and cold and papers everywhere. I’m not picky if I feel like it’s a good value, but they really need to spiffy up that one room at least. Owner walks over and tells me that his wife told me «It was going to be $ 150.» When I spoke to her on the phone the week before I thought I was told $ 135…I was kind of in a hurry so didn’t push it. But I thought it was SUPER ODD that there was NO documentation. Then the receipt I got just said $ 150 for tire change. No breakdown of model tire, price of tire vs. price of labor. Just $ 150. Sketchy. Remember the tire rotation I requested? Said nothing about a rotation and they don’t appear to have been moved around.
Lastly, I go to walk into my car, and the inside of my driver’s side is ABSOLUTELY FILTHY. They put down a paper mat on the carpet but it wasn’t enough to protect from the greasy, dirty boots. And then there was a grease streak on the inside of my driver’s side door from one of the mechanics. Again, was in a hurry and it was end of day, didn’t want to argue about it.
Three stars because they made it quick and easy and certainly didn’t upsell me. But their mechanics have to take better care of the vehicles and step up their record keeping and customer service a bit, and honestly I really don’t want to go back for any other service unless I’m in a bind.

I have been going to Mr. Du’s shop for over 5 years now. Can’t say enough great things about him. The man is one of the most honest and competent auto mechanics I know. He does not beat around the bushes. He does not recommend any unnecessary repairs to make money. I TRUST him 100%. I speak English only but never had any problem communicating with him. He has a wide range of customers. I have recommended him to many of my English only speaking friends and they all have been very happy with him.

My car was hit and run and there is a dent on the left back. The owner fixed it for me half the price of what my dealer intend to charge. Despite that this store is super busy and I have to go multiple times to check the availability, I am satisfied with the end result.

I have visited this shop based on users review. Unfortunately, it is not as good as the rated online. This is family owned shop. It operates unprofessionally. They can open and close the business hour as they wish even through you have an appointment with the owner. The environment is very dirty. The most of customers are Chinese; the owner possible will offer couple of bucks cheaper than others but the service you received are very badly. You need to pay more time to wait in very dirty waiting room. The shop environment is ugly. If you can speak English, I won’t recommend you have a business with this shop. The shop does not provide written warrantee receipts and no repair record of your car. You just need wait, pay and go.

I recently moved to fairfax area. I don’t Unilocal much unless I find a great place with outstanding service or a really bad place that I have to complain. And this is the great place.
I think find a auto shop is similar to find a barbershop. You really have to try some places until you find the right one, and you know you will stick to it. Fortunately, I found this place.
My 10 years old car has more than 180,000 miles on it. It doesn’t make sense to pay a lot money for maintenance. But I do want my car to run another 20,000 miles at least. Since I’m new to this area, I did a lot homework. I physically visited couple high Unilocal review auto shops nearby. I can tell some of them are very professional and can do high quality jobs, but their estimates are just simply too much for me. I’m still trying to find somewhere that I can receive same level high quality service with low price. And I found this one.
The shop is not big, but that’s not something I care. I went in ask them to look at my car and see if they can gives me an estimate. They check my car completely, after a while, they explained every problems that found so far. I can tell it’s very professional and they are not trying to sell me anything unnecessary. They could clearly point out my car maintenance history, what’s the root problems. The price is lower than other shops gave me. They explained why is the charge, the cost of every parts and the labor.
I mean bottom line, you feel they are doing their job right. Without any fancy service or salesman, they are just trying to help you fixing your car, with a price that fair enough for you and them. After I received my car, the problems got fixed completely, it feels great when you received such high quality service and very reasonable price.
I would recommend this shop to everyone whos new to the area like me.
It deserves a 5 star in fairfax county.

I was very pleased the with service I received here. The staff is friendly and straightforward — exactly how I like it when dealing with my car! It’s a small place with not a lot of parking around it but I managed fine. I came here for a quote on repairs for my state inspection after receiving a ridiculously high quote from a dealership. I saved a lot of money coming here and the service was done quickly. My car is driving great! I will be a return costumer.

If you’re looking for an honest and transparent auto service shop, then this is the one for you! The owner is more than willing to show you the price he pays for the actual part that needs to be replaced and is very reasonably priced for labor. He is also willing to show you the damage to your car and why it needs to be replaced. The shop also does regular maintenance like oil changes.
They are M-​Stat around 8:30 am until about 6 pm but close at 5 pm on Saturdays. They are not open on Sundays. As mentioned, it’s not an upscale place, but it gets the job done right and for a good price!

The owner is very experienced and solved my problem on the phone without charging me any bucks!

To:@Noyb U.
1.)First of all the oil leak was the oil pump seal defect. The oil pump seal was leaking and you brought the parts. So who’s to blame? you! You bought your own parts.
2.)After we finish the job we have to leave the car running to check if the oil is still leaking. Maybe we only use one gallon of gas for the engine running. Then I payed you $ 10 cash. Why don’t you say the truth? Seriously! Why didn’t you say the truth.
3.)When you picked up the car I described to you that the noise, because the timing belt was on your car was supposed to be 30 degree design. It wasn’t straight that’s why we had to get the belt tight. It wasn’t bearing noise and you say you understand. I guess you don’t know about auto repair! So leave it to the professionals next time!
4.) Open you eyes! You can tell the difference between new and old scratches for over a 10 year old car. Do you remember you asked me if you should spend the money on repairing the scratches and dents. I told you the price and you said it was to expensive and you couldn’t afford it. We showed you every part we took out of your car. What’s your matter not telling the truth?

After two repairs, the second one being a freebie redo of a leaking oil pump in which silicone was used as a sealant (look out for this common practice) instead of the gaskets I bought and provided (!!), I am not returning. Here’s why:
1) After both repairs were finished and I arrived to pick up the car, both times I found the car parked, unlocked, and with the engine running. WTF? The second time easily burned a couple of gallons because I knew where the gauge was before I dropped it off. Excuses? I don’t give a rat’s ass. No other shop in my lifetime has ever done that.
2) After the first repair, I found green silly string all over one side of my car. Seriously.
3) After the second redo, I found some oily substance all over one side of the engine where they worked plus the underside CV boots and drive shaft. Plus it stained my new drive belts. WTF?
4) After the second repair, I immediately had a new whirring noise coming from that engine area as if a bearing went bad. That did not exist the morning I dropped it off. So something happened. Anything to do with the oily substance? WTF?
5) They don’t cover your front fenders with protective cloth while they work on your engine. So expect scratches.
6) This is – easily — the grimiest, filthiest, most cluttered and disorganized business operation I have ever witnessed.
In light of other great reviews, I suspect there is a new mechanic or two that has victimized me. I happens to many shops, where the mechanic has moved on to open his own shop. But that doesn’t let Tu off the hook on supervision and business operations. As The Donald would proclaim, «You’re fired!»

Back when I had a 2002 VW Cabrio… I used to go to Merrifield Auto. They are honest, do good work and charge a fair price.
My family members have been taking their cars to him for years and wouldn’t think of taking their cars anywhere else to be worked on.

I recently moved and my previous auto shop was a little far for me so was on the hunt for a new one closer but just as honest and reliable.
It’s a small shop and definitely not fancy but I’m glad I’m not paying for unnecessary overhead because don’t we all want to not spend so much for auto service?
Tu was very friendly and straightforward. For a second opinion he saved me a ton of cash.
So happy I found my car doctor!

This place rocks. Tu, the owner, is amazing. I had an older Saturn and I had it in for various issues like a gas tank leak, difficulty passing emissions, and rusted fuel lines. He is always fair and reasonable with his pricing. He will work you in if you just show up off the street. He even put my car on the lift as soon as I drove in (no appointment) after I told him about the huge gas leak problem I was having. He replaced the fuel pump and the fuel lines — and he had to drop the gas tank. The rate was super reasonable.
I would agree with Natalie C’s review below. As a youngish single woman, I trust him completely with my car. He is credible and will give you a straight answer. He doesn’t try to up-​sell anything — he will do the work that is needed without gouging you for other things. My dad (who has worked on my cars forever) trusts Tu and his reasonable NOVA rates.
Sometimes he can take a while depending on the repair and parts needed — but that would really be my only ‘criticism.’ Tell everyone you know about Tu – he’s a great mechanic and I send everyone I know to him.