The Service Outlet

Once again, Lafayette Service Outlet has gone above & beyond my service needs! They’ve serviced my car from a basic oil change to more complex issues involving the transmission, a bad ignition coil, etc. Even with preventative maintenance my poor Honda has been needing a lot of attention lately; granted it’s almost 10 years old. Fortunately, I can always count on the Service Outlet to fix/​resolve any and all of my car problems. Additionally, I absolutely love the staff there! William, Emily & Ron are the best; very personable, knowledgeable and accommodating. Thank you!

I took my (used) Lexus to The Service Outlet to have it checked out before I purchased it three years ago, and have taken it there ever since. William is so accommodating, a clear communicator, and provides the best service I have ever had on any product. Recently I had a battery problem and had to take my car in without an appointment on a very busy day for them, and William replaced the battery himself!
Their prices are very reasonable, their shuttle service is easy and efficient, and everyone is extremely friendly. I have also dealt with Emily for a shorter period of time, and I am always amazed that she remembers my name when I walk in the door!
I have friends who also go here for service, and they have the same positive experiences.

Hello Mr. Harvey
I have been out of town with a family emergency and just saw your response on here. Why would you assume my review is fake? To my knowledge no one has reached out to me to find out details of what had happened or apologized for the service that came from this facility. I was writing my review as an honest customers opinion of concern to the business owner. I’m an honest person and respect all people and places. Sorry you feel this way.

I went here for the first time a couple of weeks ago to have my Toyota and it’s brakes worked on. I was tired of not getting a straight story from the dealer. The work done at Service Outlet was top notch. William explained everything clearly. The customer service was wonderful. I got dropped off at my home and picked up at the BART station. I have recommended Service Outlet to 3 co-​workers, and plan to continue taking my car here. I would suggest you do the same. You will not be disappointed!

First I would like to say, I’m very on top of things when it comes to my car. I am a female who doesn’t know much about cars, and felt taken advantage of by this place.
I was so excited when I found the service outlet only charged $ 55 for an oil change.
So the first time I came here I told Chang I probably need my front breaks and an oil change and dropped off my car. Later that day they called me. They told me I need my back breaks and my front are fine on my 2013 Honda (first break change needed) and next time I change my oil I’ll need my front breaks. I said okay. I told my grandpa and he said that was kinda odd they would do the back before the front, but I trusted them.
So my next oil change I tell them the front probably need to be done and to check them. The lady calls me later that Friday and says «you have 30% left and you could do them now or wait a month.» I figured I would wait. The lady responds «if they last that long» after she just told me they would… (didn’t think much of it)
I get to the shop and the front lady tells me that my 2013 Honda needs new routers and I have hotspots on my breaks. I respond «what do u mean? Doesn’t the break wear and then then the routers would need to be done?» She responds «well some people drive on there breaks and some drive on there routers». I said Last time I came here you should have done my front breaks instead of my back if I was getting close to driving on my routers”. Chang said «well Hondas from 2000 – 2008 needed there back breaks first». I said «mines a 2013″. The lady then says to me „it’s bad engineering, and it’s probably like your third break change“. I said no this is my first!» She said well you have hotspots and the noise is going to get louder if you don’t get them done”. I said I don’t no much about cars but If that’s the case you should have done my fronts the first time I came in”. She said «don’t worry will give you a good deal».
I left and started crying, felt so played. I was freaking out that I had to buy new routers because this place conned me for money. I drove all the way to Livermore on Monday where I usually take my car. They told me I had 30% left on my breaks (like the service outlet originally told me) & that I had zero hotspots on my routers.
This experience made me realize how taking the time to drive to a business I can trust is important. I’m really sadden by what happen, and I want anyone who takes there car here to be careful.

The Service Outlet has taken care of my cars for years… first in Danville, then in Lafayette. They are friendly, knowledgeable and I trust what they tell me. I depend on their shuttle to and from my house or Bart. I recommend them for your Honda, Toyota and Lexus.

I have been taking my two different Toyota minivans to get serviced here for about six years and have been very satisfied with the quality of service and the cost of service. I have been saving money since I switched away from the Toyota dealership. The guy at the counter named William is terrific to work with.
If you live in the area, their driver is generally very quick to get you back to your destination until your vehicle is ready.

My wife took our 2003 Pilot here last week to check out some noise under the hood. After the inspection, she was told she needed new brake pads and rotors at all four corners ($ 1000), and a new steering pump ($ 700), and new sway bar links ($ 350). They said all brake pads were at 1 mm or less, and rotors were worn out. She got home with the written estimate, then I inspected the car (I am ASE certified brake mechanic in a former profession).
1) Front brake pads are at 5 mm. Front rotors show no measurable wear! I put these on the car just 15k miles ago, so that’s expected. GRRRR.
2) Steering pump has well-​known air leak from bad o-​ring (Honda has a technical service bulletin out regarding this exact issue). I bought the o-​ring for $ 1.02 at the Honda dealer. 15 minutes of work and no noise from steering pump.
3) Sway bar links are new on the car! I put them on last summer.
This place is a ripoff operation. If you don’t know what you’re dealing with (ie, you’re not a car expert), all of these repairs would sound sensible and you’d write a good review on Unilocal.I know better, and I’m pissed.
I will be filing a formal complaint with the state Bureau of Auto Repair.

Been going there for 12 years. Always gets great treatment each time I brings my cars for service, kudos to knowledgable front desk advisors, awesome technicians and polite and kind shuttle driver Ron. Thanks for great service.

I had an Odyssey I regularly took there and they were always incredibly professional and honest. Even the employees who gave me rides were very nice. I recently took my father-in-law’s car that he was selling and they did a diagnostics on a problem. We decided not get it fixed there and they did not charge me for their time. I no longer own a Honda but when I do again, this will be my place. Highly recommend.

Very nice guy. I would absolutely recommend working with them. They call you back, fair about prices and have been able to keep my old civic working. I am not at all a car person and they have been great to work with.

I love this place. I refuse to take my car anywhere else. William is very helpful and always takes care of my car needs on short notice. So happy I found trustworthy ppl to work on my car!

What a great experience I had. It was the first time taking my 2013 Honda Pilot. Everyone who worked there was knowledgeable, fast, and the car service back to my house was ready when I was done. I am very happy with Service Outlet and will be bringing my car back for service again. Prices were good too.

I have been going to the Honda Services Outlet in Lafayette for about 5 years now. William has been amazing over the past years, I 100% trust these guys which is hard to find in car places. They are honest when you need additional work and also when you don’t!

This updates my original review in response to comments by the owner.
I went to the company’s Lafayette branch to get an inspection before driving my old car to Las Vegas to be sure it was safe, and indicated that this is why I was getting this inspection. They recommended a minor inspection and since they assured me it would be safe, I got the air conditioning fixed. Had I not relied on their assurance, I would not have gotten this fixed and would have flown to Las Vegas and rented a car. But two days after I got to Las Vegas, the car broke down because of leaks in the radiator and thermostat problems, leaving me with the option of paying about $ 750 for repairs, but even then I was advised the car might not make it because a gasket could blow, requiring another $ 1600 for repairs. Rather than driving home as planned, I spent about 10 hours dealing with the breakdown and getting an assessment of the problem from a gas station mechanic, Pep Boys, and the Toyota service center in Las Vegas. Due to the cost and safety concerns of getting stuck in the 250 mile Mojave Desert, I bought a new car I couldn’t really afford.
I felt that the Service Outlet had some responsibility for what happened given their assurances my car would be safe to drive to Las Vegas. Then, when I contacted the company based in San Ramon about at least getting a refund for the air conditioning repair which I wouldn’t have gotten had I not driven to Las Vegas, the owner not only refused to take any responsibility or provide any refund, but was insulting to me, disparaged my detailed letter of problems which had been reviewed by an attorney before I sent it, and claimed that if I tried to take this to small claims court, he would bring his lawyer and I would have to pay his legal expenses (when in fact, lawyers aren’t allowed in small claims court).
Here’s my response to the owner’s comments: First, my name is Gini. Secondly, my car had 144,000 miles on it, not 180,000 miles. Third, the heat in Las Vegas during that period was 105 degrees not 116. Fourth, and most significantly, I originally brought the car in for what Toyota calls a mini or minor inspection to make sure my car was safe to drive to Las Vegas. I advised the service manager of my plans for this trip and my concern that the car be safe to drive there. I was aware that the car hadn’t been serviced for some time, since I only drove about 2000 miles in 2 years and I didn’t need an A/​C repair for local driving. It was only after I was assured the car would be safe to drive to Las Vegas that I authorized the A/​C repair due to the high heat there. Had I had any warning of the risks of taking my car to Las Vegas due to the heat, I would not have authorized the A/​C repair which I didn’t need for local driving and I would not have driven to Las Vegas. I would have flown and rented a car. I have since done extensive research, and there is a duty to warn under certain circumstances, such as when one looks to someone who claims to be an expert in something, as would be the case in taking a car to a mechanic for an inspection or repairs. I have very little knowledge about cars, and so I looked to your service manager or mechanic for this advice in asking if my car would be safe to drive to Las Vegas, and only drove it there and arranged for these repairs based on those assurances. Knowing about the risks of taking an older car there, as you have suggested in your response to me, the manager should have given me a warning, but didn’t, perhaps because I would then authorize the repairs.
I initially only asked for a refund of the cost of repairs, which I would not have made but for the assurances my car would be safe to drive to Las Vegas with these repairs, and that would settle the matter. I did not originally ask for anything for the cost of the car which I had to purchase, given the cost of additional repairs to the radiator system, and the dangers of other systems in the car failing on the drive through a 250 mile desert, which could be deadly. The possible problems in these other systems were not identified in the inspection. But in your phone call to me you responded to my offer with insults and threats of legal costs should I pursue this, though there are no lawyers involved should I take this to small claims court or seek a refund through a claim to my MC account. You also did not respond to the letter from my lawyer affirming my claim for a refund.
Also, I originally used your service, since your sign to service Toyotas suggests you are acting as an authorized, certified, or otherwise sponsored representative of Toyota, and I have long had an excellent relationship with Toyota for over 30 years. So this may have been an inappropriate use of the Toyota name to imply this representation, and had I been aware of this lack of authorization from Toyota as well as the negative Unilocal reviews, I wouldn’t have used your service.

I have taken my Lexus to the Service Outlet 7 or 8 times to be serviced. The last time we went, the service manager Brian was no longer there. I asked them to check the heater as it was not working. We were given a call later that day informing us that we needed a brake job and transmission fluid. I trusted that they knew what they were talking about, and told them to go ahead with the job. However, my husband keeps copious notes on services in the past. When he looked at our records he noticed that the brake job was done only 12,000 miles ago (the work was done at the Service Outlet). Brakes typically last at about 30,000. Also the transmission fluid was changed 10,000 ago (also done at the Service Outlet) which also typically lasts about 30,000. When my husband mentioned that both of these services had been performed by The Service Outlet and asked why they were suggesting this work be done they had no answer. In addition upon saying goodbye, the man at the service center thought he had hung up the phone and my husband overheard him saying something about making easy money to someone else (whom we think was the mechanic)
We took our Lexus to WheelWorks and they said we had over 60% of the brake pads remaining and no work was required. This company is not to be trusted. We will not be taking our Lexus back to them.

Took my Land Bruiser in for its major and these guys really took care it. Did a night drop and had it ready the next day, without all the hassle of the dealer (bka STEALER). William knows his stuff and made it a painless experience, at almost half what the stealer wanted. I’ll be back!
PS check their web site for specials, so you spend the extra money on FOOD!

This place is great! Took my 4Runner in to be serviced twice already. Will definitely come back.
They did everything I asked them to do for my car. And there was no pressure from them to buy additional services. (Unlike the Toyota dealership who would try to add things to my service request)
Service Outlet is clean, professional, friendly and most important they did a great job on servicing my car.

Stay away from these guys. they almost convinced me to let them do a unnecessary $ 3800 repair on my Honda.
I dropped off my SUV (with 135,000 trouble free miles) to have them look at a fluid leak underneath the rear part of my car (my wife had noticed a small area in our garage with drops of pink oily fluid).
I was told by William that the leaking pink fluid was Honda VTM-​4 differential fluid and there was no way to fix the leak except to replace the ENTIRE rear differential assembly at a cost of $ 3800 parts & labor.
Shocked at this huge bill, I asked if they checked the fill or drain plugs to see if the bolts or the gaskets were worn out or not tightened properly (common sense right?) and he flat out told me that the leak was coming from an area on the rear differential unit that Honda does not recommend disassembling so replacement of the differential was my only option… basically saying that I had about 2 weeks before my rear differential seizes up due to lack of VTM fluid and I would be stuck on a road somewhere.
Something smelled fishy to me so I brought my vehicle back to Walnut Creek Honda where I normally have my car serviced and they were nice enough to take a look at the leak for me.
So ladies and gentleman — guess what the problem was? Honda tech discovered the threads on the differential fluid drain bolt were worn and was causing the slow fluid leak. Total cost for replacement bolt, washer, and labor was less than $ 100.
I’m so happy that I had the gut feeling that something was not right with the Service Outlet «diagnosis» earlier in the day — or we would’ve been FOUR THOUSAND dollars poorer for no reason whatsoever.
You can bet neither my wife or I will bring our vehicles back to the Service Outlet in Lafayette ever again after this experience.

After my previous auto mechanic changed his business model to discontinue work on Hondas, I had to find a new place that wasn’t the dealer. My boss had been going to the Service Outlet for his numerous Honda and Acura cars, so I thought I’d give them a try.
I was nervous as I was personal friends with my previous mechanic, and my experience in the past with other mechanics wasn’t always stellar. The service manager took time to explain to me what was needed on my first visit, and also told me that specific timelines would be approaching for semi-​major tuneups.
I’ve been very happy with the work and customer service, and feel the service managers advocate for my car’s well-​being, and not at the expense of my checkbook.