Los Gatos Autocare

They were right on the mark and honest with their price quotes. Did everything that they could to make sure that my car was safe for the road once more! I highly recommend these folks to anyone wanting top notch service at a reasonable price! Thank you Gentleman!

I really wanted to like this place and I took two of my cars there for several years, but they almost blew up the engine in my brand new Ford Focus by putting the wrong oil filter on, which caused oil to leak at an alarming and dangerous rate. I literally had to pull over and pour oil in every few minutes in order to get it to the shop safely. They also almost blew the engine on my Honda when they improperly installed a new timing belt (they wrote me a check to cover the expenses for that huge mistake!) and another time they neglected to replace the oil cap and my engine was spitting oil as I drove. Just too many mistakes and sub-​par repairs!

This is my go to auto repair for my Audi and older Mercedes. They are honest and so much less expensive than the dealership. They seem to know what they are doing and many times, we can just drop by without an appointment. When we have left a car for extensive work, the turn around time was very quick.

Summary.
Autocare has done very good work for me at reasonable prices. The work includes big jobs such as an engine and transmission replacement and smaller jobs like oil changes and mounting and balancing tires. This work has been over the course of four years on several cars so we have considerable experience with the shop. I’ll explain in this review how to maximize your likelihood of having a good experience at this, or any, car repair shop.
Details.
As a father in a larger family of car drivers, I regularly need work done on cars including my own, my wife’s, and my children’s. We have an older but serviceable Toyota Corolla that experienced a blown engine at around 200,000 miles. Since the body and suspension were still good, Autocare found us a used engine (probably from a wrecked car) and put it in for a reasonable charge. After more miles on that car we had to do the same with the transmission. We’ve gotten tens of thousands of miles of good use on the car since this work was done. The car is driven by a college student without a lot of money so this course of action is working very well for us.
We’ve had numerous oil changes on several cars at Autocare. Other jobs include replacing a failed electric radio antenna, replacing some wiring and tubes after rats got into an engine compartment and ate them, tire mounting and balancing, brakes jobs, starter troubleshooting and replacement, and more.
To have a good experience with Autocare, or any car shop, it is important to communicate clearly and thoroughly what you think the problem is, the symptoms of the problem you experience (such as strange noise, difficulty starting, steering pulling to one side, etc.), and, if possible, what you think might be done to fix the problem. Put this in writing and give it to the mechanics at Autocare. Not all the workers at Autocare are native speakers so make an extra effort to communicate clearly. But clear written communications are important with any car repair shop so I recommend putting your problems in writing for any car mechanic.
The quality of the work has been excellent from Autocare as the repairs stay repaired and we don’t have to make return trips to repair the repair.
The value for the work has always been excellent as Mr. Phuong Nguyen, the shop owner, charges reasonable rates.
The last consideration I want to mention is trust. I have a great deal of trust in Mr. Nguyen and Autocare. First of all, Mr. Nguyen does a good job of problem diagnosis so he fixes the real problem not just a symptom of the problem. I say this as someone who once worked as a mechanic and knows something about the craft. Then, I trust that the repair proposed by Mr. Nguyen is the right one and at a reasonable price.
What’s not to like about Los Gatos Autocare? Not much. I’m a loyal customer as are many. Autocare does not have a posh waiting room with espresso machines. But it does have good work at good value.

Recommended by my son to give this auto shop a try and I’m very pleased! Their prices are great and they try to see what the issue is before having it hit our pocketbook. Will take my car back again.

I been taking my BMW 325 I. Friendly trustworthy mechanic I have ever meet. I would recommend for family and friends.

Cost effective. Trustworthy. Doesn’t charge for minor /​easy fixes. Gives you bottom prices for parts.

Nice. Quick. Inexpensive. Trustworthy :)

Los Gatos Autocare is an amazing garage. Don’t worry about the appearance from the outside. If you want to pay 4x as much, you can take your car to a dealer with fancy steel and glass. Sitting in the leather chairs cost you $ 500. Pheung (pronounced Fong) is a remarkable master mechanic. He always recommends only what is needed, even if you offer to have other things done. He has saved me thousands by avoiding the dealers. Most recently: On a 2010 BMW 535iGT, he did a terrific job with the brakes and charged only $ 165. The BMW dealer would be at least $ 1000 for anything. He also offered to install one of the light bulbs under the running board for free if I bring in the parts. Stevens Creeks BMW wanted $ 350 for labor! For my 1997 BMW 328, I would buy parts on
, and he will install them. Recommendation: Buy the most expensive after market part you can find. It will very likely the exact item the dealer uses. He will install them and only charge $ 85 for labor. For my Volvo, the air compressor failed. The Volvo people on Stevens Creek charge $ 100 just to tell you what the problem is, and they wanted $ 1,400 for a Volvo re-​manufactured unit. I found a website in Sweden that sells the exact compressor from Voveo, which happens to make it for Volvo. It cost $ 350 plus $ 50 to ship it, and Pheung installed it for about $ 250. I would recommend this garage, and anything he recommends for maintenance in a second.

These are guys are affordable, quick and honest. They will tell you what you need and what you don’t need. Ex, I needed an air filter and spark plugs changed. He told me it was cheaper for me to just do it myself. Even if finances the the issue, he has offered for me to go buy the product and he will charge labor.
And, you can tell they lots Of patrons by the shell auto being empty across the street !

Talk about first class!
Having dealt with many mechanics over the years, these guys are by far the best, most prompt, honest mechanics I’ve ever found!
Often times they will diagnose your problem on the spot, many times within minutes.
If it’s a minor to moderate problem they will also usually give you a price and fix your problem the same day sometimes within an hour or two depending on the problem.
The owner is on site and working right alongside of his employees and let me tell you he is an ace mechanic and knows his stuff. I can’t say enough good things about these guys!

I have been taking all of my cars here since Phoung opened this shop, more than ten years ago. I have had many repairs done from timing chains replaced to simple oil changes. I have always felt the charges were reasonable and the repairs made in a timely manner. Honesty comes to mind, they will repair what is needed and not add on lots of extra service stuff you do not need. If Phoing says fix something, I have him do it, I have not been disappointed.

I might recommend LG Autocare for simple repairs, but not something more complicated like air conditioning.
I had an AC repair there that never worked right — LG autocare installed a faulty component and were too busy and unresponsive in addressing the matter.
A more sophisticated and organized shop with people that speak better english might be a better option for a higher price or more complex repair in case something goes wrong.

Have taken all my cars to phuong since 1998. From Acura, BMW and even supercharge 350z/​turbo Mr2. He knows what’s wrong with the car and he has a lot of experience. Many customer I talked to loves his shop and they take all their family cars here. Best of all he doesn’t over charge u. The price is best in town and the quality is amazing. The shop is always filled with cars. Will always recommend this place to friends.

No frills, straight forward and no price gouging… Honest owners who take care of your vehicle. Best part, you drop off your car you can walk to Starbucks while you’re waiting for your car to be serviced or grab breakfast here.
I’ve gotten quotes for maintenance and parts around, here is the most cost effective, hands down this place rocks.

I hate giving negative reviews as sometimes bad things happen and its not the norm. However rest assured that these guys are crooks. I took in my car as the battery was not getting charged. I told them clearly that there was voltage drop along the wire from the alternator to the battery (a 1 V drop) and they need to change the cable.
when i went to collect the car, the guys had a new battery (mine was only one month old) in my car and said that my battery was bad. I told them absolutely not and asked to check the voltage drop again. Seeing that i new what i was talking about, they said ok they will change the cable. I hate it when people all of a sudden don’t understand english or act like it. its pathetic. When i went in he spoke perfectly. when he was caught, all of a sudden ‘no speak the english good’. The next day i was called to collect the car. They said the problem was fixed and they had to clean the contact points only. He charged me 200 dollars. its a rear engine car and these are hard to get to spots, so i thought it was ok to pay this.
The appalling thing is the voltage drop was reduced but still there as the battery was not getting charged fully. i took the car to the dealership and they told me that someone had tried to just do a patch and used wire with electrical tape — they basically took 5 mins and bypassed the main wire with a thin wire and covered it with tape. The is a wire that conducts quite a lot of Amps and its made thick for a reason. it was dangerous and could have caused a fire.
These retards should loose their license. I have a written report and pictures taken at the dealer and am contemplating on reporting/​sending in a legal letter to them.
Avoid this place.

The best in town by miles! Fair pricing, fast turn around and fun to work with. Have been taking all of my cars here for over 10 years. Only great things to report over the years. And they are honest about what you need and don’t need. How great is that!

Very frustrating process but the final result seems to be positive as my car is now running great

We live only a few doors down from Los Gatos Autocare. It’s nothing great to look at, not a clean, sleek looking place but when my daughter’s old Jeep Cherokee died unexpectedly they walked down the street to our house to give us a diagnosis. They gave us a great price on a new alternator and now it runs like a champ. Then my son’s Jeep Grand Cherokee lost it’s belt. They got on the phone and ordered a new power steering pulley and had the car done for me in a couple of hours, again at an extremely reasonable price.
Don’t expect a great car-​side manner, possibly a quirky sense of humor or maybe just cranky (and their english is a little bit hard to understand) but they get the job done quickly and inexpensively. What more do you want?

Ignition coil went out on the freeway and ended up coming here. Phil had us fixed up in about two hours and back on the road at a reasonable price and he threw in the jokes at no extra charge.
Dont be afraid to give this place a shot, though I can only vouch for Phil.