Garaffo’s Auto Repair

5 stars is not enough for this great mechanic! Honest, Skilled, and Personable!

Jim is always reliable, straightforward and honest. The only place our cars go to get fixed!

My hopefully future father in law has been going here for decades. He takes Porsche’s, Ferrari’s, and other crazy cars and suggested Jim when I first moved down here.
I figured that if Jim could please a die hard car guy who loves his expensive beauties then he could definitely handle my Ford truck. He kept my truck working beautifully for years. Eventually it’s mileage and the regular strain I put on it finally caught up to it and Jim gave me honest advice on my options and his suggestion: «better to buy a quality used truck to replace this one than spend that money on me fixing it when it probably won’t last long enough to get your monies worth anyways.» He even offered to help me find a replacement truck and to check out the new one for me. Any mechanic that will suggest you don’t pay them thousands to rebuild an engine and instead buy a quality used vehicle is not only KNOWLEDGEABLE and understands their customers but is also simply HONEST.
I wouldn’t go anywhere else (unless it was an emergency and I needed a 24-​hour or weekend situation).

7÷4÷2009
Not a good mechanic, a GREAT Mechanic. A Mechanic’s Mechanic. I’ve taken my Nissan Maxima and Ford Explorer to Jim for sundry items, and they are always fixed promptly, reasonable cost. Jim has been doing this his entire life, and so he has a sense as to what’s wrong with your vehicle.
Before Jim, the A/​C in my Maxima was running a little warm. Took it to a 4+ Unilocaler, they recharged the coolant. Then they said to drop it by next time for the afternoon, and they would look at it because it was still running warm. I did. They didn’t charge but said it would cost $ 400-​$ 500 to replace parts in the A/​C system, and they could not guarantee it would fix the problem. I said no thanks.
Mentioned it to Jim, while he was doing the brakes. He spent ~ 3 mins. Said these cars are like freezers. Coolant going into the car is icy. Air out of the vents are not as cold as they should be. He said the previous owner probably had a pencil or something on the dash, and it fell through the hole lodging into the heater vent. The heater vent is not closing, and so hot air is mixing with the A/​C. Of course! One of these days, before it gets too hot, I’ll bring it in so he can dislodge the pencil.
I Highly recommend Graffo’s Auto Repair.
12÷23÷10 Have a friend who always used the dealer to service her Toyota mini-​van. Dealer would always charge upwards of $ 2k every 30k. Yes, $ 2k. I was shocked. She took it to Jim, for the next 30k service, he checked everything the dealer would check, but did not do any unneeded repairs. Total cost was under $ 300.
2÷16÷11
Charger light flickering on/​off. Going to have to replace the alternator soon. But I’m too busy… couple of days later, driving down the 101, car started misfiring… ugh! Was able to get off the freeway, car rolled to a stop in a safe spot. Called AAA, called Jim — he said they are closing for the week, but get it there ASAP (it was 1pm) and he can do it. When the AAA driver arrived, I gave him the address: 301 Pine St, RWC and without a pause he said Graffo’s? Chatting with him, he said that he tows a lot of cars there.
I had lowered the suspension, so Jim had to raise the motor to get to it. Ugh! And removing all the hoses to get to it. But Jim did it in short order and I was out before he closed.
This guy is good.
And I’m glad he’s busy. Good work deserves to be rewarded!
And I’m going to have to check out his new place!

Jim is the best mechanic on the peninsula! ive tried a few other places since I moved here from NY in 2010, but nobody is as up front with you and reasonable, while maintaining a very high standard of quality. They take pride in their work here and also offer great advice if you are considering doing any repairs yourself. Garaffo is the only shop I’d recommend!

My family and I have been bringing our cars to Gargaraffo’s for years now. Jim does honest quality. I recommend this shop to anyone in the area.

I have known Jim for just a few years, but I find that he is one of the most straight up, honest guys I know. He tells you like it is, and very honest with what ever does or does not need repair. I have several cars that I have taken to him after they were evaluated by a few other mechanics. Quotes FROM THE OTHERS ranged upwards to several thousands of dollars, and their methods of diagnosis were to keep swapping out parts until the problem was fixed. Jim is definitely not that way! He runs all kinds of tests to figure it out, and can narrow it down something so simple that what was quoted initially thousands turned out to be less than one hundred. Both he and his other mechanic are very knowledgeable, helpful, and honest! No need to look further, because Jim is your guy!

Jim has taken very good care of my 2002 Honda since 2009. When I call for service, he always asks, «How’s my car?» and schedules me within a few days. As others mention, his rates are very reasonable. They’re so reasonable, I also have him change my oil because he checks on other items, such as brake pads and tires.
He offered to check out our cars on two occasions: 1) We test drove a lemon that caught on fire. The dealership had another brand new car of the same model that we bought. We were a little nervous and brought it to Jim. 2) My husband decided to save a few bucks and changed the battery on my car. Both times, he didn’t charge us.
Business aside, Jim seems like a nice person. He has one employee who’s been with him for many years.
Jim is an excellent mechanic, honest and great at customer service.

Without a doubt, the best mechanic I have ever had. Jim has always been straight forward with his repairs. He has been extremely fair and reasonable. I have been using his shop now for over 5 years and recommend him highly.

Jim (and his colleague) are hard working and honest. He comes off gruff at first but warms up as long as you don’t act like a bozo.
In 2013 he swapped my blown motor in our Honda Odyssey van with a used motor (tall block) imported from Japan. He reinstalled our top end (manifold/​injectors etc), and did several other good preventive steps (Ex: replaced the knock sensor, EGR valve, water pump, etc). These used motors are a crap shoot, so Jim made me buy the motor as he does not want to be responsible if its a POS (which I understand!). When the motor arrived he pulled the pan, checked it carefully, then decided it was worth installing. Then we spent almost 3 weeks trying to figure out why the ECS light kept coming on («misfire in cylinder 6», or 1, or 2 or…). He found that one coil pack was bad, but that wasn’t the only problem. Slight misfire off idle persisted, and with the ECS light coming on you can’t pass smog! He even took the van to his buddy’s shop that had a $ 20k engine analyzer and even then the two of them (very experienced gear heads) couldn’t find the bug. Long story short, I did a bunch of web searching (Odyssey owners clubs are invaluable!) and worked with Jim until we isolated the problem – tight (only slightly) exhaust valves on a couple of cylinders which don’t close completely, thus leak a tiny bit of unburned fuel-​air mix at low RPM, triggering the ECS. Turns out this is not common but does happen on the V6 Honda motor. Jim had to pull the intake manifold (he’d just installed it – and was trying to avoid needing to charge me another $ 150 for a second set of gaskets). A tricky and subtle problem, confounded by the mostly useless «diagnostic code» information provided by the Honda computer, but Jim stuck with it and together we solved it. He took a methodical approach, and it was his desire to not have to charge me for a valve adjustment and new gaskets that kept us from trying to adjust the valves earlier. Lesson learned. Installing a new-​used Japanese block? Spend the $ for an extra hour to do a damn valve adjust before you bolt the manifold etc on. Then you know it’s OK!
Jim spent a TON of time on this and stuck with it until he got it done. Great guy.

Just picked up my car this morning (Tuesday) after having dropped it off at his shop late on Sunday. My car started to develop this obnoxious harley sound and I knew I had to just bring it to his shop ASAP. Turned out some studs and nuts FELL OFF from my front flange exhaust and it was hanging from my car. He had my repairs completed and replacement parts installed before closing YESTERDAY! That’s less than ONE business day! And he charged me less than $ 200!
Garaffo’s is where it’s at if you wanna get your car fixed honestly, quickly and with care.

Honest persons are hard to find. Honest mechanics are even more rare.
I went to him twice for a brake issue and check engine light. He diagnosed for free.
I ended up trusting him soon as you can make out that he is not after making you feel like king or queen. Instead he genuinely believes in helping people out. He moved to a new location but Unilocal would not transfer his reviews. You will realize why he is rated so well after you visit him once. And he will be your mechanic for life.

Have been going to Jim for 15 years now — maybe that says it all !!
He’s honest, knowledgeable and friendly and has taken car of all of our cars over the years. Would highly recommend him.

If you’re looking for an honest, reliable, up front, fair auto mechanic that can fix pretty much anything then go see Jim. He’s been in business on the Peninsula for 33 years. He changed locations so is starting from scratch on Unilocal Reviews (had 4.5 stars on 62 reviews here:
). He’s done several jobs for me that have all been quality work at reasonable rates (one time he didn’t even charge for something that turned out to be minor).

We have been taking our commercial fleet of trucks and personal vehicles to Jim’s shop for 4 years now after finding him on Unilocal.
Jim and his right-​hand Wilson are, in a word, fantastic.
Prompt, quality repairs that fall in-​line with quoted prices. His focus is establishing long-​term customers who value honesty and reliabilty.
On a couple occasions he refused to charge us for diagnostic work and even simple repairs.
I know if I need repairs done right in a timely manner with no drama, I call Jim.
Don’t believe me? The next time you break down on the side of the road tell your AAA driver you’re going to Garaffo’s. They’ll know where the shop is and why you chose him.
They deserve all the praise they are receiving on Unilocal

My check engine light came on my 1999 Honda CR-​V. I have been avoiding buying a new car because of the great mileage I get from this one. Either way I was afraid my car was finally done. My husband takes it in to Jim (he’s fixed my car before) and my hubby has the day off. He checks the car and says all it needs is a new gas cap. It also needs break fluid so he fills it up. What’s my charge, nothing. Honesty is not something you get from every mechanic, definitely a loyal customer at Garaffos no matter the location.

I have been using Jim for the last 4 years. He is an excellent mechanic; honest; does not repair things needlessly; tells you what to watch and let him know. Jim also did an excellent paint job on my hood and roof. His prices are reasonable and fair. You need a mechanic call Garaffo’s.

I’m not sure why Unilocal couldn’t simply change the address on his existing reviews.
We have taken our car to Jim for a year-​and-​a-​half now, and each time, we are astounded at his honesty as well as his generosity. This is the type of mechanic that women dream of, because he is completely above-​board.
Today, our brakes were grinding, dropped the car off at Garaffo’s, only to find out that it was simply «brake dust», and he didn’t charge us a dime. Nothing.
On several other occasions he absolutely came in under estimate.
A couple of months ago, we had our car towed to the old location, to find the building locked down and empty. After a fast panic, we saw a note on the fence with his new address, and our tow-​truck driver took us onto his new place… we wouldn’t know what to do without this mechanic!

This will be the third time I’ve reviewed Jim, two other times on his old page. Not sure why Unilocal made him start a new page instead of just changing his address.
Anybody who needs a mechanic in the Bay Area, this is your guy. I’ve been using him about 3 years now. I just dropped my car with him, he didn’t want me riding public transportation so he gave me his truck till my car is done. His truck is parked at my work right now.
Other kind acts of Jim include diagnosing a broken serpentine belt and seized idler pulley over the phone and walking me through changing it for free, as well as under-​charging on every quote he’s given me by about a hundred bucks. You know how nice it is to have your mechanic tell you it will cost LESS than he said it would when you come in to pay?
The man is the best. I live 20 miles away from him and will not use anyone else, no matter how close they are to my house.