Precision Auto Repair

This shop is built on honesty. For example, when my dealership repair shop wanted to sell me a new set of shock absorbers ($ 1600!) for my Prius, I got a second opinion. That’s how I started with these guys. And a year later, I still don’t need shocks. Great repair work. True blue. Look no further.

John at Precision has been my mechanic for over 10 years. Hands down he is the best of the best. :) I appreciate his accuracy with diagnoses and repair time and again. He is incredibly honest, smart and easy to work with. All the things that matter the most to me when it comes to car care. If I could i would give him 10 stars !
PS do not be put off by the older gentleman that answers the phone — he can sound grumpy — so just kindly ask for John ;) and go forward.

I never needed a mechanic in the city before, so I Unilocaled around and found Precision. John, who I assume is the owner, gave my car a free inspection, diagnosed my problem, and gave me a quote including tax. I called around a few places and the price seemed similar (it was about 20% higher than most, but the place is right down the street from my apartment.) The next day I picked up my car and it ran great. This might not be the best budget shop, but they get the job done quickly and professionally.

I came here because I was told they know how to work on classic cars — got my car back in worse condition than when I brought it in! I was told my engine was having problems — oil leaking into my plugs, fouling things up, etc. I just had someone else check the plugs — no oil leaks, nothing fouled up, but ALL the plugs were gapped wrong, and differently (i.e. they should all be gapped at 35, and some were 10, some were 25, one was 45) — this is not an accident! When you buy spark plugs they are all gapped the same — you have to adjust them yourself. Wildly disappointed and I won’t be back.

I brought my car in because of a weird noise inside the wheel. Precision Auto Repair fixed that quickly (it was just a screw that I picked up on the road and got stuck in the brakes). While looking at my car, the technician suggested that they could greatly improve the appearance of my headlights. I was a bit suspicious, having bought a kit and tried to do it myself. They went ahead and did the work after expressing confidence that my lights could be improved — it was a bit pricey (around $ 300), but by golly the work was spectacular. My car hasn’t looked so good is a long time!

I have to agree with all the good reviews — I had a great experience today. I had a flat tire and was able to have the whole thing taken care of while i was having lunch next door. John was very professional and I couldn’t be more satisfied.

John exudes a calm and patient demeanor –he listened sympathetically to my struggles at other repair shops regarding my Mazda 3 hatchbacks broken lighting system and to my somewhat convoluted backstory. In the same day he took my car and just three hours later he had not only fixed it but gave me a clear explanation as to why I have been on the odyssey of the broken headlight all this time (6 months). He took the time to get to the root of the problem instead of blindly replacing the entire system. This saved me a minimum of 1,000 in parts and likely more in labor. I am mostly touched by his kindness… if you are feeling like you want a trustworthy mechanic take your car to Precision and you will feel like a valued customer.

My car overheated twice on my way up from Los Angeles. When I finally arrived in San Francisco my friend who lives in the city told me to immediately call John at Precision Auto Repair, and now I know why. John is incredibly knowledgeable, patient, kind, honest, and generous with his time. He gave me valuable tips to help me get my car back to Los Angeles safe and sound. I highly recommend seeing him if you have any issues with your car.

There are some businesses which just compel you to write a good review. I was stuck near divis with a dead battery and I walked up to several places where I was rudely told that they won’t lend me their jump start kit. Then I walked into precision auto repair and John without batting an eyelid told me to take his portable jumpstart kit back to my car and even gave me his card incase I ran into troubles using it. I jumped my car and brought into his garage where he replaced my battery and verified that there were no other electrical drainages. No appointments needed. He was very thorough with communication and had a very humble and honest attitude.
It’s hard to find auto repair technicians with such a great attitude.

I came here once and will probably never come back. Avoid this place if you dislike $ 100 oil changes. I called them one day and asked if I could get an oil change. The man on the phone had a tone in his voice like I was a great bother. But, the place had good reviews and I decided to bring my car in anyways. I dropped my car off and the old man behind the counter just had sort of an unfriendly vibe to him. I asked if they could call me once the work was done, which they never did. I ended up calling them around 5:00 pm to see what was up and they said it was done. I walked back to pick my car up and I got charged $ 100 for an oil change, for a Toyota Corolla. $ 60 of it was for the oil and filter, which must be plated with gold or something. This was my first experience with an oil change in California so I wasn’t sure if I was getting swindled or if California just tacks on ridiculous charges to recycle oil and such, but after some investigation I found out that yes, I was just getting swindled.

I am not a Unilocaler by nature, but I had to get on here and write a review because I have never had such wonderful mechanic service. I called and they told me to come in immediately and John went for a test drive with me, he looked at the car right away and we had a solution with in two days. It was amazing. I am so glad I now have some one I can trust and know values me as a customer.
I can not recommend them enough. They are great!

I don’t know very much about cars, but I knew that mine was making funny noises when I turned the steering wheel. John was amazing. I called, and he told me to just stop by. After examining my car for about 20 minutes, he told me what was wrong and what my options were. Even though I decided to wait on fixing the problem, John was still nice enough to do what he could to make the car drivable and showed me exactly what the problem was. He didn’t charge me a thing, and even refused to take the cash I offered him as a tip for his time. Great guy, and I trust him completely now. I’ll definitely be back!

I have been taking my car here for 8 years and have been very happy with their service. John, is very honest and thoughtful. I never feel like I am getting swindled into paying for unnecessary work. They are very thorough with their inspections and do good great quality work. I highly recommend this place!

Upon a recommendation from a tennis friend, I got the brake pads & rotors on my Infiniti G35 fixed here last week (instead of costly Infiniti dealer), and I definitely recommend the place! John is amiable, answered all my questions, and followed up with me, as he promised. The price was also rather fair, the location is convenient, and the turnaround time was great. Bottom line: Great place for auto repair.
P. S. As friendly and patient as John was to me, I have to believe that some of these 1-​star reviews are not legit, as he doesn’t strike me as the type of guy that would be nice to a random queen that walked in one day and mean or rude to another random customer the next.

I came in to get an estimate on replacing my brake pads (a job that takes less than 5 mins) and John said he «didn’t have the time to inspect it», even though he had no customers. The estimate would’ve taken a few mins of his time and he was just so rude and careless. Why would I wanna do business with someone with that kind of attitude? No thanks.

I have been a loyal and super satisfied customer of Precision on Divisidero for almost 15 years. They are available, prompt, and fairly priced. Today however I was especially pleased with their effort to go the extra mile. My Honda was not passing its smog inspection, so John went above and beyond to make calls and do research to diagnose and resolve with problem. In the effort he held the cost down and returned it in minimum time. The service at Precision is consistent and I energetically recommend them.

I have been a customer of Precision Auto for a few years and have always been pleased. But a recent experience makes me uncomfortable.
A few months ago, I took the car in because the «check engine» light was on. After keeping the car for over 2 days, they failed to find the problem. So, a few weeks ago, I gave them a second chance. They kept the car for a day and a half (some vague explanation about the engine needing to be cold). They didn’t give me an estimate, but when the car was finally ready, they handed me a bill for over $ 600. This was a huge surprise and they couldn’t really explain the high cost nor why they didn’t call me for approval of such a large charge.
The bill has a clear itemization of the parts they replaced, but just a round number of $ 500 for labor — no itemization of hours. This makes me uncomfortable. They even tried to sell me a «tune up» for another $ 600.
So, I want to emphasize that I haven’t been unhappy with Precision in the past. But I want to warn others to be wary. I certanly will be in the future.

This place is so great that I’m almost hesitant to let the secret out. Finding an honest, helpful and almost caring automotive shop is unheard of and I’d hate for them to have a line out the door when I need service. But they deserve it. I went there with what my car told me was a brake problem. They could have easily replaced the back brakes, charged me and end of story. Instead the guy not only immediately looked at it but told me that my brakes were still in good enough condition and that I should go to the BMW dealership to have my diagnostics checked out — no charge for his time! Sure enough my on-​board computer just had to be reset. I will definitely be returning and recommending.

I have never talked to a ruder person on the phone, didn’t even get to finish asking about a repair, without even listening the guy says no, and hangs up on me. Guess they didn’t want the business. It’s amazing how a place like this can survive. I worked as a mechanic most my life and if I would have ever treated a customer this way, I would have been fired without a second thought.

HORRIBLE! Long story short, the Owner was nasty, rude and completely un empathetic that I had no clue what was going on with my car and treated me like I didn’t have a penny. Guess I shouldn’t have entered the shop black. Wanna know how bad this guy was? My insurance agent, listening in on the conversation, payed for everything to get me and my car the hell out of there and to a better repair shop (conveniently a block away). Want the whole story? Then read on:
HORRIBLE! Had my car towed there after I hit something in the road. I thought my insurance company was gonna take care of the rest… they didn’t. Come to find out that even 12 days after the accident my insurance company didn’t even follow up with the repair shop. So the shop thought the car had been abandoned and began a lein on my car. Totally the insurance company’s fault!
I called Precision and they told me they had no idea what was going on and I have to be in the shop in person to take care of it. Being that it was 4pm on a workday I begged my boss to let me out an hour early to try to make it from the financial district to the shop on time before it closed at 5. Made it at 4:20 while on the phone with my insurance company. I was told by Precision that I had to pay a storage fee of $ 25 a day.(totaling $ 250) and the price of the lein. I told them that was no problem with that and that my insurance company would take care of it. I just wanted to know how long it would take to work on my car and if I had to come back to the shop. The guy responded you have to pay a storage fee off $ 250, either you or your insurance company… Like a broken record I repeated that the fee is no problem, the insurance company would take care of it. How long will it take to get my car fixed and do I have to come back? He kept stressing that if the insurance company did not pay for the storage that I would have to pay… I don’t know if he thought I couldn’t pay but he kept repeating this when all I wanted to know was «DO I HAVE TO PHYSICALLY COME BACK TO THE SHOP AGAIN? WHEN WILL YOU WORK ON MY CAR?»
Why would I let a person attempt to fix a car if he can’t answer a simple question?!