Bay Harbor Auto Service

Patrick is a joy to work with. Everyone in my office goes to his shop for car repairs. Patrick, provides fast good quality service. It is definitely a plus that Patrick goes out of his way to help his customers expecting nothing in return.

We were lucky to find this place because we live in the neighborhood, but I’d say it’s worth a drive cross-​town. In the course of a couple years we’ve had Patrick do the following:
1) rebuild a 1991 Toyota 4Runner engine so the truck works like new (but still looks like crap on the outside so nobody ever cuts us off in traffic– yeah!).
2) test the lit up «Check engine» light on a 2004 Highlander and found&reset the problem for far less than the Toyota dealership would have done (seriously, that «check engine» light should be renamed as «write a check to the dealership» light.)
3) do numerous oil changes, all for a very fair price and for little wait.
4) remove the nail in the tire of my car that was giving me a periodic flat– and he did that for free (granted, we’re long time customers, but given I am a woman who drives a Mini Cooper, he did not try to milk me out of $$$ like a lot of the other tire service folks do around here, at least according to the other Unilocal reviewers).
So 3 thumbs up out of 2 for Patrick. He’s handy Irish grandpa you never had. And totally a gentleman, to boot.

Awesome experience! Patrick was so friendly and helpful and fixed my car quickly at no cost. It’s clear that he has a passion for what he does and knows a lot about cars.
The «MAINT REQD» light was on in my Toyota Yaris even after getting the oil changed, so I took it to Patrick to get it checked out. Other repair shops have told me that this light can be triggered by a number of problems, so my original intention was to leave it with Patrick for the day. He explained that in Toyotas the sole purpose of the light is to serve as an oil change reminder, and jiffy lube probably forgot to turn it off. He reset the light and sent me on my way with no charge! Such a sweet man.
Just to be sure, I checked my car manual after leaving to make sure he was correct. He seemed to know his stuff but I wanted to make sure the car would be safe to drive. Guess what — he was right! According to the manual, the light is only triggered for oil changes. Great experience and definitely going back.

Patrick may be the most honest mechanic in the Bay Area. Not only is he wonderful to deal with, he went out of his way to take a good look at my car on very short notice. He really took the time to listen to me explain what I thought was wrong, like a doctor of sorts. I highly recommend him!

Highly recommended!
I brought my car in after another shop, which had just completed repairs, was going to charge me $ 55 to read the CEL (which came on under 300 miles after my reapirs with them). Patrick checked it for free, told me that the issue was likely a fluke, and that we should only do repairs if it reoccurs. I appreciate his honesty and timeliness, and will go to him for all future work.

I took my Infiniti in for an oil change and my friend took her Mini in to ask Pat a few questions about it. He was efficient, and super helpful, as always, and no charge (for the advice on the Mini.) My friend had to take it to the dealer because it was a seat belt issue. I saw that someone slammed Pat for needing to work on the ‘human side.’ Pat fixes cars and has always been courteous and polite. However, if you want someone to tell you how pretty your hair is today go somewhere else. You will undoubtedly pay more for the compliment.

Patrick was awesome and am very happy to have a new mechanic who I trust. He took care of some major issues with my brakes, minimized the cost by repairing a few items and not replacing both rotors. Took care of my cars problems quickly and professionally and with a price about half of what I was expecting. Thanks!!!

Patrick is awesome. I brought my 2003 Mini Cooper in because the sensor light came on indicating brake pad wear. Dropped it off at Bay Harbor. Patrick called me at work a couple hours later to tell me the pads were fine. He cleaned out the sensor cable contacts and wrapped the cable so it wouldn’t tangle in the wheel. Tested it and the sensor light was off. ALL NO CHARGE. Some other shops would have billed me for a brake job. I will def bring my Mini back next time I need service.

I went here because I had a nail in my tire. I had my whole speech ready to fend off an up-​selling mechanic who would undoubtedly want to get me to replace the whole tire rather than just plugging it… didn’t even get a chance. I walked in and Erin dropped what he was doing to help me. Plugged the tire in 10 min, gave me a spare tire valve cover (which I had lost earlier) and only charged me $ 10. This first impression has certainly won my attention.

I’ve gone here for both an oil change and a broken head light.
For the oil change, he did it that day while I was at work, and moved my car so it wouldn’t get a ticket. Woo hoo — this meant free parking for the day! In this area you’d normally pay between $ 10 and $ 15, so I was stoked.
For the headlight, he changed it right then, in ten minutes and charged me $ 10. Not too shabby! I was expecting to pay more for sure.
I haven’t gone here for anything serious, but for the easy stuff it’s a no-​brainer. What a nice guy.

My truck was bad. It needed about 3 minutes of warm up or it would not move and it was making a horrible clanging noise every time I hit a bump. In SF you can’t go 10 feet without hitting a bump. I was positive I needed a new transmission and that my axle was gonna fall off while I was driving. I was expecting to pay about 2K for whatever I needed. I dropped the truck off with Patrick, he called me later that day and said I needed a new fuel filter and that one of my sway bar bolts broke. The repairs AND new breaks were a little more that $ 500! How awesome is that? The truck runs great no problems and its been about 3 months now.
I’m so glad I went here. Patrick has very good explanations and from my experience is a very fair and honest guy.

I had a really great experience at Bay Harbor Auto Body. Patrick was able to look at my car rather quickly and called me to come in when he had a diagnosis for the horrendous noise coming from one of my tires. When I got there, he propped up my car, told me what was happening, and then actually SHOWED so I really understood. He told me whoever fixed it last hadn’t done a very good job, in fact it was downright unsafe (the bmw dealership) and that I should take it back. He fixed the noise temporarily and didn’t charge me.

I don’t want Patrick to get too busy, but he could be one of the last honest, hardworking, and «frugal» (read: I can never spend too much at one time on my car, please make it run for me) mechanics left. If he can’t do it for you, he’ll send you to some place that can.

Patrick is great. First time I brought my car there he fixed something for free and told me the main repair I came in for wasn’t neccessary. Then, the second time I went he fixed something for $ 300 that two other mechanics had misdiagnosed and quoted me $ 900 to repair. I won’t go anywhere else in SF.

I love love love this place. Dropped off my old civic here short notice and Patrick was really nice about it even though he was super busy with lots of other work to do. He even checked the error out right on the spot and let me know what the issue was
He explains everything really clearly so you feel like you understand what’s going on.
I’ve been through so many mechanics shops that when you find a good honest guy like Patrick you are just really really grateful. Really honest and fair guy. That is absolutely paramount.
Finally to the person with the alfa Romeo — what did you expect? Would you bring your sick cat to a pediatrician? And what do you think their reaction would be? Mechanics specialize in certain types of cars. It’s not easy. And if you buy a highly specialized sports car be prepared to take it to a special mechanic trained on that type of car
5 stars

I really hate to give this place a bad review. The two stars are there because Patrick is indeed a lovely person, and a very honest mechanic. Well, sort of. He is not out to rip anyone off or sell you something you don’t need– that’s for sure. I first went in for an oil change, and he was quick and thorough and very reasonable.
Then, a week or so later, my check engine light came on one night. I brought it in the very next day. When I went back to pick it up a few hours later, he told me that there was nothing wrong, it was probably just that I had used a different brand of gas, and so he turned the light off. On my way home from there, my car began shaking violently. I brought it to a different shop, and later found out that I needed all new spark plugs. Also, I ended up needing a coil that goes underneath the plugs, that would have been fine had he fixed the problem when it occurred. Patrick should have just said that he couldn’t do the job, as he was clearly not well-​equipped to do it in the first place. While I appreciate him trying to save me money, it ended up costing much more time, money, and convenience. I would not recommend this place to anyone after this experience.

I took in my honda civic for a timing belt replacement, pretty standard. The next time I took my car to get smogged (after their warranty expired), it failed because the ignition timing was way off (30 BTDC with spec of 12). The timing belt had been installed two teeth off! Really sloppy. I had to pay $ 200 for an unnecessarily failed smog, a timing belt adjustment, and more for lost gas mileage.
The total cost of service for timing belt and water pump was $ 440 with parts of 140 and labor of 300. It’s not the most expensive place in town, but it’s up there when you consider the cost of the repair.

The only reason I would write a bad review about Patrick is because I would hate for him to get too busy to see me! As a woman who knows little about cars I was referred to him by my buddy who has a passion for fixing up cars. He sent me to Patrick because he is fair, does more than you pay for, and would never take advantage of someone who would pay for pretty much anything he tells me to. In fact, I have tried to have him do things that other people said I should have done, and he said «No, you don’t need it!»
He is just about as good as they come, like family or something.

Sorry, but I had a totally different experience from Brian above. I drove in this car shop because is very close to where I live so i thought it would be convenient, but the guy look at my car with an odd face, without even looking at me he said: «I don’t work on this kind of car, I never did, and I will never do!». Ok, I have an old Alfa Romeo spider, Italian car, what is so bad about it? Maybe it’s not the kind of cars he likes to work with, but why he was so rude? I don’t know. I just know that he didn’t show me any love, and that’s all you need when you drive into a car shop for the first time and your car doesn’t work. Sorry Patrick, you should work a bit on the human side.

I concur with the first reviewer — Pat does excellent work at a reasonable price (and he even sends Christmas cards!). I’d highly recommend Bay Harbor for any auto repairs.