Pat’s Garage

Pat’s Garage is outstanding. I brought in my new (–to-​me, 10-​year-​old) Prius for a general inspection. They are extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and fairly priced.
More importantly, a month before I was even a customer when I was still in the market for a car, I had called Pat’s Garage to see if I could bring by a potential used car (2007 Prius) for a pre-​purchase inspection. Pat not only said, «Yeah, bring it by later this week,» but he also gave me some general background on the Gen-​2 Priuses that I hadn’t realized.
After talking with him, I narrowed down my car search to just Gen-​2 Priuses (from 8 or 9 different makes /​models in my price range). That was SO helpful! Of course, the car I was originally interested in was sold by the time I went to schedule a test drive… and I’ve since learned that Gen-​2 Priuses are in high demand. But I finally snagged one last week and brought it by Pat’s Garage to make sure I was getting what I had paid for. In terms of the car itself, yes — no problems at all. In terms of the service at Pat’s Garage, ABSOLUTELY — that and more. I’ll be back any and every time I need anything done on my new baby.
Thanks, Pat & team!!!

My 21 year old Honda Accord is still going strong and in part I attribute that to Pats Garage. They’ve always been honest and given me options so I don’t have to spend the most money or all at once. I totally trust Augie. In fact, I’m always surprised that I didn’t have to spend more money when I walk out the door. When this car starts costing me real $$$, it will be time to say «good-​bye» but so far so good.

Technically tops, customer-​focused, these SF Click & Clack Car Guys are like care managers for my 14 — year-​old Honda, keeping it in tip-​top condition — and me more confident in my now Classic wheels.
Yes they may be more expensive, according to consumer surveys. But, the habit of ongoing and timely maintenance that underlies their service — from classics to latest sleek computer boxes — pays off richly by lessoning the odds of avoidable breakdowns — and provides a support system that you will deeply appreciate when the inevitable happens.
Cool & Helpful factors:
1) the expertise in electric cars; also, I learned they hire bright men and women who have received sound mechanical and tech training
2) empowering customers, women as well as men, by explaining car situations with clarity and prioritizing care options so we can make informed decisions — short– and longer-​term
3) best practices suggestions for every day use so we customers can make a major impact on our car health, wallets … and peace of mind
4) plugged in to a San Francisco — wide network of experts, from body shops, to best STAR smog certifers, to radio/​audio specialists, etc
5) suggestions for nearby cafés/​restaurants, if you would like to wait — if the car does not need to be left; suggestions for taxi/​rides, public transit, or best rental car services
6) postcard reminders for maintenance
Whether by phone or when I drive/​walk in the door — I always feel welcome and taken care of. Because I neither live nor work in this neighborhood (China Basin, near SF Giants ballpark and UCSF/​Mission Bay), the accommodation made for my schedule — as much as possible at this popular garage — is very appreciated.
And it’s nice to meet other customers as they check in, are welcomed warmly, given an initial guesstimate RE timing/​cost (and arrangement to call for updates) with efficient checkin/​diagnosis, sent on their way.
Check out their excellent website, often including a service and/​or new customer coupon.

It was time to get all of the little things taken care of like the wiper blades, hoses, belts, etc. Because my alternator went out ;-(
So, like anyone else I was calling a few garages I had used in the past to get some sort of idea of how much I was going to need to spend. It was one of those fixes with tires, breaks & alignment too. $$$
Having used Pat’s for a random oil change I called to try and get a figure. The receptionist took my number as I was in the system & said the gentle that handles that is out for a test drive and would call me right back, this was 11:30.
About 1:15 I get a call back and start to explain to the man I needed to get a lot of work done most importantly the alternator as well as blah, blah, blah. A whole list.
The man literally started yelling at me that it would take forever to look up all these parts and I hadn’t been there in 2 years how did I know any of this work actually needed to be done.
I told him I had a list of things that have been needing to be fixed based on reports given to me after oil changes such as the one done at pat’s garage, which I used as a reference of things to get done. To that he replied I went 2 years without having the work so it was my fault for not bringing it in.
So my head is spinning a little, all I I called to get an was estimate on my car from these people.
Apparently they don’t want business?

I have finally found a reliable and trustworthy car service in San Francisco! I called at the last minute to schedule an oil change and they squeezed me in. When I got there I was greeted by an amazing staff (and Dog named Lola) and felt immediately that this would be the place I would bring my car into from then on. I am also excited to be able to support a local business instead of the traditional Firestone or Honda dealership I would go to and get ripped off.

Went to Pat’s with an $ 80 voucher from the potrero business association. They gave me an oil change and did an overall diagnostic. I told them about how my engine had the propensity to get warm fast and the air conditioning didn’t work, especially during traffic. When I came back at the end of the day, they said that was just the air conditioning and that i needed all 4 brakes and rotors replaced, plus needed the brake and transmission fluid flushed. I was skeptical. About a month later, I took it to a shop I trusted down in LA. He said both of the radiator fans were blown and hes amazed that my engine and transmission weren’t both burned out. How did Pat’s miss this??? Oh, and he said I only needed my front brakes/​rotors replaced and only my transmission fluid flushed. Thanks, Pat’s. Good try. I won’t be coming back.

Pat and his staff are super friendly, informative and helpful. My leaf fell apart on a drive into the city. Pat not only helped me fix the car — he let me use his charge station card because mine was not working. Honest family run business. Will definitely be going back to Pat’s for the next fix up we need!

Pat’s Garage is a great and honest auto repair shop. The office staff is very friendly. Any major maintenance my cars need is done by Pat’s Garage. Their prices are fair and they don’t try and sell you anything you don’t need. Definitely one of the best auto repair shops in San Francisco. Pat himself is a great guy to talk to about cars and he knows his stuff.

After dealing with an awful garage (in Los Angeles) for months, Pat’s Garage is a fresh breath of air! Augie gave me all the facts, with several options for how to proceed. With a check-​engine light on and my muffler practically on the ground, I got in and out in a day, for less than $ 100. Amazing. Garage reviews are hard. You’ll notice that most have a bunch of 1 star reviews, and some 5 star reviews. It’s kind of hard to dig through it. But I had a great experience here, and will definitely be back the next time my car needs some work (hopefully not for a while).

I wish I could give Pat’s a negative rating. I was so upset after my last experience here, that I had to take a breather before writing my review.
I have been a long time Honda owner – I love Honda’s, and I appreciate a mechanic who knows how to make one last forever. I had been going to Pat’s based on some stellar reviews I had seen. I always thought they were a bit pricey, but just continued to go since the work seemed to be solid, albeit excessive — but what do I know, I’m not a mechanic.
The last time I took my car in for a tune-​up, they gave me the usual long check list of all the work that needed to be done. On Day 3 of not having my car finished, I was told that «the bumper was damaged while they were working on the car, and they would need any extra day to fix it.» Yes, i thought this was weird, but figured, oh well, i guess these things happen. Next day rolls around and I get a call about the car — only the call is not from Pat’s. The call is from PAT’S INSURANCE COMPANY — -YES — this was their insurance company calling me to inquire about the ACCIDENT MY CAR WAS IN.
I am not kidding you. They drove the car around while they had it (presumably to see how it was driving). AND THEY GOT IN AN ACCIDENT AND DID NOT TELL ME!
So, they were going to simply fix the bumper and never tell me. Needless to say, I was pretty angry about this, and had my husband talk to them. (not that I need a man to express my anger — but we usually do a sort of good cop/​bad cop thing. he is usually the good cop) They then told my husband that some old lady ran a stop sign and hit the mechanic who was driving the car. When I asked the insurance agent about this – she said that was NOT true. It was the mechanic’s fault — not this little old lady. who it turns out was not crazy.
I could go on and on and on about this and state the obvious about how shady and unethical it all is — but i think you get the point.
When they completed the work, they still charged full price for the tune up. When we asked for some sort of discount or compensation, Augie’s response was, «well, hey – at least you got a new bumper out of it».
I don’t want to go into the fact that the bluebook value is now seriously decreased due to the ineptitude of these guy — my main beef is their entire attitude about the situation. Augie is a shady guy. Don’t trust these guys. They will over charge you, and they will flat out lie to your face.
I guess i’m glad that this happened when it did — because i have a great new Honda guy in Walnut Creek that I am very happy with.
If they had just been cool and up front about the situation, it would have made a big difference – i had been going to them long enough that i deserved that.

For basic auto repair and diagnosis of problems, give Pat’s a pass and head to Luscious Garage or Melrose Motors.
Pat’s is expensive ($ 125 just to look at your car — in Pat’s words, so that they don’t diagnose the problem and you get it fixed elsewhere — which I get, in principle, but which is highway robbery compared to other places’ fees and policies, especially when you consider what Pat’s crew «finds») and dealing with Augie just makes it seem more so.
When our Prius started making knocking noises under the hood, and our regular garage was full, we had it towed to Pat’s. First sign of trouble: the place closes up completely for lunch, so I had to have the tow driver leave the car across the street and wait for half an hour. Second sign of trouble: the first thing Augie did after I gave him my keys was lock them in the car. (We don’t have auto locks, for the record.) Third, and not to get too personal, but Augie overtalks like a used car salesman, which is not confidence inspiring. All that together, I had a sinking feeling before they’d even looked at the car.
When Augie called with the estimate, it was a classic worst case conversation with a mechanic. He said that — no doubt, totally 100% certain — our car needed $ 1200 of work to even get it back on the road. All manner of things were wrong with it and $ 1200 was it. Since nothing at all had been wrong with our car until the knocking started that morning and I’d stopped the car immediately, that sounded fishy. I told him we’d pick it up, thank you very much, and take it to our regular garage (Melrose Motors) for verification before putting that kind of money into a 10-​year-​old car.
Up shot: our guy sent us to Luscious Garage around the corner ’cause they specialize in hybrids, Luscious put in a used part as part of their trial and error diagnosis, they drove it around for a bit, car sounded and drove fine, and charged us $ 110 total. That was four months ago. No problems since.
Soooo, Augie at Pat’s Garage = $ 125 to present us with a $ 1200 estimate for «urgent» repairs that were clearly not urgent at all. Luscious Garage = $ 110 for actual fix. You do the math.

I am very thankful for the service I received from Pat’s Garage. I bought a 2008 used Prius and it had a Hymotion Battery pack already installed. Unfortunately the pack did not work so I brought it in to Pat so he could take a look.
Pat was very helpful and pleasant from the start. Being one of the few garages that is capable of installing Hymotion packs, he looked up our warranty information in the beginning of our visit and found out that the Hymotion battery was under warranty. He scheduled an appointment where his team installed a new Hymotion battery at absolutely no cost.
Pat and his team were both pleasant and professional and I have had no problems with the new Hymotion battery since it was installed.

Took my car in for 60k service. I was naïve and just accepted the price they quoted me. When I mentioned the price to other people, they informed me that sounds really high. After calling several other shops and dealers, it became quite clear that it was indeed, around double the average quote.
When I brought this up when I picked up my car they claimed I must have gotten quotes for cheaper parts or fluids, which is incorrect, as I specifically asked about these things when I got the other quotes.
The work was of acceptable quality, but prices significantly higher then dealers?
That’s a bad deal.

Rich Young is the kama sutra of auto mechanical wizardry.
My. The things he can do with his hands. Mmm…
Oh, and the work they do on those hybrids are pretty stellar, too.
They even let me bring in my Optimus Prime action figure, but the shop didn’t have the energon cubes to recharge it after two decades of inactivity.
Still though, the fact that they even looked under the Autobot’s fearless leader’s hood is good enough for me.
For all your non-​Cybertron repairs, Rich can totally meet your needs and expectations. Exceed them, even.
I think Rich has actually even towed a car into the shop on his back.
All sorts of awesome.

I just got off the phone with Augie. My last words, «Thank you for your time. I think I will take my car elsewhere.»
I took my car to the Honda Dealership this weekend after my «check engine» light came on. They quoted me some steep prices for a handful of repairs and minor services. I’ve always had my work done at the dealership, but my car is headed over the hill at this point, and I’m not sure it’s worth paying their steep prices anymore.
So I called a few places to get more information, thoughts, prices, etc. All have been very helpful. Augie, however, basically said, in a salesman’s 100,000 word version, that even though I could I give him an error code, part number, vin #, and all other information he kept saying he needed to discuss, he needed to see the car first. He had no interest in talking to me. He just wanted to get my car in his shop and my money in his pocket. I would never take my car to someone who can’t give me 10 minutes to have a conversation in which information is passed in both directions.

I’d used Pat’s in the 90’s when it was located near South Park. They always worked with me repairing my ’84 CRX. In the aughts, we started bring our 1980 Honda here, and things started out fine, although Augie likes to tell us we should be garaging it (where?). Eventually, he started telling us that we should keep it as a classic and buy a hybrid instead, giving us the feeling that he didn’t really want to be working on it anyway.
Once we started smelling an electrical burning smell, we brought it in to them, told them exactly where and what, and they weren’t able to solve our problem. They «fixed» some other problem they decided it was. After picking it up, the electrical problem continued to happen, even to the point of losing power. Finally my sweetie did extensive rooting around and fixed a bunch of frayed wires. I’m disappointed they couldn’t have fixed this for us, and I’ve stopped using them.

I always feel like I’m getting honest and good service here. They understand I am on a budget and, I feel, work accordingly. On my most recent visit, they helped me figure out what was necessity and would could wait in order to stay closer to my budgeted amount for repairs. The things that could wait I will save up for and head in to Pat’s when I can. They are friendly and explain, for the most part, what’s what and why I need it. I appreciate their efforts to be green, too.
My only complaints are that even though I live only about 5 minutes away driving, the neighborhood is a bit too sketchy to walk home through so I have to cab or embark on an hour & ½ long muni to BART to walk/​bus home. They are fairly close to the T Line Muni if you can go that route. The only other issue I have is that they aren’t ever opened weekends when it is easiest for me to drop my car off.

After years of questionable or downright horrible service elsewhere, l started bringing my car to Pat’s Garage.
At Pat’s they always explain each step of any job and work quickly if repairs are needed.
My regular mechanic is Rich. He’s hella fine… uh…ooops, wrong review…
Rich is an impressive combination of auto mechanic, educator and enthusiast. If I brought in a small single engine aircraft, he might be able to get it to fly better (Caution: They will turn away planes. So try to stick a Honda logo on it or something first.)
For my money and piece of mind, I go to Pat’s. Thanks Rich.

I took my Honda here for about five years while i lived in SF. Pat’s is the best garage I have found in the whole city. Here is why:
1. They are honest, A rarity in garages these days.
2. They take the time to explain problems. How many times have you forked over $ 400 or more and not really known what they are fixing in your car? Not at Pats. Plus they’ll honestly recommend what you neeed to fix ASAP.
3. Tthey fix carsRIGHT the first time. They are knowledgeable and they know Japanese cars inside/​out.
Bottom line is: You could shop around and find a slightly cheaper mechanic but beware! Pat’s is worth it if you want a mechanic you can trust and you want to keep your car running smoothly. And for me, that is truly peace of mind.

One of Pat’s guys, Rich Young, is a mechanical genius. He can fix anything and does so with a passion so it’s not even like work for him.
If you asked him the Office Space question of what would he do with a million dollars? — his answer would be to work on cars.
He is the Criss Angel — Mindfreak of auto mechanics in how he will just amaze you with his encyclopedia of knowledge on everything Honda, Hybrid, Subaru, Paintball gun, and Filipino food.