Art’s Automotive

Love Art’s. Honest. To the point. Reasonable. We have been bringing our Toyotas here for years. Plan to continue to do so.

I brought a friend’s Lexus in for repair here. The men were professional and trust-​worthy. They gave me detailed statements, charged fair prices, and got the work done on time.

Ah, the ongoing saga of bringing my Honda S2000 back to operational status. The checklist was: rebuild the transmission (done), replace all 4 tires (done), pay for registration (done), & then smog the car. Before that last step, a monkey wrench got thrown in there.
The check engine light went on. For smog check, that’s an automatic fail. I needed that resolved ASAP. Since I work in Berkeley, I checked Unilocal for a shop near my work. Art’s Automotive popped up & had stellar reviews.
I made an appointment to drop the car off when they open at 8am & would pick the car up around 5pm after I got off work. It’s walking distance from my work so the times & location were both convenient for me.
It was a simple knock sensor issue. They replaced it & the car was ready to go by the time I was back in the evening. Everyone I worked with at Art’s Automotive was knowledgeable, professional, & very communicative.
There were no mysteries about anything that needed to be done for my car & no surprises on my invoice. I know it can feel like a good shop is hard to find. Well, I found a good shop. For any future issues, I’m bringing my car back to Art’s Automotive.

Christian saved me a $ 300 smart key replacement at Toyota of Santa Cruz. Over the phone, he was able to determine the problem (jammed botton on remote) within a few minutes. It took Toyota 1.5 hours of working on it to tell me it needed to be replaced, which was completely unnecessary. It took me about 5 seconds and a steak knife to lift the button in the up position, thanks to Christian’s expert advice! Thanks so much Christian! You’re AWESOME! So friendly and helpful. This is a fantastic shop!

Art’s cleanup mess left from another auto shops when my brake was service.
Not only did was my brakes back to normal
They were also honest on what doesn’t need to be replace when other shops is telling me it needs to be done.
Art’s is bit far for me but it definitely worth the travel time and will definitely be back for my other vehicles.

Never thought I’d find an honest mechanic in my life but I stumbled upon Arts Automotive when j moved to the bay and haven’t taken my car anywhere else.
They also specialize in Prius’ and have been very helpful with the couple tiny issues that i have.
On top if the honesty and professionalism, the whole staff is cool and friendly. Gotta love it! I do.

Arts has been my mechanic for 15 years, if not more. I have never had such honest good service from any mechanic anywhere. At arts I always have felt that art and his crew were on my side, not trying to make me pay to have things done to my car that did not need to be done. There have been times when art saved my whole everything by helping me work with in my budget, yet be safe with my children and myself in my cars. The men and woman (Lovely Ann) of Arts are truly good people and have taken the best care of me. Art himself is a one of a kind!!! Good all around experience and would highly recommend them.

Arts automotive has been volunteering not only time but parts to keep our cars in tip top shape for over 20 years! Art has a heart of GOLD. without his and his fabulous teams help, we wouldn’t have been able to distribute over 30,000 pounds of food so far this year. Art really cares about his community and every person that walks thru his doors. He really invests in the cars he works on. He has extensive knowledge in the automotive industry and utilizes it to truly help people. If I were to recommend any mechanic I could only think of Art. Art is consistently available in emergencies and has helped us in many times of crisises. He takes the time to educate his clients on their cars and their options so that they can make an autonomous decision regarding their vehicle. Thank you a million times from Western Service Workers Association!

This is the best auto repair place I have ever taken any car to. They always fully explain everything about how the part in question is supposed to work and what is going wrong. Their prices always seem fair and I never feel worried that I am being lied to or taken advantage of. They just adjusted a belt in my car for no charge and then the mechanic also zip tied a plastic thing that was hanging off my bumper, just to be nice. I always have such a good experience here that I felt compelled to write my first review in YEARS because they deserve all the business they can handle

I am a long time customer of Art’s. My children are even the next generation of satisfied customers. Clocking 200K on my 98′ Honda Odyssey seemed like an auspicious time to (finally) get around to Unilocal them up.
In the words of Unilocal themselves: «Woohoo! They are as good as it gets!»
Honesty, courtesy, professionalism and COMPETENCE stand out as reasons I keep going back to Art’s. They deliver – period. I am not a fix it kind of gal. I can completely rely on Art’s shop to give me sound advise, which translates into a sound night’s sleep!
I also love that they are a «green business.»
If you’re looking at Unilocal reviews, I take it you’re looking for a new mechanic.
You have hit the jackpot by finding Art’s.

Took our Prius in for service. I had a list of services and inspections that we didn’t have a record for ever having been done. Also gave them a ‘check engine light’ code that it had been giving us intermittently (I did half their job for them by pulling it myself). Their sales person named ‘Lute’ told me that the Toyota recommended services were too frequent and most of them didn’t needed to be done. He also told me that since the engine code wasn’t currently showing, they wouldn’t do anything about it, even though we said we’d rather have the part replaced than deal with it later.
Fast forward to 5,000 miles later. It’s time for the next factory service, and it needs to be re-​re-​registered. It FAILS inspection due to the very same code that it was showing before, the same service that Art’s Automotive REFUSED to perform for us.
Not only that, but they claimed to perform some of the full vehicle inspections and give us an attached list of the ones that they deigned to perform for us, but it wasn’t attached, so now we have to take it back to another mechanic to perform the services they refused to do, pay a second time for all the inspections they claimed to have done, but never gave us the report for. These guys are crooks.

Bringing your car to Art’s is like giving your car a spa treatment. Your car will love you. Highly recommend, they’re real pro’s and they work insanely fast. Art’s team did a magnificent job on our two cars.
The engine in one of our cars was leaking oil, truly was a mess.
These guys replaced parts and sealed the leak, and VOILA, car was ready within a few hours. BUT YOU MUST CALL AHEAD FOR AN APPOINTMENT AND ARRIVE EARLY (between 8am and 10am).
I checked the work they did on my car and they did a real nice and clean job. For the long term piece of mind, you definitely get your money’s worth.

This review is long over due considering how many times they have come through for us.
First of all, there are several auto shops in and around West Berkeley. My husband has taken his Subaru to a few places here. After finding Art’s on Unilocal and reading all of the glowing reviews, I decided that we should commit to one mechanic and took his Subaru there after a few mechanics couldn’t solve an O2 sensor issue, which Art’s finally solved.
After that incident, my husband, who is always on the hunt for a bargain, noticed that the car squealed whenever he turned the steering wheel. He went to a mechanic on our block who said we needed a new alternator. He already left the car with him in order for him to do the service. I did some research that night and found out there were several possible causes for this, none of which included the alternator. This drew up a huge red flag and I demanded that he pick it up the next day and take the car to Art’s instead. Lo and behold, the issue was NOT the alternator and turned out a belt needed to be tightened.
I have absolute faith in the crew at Art’s not to deceive me or my husband and to offer only what the car needs. After dodging that bullet with the other mechanic, there really is no other place we’ll be taking our cars for maintenance, which now includes oil changes. Admittedly I thought I could save a few bucks by going to another area oil changer but soon realized those guys kept pushing products on me that my car didn’t need.

Came here for my first service on a new used car to me that was working great, but due for 30k service. Chris kept calling back to upsell me more services which was annoying, but I played along assuming they were honest and maybe it really needed it. Then he was giggling at me when I picked up the car– that was weird and disrespectful and made me feel like a sucker, and $ 500 later the car runs worse. I feel bamboozled, wouldn’t go back.
Edit– Art seems genuinely interested in correcting the problems so that’s nice enough for me to add a 2^nd star. Edit– Art waited awhile and commented he was there when he wasn’t. WTF? Removing 2^nd star again.

Open and honest staff. Chris was amazing explaining in detail the problems and solutions to them for my Nissan.
Oh, and cheaper than my old Nissan dealership!

What a great comfort, to know you have a trusted mechanic in your neighborhood for all your car emergencies!
I have brought my ’98 Honda to Art’s twice now, and experienced excellent service, clear communication, and fair pricing. As someone with very little interest in what is going on under the hood of my car, the only things I care about are «is this repair necessary?» and «how much will it cost?» The mechanics at Art’s are always willing to walk me through each diagnosis and help me assess what needs to be fixed now, and what can wait until next year.
Highly recommended!

Have you ever needed help?
I really needed help today concerning the safety of my car and Art, the owner of Art’s Automotive, was too distracted to listen. I ask him at some point if I should call back and he responded by saying «we are so busy I will just have to multitask.» As I explained my problem, I knew he was not caring or listening. When he found out my car was an older vehicle, even though it had very low mileage, he said it would probably be very expensive «to keep it on the road.»
Really? At that point I thought I was being «PUNKED» but this guy was for real. He went on and on about how popular his shop is because of his efforts never mentioning the contribution of others.
I quickly cancelled my scheduled appointment. I will hope to find an owner who impresses me with his competency and humility. I am learning that kindness really does matter.

The reviews are true. I actually left an auto repair shop HAPPY.
I know NOTHING about cars and I’m not exactly full of cash. They took my car in on an emergency basis (I seriously thought it had died and had it towed into the shop) and I received a phone call the same day with an update.
They prepared me for the worst case scenario– a new transmission– but also let me know that they were able to fix a much smaller issue and would test drive it the next day to see if that had solved the problem. The man I spoke to (I can’t remember his name) was very thorough and detailed in letting me know what was going on, even though I’m sure he knew I had no idea what he was talking about, haha:)
Received a call the next day letting me know they had put about ten miles on my car with no issues– and fingers crossed– I won’t have to replace my transmission. I was able to pick my car up without going flat broke. The fact that they were honest and didn’t rip me off meant the world to me, because it’s happened to me before and it really sucks.
This is the only experience I’ve had at a shop where I actually felt safe, and I’ve been through four cars (all mid to high-​mileage). I will take my car to Art’s from here out and will recommend them to anyone. Really glad I found this place!

No car repair shop has ever measured up to the two years I spent getting my Toyota Highlander serviced at Art’s. These guys are up front, easy to talk to, and worthy of a customer’s trust. They have done both cheap repairs and expensive repairs for me, and in either scenario I felt like I got a good deal.
Believe the hype, Art’s is as good as it gets.

Been taking cars here for about as long as I’ve been driving (which I shan’t reveal, but it’s getting up there), and they’ve always given us top notch service, despite probably laughing at our family foibles as total car noobs.
Friendly, efficient, they never recommend more service than seems necessary, but still offer honest opinions about what they see as important or not, which comes from many years of experience with a ton of cars. I know this because they are ALWAYS busy, which is their one drawback, but it makes sense.
It’s been a pleasure working with these guys, and I dread moving out of the area or buying a car they don’t service because finding a mechanic shop like this one would be hard to do!