Beyond Repair Japanese Auto Service

It’s been three years since I had a car that wasn’t being serviced by a dealership, but as soon as my pre-​paid services were out, I came right back here. Mike is still making this the best, most honest and reasonably priced experience out there. I had upgraded to a Subaru WRX and he knows those turbo engines well, so I’m very happy my new ride is in Mike’s shop again!

Mike was straight forward and to the point. Don’t expect small talk, but that’s fine with me because that’s my way too. My fix was odd, and if I’d taken it to the dealer they’d have required factory parts and all sorts of money, whereas Mike «jury-​rigged» it for less than $ 60!
I took a chance on a new local car shop, and I can safely say that for future car issues I will taking it to this shop first.

Ha ha! I just read someone who complained about Mike on here. Yes, Mike isn’t going to attempt to charm you (waste of his time) but what he will do is fix your car more brilliantly than anyone else on earth. And he’s totally honest — which is more than I can say for most auto shops. My sister discovered Mike decades ago when she drove an ancient Toyota Corolla. I have been bringing all of my cars to Mike ever since and I can’t rave enough about him. I’m the only person I know who LIKES the people who fix my car. I trust them completely and it’s frankly a load off of my mind. I’m not rich and I need my car to work. It’s an amazing luxury to be able to depend on Beyond Repair so completely.

The only bad thing about buying a brand new car is that I don’t need service at Beyond Repair. This company defines good service. Mike is personable, timely and kind. They’ve worked on various cards of mine since 1990… from cars that were over ten years old to my first gen Prius. I would trust them with anything. The service is exact as the lunch sign on the front door.

Been going to Beyond Repair for umpteen million years. Great service. Quality work. Always honest and reliable. Wouldn’t think of using anyone else, unless Mike intends to retire at some point.

I’ve been taking my cars to Beyond Repair for around thirty years. They have always done great work for me and are always totally honest about what problems there are or aren’t with my cars. I highly recommend them as great mechanics.

I have been been going to Beyond Repair for at least 15 years, I don’t even know how long anymore. I trust Mike. He’s kept my car running well, and on a couple of occasions he found a real simple answer when another mechanic might have done a major unnecessary overhaul. I really like having a mechanic I depend on without having to think about it, who I call «my mechanic». Now I just need a haircutter I can trust!

My whole family have been taking their cars to Mike and his crew for the past 30 years. This shop is fantastic! I have never received any bad advice, or been sold work that didn’t need to be done. Beyond Repair is an honest, friendly, efficient, and reliable auto shop.
A few years back I had a ’92 Toyota Corolla going on 300K miles (thanks to Mike and his guys!) and wanted to retire it to the cash for clunkers program. The car wasn’t starting (a requirement for getting the $ 1000 from the state) and Mike fixed her up with some magic free of charge so I could make it work. So great!
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I guess I can’t exactly vouch for their repair work, since they didn’t find anything wrong. But since some other shop on San Pablo had told me I needed $ 1,200 worth of work, including a $ 500 water pump replacement, I was pleased as punch to hear from Mike that try as he could, he couldn’t get my water pump to leak. I offered to pay him for his time and for filling up the fluid – and he said no. He seems like a very honest and competent guy, and I will be taking my car to him next time there’s a (real) problem!

All the glowing reviews aside, for my money the owner of this place is a JERK. He had this flippant, know-​it-​all attitude with me, telling me basically that my car was piece of junk and «just sell it for a hundred dollars». You cannot even get tires for one hundred dollars, Idiot.
Driving by this place for the past 10+ years, i often wonder why they don’t re-​paint their sign. As far as i’m concerned, their sign is piece of junk. It has really unsightly stains running from top to bottom like they don’t give ½ a crap about the appearance of their business. 10+ years is an awfully long time to just «put it off». It makes the neighborhood unsightly too (though maybe he just thinks «San Pablo Ave. is mostly people of color anyway, so why should we care about the neighborhood?»). This guy most definitely doesn’t give ½ a crap about offending people who look like me, so i will most definitely Not go back there.
Maybe some of these good reviews were written by the owner himself & his friends. It’s easy enough to sign in as different people and do that. Maybe he is nice to white people, so they give him these 100% good reviews, though seeing the quantity of reviews here from reviewers with no picture, i would think they were made up by the owner himself. Myself i am always wary of 100% good reviews. Very very few businesses are 100% good – and this one Definitely is not.

I’ve been taking my car (s) to Beyond Repair for longer than I care to mention. It feels so good to trust an auto repair shop completely. Mike always provides honest answers, takes total responsibility for the work he does, and works dilegently to provide solutions to tricky mechanical problems, sometimes at his own expense. I would, without exception, reccomend his shop to anyone in need of a reliable mechanic.

These guys know their business. I have been bringing my car to them since 1993 when I moved to this area. My car now has over 200k miles on it, and thanks to Beyond Repair, it has been a reliable and trusted vehicle, never once letting me down. This is a no frills, honest and true car repair/​maintenance shop.

This place is, bar none, the most competent, most honest, friendlest auto shop I have ever had the pleasure to go to. I’ve used this shop for ~5 years now, my Honda is pushing 230k and will probably last forever because of these guys.

Mike Laudel, owner of Beyond Repair, is that rare mechanic you can trust. I have been taking my car to Mike for more than five years, and I have always been completely satisfied. Mike is very honest and knowledgeable. He tells it like it is. His loyal repeat customers number in the hundreds, so that should tell you something. If you need advice about your car, specificially a Toyota, Honda, Subaru — really most any car, give Beyond Repair a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Jemi Blue, Berkeley