E & J Auto Service

I just checked Unilocal to see when they are open tomorrow and noticed that they haven’t been getting the reviews or star ratings they should. This place is solid. When given a price I usually call my guy and so far my guy without his own garage has agreed with the quotes they give. And as for being a small neighborhood shop they aren’t that old school as far as tech. I’m also laughing at most of these posts because the owner/​front desk guy has replied to all complaints with the complainers not responding to him. Kinda curious. Keep doing what your doing guys!

I recently been disappointed going there, I had an appointment for an oil change, when I got there the man behind the desk/​receptionist said they were too busy to take me. I had an appointment, are you serious? I made another appointment and when i got there, he said we’ll call you maybe in 3 hrs. I was shocked. I never had this problem when talking to the owner. This guy is obvious over booking clients and I’ll be looking elsewhere if this happens again. I live in the neighborhood and I’m a regular, hate to do that but you need to treat your clients better.

I wish I could give negative stars. 1 is too much!
Took my 2007 Chevy Impala there for a slight trans leak. Cost was over $ 400 which I thought was high but they were recommended by family. When I got the car back a noise developed. Took it back and they wanted another $ 200 to fix an air conditioning damper. Funny how they said it was coincidence. Did some research and it was a $ 20 part and a friend installed it. Now the car doesn’t shift properly and a grinding sounds. I brought it back. Again they said it was a coincidence. Nothing they did. They want another $ 2400 to fix it. Tomorrow the car is getting towed to a different shop. They quoted me and said no more than $ 1500 to rebuild the trans and front differential.
Stay away! Your car and wallet will be much happier!

We’ve have been in the area for almost 15 years and I always trust our vehicles to these guys. They’re really, really good! Always polite and very honest. They make sure to call you and keep you updated on what the cost of the job might be. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because John Jr. is just as good a mechanic as his old man who used to run the place. I highly recommend this shop, you won’t be disappointed!

E&J might look conspicuous from the outside but don’t let that fool ya! My family has been taking our 4 cars to E&J for years. Each time we’ve had great customer service, reliable work done, and in a timely matter all done by a family owned, local small business.
I have a Pontiac Sunfire that one day my car’s computer just literally fell out from the undercarriage (no joke). So I towed it to E&J and of course they were as perplexed as I was! Thankfully John and the guys there were able to fully reconstruct my computer’s wiring and system. That’s no easy task! It took a few days but a seemingly impossible job turned into a no-​brainer for E&J! Same car, but whenever I make left turns, there’s a sort-​of scrapping noise coming from the left front end. Of course my dad freaked out (this was when I was 18) and immediately took it to E&J. They worked on it all day and couldn’t find a problem. The best part? They didn’t charge us a dollar! They really treat their repeat customers fairly.
Sure, they’re not the cheapest around and they will charge you to run a diagnostics test if your engine light is on (even if you went to a place like Auto Zone first), but hey, they need to make sure they know what they’re dealing with. It makes sense. Only big gripe is that they’re not open on weekends. UGH. Come on guys! at least a Saturday when everyone’s not working! Overall E&J is a great place to service your car and they take most car’s warranties as well!

I live in the area and have been using E&J for years now. I can walk home after dropping my car and they always do a good job. I know the guys that work there by name, and they are always courteous and go out of their way to fix my car problems. My wife has a Saab which can be difficult to find parts for, but they always go the extra mile to take care of it. They are not the cheapest around, but the prices are not unreasonable and the job is always well done. It’s a reliable neighborhood mechanic. But it does suck that they are closed weekends.

I’ve been taking my family cars to E&J for several years now.
They do good quality work on a timely basis.
One thing I really appreciate about E&J (particularly since I’m not much of a car expert) is that they will not perform unnecessary work.
On more than one occasion, I have brought in cars with complaints or issues, fully expecting to be dinged with a big bill only to learn it was a minor problem or adjustment. I know some other shops that would not act handled such situations with the same level of integrity.
You might be able to find a shop (particularly some chains) that charge a bit less for certain services, but these guys are honest pros and I place a real premium on that.

I’m not sure why my earlier review no longer appears. What’s up Unilocal?At any rate my wife and I have been bringing our cars here for a couple of years now. We always get great service at a fair price. And a 2 year warranty to boot. On a couple of occasions they saved me money by telling me that I didn’t need to have work done that I thought might have to be done. My former mechanic botched a brake job and they adjusted my brakes for no charge when I brought it in for routine maintenance. Nice.

These guys have helped me out of two binds and with lower than expected fees. They are extremely helpful and flexible and the end product has been great both times.

Wow, these Unilocal reviews definitely do not reflect the overwhelming fervor that the google reviews possess that ultimately led me to go to here in the first place. I do agree that their prices aren’t necessarily the best you’ll find, but I found the service to be incredibly fast and ridiculously honest.
When I first walked in (btw, I brought the 1^st time user’s discount coupon from their website), the service man was summing up the issues with the gentleman in front of me’s situation. The guy had asked what would happen if he didn’t replace a part immediately. Without hesitating, the staff told him he didn’t need to replace it now, and to just wait until he got his brakes fixed. So… he REFUSED to take the guys money. Super honest and friendly, and they provide recommendations of what you need and when you need it. Because of the small size of my Yaris, they had difficulty in replacing the headlight which was out (I hadn’t noticed), and didn’t charge me extra for the amount of time it took to get into the panel.
If you know a lot about cars and how to do repairs cheaply, this is not the place for you. If, on the other hand, you want your car checked out for anything and everything under the sun to get an honest synopsis of when you’ll need to get it fixed, you can’t find a better shop. They even sent me a reminder in the mail of when I needed an oil change. They would get 5 stars if they’d just come down in price a little bit. Google reviews will give you a better impression, too.

Very, very unfortunate experience with E&J. I am experienced at auto repair and, unless my visit was a total anomaly, they seem to be charging a great deal more than you can easily find elsewhere. Yes, they were fast. Yes, they definitely knew what they were doing. Yes, they are courteous. But they charged me $ 553.85 for a water-​pump replacement, about twice what I would have paid elsewhere, and I felt railroaded into taking it, because they had already charged me $ 89 for the estimate («minimum one hour»). I had already told them exactly where the problem was, but they insisted on hoisting the car and hooking it up to confirm. It must have taken them only a few minutes to do so, and they found I was correct, but they still charged me the minimum of an hour diagnostic time.
Next, they charged a full two hours for the actual work, which I know must have taken about half that time because I know from experience that it’s a very easy pump to replace (I didn’t have time to do it myself).
In short, I felt cheated and I told them so. They grandly announced my $ 10 «first-​time customer» discount. That discount amounted to 1.7% of my total bill.
Every item, from mechanic time, to parts, even to radiator fluid, was heavily padded in its pricing. They may provide good service, but you can do far better elsewhere on price and not lose on service. Other recommendations that I didn’t get to try (because E&J gouged me on the estimate) include Nal’s on Irving Park and Superior on Lake near Pulaski.