The Driving Machine

The Driving Machine is an Auto Repair place specialized on BMW & Mini manufactured cars.
Once, I tried to reserve a place via website and they didn’t respond with anything including confirmation on email. Later, I called them to confirm about my reservation and change the schedule of my service.
I can say that their customer service is responsive and friendly. They also had nice waiting room which provides coffee and tea. It took almost 2 hours to finish oil service, and the price for oil service Mini 2009? $ 110, quite expensive but you got your car running.
They offer $ 5 discount if you allow them to replace your license plate frames with theirs.

The poor reviews on TDM do not do them justice. I found the staff at TDM very professional and helpful. Always provide you with all the information for you to make the best decision. Shop is clean and well organized. Will definitely come back again.

It’s so refreshing to see passionate people like them! I ordered tires on
and they did the installation. From the moment I made my order they called me to let me know of the process, called me again when they received the tires and we setup an appointment. They took care of it all and explained everything to me, they even were able to give me a ride to work that morning. You can see that they love what they do and care about their job. I’ll go there again without an hesitation!

I don’t understand how it is possible that this place has so many bad reviews on Unilocal,the ones on this site are much more consistent with my experience:
I had a rather unique problem with my E60 5-​series. It seems that when the lower control arms were replaced a couple of years back, the person who did the installation (@ B&L Auto Repair in Mountain View) did not properly secure the nut on the ball joint. So over time, this kept loosening gradually, and eventually popped right off, causing my front tire to pop off as well (luckily this happened while I was parking and not going fast!). This caused my steering wheel to misalign as well.
I got my car towed here mainly because it is less than a mile away from where I live, but I am sure glad that I ended up stumbling upon this gem. These guys are extremely knowledgeable and really amicable to boot. They identified the problems, fixed everything up, test drove to ensure the problem was fixed, and explained everything in adequate detail. I will definitely be returning to them in the future whenever I need any work on my car (that I can’t do myself!)
They also offer courtesy cars free-​of-​charge, you just replace the gas you used before you return it. I wish I knew this earlier though! They had my car for a couple of days and I had to rely on friends for rides before I found out!

Please bear with my long intro skip to ***** section for actual shop review *****
ALSO I waited about a month after receiving my car back to make this review to make sure everything was running correctly.
Lets start off by mentioning that I own a 1989 325i that is no ordinary 325… This specific car has a 1995 M3/​S50 motor in it. When I purchased this car it was leaking a very small amount of oil (something like a drop a day, I thought It was from the fresh oil change before I bought it.) But over time it just got worse and worse.
I decided to have the whole under carriage steam blasted to remove any old grime so I could better diagnose where the leak was actually coming from. Unfortunately for me, this $ 180 steam clean make my oil problem MORE prominent… Whatever grime there was had cauterized the oil bleed and the steam had opened everything up. At this point I was watching my Engine Temp Gauge more often then my tachometer and putting at least a quart into the motor every few days.
I took it to three different «BMW Specialists» and each and every one of them told be that my timing case gasket and head gasket was leaking. Now I can believe the timing case leak but the head gasket!!! This motor was freshly rebuilt with less that 500mi on it and the builder guaranteed that the head and head gasket had been installed and torqued down correctly.
Now this being a swapped motor and NOT a factory installed engine, many of the shops I had visited or called would not even touch the car because they did not want to give me their warranty on a home built project car.
Then I found The Driving Machine and spoke to Jim… He promised me the same warranty he extends to all of his customers and needless to say, he had instantly become my Go-​To shop for this unique vehicle I had. I explained to him my situation and he agreed with me that it would have been a rare situation for the new head gasket to leak. We agreed that when I had time I would bring my car in.
Then…
That very weekend my car died on the freeway and so I just went ahead and had it towed to The Driving Machine and just pulled the trigger on any repairs that were necessary.
***** Jim could not have been any more informative during the whole repair process. He called me almost every other day or so just to keep me updated on the progress of the car and whenever a situation arose. He even asked me if I wanted to proceed with minor repairs instead of just doing it and surprising me with a bill later.
The repair took a little longer then expected but the mechanic that was working on it got sick and Jim only wanted him working on the car (this made me believe that the shop really cares for their customers and only wants to do QUALITY repairs and not just FAST repairs)
When my baby was finally done Jim personally test drove her and pointed out a few key repairs that needed to be made but nothing that would bankrupt me. Then he handed me a full 5 page detailed printout of all the work done to my car WITH a call log of how many times he contacted me. UNBELIEVABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! I am not taking my baby anywhere else.
Jim at the Driving Machine should be the ONLY person you should take your BMW to. and remember BMW repairs are not cheap…

Great place to service your BMW. Driving Machine is full of friendly workers waiting to help, they do great work. Such a reliable place to use without getting your wallet completely emptied like at the Dealer. They even called me a few weeks later, asking about how the car is and how the repair went. Will recommend.

My car is used commercially, driving roughly 35,000 miles per year. When it goes down, my business for that day goes down. I brought my Mini to The Driving Machine in Cupertino when it wouldn’t start, while at a client site, thinking I had a battery issue. The owner Jim was able to take my car in immediately and had me out of there in 4 hours. There were more issues going on than the battery. I cross-​checked the quote given to me by my regular Mini service provider in San Francisco, and was told that I was getting a very fair price to fix the issues my Mini was having. Bottom line they were very accommodating, had a fair price, and had a nice small quiet lounge for me to work and re-​schedule the rest of the day. While in the lounge for half the day, I watched a lot of customers coming and going. They all seemed very happy as they picked up their cars and chatted with the owner, as was my experience.

I’ve always had good service bringing in my M3, not sure why there are so many sour 1 star reviewers here. BMWs aren’t cheap to service no matter where you go.

amateurs! stay away from here and the guy at the front desk, james payne he has serious issues. i came in for a simple task of coding my radio. the man lacked knowledge and tried selling me diagnostics and inspections then told me that i did not want to pay so i should take my BMW M5 someplace else! i know what my car needs but he wants to run a series of unnecessary tests and take my car apart which have already been performed by another shop! their prices are the same as the dealership but they lack knowledge and are very rude. this place is a waste of space i can see why they try to suck the life out of customers, they dont get much business.

WARNING! Possible DANGER! You may be putting your life and your family’s life in danger by taking your vehicle to this shop!!! The Driving Machine did work which I firmly believe led to my BRAKES FAILING, which could have led to a deadly crash.
I took my X-​5 in for maintenance, such as changing the fluids. A few days later, I was slowly pulling into my garage, with my teenage son in the car, and when I put my foot on the brake, the pedal went all the way to the floor. There was no braking at all, and I crashed into the back of the garage. I tried to comprehend what happened, while my foot was on the pedal, all the way to the floor, and said «the brakes, what happened to the brakes?» My son just looked at me, shocked. I took my foot off the brake then put it on again, and the same thing happened — it went all the way to the floor. I looked at my son, asking again «what happened to the brakes?» Thank God this happened in the garage, so we weren’t injured, but the car and everything at the back of the garage was severely damaged.
I was afraid to drive my X-​5, but the Driving Machine was very close to my home, so I slowly and carefully drove there. I told them about my brakes failing and that something must have gone wrong when they performed the service. I asked them to fix it. They had my X-​5 all day long, and when I picked it up, the service advisor told me they spent all day checking things out but couldn’t find anything wrong. They made me feel guilty by telling me the labor charge for their work was something like $ 1,000 but they weren’t going to charge me anything. They said they hadn’t done any work, other than inspecting, and the vehicle was perfectly safe to drive.
With their assurance of safety, I continued driving. But I was having various nightmares, such as one where I was driving on a mountain road with my kids in the SUV and tried to brake but my foot went to the floor, the vehicle didn’t stop, and we went off the side of the mountain. I was so disturbed and afraid that I went to a man I know who used to own a shop. I told him about the brake failure and asked him if he could check things out. I wasn’t paying him, so he had no reason to tell me anything other than the truth.
After a short visual inspection where he did not touch anything, other than to open the hood, he said he found the problem. He showed me fluid which he said was brake fluid, and said it should not be there. He said there was something wrong, and he knew what it was but didn’t want to touch anything. He pointed to the brake fluid and I took pictures of it. He directed me to go back to the shop, and have them fix the problem they caused. So I again asked the Driving Machine to look at the brakes and surrounding area because there was brake fluid. A couple hours later, they called me and again said they couldn’t find anything wrong. I called my acquaintance, and he called to tell them about the problem he had observed. At the end of the day, they called me to pick up my vehicle. They said they hadn’t done any work at all because there was nothing wrong.
I took the X-​5 back to my acquaintance, who again checked it out. He explained they HAD done work, which was to tighten a part that was loose (I think it’s called the «bleeder»), and they cleaned up the brake fluid leak. He explained that when the Driving Machine originally changed the brake fluid, they were supposed to tighten things back up, but they hadn’t. This allowed air to get in the brake line, and when I put my foot on the brake, there was only air, and that’s why the vehicle didn’t brake and I crashed.
I went back to the Driving Machine to confront them about telling me they hadn’t done work when, in fact, they had. I said I was extremely concerned about the fact that my family could have been killed because their employee did work which made my vehicle hazardous. The service advisor vehemently denied having tightened the part and again said they hadn’t done any work at all. He and the owner were angry with me and just denied, denied, denied. I was quite shocked by this attitude because I naively thought they’d be concerned. I had the mistaken thought they would find the mechanic who had done the work and talk with him so this wouldn’t happen again. Instead, they were angry and defensive, and had absolutely no concern for me and my family, and the danger they had put us in, not to mention the many thousands of dollars in damage to my vehicle, garage, and stored possession. Very, very disturbing attitude.
I’ve had lots of nightmares from this experience. I’m warning others in the hopes of preventing someone being severely injured, or God forbid, killed, by what the mechanics at the Driving Machine do to their vehicle, and the uncaring attitude of the management and owner.

I’ve been going to this place for about 10 years. Never been disappointed. If you want your car repaired to BMW factory specs, this is the place. Forget the dealer.

F these guys (F as in forget). I’ve taken my car in multiple times to change my headlight that was out, $ 50. They tried to charge me another $ 75 to change my air filter! No way. I keep coming back because of the convenience of the location.
Right now I’m sitting in the waiting room to get my car back (they said 25 minutes…) because I refuse to pay $ 800 for something they claimed to be simple. $ 530 for an internal light module that I found online for less than $ 200 plus labor plus 189 for diagnostic.

I took my ’03 BMW 530 to these guys after several visits to 2 SF South Bay BMW dealers to diagnose and fix an electrical issue with my car. Not only did the dealers misdiagnose the issue, their incompetence also caused me to replace my battery twice. Found The Driving Machine through another site’s recommendation.
They were able to correctly diagnose the issue within 30 minutes and found several other items that needed to be addressed (some cosmetic and some preventative) my car has functioned perfectly since. They have also been excellent with my ongoing routine maintenance and follow up with a call after each visit to make sure that they met expectations.
Why 4 stars, not 5? They did an alignment on my car and after the adjustments, my steering wheel was off a couple of degrees, they did fix on a follow up visit at no charge. On my last routine inspection, after confirming that they checked the spare tire pressure found it to be about 10 lbs down. But overall, I am very pleased with their service.
I am not saving any money taking my car to this shop, but I expect to pay market rates for good, thorough, and professional service that utilizes BMW parts.

Brought my car in for coolant and minor oil leaks. Guys seemed nice, even though they were completely overpriced. Parts better have been shipped overnight from the manufacturer all the way in Germany to even come close to explaining the price. They also pushed really hard to get me to replace a bunch of other stuff for prevention only.
Anyway, the coolant leak was caused by a crack in the expansion tank. They replaced the tank. The next day my car completely overheats on the freeway. Turns out all the coolant evacuated from the system, because they didn’t plug the hose into the expansion tank all the way. I had to refill it myself before (easily) plugging the hose back in. I gave them a call, and they didn’t seem to care. Who knows what other engine damage was caused by the overheating incident; all I know is that I will definitely not be going back.

I took my 2004 325i to TDM on the advice of a friend. The staff is friendly and seems very knowlegable. The shop is very clean. They even gave me a really old BMW as a loaner for the day. The repair cost seemed (somewhat) reasonably priced for a German Car Repair place (though less than the Highway robbery BMW dealers /​Stevens Creek).
I would recommend them especailly if you live in the Cupertino area.

This happened to me a few years ago. I am searching for a BMW repair shop now and thought I share my experience about this place. My 2003 530i had just roll off the factory warranty so I decided to give place a try to do an inspection II. $ 600. Not cheap, but probably still better than deals. Ok. The suggested repairs came out to be $ 3000. I read through the laundry list and could not believe it. Most egregious was asking $ 300 to repair a «crack» on the hinge of the fuel tank door cover (because it «might fall off while driving»). Do I look like I am stupid or something? I walk out without doing any of the suggested repairs. Went home and re-​enforced the loose hinge with a drop of super glue. 100k miles later my car is still running strong. This place should change its name to Rip-​Off Machine.

There are a couple redeeming qualities about this place. The guy was nice and seemed to know what he was talking about. The parking lot is big.
.That’s it.
Prices here are RIDICULOUS. If I wanted to pay $ 700 for a water pump, I’d take it to the BMW dealership and at least get my car washed for free and a drink token for their juice bar for what I’m paying for. I got this $ 700 estimate and I immediately went to another place I’ve been on De Anza Blvd where I received another estimate: $ 380 for parts and labor. That is literally about 50% of the price. Not only that, but The Driving Machine said I would have to leave the car here starting today (Friday) and it would be ready on Monday. The other place? Drop it off Monday morning and pick it up in the afternoon /​evening.
So if you’re rolling in bank, maybe come here if you don’t want to go all the way to the dealership. Otherwise, try checking around the area. There are a ton of places that won’t stick their arms up your butt to steal your hard earned money.
Check out European Auto Performance on De Anza cuz that’s what I did and it saved me $ 320 bucks and 2 days. They may have a small parking area but hey, paying 300 bucks and 2 days without my car for parking? No thanks.

Always good service. Honest. Fair prices. Nice people.
I recommend it to all my BMW owning friends.

I had a horrible experience with them. I brought in a 2006 M5 to get an iPod accessory installed. They said they could do it and it would take a day. It took 6 days and they scratched my car in 2 places. These guys are amateurs.

STAY AWAY! Unless you like inaccurate/​incomplete estimates, a different story every time you call, and feeling like you’ve been raked over the coals.
I had them do a clutch on my car and selected them because they are «supposed to be» a knowledgable BMW shop, and their estimate was marginally better than a competitor independent BMW service shop. However the final price was SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER than any other estimate. I had asked for a «worst case» estimate; that is, to assume it required everything needed replacement and be included in the estimate — clutch, flywheel, slave cylinder, rear seal, master cylinder, etc. Therefore, the price could only go down from the estimate — or so I thought. The second day after I dropped the car off they called me to tell me I needed a new flywheel AND that it would be $ 1,000 more, in addition to the original estimate!!! What!?! Apparently they included $ 500 to disassemble and resurface my original flywheel, but no budget to replace it. The revised estimate was for $ 1,000 in addition to the original estimate which included the $ 500 for machine work now not needed! When I spoke to someone (supposedly a manager) about the discrepancy between the estimate I requested (worst-​case) and the estimate I received (best-​case) they would not own up to any error or wrong-​doing on their part.
Not willing to pay their over-​inflated price for a new flywheel, I sourced a brand new OEM Luk flywheel elsewhere (with their knowledge and consent), however they only subtracted $ 200 for resurfacing the flywheel instead of the $ 500 they quoted for resurfacing it. When I pointed out the discrepancy I was told that it is only $ 200 and that someone made a mistake when they quoted me $ 500. Basically, it was a means to extort a profit margin from me on MY flywheel that I purchased elsewhere. And on top of all that frustration, the car has never shifted as smoothly as it did before they serviced the clutch.
I also just called them for an estimate to replace a rear wheel bearing and was quoted $ 389-​$ 479 depending on the VIN. I called back 2 days later with my VIN number to get an exact estimate and was then quoted $ 570. When I pointed out the discrepancy and what I was quoted less than 48 hours earlier, I was told that they had no idea what they must have quoted me, but the estimate is $ 570.
If you get an estimate from The Driving Machine, be sure to get the name of whoever you talk to because you’ll get a different story/​estimate if you talk to anyone else there and they’ll be completely ignorant of the original quote.