Yao’s Auto

It all depends on what day you catch him. Sometimes his rates are very reasonable sometimes they are not. For example. I buy and sell a lot of used cars. Every time I get tune ups and like to get diagnostic checks ran. One time he told me 5 $ for a diagnostic check. 3 months later had a new car and Yao told me 80 $ to run a test! Ha ya right Yao haven’t been back sense

Called at 3:30pm on Christmas eve for a brake and lamp inspection and he said to come on in! Quick and friendly and I was back on the road in no time! Fantastic!

Yao’s team came through again for us with their ever professional and no-​nonsense attitude and they again deserve a 5-​Star recommendation from us.
This time our car was making rough sounds when we make right turns — which dissipated after a few minutes of driving — so we took it to Yao’s Auto.
The noise could not be recreated even after Yao and his colleague drove with me in the car and also put it on the lift and checked closely underneath.
They never tried to upsell anything, and only pointed to a couple of issues that should alater on be looked into. They lubricated some parts and did not charge for anything.
I value their manners, attitude and care and we will definitely go back to them should any issue come up or for regular maintenance.

I have been here 4 times and I really like their service. They charge reasonably, not like dealers. The technician is patient and knowledgeable, try their best to explain the problem of my car.

I work at the smog shop next door, San Pablo Smog Test Only, and I’m writing a 5 star review for a competitor. For what that’s worth. Mr. Yao is the guy I trust with my own vehicles for jobs I can’t do myself in my garage. Here’s a little inside baseball: he refuses to use cheap parts. Only the best: Denso, NGK, Bosch, Moog etc. instead of garbage eBay junk that breaks. No corner cutting here.

Yso can be a little hard to understand, but he knows his business and his prices are fair. Highly recommended.

Yao is quick, efficient, and charges much less than some of his competitors. He performed a few extra checks for things at no charge while he was looking at my car’s broken axle, and was happy to explain things in detail to me. He’s also very careful to get his work done on time. I found that very refreshing after other mechanics took 2 – 3 times as long as they said they would.

Love this place! Literally took less than 20min to replace my signal lights after running around town looking for a spot to do it real quick (they quoted me a few hours — boo!).
And it’s cheap ($ 20).

Yao did fast effective repairs for a good price. He is sometimes hard to understand but still very knowledgable. As a mechanics daughter I understand more than an average person and also ask for the broken parts to be saved. Seems like most of the negative reviews were less mechanical and very judgmental of the man when they came in for service.

Even with the owner’s comments, my review is still a 1 star.
The ‘engine bearing problem’ that he was so sure of was never mentioned to me until my very last visit to Yao’s, right before he told me that it was not fixable, dismissed me, and my car died literally around the corner.
If he had my car for 2 days running diagnostics and it truly had an ‘engine bearing problem’ as bad as he explained to me in the end, a competent mechanic would have mentioned that to me when I picked my car up the first time around. But it was not mentioned until the very end; and I feel that he either didn’t know what the problem was from the get go and didn’t want to deal with the car anymore or… he knew about it all along and just never mentioned it to me.
Bottom line: If you think that it is acceptable to pay a couple hundred dollars for auto work that has your car running for only 6 days… then I highly recommend this place. He will do cheap, temporary work to your car to get it back on the street for a couple of days. But he doesn’t guarantee anything more than that.

I needed a star smog repair mechanic, and Yao’s is very close to my house. I give Yao’s 5 stars for fixing the problem, and being very reasonably priced. In fact, Calvin even shopped around for less expensive parts for me.
I deducted a star because he didn’t have my car ready when he promised it, and didn’t call to tell me.
If you want a warm and fuzzy mechanic with good communication skills, don’t go here. If you want your car repaired at a reasonable price and don’t necessarily need it right away, then definitely go here! I will definitely go here again. I think Calvin is a good mechanic. He knows how to diagnose smog issues, that’s for sure!

This is BY FAR the best place to go for affordable, quality auto service! The prices here always beat other places in the area. If you need your car in and out in a jif, this is the place! The repairmen may be difficult to understand and a little stern, but definitely worth it.

My car starting making an awful screeching sound (like metal on metal) when I quickly looked up nearby shops on Unilocal.There were enough good reviews about Yao, and they are right on.
As soon as I pulled up, Yao himself listened to the sound and explained that he would need to lift up the car to investigate and he was very up front with the cost – $ 20. This sounded reasonable, so I agreed. Yao found a small rock that was causing the screeching. He also noticed that the brake cable had come loose, unrelated to the sound. He fixed both of these and only charged $ 20. Honest to his word.
He also found that my tire pressure (on all tires) were extremely low so he filled those up free of charge.
As I was leaving, he came to my window to tell me that the rear tail light was out. I got out and he was right– I could have been pulled over for that! He charged $ 5 for replacing the bulb then sent me on my way. $ 25 in 20 minutes and now I feel safer in my car.
I appreciate Yao’s honesty and I highly recommend him. I’m sure a lot of these negative reviews are from people who may have misunderstood him or communicated poorly– Yao’s English isn’t great, but with a little patience, you’ll be on the same page.

Thank goodness for Yao.
I’m that stereotypical 20-​something that really doesn’t know much about her car other than it needs gas, it needs an oil change, and «NEVER OPEN THE RADIATOR CAP WHEN THE ENGINE IS STILL HOT».
So when my car started having issues with the radiator, I was scared out of my mind. A quick Unilocal search led me to Yao’s. He replaced my radiator for (what my dad later assured me) was a decent price, and when he discovered that my water pump needed replacing, he gave me a solid deal on that too. My car had two major problems fixed within one week, and now I’m back on the road.
Personally, I like the guy. He’s no-​nonsense. Tell him what’s up. If he can help you, he will. If he can’t he’ll move ya along.
I could tell you more, but in the spirit of Yao, I’ll keep it short and direct. Hit him up when your car’s giving you trouble, or when your daughter is on the other side of California and has no idea what she’s doing.

My two encounters with Yao’s have left a sour taste in my mouth.
The first time I went there, a man (I presume it was Yao) RUDELY informed me that he didn’t do the type of work I was asking for. I was startled by his attitude, but I brushed off it off, maybe he was having a bad day.
The second time, about 8 months later, I went in because the bonnet/​hood of my vehicle was stuck and would not open. Again, he RUDELY informed me that he didn’t do that type of work.
What’s up with the attitude, Yao? I don’t know if your place delivers good repairs or not, but I give you an F for not knowing how to talk to potential customers.

I had my front brakes replaced here a few years ago. They did a great job, fast turnaround, and the pricing was competitive. I haven’t had any issues at all with the front brakes since.
I recently had some squeaking in my rear brakes. Brought the car in thinking I’d need to replace the rear brakes. The guy (Michael? I think was his name) took off the rear wheels and inspected the brakes while I went across the street to get a cup of tea. He called me and said I could replace the brakes if I wanted for $ 180, but they were only 50% worn and the squeaking was just because they were old and hardened (makes sense, I have 130K miles on my Saturn). I said I was okay with some squeaking so long as the brakes were functioning correctly, so he put the wheels back on and didn’t charge me. I even offered to pay him but he wouldn’t take anything, just said to come back when I was ready to replace them.
I see some mixed reviews from other folks on here so your mileage may vary, but my experience here has been terrific so far.

First of all they are using Unilocal to falsely advertise for them. I got $ 500 of work done and he wouldn’t honor the check in offer. I tried to tell him what it was and he said «no we don’t do that» I told him his son did, his son responds to posts and I can show him on my phone. Then he tells me his son left a long time ago, like 2 months (which is not a long time FYI). So they lost my repeat business because anyone who falsely advertises a deal is a piece of dog poo not worthy of the bottom of a persons shoe.
And then if him being an a$$ over 20 bucks wasn’t bad enough my car didn’t even start smoothly. It made the same noise I brought it in over. I was so pissed I just left. Mr Yoa has turned into a nasty rotten old man and he doesn’t even do good work anymore. He falsely advertises and won’t honor his own coupons, he was the only auto shop I’d been to since I moved here over 3 years ago and I’ll never be back. Don’t risk it for yourselves!

based on other reviews I decided to check this place but I wasnt so happy.
I shopped around and found better offers from other places for the same service.
the location is good for me, so I was hoping to make this my home autoshop.
Maybe Yao will get another chance and than ill update my review

My transmission failed on the freeway coming back from camping. I managed to roll into Yao’s Auto with the last bit of momentum before the car completely died. They did an awesome job installing a used refurbished transmission. While the car was being worked on, I asked if he could throw in new front brakes and a new clutch. He threw in all that work for an extremely reasonable labor charge. When I got the car back I noticed he even cleaned my battery terminals, tightened the connections and put anti-​corrosion grease over the clamps. He topped off my radiator fluid which put a stop to the overheating problem. I didn’t even ask him to do these extra things. The car runs great even though it looks like a piece of sh*t…it gets me to work and back without any problems. I highly recommend this shop.

I failed smog check at a test-​only location and I was searching for various places to get my car fixed. After shopping around and getting quotes from various places, I came to Yao’s and they were able to fix the smog issues at the lowest price. The mechanic also told me that many of the turn lights brake lights in the back of the car were not working and changed those for me.
I came back another time to get my brake light fixed and the mechanic told me about a cheaper option than replacing the entire brake light unit, but I decided to change the whole thing. It’s nice to know that they are not trying to charge you as much as possible and giving you other options.