Kyle’s Service

I had my car serviced by Kyle back in the 1990s when I used to work at Ala Moana. Back then, he was okay. Nothing spectacular, but his prices were reasonable. Recently, I was looking to get my car serviced, and bumped into him at a local antique show. He was very blunt and straight forward when I asked him if I could bring my car in. I ended up not taking my car to him, and never will take any of my cars to him because I get the feeling that it’s just too much trouble for him and he’s not welcoming or grateful. Maybe it’s time for Kyle to retire! I was just looking for a mechanic to do routine maintenance on my cars. I will stick to Greg and Gina at the Mililani Chevron.

Been taking our cars there for over 30 years. He’s the best: competent, honest & fast.

I was trying to get a quote over the phone for a repair for a toyota truck and he was VERY RUDE over the phone. I told him my problem and he flat out told me «I’m not interested call these guys at ***-****»

Before my husband and I could explain the service we were looking for, Kyle, turned us down immediately and said he did not need any new customers. We were completely shocked at how unprofessional and rude he was and never received this type of treatment before. Regardless of how wonderful some of the reviews are on Unilocal,we would never want to deal with someone like him.

I have been taking our vehicles to Kyle’s for years now and have always received the same consistent service. At Kyle’s they are honest, fair, and very good at what they do. This is the only shop I trust for maintenance repairs on our Tundra and Camry. Yesterday as I started my truck to drive to work I discovered my battery died, and main drive belt was in need of replacement asap. Called Kyle’s and they fit me in same day. A few hours later he called to say the belt was replaced and he also made time to change my oil during the same visit. Brought in my own replacement battery from Sam’s Club and when I got there to pick up my truck they even swapped out batteries immediately for me free of charge. The willingness to help and honesty are very rare attributes these days and I highly value a shop like Kyle’s service that offers both of these consistently.

Kyle’s Service is a very well-​established shop off of Ward Avenue. I took my car here because of all the good reviews. I received a call back after I left a message during non-​business hours (caps showing points of Kyle’s emphasis): «You MAY bring your car by, and I will do a ‘dip-​stick’ (oil) test, but YOU MAY NOT leave your car on my lot.» He performed an oil test, told me that he couldn’t tell the noise I was describing, told me that it might be a valve, but because he could not replicate the problem I was having (oil light coming on after running the car for awhile), that he is not willing to do exploratory work. Specifically, «I don’t even know how you found us, but we ARE NOT looking for more work.»
He told me that the car is probably fine, and it might just be a computerized glitch that’s causing the light to come on – even though he and I were listening to the same engine noise (which he said sounded normal).
I drove the car off his lot, and it started making noises that sounded similar to a machine gun. I had the car towed to a technician in Pearl City, who told me that as soon as he put the car up, he was able to see there was a problem with the oil pan, and that if I had continued driving the car, that the engine would have needed to be replaced because it was not getting the oil needed. He said that the noises sounded «off» right away, and that he measured the oil pressure (which is what’s supposed to be done, not a ‘dip stick test’), and he flushed out the engine. The oil pressure method was also recommended by a second mechanic, so as far as I know, this is the proper method.
I just drove my car home tonight – the noise is gone, the oil light doesn’t come on anymore, it’s running very smoothly. Whereas after taking the car to Kyle’s, I couldn’t drive the car up Ward Ave. without the oil light coming on and the engine noises becoming more and more aggravating, now I was able to drive it home on the freeway from Pearl City with no problems.
If you are interested in a mechanic who wants to your business, feel free to message me. I am sure that all the great customer reviews are accurate and Kyle maybe a great mechanic, but it sounds like he is too busy for new business as this point.

I’ve been going to Kyle’s Service for years, and my dad took his car there for years before that. I purposely never wrote a review before, because he’s so good, I didn’t want the whole world to know about him! I wanted to protect him from possibly very demanding customers, but then again, he could handle them. Besides, no Unilocaler would act that way, right? However, I see that ship has sailed with all the great Unilocal reviews already. I remember hearing my dad talk about Kyle when I was a freshman at UH Manoa eons ago. I didn’t think anyone could be that good, so I got taken a few times by dishonest mechanics before I finally relented and took my car to Kyle’s. Except for a decade living in San Francisco, and a 1 year sojourn in Sacramento, my cars have been serviced by Kyle nearly all my adult life.
I’m pretty sure he only works on Japanese cars, although he may have branched out to Korean models, too. You would have to ask him though. I have always felt the utmost trust for this very honest gentleman, and even for the bigger repairs, the prices have been more than fair. Just today I had a radiator replaced on my car, and I told him that I selfishly hoped that he would never retire.
It is with mixed feelings that I heartily recommend Kyle’s Service. I say that because I am afraid that he’ll be flooded with new customers. But it’s against my spiritual beliefs to not share with the world (or at least Oahu) a real «gem!»

Kyle’s Service is one of those places where you are torn between not saying anything or enthusiastically recommending. Why? I’m being selfish… keeping a good thing quiet. KYLE IS SO GOOD. THAT RARE Honest mechanic.

BASED SOLELY ON A PHONE CONVERSATION:
I’m looking for someone who can fix my car’s squeaking break problem so I started Unilocaling auto centers. I gathered the numbers of auto services who appeared to have great reviews. I called the different places to get approximate costs and when I called this place Kyle was very rude! Before I even told him when the squeaking was happening he gave me attitude… he told me that some squeaking noises are normal… when I called another auto center he told me the same thing… but both tones were very different!!! Kyle was rude and it was not necessary… I asked him when is the earliest date he had open he said something like «like I said your car may not need anything», he didn’t give me a date and said I could bring my car in today to get it checked… after that conversation I was not about to bring it my car.

I have to agree with everyone else. This guy is awesome. I had a Nissan maxima. It was no nonsense when it came to fixing everything. He was honest, gave me a good price and had it done the next day. I rarely write reviews for things, actually this might be the first time, but I was incredibly satisfied with his service. Would recommend him to anyone in a heart beat.

I’m gonna come right out and say it before we begin this review… Yes, I’m a guy, NO I don’t know much about cars. With that out of the way, although I don’t know much about cars, I know enough to tell when I’m being BS’ed or ripped off.
This past friday, after having looked at Unilocal for several months for a new place to take my car in for repairs, I found Kyle’s Service. I’ve never heard of this particular mechanic and his shop before, but almost all the reviews for this place were glowing and had much good things to say.
One thing that I wasn’t prepared for though, which wasn’t mentioned in the reviews is that when you make your first appointment, Kyle will ask you what type of work you want done on your car. Now this wouldn’t be all that much of an issue if I actually had some problems with my car that needed fixing but I really only needed to get some routine maintenance done (changing fluids, hoses, belts, etc.). With other places such as Midas or Jiffy Lube, you normally would just drop in and talk to the receptionist and let them know what type of work you need done and hand over your keys and wait until the work is done. Not here… But the good news is that when you talk to Kyle about what you need done, he helps you walk through the process and lets you know if you need a particular thing done and he won’t BS you and try to talk you into doing something unnecessary! Once I described what I needed, he let me know what days he is available to work on my car and approximately how long it would take as well as how much the parts & labor would cost and all was set.
Fast forward to this past friday and I dropped off my car early in the morning at 7am. Thankfully, because Kyle’s shop is right in the Ward/Kaka’ako area, I could just walk back up Ward Avenue to my apartment and await the call that my car was done. To my surprise, Kyle called back at 10:30am and said my car was ready to pick up, this is despite estimating that it would take through the early afternoon when we initially spoke over the phone… That was definitely a pleasant surprise, as I was planning to go out for lunch and to see a movie at Kahala that day and was actually expecting to ride the bus to get there.
I went down to pick up my car, and to my surprise the whole job was a little cheaper than I expected! While we were exchanging funds, Kyle out of the blue started making conversation and next thing I know we were talking about some of the side stuff he does such as videography type stuff and Mac computers… Who would’ve thought a conversation like that would’ve occurred with a mechanic?
All in all, the experience was definitely pleasant and I was completely floored by the price and service. I definitely won’t take my car back to Midas or Jiffy Lube unless I’m in a pinch. I highly recommend going to Kyle’s Service if you need your car checked out for good prices & friendly service!

He fixed a problem with my toyota corolla for about $ 42 that Servco Auto charged me over $ 300 to «diagnose» (which they couldn’t find and didn’t fix). Needless to say I’ve been bringing my car to Kyle’s Service since for maintenance, repairs, and safety checks.

So I’m not really one to write reviews, and when I do I try to make them positive because I feel like most people just complain about *bad* things and never give credit where it’s due.
Perhaps I just caught Kyle on a bad day, but I just spent the last two hours talking with various mechanics (one in person and a bunch on the phone) about a «knocking» sound my ’99 Subaru is making. The first place said it was a rod knock and wanted to rebuild (or replace) the engine — for $ 2 – 5,000! Needless to say, I wanted a second opinion. After all, what do I know about cars?
I started calling around and got a lot of really helpful people giving me suggestions about who to call or bring it to, what else to listen for to help diagnose it, does it happen with the A/​C on or off, when the car is hot or cold, etc., etc.
Ratings on Unilocal said Kyle was great, so I was hopeful to bring her in for a second opinion… I even tried calling a few times because the line was busy.
When I DID get through, however, he was downright *rude* — I always start my conversations with «how are you?» but when I did that, the response was «are you calling to make an appointment? Let’s get going then.» And it wasn’t a joke…
So I described my situation — or at least I tried — that I wanted someone trustworthy to look so I could know whether or not the problem really was a bad engine. And before I could get through, he said «I wouldn’t even consider it» (referring to doing the work) and hung up.
So — again — maybe I just caught him on a bad day. But I’ll never bother to call again.

Thanks for all the online reviews saying this guy is great. When I told him that there was alot of good reviews about him he said «I have to take those sites down, I hate working». :P
Cars love breaking down after warranty and I figured I had a bad wheel bearing because I researched it a bit online and you can watch youtube videos on how it sounds like. He took my vehicle around the block to make sure it was the bearing. $ 60 for the wheel bearing for a 2004 Nissan Maxima is a decent price when looking at google shopping and $ 130 sounds good because Nissan would have charged me $ 200 to even see whats wrong. Hearing all the good this guy done, and if he told me I had more problems with the car, I would have paid more (thankfully no), unlike going to a nissan dealer or jiffy lube feeling I’ll get ripped off if there was extra repairs. I could trust him.
So this guy is as «good as it gets» but don’t go to him, he doesn’t like to work. :P

The first time I met Kyle, I had already had quotes $ 1200 – 2000 for a mysterious engine problem. In desperation, I brought it in for a second opinion and Kyle asked me to open the hood. He fidgeted in there for about 10 seconds and then told me to take it around the block. It was fixed and he refused to charge me a dime. My point is that this guy is honest. We have brought cars there for 12 years now and I never fear he is going to add on mysterious charges — he will also tell you if it’s worth it to fix things at all. A real gem.

WOW. Simply wow

Kyle is always straight-​up, helpful, and if something’s so easy to do he sometimes doesn’t even charge but tells me how to do it. He and his team are honest, professional and good.