Larry’s Autoworks

Today was my second visit to Larry’s shop for car maintenance, and I am again happy with the friendly & customer dedicated attitude of the staff (incl. Larry) They always make it a pleasant experience. Very communicative. No problems. Pricing seems to be fair, by far less than BMW dealer in MV. Will come back again!

The issue with Larry’s isn’t that they don’t do good work — they do, they just charge you an arm and a leg for what they do. Last time I brought a car to them I had an issue with the alternator and I told them that was the issue, for some inexplicable reason they decided to do a full diagnostic on the entire car, which resulted in several hundred dollars in charges that I neither asked for nor paid for. If you have the time, money and the patience for these jokers you will find them right there in Mountain View.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: As good as it gets. They get to know you and give you personalized attention — especially if you have an older car ;-). You don’t feel like a number here, unlike at a dealership.
PRICE: Probably more expensive than a lot of mechanic shops that I have found to be less reliable, but cheaper than the dealerships. What’s more, they try to make sure they fix what really needs to be fixed, rather than something unnecessary. I have had the Honda dealership tell me to repair something that turned out to be a non-​issue.
The one complaint some people may have is that at a dealership, the diagnostic fee ($ 75 at Anderson Honda) is applied to any repairs you end up doing through them. At Larry’s, the $ 125 diagnostic fee is on top of repairs. However, they really do take the time to diagnose the problem. In my case, they kept the car over the holidays and drove it about 25 miles to troubleshoot and verify the fix. My 2002 car has 126,000 miles on it, and it can go a lot longer with care and maintenance. It’s worth the diagnostic fee.
QUALITY: I have only gone there once, and for the problem we had with our car, it was only partially solved the first go-​around. After I took it back the following day, they made sure it was fully fixed before releasing the vehicle. I am hoping the problem will stay fixed, in which case, I will be able to give a better assessment of quality. However, I know that Larry and his team will stand behind their work and fix anything that was missed.

I have known Larry from my childhood days He a super person very honest i just wish i lived closer to be able to take our cars to him.

I’ve been going to Larry’s Autoworks for years. What brought me in initially is when my wife told me how clean the area was where they work on the cars. I thought she was kidding me so I had to see for myself. Spotless is the word that comes to mind and spot on is the work that they do. There’s no up selling and I’ve always been treated fairly. I don’t go anywhere else.

Larry’s auto is the best. Reliable honest and the utmost integrity. I can alway count on my car running perfect when I leave!!!

This is my new go-​to auto mechanic. After moving to the area from Boston (where my car was buried in snow for a few months), my license plate screws were completely rusted on, making it impossible for me to put on my new CA plates! After talking to a few other highly rated mechanics in MV who told me this would take hours of labor, I called Larry’s and the shop manager Louie was so awesome. He said just bring the car down and I’ll do it in a few minutes! So professional, helpful, and nice. I’ll definitely be taking my car here for future services.

This is my second visit to the shop for vehicle maintenance, and I am once again impressed by the courteous attitude of the staff. They really make it a pleasant experience, from the drop-​off, to the shuttling back and fourth from work, to pick-​up.
Any issues are communicated clearly and effectively, and the up-​front estimate was spot-​on. I’ve never had any major repair work done here, but given the attention to detail on the routine service, I would recommend them for anything vehicle-​related.

Great shop; they are very open and educational about the services the vehicle (s) need, and perform the services with top notch professionalism, schedule, communication, and customer service.

Excellent quality of service. Team completed repairs ahead of promise and quoted me within cents of the final invoice. I walked away feeling like my questions and concerns were addressed. Would highly recommend

Awesome customer service! I definitely trust them with my car and not not lead me into work I don’t need.

Attention: Especially Single Women!!! As a single women, I was at the mercy of the AAA tow truck driver who highly recommended Larry’s Autoworks when my car died on the freeway exit off ramp.734.00 dollars for an alternator and five days later I drove off Larry’s lot. I was lead to believe the high cost was because my Nissan Altima was a specialty car and the installation was in a difficult place that required alot of labor. One day later I had to come back because my air condition had been disconnected in the installation. One day later I had to come back because the front bumper was flapping in the wind because they had failed to snap it back into place. I drove off the lot again, and two blocks away my Nissan again died. Losing confidence in Larrys Autoworks. I had my Nissan towed to several different mechanics to troubleshoot the problem. All were very shocked at the cost of the alternator. One mechanic was kind enough to call his parts man to verify I was severely overcharged for the alternator part. And pulled up a diagram to show me how easy it was to install. The staff is friendly, the office pleasant. But the place is very dishonest and extremely overprice. And, my car still doesn’t run, which leads me to believe, some kind of sensor was disconnected in the installment. As a single women, this is very scary and so unethical. I am very disturbed and sad!

I had my car towed to this shop when it was not starting. Larry was amazingly helpful and honest .He helped identify the issue free of charge and told me to take the car to a manufacture authorized center so that i can avail the warranty. Larry wanted to make sure i don’t end up paying for a work which is covered under my warranty. Now i know my repair shop once my warranty runs out! Thanks Larry!

For 7 years, I worked right near Larry’s Autoworks, which is how I started taking my cars there. For 7 years, I was absolutely thrilled with everything: the quality and comprehensiveness of the service, the staff’s customer service and great attitude, the rides back and forth to my work.
But then. I got a job elsewhere. For 4 long years, I had to suffer through average service shops that weren’t often able to diagnose my issues. I even had to go to quickie oil change shops (I know, the shame…)
But now I’m back, baby! New job in the old neighborhood, and the first thing I did was bring my car by to Larry’s. It was a car they hadn’t seen before, but they did a thorough inspection and service, let me know of the things that should probably be done right now, and the things that were coming up. AC not blowing cold enough? It’s now frigid. Car not starting up properly? Finally diagnosed by Larry’s as a battery issue, and fixed. And they remind you when your next service date is. Convenient!
Love this shop, I hope I never get another job away from here again!

My new go-​to place. After the Subaru dealer listed out the $ 867 of work my car needed I took the list to Larry’s and asked them to do it.
The bill from Larry’s though, was $ 110. The other work, they said, was not needed. Wow… ;-)

Larry and Laurie Moore, and their wonderful staff, are the epitome of excellent service. I took my Honda Accord to their shop for the first time — I heard through word of mouth that Larry’s Autoworks was very good! — but proof is proof. The communication, professionalism, and super friendly service was nothing short of the best. I can’t say enough about these GOOD people and top-​notch work. If you don’t feel 100% great about your current auto center, go to Larry’s Autoworks. You will be glad you did.

I’ve taken my cars to Larry’s for 23 years. My family are automotive mechanics, back East, except for me, so I thought I’d be able to clearly describe the kind of service you get at Larrys.
If you have a new car, that can be diagnosed by computer then they are reasonably competent as long as you do not have more than one component failing at the same time.
However, if you have a car that does not have the computer connection (OBD II) then things can go very wrong. All of the old, experienced mechanics left Larry’s years ago. The new guys know how plug in the cable to read the OBD II codes on newer cars but on our car, they we absolutely unable to troubleshoot the typical problem that older cars have.
Multiple visits and thousands of dollars later, I finally convinced my wife to let me take her car to Magnussen’s Toyota Of Palo Alto who repaired all the issues in one visit, for a fraction of what Larry’s charged for not fixing it.
Larry’s never refunded my wife any money, which I expected them to because they did not fix anythings, and by chance, we ran into Larry himself. My wife has known Larry for decades (since his place was called Larry’s BugWorks) and she told him of the terrible experience she had with her mechanics. All he had to say was that is what happens with old cars.
No its not. Its what happens when you lose your competent mechanics and reply on inexperienced personnel. Although Larry is very personable and I applaud him for winning an environmental award for switching to low copper (low toxicity) brake material, I no longer recommend his company because you are just not getting value for your money.
My experience, going back to the dealership for all the cars in our collections, is that the dealer is lower cost in the long run because they always use fully qualified personnel to get the job done correctly the first time.
[EDIT]
I see the offer here to look at the bill for repairs that did not work, but the reality is that we already switched to the dealership after trying to deal with this in person with no results at all. As expensive as the cost of those repairs were, its not worth the cost of upsetting my wife again to bring this subject up. Its just not worth it to me. We already spoke to the owner with no results so, No thanks, once burned, twice shy.

My Volkswagen Golf started vibrating violently on the 101 near Rengstorf exit. Friend found Larry’s Autoworks through Unilocal and called them.
Managed to drive slowly, arrived safely at the workshop and was greeted by staffs who were expecting me. They were friendly, kind and patient!
They did an inspection of my engine at their garage and fixed it in literally 10 mins and didn’t charge me a single cent for it! They said it was nothing major and it was the least they could do for an emergency situation. They’re just happy that it was a happy ending for me!
I feel bad that I didn’t get to pay them for their services. I would highly recommend them to others in a blink!

After unavoidably running over a big rock on a small street, we noticed some leakage from the undercarriage of our car. We went to Larry’s because it was the closest auto repair when we looked online and ended up being helped by Larry himself.
We had already spent a good amount of our money on the used car (since we are temporarily staying in town), we were worried that the costs would quickly add up on the old car.
Larry was AMAZING!!! I can understand why the walls are cluttered with thank you letters and various awards. If you want an honest mechanic and quality repair, go here!!!
He explained that the rock had caused a dent, but no serious damage. If anything, it was happenstance in getting our car looked at. There was a crack in our coolant container, which was causing the leak.
Not only did he explain this to us, he SHOWED us exactly what he was talking about. It felt like a brief lesson on Car 101. In the end, he topped up our coolant, explained the best solution (since we need the car for only 6 more weeks), and refused to take money.
He’s a smart man. We returned later on when we needed more work done on the car and we will continue being customers as long as we are in the area.
Don’t worry if Larry isn’t the one to help you either. The second time we went, various people from his team helped us and the service was tip-​top again. I think it’s another reflection of the work ethic at this spot as the employees seem very passionate about cars and very happy at this location.
In terms of price, the charges did feel like a big hole in our wallets, however, we ended up getting quite a few things fixed so as to avoid any fix-​it tickets. We did feel better that one of the reasons the price feels a little higher is because they try to keep things green (and our philosophy is that, as with food, you pay more for green quality, if only we had kept to this when first buying the used car).

My husband has been going to Larry’s for quite some time. He is known to be fair, seems ethical thus far, and treats women well, not as though they are mechanically inept and therefore need to be talked down to. My pet peeve is getting ripped off by mechanics because of my gender. Mostly because I know what the going rate is on fixes.
We thought we had a brake issue. Also asked him to look at balancing, rotating the tires, oil change. To Larry’s credit, he told us we did not need a brake job. We had 90% left on the front brakes, 30% on the back. We really needed new tires and balancing. With that said, minus one star for Nancy grumpy pants who answered the phone and the scheduling snafu. I let Larry know in the morning I needed the car back by 4pm as I have to pick up my kids in the evening. He did ask me to remind him. When I called, Nancy was impatient, pretty much cut me off, so much so that she didn’t let me finish my sentence to let her know I needed the car back. In the end, I had to scramble to rearrange a ride for my kids and myself. It would be sensible to think that dropping off a car and not having a ride back would be a problem.
Long of the short, they are NOT the cheapest place to fix your car. They do try to be fair and honest. You pay for some service, the relationship, except for grumpy pants Nancy, and for a good repair on your car. They will address your issue and not take you for a ride, at least in my experience.
Update: Larry personally emailed me and sent a very nice note to apologize about my experience. He didn’t make horrible excuses and let me know he was short staffed at the time. I understand there can be off times and Larry cares considerably so I appreciate that as it came through in his note. He strives to always do better and customers are first so I would still say 3 stars is fair and an additional note for his efforts to reach out is a plus.