Technic Auto Repair

After I called ahead, asked for availability, and he said come on down,
Wayne sent me away,
Jack fixed my car.
For an affordable option, with good parking, Just go straight to Jack, but only if you have some time. He doesn’t have a big crew like other repair shops. But he wasn’t judgmental and just fixed what needed to be fixed.

I’m so sad I don’t live near San Bruno so Wayne could be my regular mechanic!
Smoke started billowing from my engine as I was headed home from the airport after picking up friends from the east coast (welcome to California?). It was 530 on a Friday night and I was 120 miles from home. The tow truck came and I asked him to tow me to a shop nearby open weekends. Luckily for me, Technic Auto was the only place that fit the bill.
Wayne came right out when we arrived, told me he thought my water pump was shot and how much it would be to take care of it, and I was quickly on my way. He called the next morning to say he was actually wrong and it was a belt connected to the AC and that my compressor was also broken. The compressor has been broken for years and I’ve been enduring summers sans AC because I had previously been quoted prices over $ 800 by two different shops. Wayne installed a brand new compressor and replaced the burned up belt, all for $ 450!
Throughout our encounter, he was honest, timely, and so, so courteous. He even cleaned my headlights so I «wouldn’t have a hard time seeing» when I left the city and headed home. If I ever can swing the trip back to south SF for car maintenance, Wayne will get my business!

Wayne is awesome and such a genuine guy! I came in for an emergency flat tire and he and his technician was able to accommodate and finish in a flash. Very thorough and explains each detail. Will definitely return for any car issues — no doubt! Will Unilocal back on those repairs…

wayne is my go to guy, gives me discounts and will tell you the REAL problem of your car and will not do crazy stuffs.

This is now my go to mechanic.
I have a 1986 Toyota Corolla that I have been driving for years and even use for work travel. It has progressively been running worse so I figured it was time for a ‘tune up’. I saw the previous review where someone had brought in their mid 80’s corolla as well and figured that he could work on this type of vehicle.
I tried calling Wayne to get a basic estimate, but he was so busy that I wasn’t able to try and set something up. Then one morning I was thinking ‘hey, I should call Wayne to see if I can set something up for the next week or something’. I called him and he said I could bring it in the next morning and he would have it done by the end of the day!
I brought my car in, dropped it off in the morning at their small shop (who needs a big shop when you can provide great work on vehicles) and headed off to work. I received a call later in the afternoon saying he had finished.
When I picked up my car, I could not believe that the car could run so well!!! I was considering purchasing a new car but loved what I had and now I feel like I already HAVE a new car!!!
If you are looking for a place to do great mechanical work for a great price, this is your spot!!! If you need a place to hold your hand, give you a latte and schmooze you into unnecessary repairs, this is NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU!

Wayne’s the fucking man, I’ve been going to him since I was 17 I’m 29 now I wish I knew more about cars, since I don’t Wayne’s there’s for me and mike (big white dood you can’t miss him) he explain his shit, Im a 12 years satisfied customer

I’ve gone to Technic Auto several times over the last 10 years. Wayne and his mechanic Mike are awesome. They are sincere and honest. As a women, I have always been wary of dishonest mechanic shops. Needless to say, I haven’t had that problem in over 10 years. I once had a Mitsubishi which blew a head gasket and Wayne and crew repaired the engine quickly. In a week, I was driving around again with no problems. That car lasted another 5 years until I sold it. Now I drive an Acura Legend, although it is old they keep it running. I drive from San Jose for service since I’ve moved away and trust no other shop. Wayne and Steve rock! I suggest you make an appointment since they attract a large flock of returning clients like me.

Wayne and the crew are good friendly guys. Wayne goes out of his way to explain the problems and the work he does. A total class act, honest and reasonable prices for the work. I come down from SF to employ his services because he’s that good.

I have been working with Wayne since 1999 and he has never done me wrong. Always provides excellent service and the most affordable prices around, go check for yourself. Whenever I buy a used car I bring to Wayne for his opinion, the guy knows his stuff, and oh yeah he has got a great sense of humor on him.

Their rate was affordable but their customer service was unsatisfied. Wayne was not there when I came in to drop it off my car after I got an estimate from him. This one asian dude was there to help with my service. His way of talking was too blunt and egotistic. It was almost like he did not want to help or do the work for my car, which were suspensions. Anyways, after some parts were installed, I took it for a test drive and I hear and feel something was wrong with the installation they did. So I took it back there and have them examine what was wrong. They found an issue that might cause it to happen. I had to paid extra but I did not complain about it. Wayne took it out for spin to see if everything was okay and then he had me drive it around to see if I was satisfied with the work they did. It felt better but I still feel something was wrong. Couple of weeks later, I was driving and somehow I spunned out of control but I was okay. I check my car and see one part of my rear suspension was awkwardly dislocated if you were to align the wheels parallel with the others. I thought it was my axle but I had people checked it out and told me it was the suspension that caused it. The last place I went was Technic that installed my suspension and I don’t think they did a good job on it. This is why I am giving them this rating for all the stress they put me through and that asian guy who talks like he is an expert in automotive but couldn’t even find the problem and did not install my suspension properly. Beware of the asian guy who looks like a fob and I dont recommend bringing your car there if you dont want future problems.

Wayne is awesome. A no bs kind of man, forward, and straight to the point. Just like how mechanics should be, completely opposite compared to those who sell more than wolf tickets to rack up your bill. This place is an honest and hardworking establishment. So I highly recommend this place to anyone who needs their car fixed because they will not steer you wrong.

Wayne is awesome his shop does good work, fast and efficient, plus you can’t beat the price. I was quoted over $ 1200 to have work done on my vw jetta from another shop, I took it to him since he has done other work on some of my other cars in the past and the quote he gave me was a lot less then the other shop. He change out the fuel pump, which the other shop was going to do for $ 1200, but he also switched out the fuel filter, did a tune up on the car, and changed out the brake pads. For a lot less. At the other shop they would of charged me over 2k to do all that. I highly recommend you come here if you want good, honest work done to your car.

Honest and reasonable. Something you don’t always get from dealerships and some auto shops. I’ll say this though, when you find a mechanic that has the integrity to keep honesty in the business while giving honest, reasonable price to solve your automotive problems…*takes a breath*…it’s a keeper!
I’ll just say one occasion, which is really recent. My Honda Odyssey had transmission problems for the second time and it’s on its second transmission unit, meaning that I’ve sent it to a Honda dealership before because it was, at that time, under warranty and I got a free replacement. Three years later, the same problem rose and this time, there is no warranty to rely on. Mike Harvey was going to charge me $ 3,688 and there’s no way I was going to do that. Wayne of Technic Auto quoted me for $ 2,500, which was the lowest price around and was what Mike Harvey promised originally (long story…).
Wayne stuck with the same price even though I went back to him a couple days after the quote. He promised to send the transmission off to a friend’s shop to have it built and requested for stronger parts this time.
One thing I learned from Wayne and his crew is that if you give him enough time, he’ll do the best job! Give less and he’ll work with whatever time he has to meet your deadline. Wayne will not beat-​around-​the-​bush and he can be straightforward with what’s wrong with your car. I just know that whatever mechanical issues that are beyond my abilities, you’ll see my car there.

I called in and asked if I should make an appt to check my shocks. The man said come by and he’ll check it out.
Once I get there, no one was in the office for 15 minutes. We finally went in the garage and told them we just spoke to someone who would check my car. They glanced up and mumbles something incoherent. We asked again and the younger asain male right in front of us didnt even bother to turn around. One white guy just said «well we’re full» and continued fixing the car.
So in conclusion, Customer service sucks. They don’t give a damn.

Just had my 2000 Toyota Camry Air conditioning system recharged. This place was very reasonable and the guys are honest about what they do. I was also referred here by my good friend Ben and was pleasantly surprised by their quick and attentive attitude to my car problem. They immediately addressed it and gave a reasonable expected time of when they could fix it.
Thank goodness for Wayne and his tireless attitude towards doing a good job!

So Honest (with cap H,) so reasonably priced. Wayne diagnosed a year-​old problem in 3 seconds flat that the previous mechanic missed. Thoughtful fixes they just throw in (fixed my hubcap, my girlfriend’s fender which had become detached from the frame). This refreshing experience makes me more inclined to repair my car.

The staff here are busier than ever because they do honest, diligent, careful work. I’ve taken five different cars here, a Cougar, Protégé, Camry, Jetta, and a Thunderbird. Thats for a radiator, trailer hitch, transmission diagnosis, oil leak repair, and upper ball joints. All the work was done correctly and at a fair price. Multicultural shop with all good people. A+ rating from a mechanic myself.

No parking. No waiting room. No bathroom. Random car and motorcycle magazines lay scattered. Miscellaneous car parts from BMW to Toyota lie in miscellaneous piles. Random racing posters from the 80’s are plastered on the grease stained walls. Welcome to Technic Auto.
The meat and potatoes: In short, Wayne is a class act with honest and good mechanic work. He and the other mechanic, Mike, have a sense of humor to boot. I always recommend Technic Auto to friends, and I take both my cars here for service.
Technic Auto does not do alignments. They have done the following types of work for me on my cars: tire rotation, brake change, oil change, transmission service, exhaust and intake (aftermarket), shock/​spring installs, lighting equipment, and tune up work. Patrick and Wayne also can do aftermarket work, depending on what you want.
Parking is DIFFICULT in that area. If you are not there to pick up your car when it’s ready, the mechanics will park it somewhere in the area. That means you are at the mercy of the parking restrictions. No big thing, but good to keep in mind.
You want even faster service (because Technic Auto is already pretty speedy)? Bring in your own parts, ie; oil, filter, other parts. That way they won’t have to spend the time ordering the parts, picking them up, etc. I almost always bring in my own parts.
Another note: the stop sign down the block is frequently enforced by local police. You should be making full stops, anyway! Criminals!
Update: April 2011: Wayne and company are still ticking and I continue to go to them for all my auto mechanic needs. Call ahead of time; their morning to-​do list can fill up fast.

On the recommendation of my friend Ben (See previous post), I went to this shop to get some work done on my car.
Now, seeing as my old man was a greasemonkey (but he’s just old now.) and my favorite former neighbors were also greasemonkeys (my dad and them would used to work on each other’s cars together, and leave me sitting in their living room playing Super Nintendo. MARIO CART. Woo! It was the only form of driving I could do legally at the time.
Anyways, before I shoot off on another tangent, I went in to get an axle replaced, since I was getting sick of my 95 Civic making the clickity clack of the driver side axle when I turned. Wayne himself took my car for a spin before hand and checked out the noise I had been tormented by.
He came back after pulling a couple of circles at a nearby intersection, and drove back into the garage. He rubbed his ears a little bit, and said, «Yep, axle broken, but I want to check on something else too.»
They jack the car up and we walk under it, and he astutely points out, «yep, broken boot» while poking at the greasy backside of my driver side wheel.
So I went home to get some homework done, and I get a phone call later. The something else that Wayne wanted to check up on was the bearings on the driver side. Turns out I WAS missing a few. Since Patrick (one of the other really helpful mechanics) had already taken off the driver side axle,. they peeked into the bearings. Since they already had the parts they needed, and had removed all the bits they needed to, they just needed to get my permission to throw in the bearings. No additional labor! Woot! $ 20 bucks for silence in my car!
All in all, it came out to be really affordable to get my axle replaced, boot replaced, and bearings replaced.
I would recommend this place to anyone who needs to find a reliable mechanic who knows what he’s doin’ and how to do it quickly and as painlessly as Wayne can.

I own a 1985 Toyota Corolla GT-​S, and needless to say, it’s in a state of never-​ending repair/​modification/​and tinkering. With a 20 year old car like this, parts are hard to find, bolts are frozen and rusted in place like barnacles, and it can be almost overwhelming to handle some things yourself.
In my case, I had a set of springs and shock absorbers that I tried replacing myself. I got 4 bolts off in about 2 hours… then realized that I couldn’t do it myself and put it all back together. I needed someone who knew what they were doing.
In comes Technic Auto Repair…
I found this unassuming shop through craigslist, advertising aftermarker suspension packages (eibach/​tein) with a VERY reasonable labor rate. So I made a call to the shop, and setup a spring/​shock replacement for the next day… no problem.
Located in an industrial part of San Bruno near SFO, the shop is small, slightly disheveled looking, and has only one garage door, but as always, looks always deceive.
I would have to say, I felt a little bit at home in this place:
Inside the shop there were at least 4 other cars, 2 of which were on lifts located deeper into the shop. The walls, were decorated with racing posters, sticker endorsements, old performance tires, and all the tools and spare parts these guys would ever need. In addition to the décor, the main garage had a flat screen television mounted inside hooked up to a small sound system and DVD player.
Inside the small, but cozy office, various other racing parts/​paraphernalia hung on the walls/​on display, along with racing trophies, a generous selection of tuning magazines, and a television playing JDM Option DVD’s.
I approved.
I pulled up and left my car in the garage entrance, greeted by a team of efficiently-​dirty mechanics who were very easygoing and friendly from the start. I told them that I had all my suspension components in the trunk, so they placed them on the ground, put in the original French version of Taxi (1998) on the garage flat screen TV and off they set to work, putting my car on a portable lift.
These guys definitely knew what they were doing, despite my car being sort or rare these days. They did my rear suspension in about 20 minutes, effortlessly doing what would have taken me about 3 hours… until they hit a snag with my front suspension.
Apparently, the person I bought my shock absorbers from, forgot to include the shock mounts and lower washers… creating a problem which most mechanics would have said:
«OK, missing parts, we either stop now, or put your old stuff back on.»
These guys… not even a raised eyebrow. The mechanic went through his various drawers full of remaindered and left over parts from other cars for a full 20 minutes, eventually finding suitable replacement parts from some german car that ended up working perfectly!
After this little problem was fixed, another 30 minutes later, my strut assemblies were all done and replaced on the car, and within an hour and a half of coming in, my car was all finished, sitting 1.5 inches lower than when it came in. (He did however tell me that one of my ball joints was loose… nice.)
Despite all this extra work they put in, they still charged me the same price we agreed on when I walked in:
$ 170! (Wheel works quoted me for $ 700!)
The main mechanic who worked on my car took it for a quick drive around the block to make sure everything was working correctly, and came back with a smile on his face simply saying «ok, enjoy!»
So why did I write such a long, detailed review for such a common procedure, in a small, but cozy repair shop?
I overheard him saying business was slow during the repair, and I wholly believe that this is one of the best/​affordable shops I’ve been to on the Bay Area… Support this shop!
Summary:
–Small, seemingly cramped, messy looking shop
–The inside is where it counts, all a genuine petrolhead would need to keep themselves entertained for a couple hours.
–Good, hardworking, friendly mechanics who know their stuff
–Willing to go the extra mile for your repairs
–The taqueria next door is pretty good as well, it had awesome Carne Asada!
–Affordable! Springs and shock absorbers replaced for $ 170 (Compared to the $ 700 Wheel works tried charging me!)
Very much recommended! I’m going back, and so will you.
Forward: 12÷3÷08
Since writing this review, i’ve had an exhaust put on ($ 70), coilovers installed ($ 150), and the mother of all automotive jobs: Combination Longblock engine replace, clutch job, lightweight pulley replace, engine mount/​tranny mount/​waterpump/​oilpan gasket replace for an astounding $ 650.
I’ve had a blast every single time, and am still very impressed with the quality of the service, and the very reasonable labor. A word of note: the more you get to know Wayne, the goofier he becomes around you (in an entertaining way.)