Motoring Magic

These guys are the best!!! Thank you Team Motoring Magic for all that you have done for me.
If you are an owner of a Mini Cooper or thinking about buying one, you must go to the experts who do what they know best.
Scott is the owner of Motoring Magic who is honest, trustworthy, and a nice guy. He and his team are passionate about what they do and it shows in their attitude and by the results of their workmanship. I know that no matter the question or the size of the job, it’s always a priority. There are no hidden agendas or costs, and I never have to worry about getting sold something I don’t need. I’m confident that my car is in good hands with these guys. And I can guarantee that there is nobody that can beat their prices.
And lastly, I want to say thank you again, Scott, for your kindness today, I truly appreciate it.
Kudos to you and your team!
P. S. They have the coolest Mini’s for sale, too.

The first two reviews I wrote are still true and accurate for this shop — this review is about my most recent (excellent) experience here —
My car was suddenly immobilized in a parking lot in Laguna Niguel four months ago — no power to the wheels whatsoever. The insurance company wanted to tow it 7 miles to the closest repair facility which was Irvine MINI — instead I called Scott to sort out what was going on with the car (sounded like the clutch and flywheel were completely trashed) and then had it towed 92 miles on a flatbed up to Motoring Magic.
It took awhile for the tow company to arrive and then more than three hours for us to make it up to Thousand Oaks in afternoon traffic. Steve waited for us to get there — there was really great communication from him and Scott throughout the afternoon and he was so nice about staying after closing to take the car in — then he dropped me off at Enterprise to pick up a complimentary car rental because this shop covers the cost of a rental car if the cost of the work being done exceeds a certain amount.
The new clutch feels amazing — no breakin period — it’s solid, grabs fast and bites hard. The flywheel is all one piece now and not the stock MINI part which failed (miserably). It was a decently expensive job because of the labor — the nose has to be dropped, plus which they worked in some additional preventive maintenance I requested to have done while the car was there (serpentine belt replacement, oil filter housing replacement, coolant and brake fluid flushes) — while everything was apart already. Scott’s pricing is fair and WAY less expensive (and for way better parts) than the dealerships charge. He is honest about what services/​preventive stuff needs to be done and what can wait — and he now offers a discount for NOT using a credit card so ask about that if you want to save a bit.
I had written in my first review that I planned to come to Motoring Magic for everything as long as I could get the car there without a flatbed tow — we lived in Las Vegas at the time so to tow it to Thousand Oaks from there would’ve been unrealistic — but I was driving it there for awhile for routine maintenance when we would be in LA for work. We live in Santa Clarita Valley now and it was TOTALLY worth paying extra to have it flatbed towed to Motoring Magic from Laguna Niguel — especially for these more extensive repairs — no question. This is the shop — these guys are friendly, so experienced, they will stand behind their work — and the car feels like a little rocket ship now.

Excellent service & proper, fair pricing. Passion and knowledge for MINI product is obvious; very cool facility. Scott [owner], techs Steve & Vince both were available and professional. I live an hour away and my experience made the drive easy. Also to noted, what was a substantial leak and tantamount a big issue, was a 34 $ part. They could of fleeced me. Rotated my tires, washed the car. Nice touch: Class act gentlemen… Thk you MM

If you’ve got a mini whether it be new or old your gonna need a good mechanic… well Scott is the best in the tri county area… he’s very knowledgable and very fair on his pricing. If it doesn’t need to be replaced he’ll tell you just that, he never does any unnecessary work and gets the job done in a timely and affordable manner.
I recently started getting a intermittent miss, more of a stumble when taking off and under acceleration! I took it to Scott and he drove it and came up with a repair plan of attack… we took a few stabs at it and within less than a week we diagnosed the problem and he got it running like a raped ape again… no more tripping and stumbling on take off… PREPARE FOR LAUNCH… lol
Thanx Scott, YOU ARE THE MAN!

In 2007 my wife bought her Mini Cooper S new. She has only put 35,600 miles on it over the last eight years. When the Mini wouldn’t start one morning I figured it was the HPFP (High Pressure Fuel Pump). Mini has warrantied this part for 10 years/100,000 miles so I had it towed to the local Mini dealer. They told me I had no pressure in two cylinders and low pressure in the other two. They gave me a preliminary estimate of $ 5000 but stated it could go higher once they get the head off.
I have had work done on her Mini before by Motoring Magic and was impressed with their knowledge and service so I had the car towed there. Scott, the owner/​operator did the preliminary check on the car while I watched explaining everything as he went. After a short time he determined the head needed to come off to figure out the issue. A few days later I got a call from Scott. The estimate for the repair was $ 4,500. Scott went over all of the issues and explained the cost. A few days later Scott calls again. Good news, it was not as bad as he first feared and the estimate came down to $ 2,400.
OK… I am 62 years old and have been to a lot of mechanics over the years. I have never ever got a call that lowered the original estimate by almost 50 per cent. When I picked up the car his second estimate held. Amazing. And, Scott knows Minis. If you have an issue, call him. If you need mechanical work done it is worth the cost of a tow to get it to him.

I moved to Ventura but I still drive to Motoring Magic because I trust them to do excellent work, only when truly necessary, and at a very fair price. I wouldn’t take my precious Mini anywhere else!

Best place to get your Mini serviced in the area, forget the overpriced dealerships. He’s always my go to when my 2012 mini clubman had issues. He doesn’t bullshit you and is straight up, very nice man… I’m writing this review because unfortunately I will be taking my car into him tomorrow morning.

Had «Service Engine Soon» light come on, and on recommendations from the MINI car club, took our 2005 Cooper S to Scott.
Diagnostic was free, and they explained why we got the code (probably in error due to our recent multi-​altitude driving), and that if the light came back on, certain sensors would need replacing.
Obviously these guys are as honest as we were told, and even though it’s a long LONG drive for us, we’ll be back when we need repairs.
Thanks Motoring Magic!

I have been going to Scott since he opened with my MINI Cooper S. I trust Motoring Magic with the care of my precious MINI. Motoring Magic’s quality within the MINI community is well known, but they work on other cars also.
Scott and the crew just did a major overhaul of my other car, a Subaru Legacy They were able to find the core issue. I had a weird mechanical issue that I had taken to dealerships, and other mechanics over the last year that nobody could figure out the root cause. I replaced several parts only to discover that they were guessing, and not diagnosing the issue. Very fair on prices, but most importantly, a straight shooter, no hidden surprises. Highly recommend him to you, even if you have another car make.

Another 5 star performance by Scott and Steve. Replaced our cracked turbo inlet tube, front brake pads, and oil service. Worth the 7hour drive up and back from San Diego every time. Thank you Motoring Magic.

Scott is great. Fair prices and excellent work he stands behind.
I had my 2014 F56 lowered with NM springs that started knocking. He fixed it next day and got on phone with NM to discuss. Quality shop run by a quality guy.

A few friends recommended Motoring Magic to me and I didn’t mind driving 120 miles roundtrip to have work done on my car there.
I bought some new brake air vents for my car and they did a great job installing them. I am probably going to buy a diffuser in the future and I’ll have them install that too.
It is very close to Thousand Oaks Boulevard, so I just walked over and had a nice leisurely lunch with some friends while they worked on putting the new vents in.
If you have a MINI and need some work done I would check this place out.

When my warrantee expired I finally had to look for a good mechanic… OMGOSH I wish I’d found them ages ago! Incredibly knowledgeable, honest, and efficient… will never go anywhere else again!

Scott has been working on my husband’s Mini Cooper S for the past three years, and when my just-​out-​of-​warranty VW Tiguan battery started dying, I rolled into Motoring Magic to see if they could recommend a good VW mechanic. I was so happy to learn that the MM crew now work on VW/​Audi! They guys replaced my battery in no time and I now have a mechanic for life.

I took my mini in for some service. Scott’s guys completed it but as soon as I drove away mechanical problems unrelated to the work done stopped me dead in my tracks. Scott let me know that it was a total coincidence that my new break down happened literally the second I started my car and pulled off his lot and that his mechanics had nothing to do with it. Scott did let me know though that he would replace the new broken part (unrelated to the other work he had completed) and only charge me the cost of the part, not installation. Fair enough, problem is when I looked up the price of the part it was a fraction of what Scott charged me. When I called another mechanic for a quote for the part plus installation the other mechanic quoted me, you guessed it, the price Scott had charged me for just the «part».

Came here and bought my NM hi flow intake for my R56. I called about 2:45pm and they were currently out of stock. Scott says he will call me back and sure enough he called me within the next hour to let me know that he ordered me one and its on its way and can pick it up as soon as it gets there. I got there at 4:40 and the intake was there’s waiting for me. The best customer service I’ve ever seen! Thank you Scott! If your looking for parts for your Mini this place is definitely a place to go. If you ever have any questions Scott will definitely answer it as he is also an expert and a Mini Cooper enthusiast.

I took my 2003 MINI Cooper S back to Motoring Magic following a recent road trip, during which a «Check Engine» light came on. A quick check with the code reader indicated a bad 02 sensor, something I’ve had to replace before.
Some other shops might have just gone ahead and replaced the sensor (which is about a $ 200 part), but when I told Scott when and where the light came on (after driving in 10,000-ft elevation), he suspected that the sensor was fine and the extreme elevation change caused the problem. So it was just a matter of clearing the code and sending me on my way. Whew!
While I was there I did have my oil changed too. Can’t say enough good things about this shop!

I had a very hard to troubleshoot problem that even the dealership didn’t want to tackle. Scott and his guys at Motoring Magic really took this as a personal challenge to figure it out. Every care was taken to ensure that not only did they fix my car perfectly but also kept my budget in mind every step of the way. Always notifying me of what they wanted to do and getting my approval beforehand. I live quite a ways away in Tehachapi but won’t consider taking my car anywhere else. I couldn’t ask for a better more professional shop to take my car than Motoring Magic.

I am a very picky person when it comes to cars. I’ve always done my own car repairs and upgrades whenever possible. I’ve had repeated bad experiences in the past with some car dealerships doing poor quality work and damaging my car (Dodge and Infiniti). Some MINI dealerships have been better (Camarillo) than others (Bob Smith), and while both have been acceptable they are expensive for non-​warranty repairs.
Now that I own a MINI, Scott and the employees at Motoring Magic are my go-​to guys for all the maintenance and repairs that I don’t know how to do or don’t want to do myself. Oil changes, intake valve cleaning (walnut shell media blasting), sway bar installation, and more. Scott’s advice and diagnosis have been right on, and his prices are reasonable. They also get work done in a timely manner.
Scott and Steve treat me like a fellow car guy and I feel comfortable talking with them and being in their shop. They take the time to show me my car and explain how things work. They used a mirror to show me the carbon build up on my car’s intake valves, and Steve emailed me before and after photos of each valve. Great service!
These guys really care and it shows.

I can’t say enough good stuff about Scott or Motoring Magic. Where the dealer had gouged me for unnecessary repairs (both at Bob Smith and Universal Mini), Scott was very up-​front about what the costs would be, as well as letting me know what REALLY needed to be done. He also steered me away from some ‘conventional wisdom’ I’d read on a Mini forum, and saved me hundreds in the process. When my A/​C started acting up, he recharged the system a second time at no charge because he believed since it had leaked after he’d worked on it, that it wasn’t fair for me to pay again! What?!
I told him that someday I wouldn’t own my Mini any more, and that he’d just have to learn to work on whatever I bought. That’s how good they are.