Berkeley Motor Works

Checking in with an UPDATE:
Here it is six years later from my previous review, and my 1987 e28 /​535is BMW continues to run strong = a testament to the work done by Mike, Ilya, and the crew at Berkeley Motor Works. Their expertise kept us on the road for more than a decade, including major services and installing a rebuilt transmission. They were always there when I needed them most.
Big thanks to Berkeley Motor Works for keeping me and the ‘Pest-​mobile’ rolling along.

Mike and Scott did a great job on my BMW X3. They charged a fair price on an oil change and identified a water leak free of charge. They also washed my car which was a nice plus and replaced my Cabin Air filter for a good price. Friendly, professional guys and they are diamond certified!

The transmission on our 2003 BMW 530ia had been acting up and going into «LIMP MODE.» My husband and I refused to believe that we needed a new transmission (we barley drive the car), so with some studious (google) research, we found different components under the hood that could trigger the transmission to going into LIMP MODE. They were repairs my husband was able to do, but to see if the repairs helped, the transmission codes had to be cleared.
This is where Berkeley Motor Works comes in. Mike, the owner I believe, was in the front office when I arrived. I told him all I need was to have the transmission codes cleared, a couple questions later he grabbed a portable transmission computer thing, hooked it up and cleared the codes. It took him minutes, so I am assuming that’s why he did NOT charge me!
That act of kindness meant a LOT to us, since only one of us is currently working. He had no idea of our situation and could have tried to charge, but he didn’t. I say all this b/​c prior reviews indicate that they are price gougers. Based off my experience, I don’t believe this to be true. I think there may have been a lapse in communication, but I do NOT think they were trying to be underhanded.
I HIGHLY recommend dealing with Mike, if you can. He is also very patient and will take the time to respectfully answer your questions. This also meant a lot to b/​c I have dealt with other mechanics that could be down right condescending.

I took my Mercedes in for the first time over the weekend while on my way to a wedding. It was a great experience. They were amazingly knowledgeable about Mercedes. And everyone, from the service professionals to the owner, took the time to answer all of my questions. Highly recommend to friends and family in the area.

I took my 02 Mercedes S430 in after replacing my front air struts and aromatic compressor. Called ahead to see how much they would charge to reset airmatic leveling system on computer and rack. I was told $ 200. Told me they would be done that day. But I did not receive a call until the next day. I was told by Mike the owner that they had ran into some electrical problems and had to spend more time on the car.
I asked how much time? He said it would be $ 450. I said What! you should have contacted me before doing additional work. He said I know you wanted the car fix so we went ahead and did it. You should be happy we got your car fixed. I said I would talk to you when I get there.
I then looked at all the other Unilocal reviews to see that they up charge everyone. I was determined not paying anything over the $ 200 I had agreed to on the work order.
I asked what was the electrical problem? He rattled off some junk as to the sensor was not sending signal to aromatic compressor he thinks. (He thinks?) I asked what was the fix? Oh we removed the sensor and cleaned the contacts. (No parts replaced) Now that’s about a 3 to 4 min. job to unplug the sensor behind the wheel, spray electrical contact cleaner and reseat the connector. You do not even need to remove the wheel it can be reached by turning the steering wheel to the far right or left. I said I will only pay what I agreed to on work order. After a few more words Mike agreed. Beware they are crooked!

I had my car serviced there recently and the gouging was really bad. This is a cut throat operation and they have you trapped, give you an estimate of $ 128/​hour to diagnose problem. After that they call you and create a drama scenario and if you back out, they would have you pay the $ 128 for diagnosis.
NEVER AGAIN, MIKE! Stop gouging people man.

Normally I would do an oil change myself but I was having a super hectic month, so I decided to be lazy and take my car to the nearest shop that specializes in BMW’s. I called, made an appointment and then drove my e39 M5 to Berkeley Motor Works. The guy at the front desk gave me an estimate of $ 165.00 for the oil change. I was fine with this price since it would cost me $ 110.45 + 30 minutes to do it myself.
MATH: (Parts from
)
7 quarts of 10w-​60 TWS @ $ 14.50/qt
OEM oil filter kit for $ 8.95
(7×14.5) + 8.95 = 110.45
Basically I would be paying $ 54.55 more but I get to relax and not worry about it anymore. Good trade off.
They call me and tell me my car is done and ready for pick up. I go to the front desk, whip out my wallet, guy hands me the service invoice and (WTF moment of the day) they wanted to charge me $ 265.46 for the oil change.
MATH:
9 quarts of 10w-​60 TWS @ $ 18.62
Environmental Fee = $ 2.66
Oil Filter Kit = $ 19.43
Parts Cleaner = $ 6.00
Labor = $ 51.20
Tax = $ 18.59
(9×18.62)+2.66+19.43+6 +51.2+18.59 = 265.46
This is $ 100.46 OVER what they estimated, which is also a 60.88% mark up. If you are about to charge $ 167.58 for oil and $ 19.43 for a filter kit… how do you give me an estimate of $ 165??? This is without labor factored in…
$ 100.46 could buy me roughly 400 chicken nuggets from McDonalds (20pc for $ 5) OR a new pair of ALDO DEORE shoes ($ 80)
I mean… what an absolute SCAM! They already did the work … I also didn’t feel like going H.A.M. and teaching a course in Business Ethics 101 so I stared at the invoice in disbelief for a solid 2 minutes, paid and left.
At the bottom of the service invoice it says «I hereby acknowledge and approve any oral/​electronic increase over the original price for service/​repairs.» OH MAN YOU GOT ME WITH THAT ONE.
Also they told me I had a dumb amount of things I needed to replace. I probably would have asked for a quote but I know the estimate would just be another DIRTY LIE.

I started going to Berkeley Motor Works because I was sick of paying the extreme prices at the Mercedes dealership. I was recently in a car accident and my insurance covered the external damage but my car did not drive the same after. My insurance would not listen to me. I brought it here and they were empathetic to my needs and took the time to fix the not so obvious problems that continued to frustrate me. A very accommodating and efficient shop. Definitely recommended.

I have a 1998 BMW 3 series that I have always had serviced in San Francisco. I moved to the East Bay recently and looked for a reputable shop to service my old but very reliable car. Found Berkeley Motor Works and saw that they had good reviews (obviously didn’t check Unilocal). I had a very bad experience. I took the car in for a $ 130 oil service. They called and said they had found some other things wrong, some big, some small. I opted to do the small items, replace two filters and replace four hoses. They said that the additional work would be a few hundred dollars, but when I went to pick up the car the bill was $ 1019. They had charged an additional $ 890 for this very simple, limited work. They actually charged over $ 500 just for the labor on this additional work which probably would take a trained technician maybe an hour to do. All I can say is outrageous. I would be very carefuly about bringing your car here, and make sure you get hard copy estimates for whatever you’re going to have done. On top of everything, when I wrote and complained, I did not even get so much as an email back either explaining, apologizing or offering an adjustement.

Really shocked to see bad reviews for Berkeley Motor Works, but you know, auto shops are just tricky. Either you love it or hate it, there doesn’t seem to be much in between. I had a great experience here, taking a vehicle for a pre– purchase inspection. The inspection was thorough and honest.

Terrible service. They always find something wrong with your car and try to make you spend more. Staff is very unfriendly.

This is an update to a review I gave Berkeley Motor Works last year (2÷5÷2011) when we took our overheating 1968 BMW 1602 in to have the thermostat checked and if faulty, replaced.
What they did instead was «check the cooling system» by doing some kind of test on the water in the radiator.
After this cooling system check, we were told that our car needed a new head gasket. We thought this was strange as we were not experiencing any oil in the water/​water in the oil that you typically see with a blown head gasket. We questioned this diagnosis.
We opted not to have this repair made and we trailer-​ed the car home. After replacing the thermostat ourselves, (the repair we would have paid them to do), the car runs fine with no overheating since that time.
Funny thing is, a few days ago, we got a call from Berkeley Motor Works asking us how the car was running. At the time of the call, we had the car out on Hwy 1 — headed to Capitola for the day. Yep — running just fine, no thanks to you…

I’ve taken my car here for several emergency repairs. I usually do the maintenance and super easy stuff myself (NOTE: correlation does not imply causation. just sayin’).
When my ‘mass air flow sensor’ went out — which created some really peculiar problems, mind you — I feared for the worst, thinking it was something to do with the very expensive VANOS. I dropped it off in the early afternoon and they contacted me the next morning stating they isolated the problem by using a known working sensor. A very expensive sensor, but such are the perils of owning a BMW.
They have always been courteous, efficient and willing to go into detail about the problem (s) you’ve reported or they’ve found with a complimentary visual inspection. My first visit was to get my ‘Expansion Tank’ replaced (overheating). They gave me a literal laundry list of problems they found, which I was pretty impressed to get for such a simple repair.
They seem to be authentic enthusiasts and genuinely care about your BMW’s well being. I recommend them.

I really liked this place until a couple of years ago (or so) when the front office figure changed, and I’m not sure I’ll go back because of it.
All I can say is my car must be a real POS because each time I go in, the list of needed repairs is long and costly.

I have had two interactions with this shop. The first time I had the 328 towed to another shop on the recomendation of AAA. That shop called me in the morning and said that they do not work on BMW’s! They did recomend Mike at Berkeley Motor Works. Mike and Paula are both friendly, knowledgable and experts on BMW’s! I recently noticed a big red stripe on my X3. So I stopped by to ask Pauls for a recomendation to a body shop. She sent me to 101 Auto Body on Jacuzzi in Richmond. Because they know I was refered by Berkeley Motor works, and Paula, I got a great deal on my repair. These are greta people who will take good care of you and your car!

I’ve been taking my 1999 e36 M3 to this place ever since I had a train wreck experience at two dealer shops. Besides all the Mandatory fees of dealers, shop rates were too expensive in relation to the service level (take a number).
Given that I already own a big money waster (BMW) I’ve made my peace with shop rates and generally higher priced parts (i used to own a honda and infiniti etc).
That being said, the staff here is very accommodating and courteous and Mike (the owner) will explain the necessity for repairs and make recommendations based on his experience.
There were some previous reviews about over-​repairing or repairing too early.
Mike would like for all of his customers to be driving «feels like new» 20 year old BMW’s if he had his way. But, not everyone can afford that. So, take the recommendations into consideration. If you can spring for it, do it.
there is nothing like having a 10 year old car with 140k miles that drives like it just left the lot. :)
I come here for my 60 day oil changes (that’s 5k miles in 60 days) and they get me in and out quickly, and early too. There’s a sitting room (with Grandma’s old comfy couch) and WiFi if you need it for surfing or working.
I’ve brought my own parts in too before which is great considering the wonders of the interwebs and pricing.
Remember: you bought a BMW now you have to maintain it. that statement and cheap don’t go well together. if you want personable, friendly service with reasonable shop rates and parts prices than this is the place.

Every time I go they bring exceptional service to make sure the car is getting it’s needs. They are great when it comes to dropping your car off and bringing you to work if needed.
A few things, I definitely hadn’t thought about how much a bmw costs to fix, so it’s definitely taken a toll on my wallet, however i trust that everything they are doing is what’s needed and what’s best.
They have been good to me

Personally I will never take my car back to this place again. Although the people there seemed really nice I wouldn’t pay an arm an a leg for it. It seems like every time I take it in it seems like another problem arises. One time I went over the receipt and realized they had overcharged me $ 200 bucks for something! Subsequently I went back and made a fuss so they «gave» me back the extra $ 200. If I wasn’t any wiser I would’ve definately been out $ 200.
The owner has contacted me about my posting and has been very professional so I chose to tone down my posting just out of respect. I had a bad experience, you may not… the choice is yours.

Every time I bring my cars to Berkeley Motor Works I leave with a smile. Mile and Jane run an amazing shop. I have taken all my BMW’s to Berkeley Motor Works form a rare 1988 M6 to my 2008 335i. They take their time, make sure that everything is done right, and are competitive with their pricing. They have a «frequent oil change card», after 5 paid oil changes, you get 1 for free. Overall ALWAYS a great experience. A++++ for Mike and the great staff at Berkeley Motor Works!!!

When I had my first BMW, I took it here. The staff is super friendly and they all really enjoy and appreciate BMW’s. They do restorations and complete rebuild on some of the older classic models.
I didn’t rate them higher because on one occasion they replaced my shift knob without asking me, and then made me pay for it, and I didn’t get to pick which kind of knob I wanted. Here’s the thing, it’s MY CAR. When I drove her, I was able to drive without the knob constantly coming off in my hand. I was just gentle. They said it was a «safety» issue. I would have appreciated a phone call before they installed it.
The other reason that I ultimately found another BMW mechanic was that sometimes Carol, the receptionist, would try to make me feel guilty for taking my baby to Jiffy lube for every other oil change. I get enough guilt from my family, I don’t need more from my mechanic.
If you have an older BMW, and you want to get it back to show room condition — come here.
Also, I’ve used them for pre-​purchase inspections, and this is where they really shine. They helped me avoid buying a few lemons, with one, they said that it had so much work that needed to be done, it would exceed the asking price [about $ 7000]!!!