Greg’s Japanese Auto

A BIG two thumbs up for this company! I had been to Greg’s once before, and it was great experience but I didn’t think to write a review, and feel I need to give these people the credit they deserve for excellent customer service.
I called yesterday because I thought my 2006 Honda Odyssey’s engine was going to fall out on the freeway! Last week while dropping my daughter off at school, we went over a tiny speed bump, and it felt like something snapped. After that, there were these terrible noises you could hear… creaking and groaning while driving and a giant CLUNK every time I put the van in reverse.
When I called, the man on the other end of the phone was very pleasant and when I told him I was worried because I needed to drive to Arlington with my 3 kids today, and was concerned about the noises ultimately being a safety issue, he asked me to come down at my convenience and have his technician go on a test drive to figure out if the van was indeed safe to drive. I got there and spoke to Alex, who was great, and after a small wait Mark came for a test drive. After a 2 minute drive he asked if he could go take a look at the van quickly in the garage and within about 5 mins came back and told me it was simply a nut on one of my front struts that had come loose. He had tightened it for me, and all the sounds were GONE.
As I left, nearly every one of the staff smiled, waived and told me to have a great day and no charge was given for their time. I so appreciate the staff, and am fortunate to have found a place I trust to take my car in when I have a problem – big or small. Thanks Greg’s! I’m sure I’ll be back! :)

Fast, super helpful, super friendly, no sales pressure. My whole family goes to Greg’s

This review started as 5 stars but has dropped significantly over the last two months due to the excessive customer service follow up surveys and phone calls.
Original Review: So initially I was skeptical taking my brand new Subaru to a place other than the dealership for services. However, Greg’s has exceeded my expectations every step of the way. Their prices were consistently 20% lower than the Carter Subaru down the street and my wait time to get the car in has always been less than a week. My only qualm is that I have to go elsewhere for tire rotation. Not a big deal when I consider Les Schwab will do it for free. At the last service I did have a bit of sticker shock, but when I called around for comparison Greg’s was significantly more reasonable than the dealership.
The waiting area has always been very comfortable as well. My kids appreciated the toys and the free WiFi.
I’ll update this review as time goes on to make sure I am giving accurate information on my experience, but as of August 2015… I’m pleasantly surprised.
Edit 8÷31÷15: One thing that has become extremely annoying after my positive experience at the service center is the excessive customer service follow up afterwards. I received no less than 2 phone calls by polling companies asking about my experience and 2 emails. After my initial review, this excessive unsolicited contact has left me irritated and annoyed. Obviously the company thinks I have nothing better to do with my life than fill out multiple satisfaction surveys and answer telemarketers all day. Now I’m re contemplating returning for my next service because I’ll dread the excessive customer service follow up.
Edit 9÷10÷2015: Yet another follow up phone call today!!! Agh! I am never taking my car there again. This is completely rude and obnoxious. Now 4 follow up survey phone calls. I had to ask to be placed on the do not call list. I don’t want to take a million service surveys!!! I only wanted my oil changed!!! Now you’ve lost a customer because you wouldn’t leave me alone.

Stopped in to see about having them replace the starter on my Honda Accord. They advised me that under Washington State law they could not install the starter I had purchased (was going to do it myself) but that they could only install the starter that they would get for me which coincidentally was twice as expensive. Highly question and doubt the statement about WA law since it was being used to get me to buy their overpriced part.
When they told me not to worry about a new intake manifold gasket (intake manifold needs to be removed to install starter) as since it was metal they could use it again, I lost confidence in their professionalism. Decided not to use them and completed the job myself.

I wish I would have been coming here sooner. They were up front and honest about what I needed and what could wait. I know my 96 4 runner is in good hands from now on.

These guys saved my road trip! after my car had left me stranded and wondering how I was going to continue my trip, the crew at Gregs in Lynnwood stayed late to diagnose my issue and then searched out a hard to find part and had it ready for me to head out the next day! couldn’t be happier! Thank you to Alex and the crew down there for helping me out of a very stressful situation.

We took our sons car here when it just started to over heat. It was saturday at 4:20pm, they close, at 5pm. When we got there we could tell they were getting ready to close up for the day. They brought the car in the shop, diagnosed the problem and had fixed the problem which was a hole in one of the hoses. By the time they were done it was 5:30pm. Never once did they make us feel like we were inconveniencing them even when they stayed a half an hour later than closing time. Not only were we back on the road in an hour they didn’t charge us an arm and a leg for the repair. I recommend this shop to all my family and friends.

I have taken my Toyota commuter car to Greg’s for over 8 years. I have never had them do any work that failed or had them charge over the going rate. I think the Lynnwood Greg’s goes a bit too far recommending additional «needed» work. I have come to expect this kind of behavior and ignore their recommendations about half the time.
The manager Karl called when I had the car in for a 60k timing belt change and recommended over $ 800 of additional engine work. The additional work was to stop an oil leak but the car has leaked the same amount of oil from the same place for 8 years and has never required oil to be added between changes. The Bellevue shop recommended the same additional work when I took the car in for the previous 60k timing belt change. I paid the first time but the car continued to leak the same amount in the same place. I asked some basic questions about the consequences of not doing the work but Karl would not discuss. He just wanted a yes or no and was very curt. I used Greg’s website online email to complain and checked the box requesting a reply but no one replied.

These guys are awesome. They kept my 2002 Nissan Xterra SE/​SC going quite well for its near 200 000 mile life span until I turned her in for my BMW. These guys are great at this location. Honest and very to the point. Id trust any of my Jap cars to their very capable hands.

So I recently noticed my 1993 honda was leaking coolant & I feared the worse. I had recieved a referal from a family friend to try taking my car to Gregs Japenese Auto. I must had led the store manager (JIM HARMS) to believe that I was a sucker because the next series of events are the reason why I will NEVER take my car to this business again nor will I recommend anyone to ever trust this mechanic.
I dropped my vehicle off overnight and recieved a call from the store manager JIM HARMS the next morning informing me that I was going to need over $ 600 worth of repairs to fix the leaking antifreeze from what Gregs Japenese Auto mechanics told me was a cracked radiator. I had my doubts about how honest this business was being so I requested that they not do the work and that I would come pick my vehicle up (un-​repaired) when I got off work. I paid the $ 55 diagnostic fee and when I walked out to try to start my vehicle, I was stunned to find out that now my starter has mysteriously gone out. I cannot start my vehicle now. Jim & a mechanic come out to the car and bang on my starter with a hammer and tell me «Well it started right up when we moved it out here so I don’t know what to tell you? Good luck and have nice evening!»
I took the car to a Lynnwood Honda the next day and they informed me that they could find NO crack in my radiator and that a simple tigtening of two screws/​nuts would solve my leaking radiator issue. I replaced the started myself with help from a youtube video. I feel like GREGS JAPENESE AUTO not only attempted to scam me but assumed that I was stupid enough to let them steal my money. All the parts and labor cost were an absolute joke. I did not need a new radiator. I never needed a new radiator BUT this business told me FALSE INFORMATION and tried to scam me into beliveing I needed all this work for nothing. I warn anyone and everyone who deals with this business to get a second opinion because if they’ll do this to a potential first time customer (who is also family friends with one of their employees) then heaven knows how they probably treat complete strangers.
THANKS FOR TRYING TO SCAM ME GREGS JAPENESE AUTO. CUSTOMERS BEWARE!!!

AC in my car is broken. Quoted $ 150 over the phone. Found out I needed a replacement part. The quote I got to repair seemed high, so I said no thank you. Called Magic Toyota down the street, sure enough their quote was $ 140 less. What a waste of $ 110 bucks, thank goodness I had a coupon or it would have been $ 140! So much trying to support a small business.

I started going to Greg’s after the Ass’t Manager (Mark I think?) helped me reset my system one time when another shop couldn’t figure out how to do it. And he wouldn’t let me pay :) so this where I go now, and they are super speedy, reasonably priced and friendly. I do wish they would wash and vacuum car though… like the dealer’s service always does :) If they did, I’d give them 2 more stars.

I brought my 02 Montero into them for a timing belt and spark plug replacement and a front crank seal oil leak. While they were doing the work they found that the crank position sensor was broken and they could not determine if it was brought in that way or if they broke it while removing it for the above work. There was no clear evidence either way.
They absorbed the cost for the part — I think it was $ 190 and a few dollars for labor for that part. I appreciated the honesty.
I am going back.

Avoid this place if you don’t want to have them fix one thing and cause more work to be done on you’re car! I took my Acura 3.2TL to have a starter replaced and without me authorizing any other work or touching my car more I ended up with a problem with my oil pan that they won’t fix that they caused. Called Corporate Office (Mike) was VERY, VERY rude and said they had not made the problem and that they was being good guy’s by trying to help me out. I explained if you touched it and made this issue then you should fix it… seems they would fix and keep a customer but they would rather see no business and have other shop’s in the area take there business that I can PROMISE that they well never touch my car’s or anyone I know even if I needed a simple oil change! WORD of Mouth and KARMA shall be something that get’s all in the end!

I’ve gone twice at Greg’s and will surely keep going back! The people there are nice, helpful and respectful. I trust them and will not take my car anywhere else from now on!

My Nissan Maxima was running poorly and would die immediately after the first startup and then be fine after that. They threw parts at the problem rather than diagnosing it. The result was I paid $ 650 for parts (that cost $ 500 if purchased from the Nissan dealer) that I didn’t need and my car still had the original problems. To continue working on the car, they wanted another diagnostic fee paid to them. Instead, I took the car to Campbell Nissan where they quickly diagnosed and corrected the problems. Live and learn I guess — but it was an expensive lesson.

I took my 2002 Acura TL there when it appeared to be having transmission problems. They confirmed that to be the case and estimated a cost between $ 4 – 5,000. They had to order the part from California. When they mentioned that the 2002 – 2003 models were notorious for transmission failures, I went home and did some internet research. It turns out that there had been a recall and the transmission repair was free from an Acura dealer. They knew that and decided not to share. Then they wanted to charge me $ 500 for the shipping of the part they ordered, until I threatened to turn them in to the BBB. What slimes!