Toy Shop

The overall positive atmosphere Wayland and his team have is amazing — I feel like finding a quality, good natured, trustworthy mechanic is like finding a good therapist. Happy to have gone here and will go whenever my lil spaceship needs help and know its in good hands!
Thanks Wayland and the Toy Shop team — you made my day!

Great automobile service. Honest.
Only problem is difficulty in getting someone to answer the phone.

Hello? Hello !!! I’ve been trying to get through by phone to make a 30k appt… ring, ring, ring… please answer the phone so I can benefit from your services.

I brought my car in for fixtures & servicing after being told how amazing, honest, & helpful this place was. My car’s engine light had been intermittently turning on and off every few days for about 6 months. I was hesitant to get the problem fixed as I was told by a family member that she had the same problem before and brought her car into a different auto-​shop to get it fixed (where they charged her over a thousand dollars & they did not end up resolving the problem). She told me that when she decided to bring her car into Toy Shop, they fixed the issue right away for a very reasonable price. From my first experience with Toy Shop, I would have to agree with my family member about how awesome they are. They are amazing at what they do, honest to every detail about what your car needs and doesn’t need fixed, and are great with providing top-​notch customer service. I know there have been a few reviews mentioning how difficult it was to call them to set up an appointment, but TRUST me: if you keep trying at different times of the weekday, you will eventually reach them. (They are a VERY busy auto-​shop and they work really hard during the day to fix the cars of owners who want their cars back the same day) — I had the privilege of receiving my car back the same day, which was very helpful since I drive to work everyday. Wayland (who I assume is the owner of Toy shop) mentioned to me that he will never do any fixtures on cars unless the owner approves of the fixtures and prices. He called me in the afternoon of the morning I dropped off my car to ask if I was okay with the fixtures he found my car needed. He gave me the price for everything and explained what was going on with my car. I agreed right away and was shocked at how little it cost in comparison to all that they did for my car (it was no more/​less than I expected). I even had the pleasure to speak with Wayland’s sister who was very helpful with setting up my first appointment at Toy Shop & answering the questions I had. The staff here is wonderful, and they deserve great reviews all around! I will definitely bring my car back if I need servicing or any other fixtures done. Thank you Toy Shop! :)

I’ve never been able to use their service but every time I go in to ask if they can do work for me they have been absolutely amazing. Love the owner. five stars.

I wish I could give 6 stars.
It’s so hard to find an honest mechanic, but alas, there’s Toy Shop. I’ll just say that the Honda dealership wanted to charge me twice as much for a service, and asked me to replace things that didn’t need to be replaced. I learned all this after taking my car to the Toy Shop. They’re honesty will keep me coming back as a loyal customer. Thanks!

Just got my 90k on my Toyota Sienna done, just love this guy’s, as always great job !

Great service. Honest. Used multiple times.
Yes…difficult to contact (rings, no vm, closed weekends).
Toy Shop: maybe get a google number and have voicemails emailed to you?

Our Prius is 10 years old now, we used to go to the Toyota dealership, but the toy shop so much better they really know their Toyotas, they have even called l Toyota to see if we qualify for a recall, they are very busy, they don’t always answer the phone but the quality of work is awesome.

I selfishly so much don’t want everyone to find this business… but every truly great service and business deserves exposure.
I’ve had a really tough time finding a trustworthy auto service provider in SF — let alone one that is passionate about their service and high quality. Toy Shop is all three in my experience so far (though my friends share such experiences as well). I will share my first experience.
I went to the dealership for routine service– expecting to pay an exorbitant fee for an oil change and a list of things that needed fixing for a magnificently more exorbitant fee, and got exactly what I expected (there’s something to be said for consistency I guess): According to the dealership, I needed an oil change, replacement of all four breaks, replacement of a tire due to a leak, and replacement of shocks due to leakage: the damage: over $ 1k. I was suspicious, and took the opportunity to consult Wayland at Toy Shop finally after several recommendations from my girlfriend, who is far wiser than I am.
Summary. Wayland’s team:
1– Assessed the brakes and gave me better information: the front pads needed replacement, but the rear had some mileage left, and left it to me to decide to wait it out a bit more, or replace them (I chose to do the latter)
2– Didn’t stop at the tire pressure indicator light to make a recommendation (to replace the tire) but instead assessed the system– they checked the sensors for the tires, as well as the sensor settings, and found that a sensor was on the wrong setting– potentially causing a false alarm. No fix needed, but advice to continue to observe in case there is a leak — which (if it exists) would need a fix, not a full tire replacement
3– Again, didn’t stop at the symptom– the slight leakage of the shock — but assessed whether that symptom was indeed evidence of a real problem– in this case, though there was evidence of some leakage, the shock was working well and did not need replacement yet
4– Charged me a far better price for everything we did — a far better price than the dealer quote in every way.
Fair prices, quality service, assessing the system and not just the symptoms, and good advice — things that result in trust — are the things that will ensure I am a dedicated customer of this shop. I wish that more auto service shops — especially dealerships — lived up to the same.

Whalen is a CLASS ACT! On a cross country road trip I had a leak inside the car and he squeeze me in last minute. There ended up being nothing wrong and he refused to let me give him money to check it out. Everyone else in the shop was kind and courteous as well. Good service, honest people– definitely patronize this business.

The overwhelming positive reviews for the Toy Shop are a Unilocal!counterfactual… the service I might have received had I ever been able to schedule an appointment with Toy Shop. The overwhelmingly positive reviews for these folks led me to dial in every day for a couple of weeks hoping to get someone on the phone to schedule a tune-​up, but like some of the other frustrated reviewers I found that not matter how many times I called and let it ring for minutes on end, no one answered.
It might be unfair of me to review a service that I haven’t in fact used, but the other positive reviews focused purely on quality and value of the car service (which sounds terrific!) should be put into context so that future Unilocalers are aware of the overall picture here.

I’ve been back several times since I first «discovered» The Toy Shop and I just can’t say enough good things about my experiences with Waylon and the boys. Honest and very fairly priced work. As long as I own a Toyota I’ll bring it here for service/​repairs.

I had a big problem with my car, I needed advice I could trust, and fast. I didn’t know where to turn. I stopped by the Toyota dealership, where they wanted $ 120 just to look at it. I called another shop, but they couldn’t see me until the following week.
So I took a chance, and stopped by the Toy Shop. Wayland was unbelievably helpful, and gave me exactly the advice I needed.
The best part? I (now) know from painful experience he could have charged me hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of dollars to fix – or try to fix – my car’s problem. But instead, he helped me find a way to fix it myself without charging me a dime.
So even though I haven’t had him do any work on my car yet, he’s definitely earned my trust – and my future business.

Service is 5 stars!
Days open, hours, lack of phone answering and no voicemail is 2 stars.

Work — 5 stars
Service — 0 stars
No VM or secretary.

I live in San Rafael but had a client in SF today. On the way home at 4:30pm, I was stuck on 19^th Avenue in stopped traffic when all of the sudden my car started smoking, heavily! I pulled over on Funston and Geary and parked before my car exploded on me. I grabbed my phone to call my insurance co. (free towing) but as I grabbed my iphone out of my purse the screen went black. Great, car broke down and now phone dead too. It was then I remembered I had also forgotten my iphone charger at home. Oh, and did I mention it was raining! Awesome right?!
I trekked over (in the rain) to the 7 – 11 gas station and asked (pleaded) to use their phone. They gave me the once over and thankfully decided to let me use their phone. I called my mom and asked her to pick me up. She said she was in San Rafael at work but would try and call my grandparents to see if they could. Either way, she’d find me a ride. I asked the woman behind the county if she (by any chance) had an iphone charger I could borrow. She enough she did and proceeded to let me charge my phone behind the counter for the next 30 minutes.
About an hour later my amazing grandparents arrived. My grandfather, who has some basic car knowledge, looked under my hood and instantly found what was wrong. The problem was, we didn’t have any of the right tools to fix it. I remembered seeing this mechanic shop on my walk over and thought, «what the hell.» I walked over and spoke to an amazingly nice guy named Steve (?) who was busy working on a car. I explained my situation and asked to borrow some pliers. I doubted he would oblige (since I was a total stranger drenched in rain) but he responded with a smile and said «Sure, what kind do you need?» The pliers ended up not working and I had to go back and ask Steve for another pair which he also happily lent me. When I found out I needed a new part (a small clamp to keep my water hose in place) I went back again to Steve who again stopped what he was doing to help. He looked pretty busy so I was totally grateful for the help. I asked «How much?» for the part. He said «Make sure it works first.» Nice.
Sure enough the part worked perfectly. I went back to the Toy Shop, thanked them again and asked how much I owed them. They guy who worked in office told me «No charge.» I took out a $ 20 and tried to give it to him but he refused. I asked him to please take it. First, the people in 7 – 11 helped out by letting me use their phone and lending me a charger to charge my iphone. Then a guy on the street came over to help me and my grandfather fix my car. And lastly, the Toy Shop stopped what they were doing several times to lend me tools and eventually gave me a part. They had no idea who I was and took a risk by even lending me their tools which in the end probably saved me hundreds in dollars I would have paid my own mechanic. I told the guy, «Everyone today, including you, has showed me so much kindness… Please take my money so I can pay it forward.» He finally accepted my $ 20 and I left.
When my car broke down in the rain and my phone battery died I was instantly stressed and bummed out. I’ve been going through a difficult time these past few weeks and this was just icing on the cake. But today I found out that there are still good people in the world which makes me incredible happy and optimistic for what the future has to hold. What started off as a bad day has ended as a good one. Thank you Toy Shop and to everyone else who helped me out today.

Waylan is the most honest mechanic i have ever met.
I recommend toy shop to all my family, friends, and co workers. Hands down best service for you and your car!

According to Unilocal,Toy Shop isn’t open on Sundays… well then I really lucked out. It was Sunday at 5:45 PM when I found out I would need a replacement starter. AAA was able to start my car but I knew if I turned it off it wouldn’t start again.
I drove to Toy Shop hoping I could find some street parking nearby where maybe I could push it in on Monday. To my surprise Wayland was there… on a Sunday… after 6PM. He was helping another customer. My car was left running on the street in case I had to find another option. Wayland was able to squeeze my car into his overbooked schedule the very next morning. I wasn’t exactly sure what I would have done other than pay for a tow truck to move my car wherever I left it.
He was up front, informative, quick, and fair priced. I could not believe how far he went out of his way to accommodate me. I will recommend Toy Shop to anyone in SF who wants to service their car.

The Toy Shop is a very busy little business in the Richmond District of San Francisco. Their team is 100% dedicated to repairing vehicles and so it can get a little busy in there with customers dropping off their vehicles and picking them up as well as actually completing the work, which appears to be their primary focus as they get their scheduled work done when they tell you it will be complete.
It does get a little frustrating when you can’t reach them on the phone and they have no voicemail. It makes it hard to book an appointment.
Old school business with old school priorities. It’s kind of like our revered Liguria Bakery in North Beach. They open in the morning and close when they sell out. If you can reach them by phone good luck, if not they have more than enough business. It’s not personal, they’re just a small business and they aren’t interested in becoming an empire.
It’s a respectable model. I respect Waylan and he’s always been very helpful and taken good care of my vehicle.
If you want more, The Toy Shop might not be for you.