Claude’s Auto Service

A great mechanic. Quick work and honest.
I’ve done a few inspections, an oil change and a few other things here, and have had no complaints.

We’ve been taking the family cars to Claude’s for nearly 20 years for everything from inspections to ball joints to you name it. It’s an old fashioned mechanics service station. There are only two bays and no fancy waiting room with big screen tv. It’s pretty much drop off and pick up unless it’s something super quick or they happen to be slow.
I should mention that all our vehicles made it well over 100,000 miles (one was 22 years old the last time he worked on it). In all that time we’ve never had to bring the vehicle back because it wasn’t fixed right the first time.
Claude doesn’t upsell. He understands what «money is tight» means and will tell you what repairs can wait a month or two if need be and what needs to be done now for your safety with no BS. He’ll tell you if a job is bigger than he wants to get involved in (like replacing a custom exhaust or an entire engine) and where is a good place to take it. I got other estimates on a couple bigger repairs and Claude was always competitive if not lowest.
For me, choosing a mechanic is almost as personal a choice as choosing a doctor, maybe more. I’ve found my mechanic.

The starter went out on my car on Friday at 5:00, and every mechanic was closing and unable to take me in! I was in a panic! I called Claude’s on a whim and he said I could drop it off even though they were about to close. Everyone was so helpful and nice — nothing frilly or fancy — just some good guys who know how to fix cars and treat their customers well. He was very helpful in making sure I get the best deal on a new starter, and when they told me they’d start working on it first thing Monday morning, sure enough, they did and I was driving off of the lot by 9:30. I will definitely go back and I am telling my friends to go to him. Great experience.

We were sent to Claude’s when Stricker’s was too busy for us to get an appointment to look at my brakes. Claude’s took us right in and immediately found the problem *and* determined the brakes were still under warranty and tracked down getting replacement parts without any help from us. That trip cost us less than $ 70. Today we had to take my car back to have an electrical issue looked at and they diagnosed a bad alternator very quickly and had it replaced and my car ready to go in only a few hours. This place feels really trustworthy and honest.

I brought my daughter’s car Monday 5÷21÷13 early morning. He right away check the car and fixed the car. We are from California and wished I knew him 2 ½ years ago when my daughter started school here. I have plenty of relatives and friends here in St. Louis which I will recommend him highly. Claude is just plain honest and reasonable.

Trustworthy, Honest and Real. Claude isn’t going to up-​sell you stuff your car doesn’t need if you want to waste a ton of money then take it to the dealership if you would rather have the job done right the first time and still have money left in your pockets then what are you waiting for go see Claude. :o)

I can’t praise this place/​owner enough!
I read the previous review about Claude’s as it’s right down the street from me. Being a skeptic about mechanics, I asked the guys at the guys at the autozone what they thought and they simply said ‘Claude does good work. We’d recommend him”. Alright, so I’d take the gamble. I dropped my car off for some routine stuff, (Transmission fluid, power steering, and belt change). I was in a rush that morning and did something I wouldn’t DARE ever do again… I left my car there without getting an estimate. I dreaded the bill all day and when I came back, it was about 30% what I expected! Not only that, but Claude noticed an oil leak (which I should’ve picked up on before), called the honda dealership for me, and then recommended that I take my car there to get the drain plug threaded as he suggested they would do a better job because they have the proper tools. What an honest guy!
Fast forward to the next day, the Honda dealership said they had to replace the oil pan. No threading could be done. Estimated $ 600+ worth of work. I immediately called Caude to see what he thought. He said if it had to be replaced, he could do it for a fraction of the price but he wanted to explore another plug method. I brought it back a few days later… what I was told would be a $ 600+ job turned out to cost me $ 15 in labor and parts! I can’t praise the guy highly enough. He always kept me in the loop to what was going on. He has my business and anyone who will listen from now going forward.

Claude’s Auto is a small repair shop in Maplewood. It’s owned by Claude himself. I have been taking my car there for years. He is honest and reasonable. For example I needed a new starter he told me he could order one for $ 150 or I could walk across the street to AutoZone and buy one for $ 90. I did that and he charged me $ 70 to put it on saving me 60 bucks. He’s been my mechanic from that day on!