Dan's Toy Shop - definitely my favorite. Dan and Brian do good work at a good price.
Desert Toyota - a dealer, so you pay top dollar. They tend to overmaintain your vehicle. I stopped using them after a visit when my truck was returned to me after an oil change with the skid plate in the bed of the vehicle. They claimed they could not reinstall the bolts. Wasn't the plate on the vehicle when I brought it in? Didn't you guys remove it? I took it home, cleaned out one hole with a metric tap and had it back on in short order. Was this a "new guy", I asked -- "No, he is one of our best mechanics". Maybe they only want to work on shiny new vehicles. Anyway, Dan's got my business after all this.
Precision Toyota - the other dealer in town. So far they have done good work for me. I pay more, but given that I can wait in their cushy lobby and the fact that they are close enough to where I live that I can bike there makes them an attractive alternative to Dan's sometimes.
Auto MD I used them with complete satisfaction when I had an issue with a timing belt repair on my old Camry. It seems to be a one man shop and a family operation.
Precision auto. I used them for years when they specialized only in Honda. They seem to have an identity problem. Are they trying to sell cars or fix cars? Do they only work on Hondas or on any car? An example of the the batter trying to swing at two balls and missing both.
I stopped using them after they introoduced a $150 "diagnostic charge" and made a point of warning you about it before a visit. "We are ripping you off and want you to know up front so you can't complain later". I could understand this charge if they did diagnostic work and you refused the repair, but adding this as a flat fee for every repair is just inflating the charges and padding their pockets. The did not do this prior to 2023 according to the dozen or so bills in my files.
Primarily Japanese. I tried them and I would say the charges and prices are the same as at Precision. The same diagnostic charge. No doubt both of these places do quality work, so you won't go wrong in that regard.
The dealer. Given the prices I am charged at Precision and Primarily Japanese I am wondering if I will do any worse (or better?) at the dealer.
I will be exploring the following shops:
Tom's Auto repair pages / tom@mmto.org