This garage is wonderful. I had taken my Tesla to the Berkeley Tesla shop because the headlights had mysteriously turned off and was given a $4,000 estimate to repair the problem. That didn't seem right and I made an appointment at Argonaut for an inspection and estimate. They took me in promptly at 8:30, diagnosed the problem, gave me the estimate of $799.00 to which I agreed, and I picked up the car at 5:30. They also ran complete diagnostics on the car at no charge and told me some items that may need attention in the near future. I know they are correct as I have 173,000 miles on the car and have never had it serviced prior to Argonaut so it is time. I would trust them with any car, but what a difference between the two garages. read more

The problem was never fixed by argonaut garage I still have a coolant leak and a water pump issue and it hasn't even been 3 months since it was worked on do not bring any luxury or foreign car here they will just experiment on your vehicle and take your money if 0 stars was an available I would have selected that option. I feel like the $2500 I spent should be refunded immediately. read more

Another great experience with the team at Argonaut Garage!! Recently had my garage door replaced which resulted in a shrinking of the frame and the opening to the garage. Naturally the next morning, whilst not paying attention, I smashed my overly technical side view mirror into the side destroying it in the process. I called the dealer (mistakenly thinking they were the only ones who could replace it) and they quoted me a price that almost made me dry heave. For giggles, I decided to call the team at Argonaut Garage to see what the price would be or quite frankly if they could even DO a swap on a mirror like the one that had I had smashed. Turns out they could! And they saved me a TON of money in the process. Everything was taken care of quickly and with excellence as I've come to expect from this amazing business. Husein was once again my advisor and once again, he was thorough, communicative and got the job done. Loved the experience so much, even got a license plate frame from em to show my support! ...also found out they work on Teslas? What?! Can't wait to bring ours in. read more

Argonaut is my first go-to with any car questions or issues, no matter what. They are so accommodating, so very genuinely nice and straightforward. I feel like I'm getting advice and service from a friend. Highly recommended! read more

Everyone here is helpful and responsive to whatever situation my Tesla presents them. Even more important to me, no one treats my questions condescendingly -- much appreciated. read more

I've been a customer for over 10 years. I have received excellent service and advice for my car repairs. I wholeheartedly recommend Argonaut garage read more

We always get excellent advice and service at Argonaut. Most recently, we took our Ford C-Max Energi in with a mysterious heater problem that they were able to diagnose and repair. The diagnosis took some effort on their part, but Jason kept us well informed. The problem has been fixed, plus we got their bonus basic inspection service. Many thanks to Jason and Dave!! read more

Argonaut came highly recommended by a friend. I mostly dealt with Elaine via email, and she was great, and very friendly in person as well. After dealing with a rather traumatic experience with my car, it was nice to deal with Argonaut, I will be going there again in the future. read more

Great people. Honest service. Fair price. Our car died completely and they took great care of us while we figured out what to do..

I brought my car in for another regular maintenance service check... And, I got another speedy but thorough review of everything on the list for such a reasonable price. The team is always professional, personable and trustworthy. I wouldn't take my car anywhere else. read more

*******UPDATE****** I went to another shop and they informed me that the a/c retrofit had ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED by the previous owner. The fittings just needed to be tightened, tested, and the system recharged. So not only did I pay $200 for an inspection, your tech lied or completely missed the fact I didn't need the retrofit at all. Instead, he was too busy coming up with other problems I needed to fix, which were mostly garbage. Dirty clutch fluid? I had the clutch and fluid replaced a month prior, no way. Brake fluid was "above 4% moisture content"? When I got someone else to do a reading in front of me, it came up less than 1% moisture content. Bad clutch fan? Weak maybe. But guess what? The a/c blows ice cold without a new one for now, so I can get to that when possible. So Jason, thank you for your response. I think it proves how nice and above board your garage seems while making questionable, even disingenuous recommendations. It is true I wasn't pressured to do any of the things on the inspection list. But Hussein did refuse to do the fix I came in for unless I did the fan too. Not to mention that the fact the a/c didn't need to be retrofitted at all was completely overlooked. I would have happily paid for that information, which would have helped me fix the problem and actually saved me money. As far as I'm concerned I paid $200 for a worthless inspection. I would rate 0 stars if possible. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Called up Argonaut because I wanted to finally get the ac working on my old truck. It's a old r-12 system that needs to be updated to r-134a before it can be recharged and blow cold again. Not a ton of garages will do this work (including my regular mechanic, who I trust) but Argonaut assured me they could do the retrofit. I bring it in, everything seems fine, they are very professional and friendly. The adviser tells me the quote is 200 to do a/c diagnostic will be updated when they look at it, which seems reasonable enough. Fast forward until 2pm (dropped off at 9am) - I have heard nothing - and I finally get a hold of the guy who did my paperwork. He tells me - yep the a/c doesn't hold a charge and I'll have to do the conversion....Uh yeah, no **** that's why brought it in - took them the whole day and 200$ for them to tell me what I already knew. Then they also tell me about a bunch of other things that need replacing and do a whole write up about the maintenance on the truck. None of which I wanted done - I would have rather saved all the time and money and just done the a/c retrofit like I asked. Included in the list was replacing the clutch fan, which they tell me I need to do to as part of the a/c retrofit. They quote me $300, plus $275 for the retrofit, none of which includes the $200 I have to pay for the diagnostic. The quote has ballooned to $775 (before tax). They offer to order the retrofit kit and put $100 dollars of the diagnostic towards it, which is a decent gesture, but it all feels a bit slimy. The communication has been poor, a bunch of stuff I didn't ask for gets added into the diagnostic, and now what I thought was getting done hasn't been and I'm looking at a huge bill. The real kicker is that I look at the fan and it works. It is weak but it kicks on and off fine at temp and at idle. I call my regular mechanic and he tells me it'll barely affect a/c performance except maybe at idle. This is a 32 year old truck - I'm just looking to get the cab cool on long trips - not around town in traffic. I call Argonaut back up to chat with them and they just flat out tell me I have to do the fan. They make doing the a/c conversion contingent on doing the fan. Well, it's a 50$ online and an hour or two of time, so I tell them I'll just do it myself. They say ok, when it's done you let us know and we'll do the conversion. So, basically I paid $200 dollars for them to look at the truck and tell me what I already knew and then refuse to do the work unless I shell out another $575. After all this, I am not going to do anything at this garage. The whole experience seemed like one giant up sell. I am not saying these guys are bad mechanics - they might be fine - but I wouldn't trust anything they say is "necessary" is actually necessary. The communication and attitude felt more about getting me to spend more money, to do unplanned upgrades, than about working with me to accomplish the basic thing I needed done. read more

Kind, accommodating and professional service. Good and fast communication. Quick turn around. Competitive pricing.

They tried to overcharge me for work to the tune of almost 1500 dollars for a 15 minute job I did myself. If you value your money go elsewhere because these crooks don't deserve your business. They can go to hell for all I care. read more

I definitely recommend. I took my older BMW here after a different local independent (BMW focused) repair shop could not fix a problem with air getting into my brake lines. I'd spent a lot of $ getting the problem diagnosed and even replaced a few expensive parts but the problem persisted. On a neighbor's recommendation I took my car to Argonaut. They were great. 1st of all Elaine who works the front desk is super nice, remembers everyone's names, cars etc and also knows a lot about cars. She's not just someone who answers phones and runs credit cards. Secondly- they diagnosed the problem right away, we're very clear and upfront on the repair costs and they fixed the problem. They seem to put all the possible parts on the bid so there are no surprises and if they don't use that part- there's no charge. On my car there was some extra unexpected labor due to the age of the car but they generously (and without me asking) gave me a bit of discount to off set it. I've now brought my car back a few times for oil changes etc. They also do a general inspection and list everything the car needs to be tip-top. There's never any hard sell to do all that work (on my old car the list is long) but they do a nice job of prioritizing: i.e. "you should really do this in the next few months" "this can wait- but not too long" "you should fix this one but it won't leave you on the side of the road needing a tow" etc. The only (very slight) negative i can think of is they use an auto update tool that emails AND texts you with updates. It sends them too often and you need to then click to a different web page to see if it's relevant- for the most part they don't have the specific info in them. Seems like it more the fault of the software. Regardless, they always follow up with a phone call if it's something important like the part came in, there's a cost/schedule update etc. On the plus side of this software- you always get your itemized bill emailed afterwards for electronic record keeping. read more

A year ago, I brought my 2002 car in as the check engine was on. They said that I was out of coolant because of a leak. After telling them that I did not want to spend a lot as I was planning to sell the car, I was given an estimate of $10,000 for repairs and said that my car would not pass a small test. I paid them for adding coolant and left. I have had no problems with my car since then. I just had a smog test and it passed. The smog check guy, did check out my car and could not find anything wrong. I would stay clear of this garage. read more

I'm happy with the service at Argonaut. My service representative, Husein, was very communicative throughout and I have a working air conditioner in time for the heat wave. I appreciate their transparency, efficiency and professionalism. read more

Today on 80, my car started to act like it wanted to shut off, managed to get off in Berkeley pull over, car shuts off. Was able to get it to fire back up and went on the hunt to find someone who could help just clean the terminal (super corroded) tried 6 places before argonaut no one had the time to help today. Went into the office and a guy here told me let's take a look, took it off, gave it a quick clean, popped it back on, fired up and ran perfect! Didn't charge me anything but I can tell you I know exactly where me and the wife will be bringing our cars from now on. Today I was just a desperate dad trying to pick my kid up and get home and the people here helped me out going above and beyond when they didn't have to! Thanks again to the staff at Argonaut read more

I'm glad I set firm limits and took my car out of this place. Their assessment and further assessment fees (755) ended up just being a screw on 12v battery cable loose at the post. The chevy dealer service screwed it in and end of story. Car is great. read more

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My experience with a tire patch job at Argonaut was really smooth and professional. The team was extremely knowledgeable and friendly on the phone and were able to accommodate a last minute emergency drop in. In person, Husein and Elaine were both helpful, efficient and all around wonderful. Highly recommend their professional services! read more

Jason and the team at Argonaut have been fantastic, best mechanics I've used in the Bay Area by far! I'm a total car novice and they've helped me complete an off-road suspension and wheel replacement/ upgrade for my Lexus GX470, and do all my servicing. They went above and beyond sourcing the parts I needed and consulting with me on the best thing to do. The result is simply awesome. I trust them implicitly and will continue to use them long into the future. Look no further than Jason and the team! read more

Argonaut Garage - Auto Repair Near Me - Berkeley, California

Excellent customer service and quality work on vehicle. Important was speedy service ....! I would go again and recommend it to my family and friends. read more

Great service on my Model Y. Love the attentive staff and convenient location on San Pablo. If your looking for a reliable non-grease monkey shop, this is for you!! Shout out to the owner (I think) who went the extra mile on a mod I needed done and Elaine for her great service. read more

Jason and Team nailed it! I blew out my several fuses honking at the BLM protests. It was a strange day to say the least. I dropped off my car and the Jason had fixed in less than day or so, They where able to trouble shoot the problem and fix it in less than time then a thought. That was a big deal for me because, it is our family car and it is hard to find a reasonable rental on 3 rows around these parts! Thank you! read more

My partner brought our car to this garage when it started making a suspicious noise. The technicians at Argonaut suggested a couple of possible problems, both of which were very serious, and a quote for the less serious of the two possibilities. It turns out our problem was neither of the issues they suggested, but was simply a loose bolt. However, they still charged us what they quoted, which included multiple parts we didn't need and likely much more labor than this simple problem actually took to fix. We ended up paying almost $700 for them to tighten a bolt. My partner has been under a lot of stress, and I think these guys could see that and took advantage of her impressionable state. If you visit this garage, be careful and don't take anything they say at face value. I'm sure many of the 5 star reviews here are real, so maybe we just had an unusually bad experience, but I feel scammed and I hope this warning helps others from feeling the same way. read more

The most organized and communicative garage I've ever seen. Everything is classy and top notch and the prices are reasonable! I am so happy I found this garage and will use them for all maintenance on my RAV4! Highly recommended! read more

Needed to have main service truck engine overhauled and my shop I have been going to was scheduled out for about 2 months for this particular need. Called around to many automotive repair shops to inquire about my situation and when they were not able to assist, I would ask if they knew of a good shop some said no and yes and game names and reviewed ratings, and ended up contacting a few and ended up with 1. The Argonaut Garage They replaced the block and now the truck engine runs smooth like a new truck, outstanding job. Service Advisor Elaine and Mechanic Technician Tatsuko are great to work with. Great service start to finish. Very Much Appreciated GR read more

THeir estimate of cost was way way too high, as confirmed by another mechanic who was able to do the work for 60% less. Admittedly that mechanic is not doing business in Berkeley, a definite advantage. read more

What am I looking for in a Mechanic? Ethics, friendliness, execution! It's all there with Jason and his team! Happy customer since 2010. read more

I took my car to a dealership, who told me I had a more expensive problem. I took it to Argonaut Garage for a second opinion. They diagnosed and fixed my car for a fraction of what the dealership estimated. I love this shop's honesty and integrity. read more

Good job like always.!!!!! Guerreros electric Inc had doing business with Argonaut Garage for years and always they have the best service in Berkeley. read more

Very responsible, courteous, and efficient. Great guy to deal with! This was my first time but I will definitely go back.

Jason, Thanks for completing the job within 24 hrs, given your unanticipated setbacks with the staff on a Friday. Really appreciate your understanding on my urgency for the car before July 4th holiday. I would recommend your service to others who need a friendly auto mechanic in the neighborhood. Pros: Price is reasonable; diagnostic report is detailed with pictures; suggested repair based on fit-for-purpose; active COVID prevention measures (i.e. covered faced, alcohol sprayed and wipe down on any contacts with cars and keys) Suggested improvements: more communication on repair status (suggest hire more staff?), extend outside waiting area on sidewalk to prevent crowded front door, partner with neighboring cafe as waiting area? Overall, I'm a happy camper and look forward to visiting again for any auto repair needs. read more

Elaine and Hussein have literally saved me from breaking down in the middle of nowhere twice now! I came in last minute last Friday because my car was making a noise before heading out in a road trip, and Elaine did everything she could to make sure I was safe to go, even though it was so last minute. I will never go to another mechanic again! Argonaut is next level service. read more

Excellent service and reasonable rates. They never oversell you and will show photo proof of you have a question about you approve repairs. I have been a customer for over 15 years; they service both my domestic and foreign cars. read more

Argonaut always takes great care of me and my cars. They always provide thorough explanations of issues they find and are willing to talk me through any of my questions and concerns. This is important because as a young woman, many service providers with other companies have been dismissive of what I have to say. I also love how fast they are with reaching out with updates. The prices seem very fair. Would definitely recommend to others! read more

Wow, a place that certainly tries to take advantage of women. I have 2 mechanics actually, but the one I was seeing for the rebuild of my engine was out and referred me to them for my 1000 mile break in oil change. I contacted them via email and told them what mechanic referred me to them and what for, including a picture of the oil and what was needed. They said no problem. 4 days later I dropped off my cat again confirming it was just for a 1000 mile break in oil change. The next thing I know I get an emailed invoice for $5200 something dollars!!! What?? I try to call and their voicemail is full. I email them back saying what? My car is only there for a break in oil change. Then I get another email with an adjusted invoice amount of $6843.00. Now I am beyond furious. After an hour of calling I finally get through and when I confront them about the invoice, they tell me they have to do a 95 point inspection on my car before doing anything. I told them NO WAY. I spoke and emailed them about what was needed and why I was there and was never told they would do anything else on my car. I didn't ask for it, I was t told about it, I'm not paying for it. In the end I picked up my car and paid for an expensive oil change for NOT the break in oil I was using from my other mechanic. On top of all this- no apology, this is how they do business and I don't have the type of break in oil that was being used on my rebuilt engine. If you are a woman or at all not car savvy- steer clear!! They will try to overcharge you for everything. The only thing they didn't put on the invoices they sent me were for a new transmission. Even tried to sell me overpriced tires! What an incredibly dishonest shop. read more

I can't say enough about how upsetting my experience was with this company. I brought my truck in for an odd issue it was having. I had just bought it. After doing an "inspection", I was told that there was more than 5000$ worth of issues. I was devastated. I was crying. I took the diagnosis report home, as I could in no way afford that kind of repairs. So I started doing some research on their recommendations. I first started looking up the cost of parts. Yes I know businesses need to increase parts prices, but one of the parts I needed was an evaporation tank that I was able to find online ( easily ) for about 30$. Their cost was 218$.!!!!! That's ridiculous!!! This continued with each part costing 2-3x what high quality parts should be. But 218$ for a 30$ plastic part?!!! Just plain stealing. But it gets worse. I started reaching out to a few friends to get a second opinion, and found another mechanic. About 1/3 of the things on the report were accurate, my total cost ending up around 700$. The rest of what I was told was wrong was completely false. I have now had another mechanic look as well. So basically, they pretend to be kind and ethical. Show pictures that make you feel they are being honest, but they ARE NOT HONEST or. Good people. Nothing is more important than a trustworthy mechanic. PLEASE don't just take my word. Look up parts they charge and compare prices on same part. It should be higher of course, but by how much? Get a second opinion on what they recommend needs to be done. Check out fir yourself. I can be the only person they've done this to. My truck is running perfectly, and I found a Mechsnic who is clear, honest, and shows me the issues and parts I need while we go over the car together. Also gives me the old parts of I ask. These guys are straight up liars. There's no way around it. Or at least they straight up lied to me taking advantage. Mechanics who do this should be prosecuted. If I had more time I'd follo through. I think I'd have a pretty solid care read more

I'm so happy I decided to give this shop a try despite some of the negative Yelp reviews I read. This is one of the best auto shops I've been to in years. I got an oil change and a full diagnostic of my car so I know what I need to get work done on. The staff is super friendly and professional and let me add makes me feel welcomed each visit. read more

I recently bought an old car from a friend, who had had it serviced here. One repair had involved replacing a stolen catalytic converter and adding a cage to prevent future theft. When I bought the car, I had to get it smogged, and the smog technician failed it because, according to him, the replacement cat wasn't approved (according to the state) for that car. When I asked them to help me resolve this, they initially were surprised, because they were sure it was a legal part number for the car, but they looked into it more and discovered it had been recalled by the manufacturer. They then replaced it with a newer part for free and helped me get it to pass the smog check. I appreciated the help and would be happy to take the car there again for future work if I were more local. read more

Just used Argonaut for the first time, and had a fantastic experience. The staff was extremely friendly and responsive, and I received multiple email updates throughout the day with progress and price updates for my service. A+ all around! Would highly recommend this shop! read more