This past June 2025, I took my my Mini Countryman 2001 for replacing break pads & religning, rotors, etc. I was impressed with Greg's honesty & with the repair outcome. No gouging attempts. Greg even remembered having worked on my neighbor's car from over 5 years prior! That neighbor had recommended Beckstrom's to me. Junior & Greg are friendly & professional & have been around for years. A testament to their quality work & longstanding reputation. I'm returning for upkeep in the New Year 2026 & for future car needs. read more

These are people you can trust with your auto repairs and maintenance. In fact I regret going anyplace else.

Needed to get rear shocks. My regular mechanic was going to charge me stupid money. Beckstrom shaved off $300 and got it done well before they said it would be ready. Super friendly. Great neighborhood service. I'll be back. read more

I love this shop, straight forward quality service all the way around. Always willing to help. I had been a customer off and on for years. I moved away a year ago but had questions about my car and next service. Donna spent time with me on the phone looking up what was most important for me to get done with my car and I can't say how much I appreciate it! There are so many shady mechanics in Marin County - this is NOT one of them! read more

Long story short... My family was visiting from 3.5 hrs away for kids sports. Our SUV over heated the last day there. Stayed another night found Beckstrom on Google. Called the next morning they were able to get parts and fix it the same day. We were so thankful. Honest and reliable! read more

This place was very fair with me,fixed my vans pinion bearing as well as the carriage bearing .Vehicle was ready on time,staff was extremely helpful as well as a reasonable price.I would highly recommend them. read more

I came here after visiting a BMW dealership to get my car serviced. The dishonest car dealer was trying to charge me $4000 on a box bushings leak and after taking my car to Beckstrom I was informed that the dealer was lying and there was in fact no problem. They saved me thousands and are a honest business with super kind staff. If you are given a quote for a massive replacement after taking your car to the dealership for a service I'd get a second opinion from them for sure. read more

Mechanic listened well to the what & Why I thought was wrong with my car. I saw at least 5 work orders ahead of mine and yet I got a call about my car in about 2 hrs. I'm impressed with how quick the analysis was. read more

Was traveling out of state when the clutch began slipping and making all sorts of horrible death noises. Fortunately we were visiting family not far from San Raphael and my brother recommended Beckstrom, who he has been using to repair his Toyota's since the mid 1970's. They took the truck right in and we're done in a mere two days. They were attentive to detail, replacing a bolt that looked worn, and everyone on the staff were warm and accommodating, to say I was impressed by the entire experience would be a gross understatement. When we picked the truck up I wanted to hug them but of course, with covid still lurking in corners I did not. Amazing to find a place with that much integrity in a bustling place like Marin county! After a several hundred mile trip they the mountains to get home and a few weeks of driving around town the clutch works beautifully! read more

I was referred to Beckstrom Automotive. I was concerned about a grinding noise my Honda Accord was making when I started it in the morning. Within the hour the problem was identified. They put my car up on the rack, put a fan on the engine to cool it for a while and restarting. The service was prompt, the staff were polite and caring. The problem with my car was low oil. I was only charged for the oil and told that I could should bring my car by every couple of weeks so that the oil level could be checked and if needed added. I have never had this kind of experience and I hightly recommend Beckstrom for auto repairs. read more

Excellent service, Beckstrom replaced a worn out front strut and when the front end of our SUV started making noise again they fixed it by replacing some bushings, without charge. They were honest and straightforward, and easy to talk with. read more

What I thought was a plus in meticulousness in the work I had done first time turned into a very different experience second time around. My car threw an oil pressure warning and I had it towed in for service. This was on a Thursday and I was told they would get to it Thursday or Friday which I counted on since I was headed to a retreat Saturday. I heard nothing from the garage until Monday and then they were clearly hostile. I told them the car had an electronic interlock device before I had it towed to them and they agreed to work on it. When they reached me early Monday afternoon they were upset they could not reach me Monday morning. Maybe if they had followed up on the timeline they promised they would not have had that problem. Next they wanted me to come to their shop to assist them in getting the car started. Instead, I provided them with the telephone number of the interlock vendor who issues an override code with a simple phone call. Next thing I knew I was slammed with a huge bill for replacing the sensor and the bill included hostile language about how I "refused" to come to their shop. I will never refer business to these folks nor patronize them again. Way too inflexible, unreliable, and just plain hostile for no good reason. I'm sure they will have some snotty retort. Let them. I'm a happy healthy mellow guy. Rarely if ever do I give a review like this one, and I waited several weeks to make sure I really meant it. I do. Even after sitting with it and sleeping on it. These folks are not professional and just a little too tightly wound to be in the business they are in. Find another mechanic in San Rafael, there are many options such as House of Breaks or Robin's Automotive in Greenbrae. read more

This shop turned out to be as good as I could ask for. Donna & Craig were great, they did a great job at a fair price. I highly recommend them - I will keep going back to them. Francisco from D&K collision highly recommended the to me. Daniel Fernandez read more

Beckstrom Automotive - Auto Repair Near Me - San Rafael, California

Quality customer service and diagnostic. Wish we lived near by bc this would be our go to for vehicle maintenance. Grateful for honest and reliable service! read more

I've taken my car to several mechanics before including Honda Service and always get nickeled and dimed on unnecessary things. Beckstrom Automotive has been 100% honest with me about what the car really needs now, soon, and later, for a reasonable price! It always feels like they get it done quickly and go the extra mile, even if it's just brought in for an oil change. These guys are great and a local business I highly recommend! read more

We've been using Beckstrom's since - well - at least 1990. They were the go-to shop for RX-7's. I've since evolved to hybrids and Beckstrom's has evolved with me. Donna and her crew understand professionalism and take great pride in their shop and their work. It's an honor to be one of their customers. read more

very friendly office staff and exceptionally knowledgeable and efficient mechanics. Fair prices and quick service.

I've been to Beckstrom for several different needs - from a standard oil change to a multi-part replacement. I'm always wary of being taken advantage of or talked down to when it comes to mechanical work due to unfortunate experiences at other shops. I cannot say enough great things about my experience at Beckstrom! Donna and Greg are both fantastic. They break down as many options as possible and give you their honest opinion about what you can get away with/what's worth spending. Pricing has always been fair. It feels like you're taking your car into a family friend. Beckstrom is fast, reliable, and honest. read more

This is probably a me thing, but you decide. First the good - fast, courteous, professional Now the probably me thing. $367.00 to test, then change a spark plug and a coil. It was on 2008 Honda Civic. Daughters car, after I heard they only changed one, I changed the other three in 20 minutes for about $80.00 It heard good things about Beckstrom and complex issues, i would like to think that simple things would be priced accordingly, but again this is probably a me thing. read more

Beware: 15k service on my Dodge Ram 1500. It's essentially an oil change. I was handed an invoice for $100. I said, "for an oil change?" Manager tore up the invoice and printed out a new invoice for $60. He acted confused like he didn't know why the computer wanted to charge me $100. When I picked up my car, there was a new invoice for $80. I paid it and didn't say anything. Figured ok I'll find somewhere else to do my maintenance. When I got home I noticed 2 small clear coat scratches in the drivers side door. One went just about all the way through the paint. Neither of these scratches were a huge deal but still, feels pretty lame when you pay someone money to service your car and they wind up doing damage. I brought my truck back to the shop immediately. Rather than acknowledging the possibility that they could be responsible, they became confrontational. They said "that's a clear coat scrape. Let's pull it in and I can show you there's nothing that would have caused that. If you find any gray paint in my shop, then we can talk." Since this was a clear coat scrape, there's no way we were going to find any gray paint. If you own a new vehicle, you know that you are likely aware of every scratch you get. This scratch could probably be buffed out for less than $100 but these guys wanted to fight tooth and nail to deny responsibility. Not the kind of people I want working on my vehicle. Buyer beware *Update since Donna L decided to reply. Your reply attacks my character, calls me a liar but does not actually point out anything that I lied about in my review. Regarding the discrepancy you speak of; I did request a 16k service to which your front desk person replied, "that's essentially an oil change." So now I'm confused. Did you do the service required by Dodge to keep my lease in good standing or am I going to have to take the truck somewhere and have them finish the job? You say my response showed you what kind of person I am? If you judge people based on how they react to an aggressive and confrontational approach to customer service, you're going to have a pretty skewed assessment of those people. In actuality, I am a Mill Valley native, raising 3 daughters in San Rafael. I've supported quality local businesses in Marin for as long as I can remember. I might suggest that since it is you that is in the business of earning peoples trust, maybe have a look at how you handled the situation and how you could have avoided the escalation. You may have lost me as a customer, and sounds like you're fine with that, but if your staff continues to use the same approach with future issues, you will lose many more customers. read more

I would never recommend this place to a friend or family member. Going to try to keep this as brief as I can while including the relevant facts. I took my Honda Civic in when my brakes went out, and had the master cylinder replaced. The price wasn't unreasonable - $350. At the end of the day, Donna called to let me know my car would be ready soon, and that they just needed to give it a quick test drive. Great! Driving my car away from the shop, I immediately noticed something was off - when I'd step on the accelerator after being stopped at a traffic light/stop sign, something was majorly slipping, and felt loose - that has never, ever happened with my car. I thought maybe it would kind of just go away; maybe my car was adjusting to whatever changes they'd made? But I did find it weird that having test driven the car, they didn't notice that. Then, when I turned my car off, the brake lights stayed on. I didn't notice it at first, because it was a sunny day, and they were hard to see, so my battery died. I had a friend jump the car, played around with it a bit, and figured out that if i pumped the brakes a few times after turning off the car, the lights would go off. I didn't want to have to remember to do this every time though, so I came in about a week later to have it fixed. What was annoying was that when I went in, Donna said that the light problem probably wasn't because of anything they did. Really? Your technician works on my brakes, immediately after the brake lights start to malfunction, and it's a coincidence? Um, okay...sure. The man behind her was listening, and said it probably was in fact due to their work, would be a quick fix, and took a look at it for me. So, then I'm in the waiting room, and the man who was working on it came in to tell me that I'm going to need a new transmission - that that was why the slipping was happening. Ugh. I went into the office to get a price quote, and it was $2000-$3000. I'm sure I turned white...but at the same time, wasn't 100% sure I really needed a new transmission. Especially after I drove away - the slipping had stopped, and my car was driving exactly the way it had before I'd ever brought my car in. Odd, but I was happy! *Side note: they also told me I need a new timing belt, and quoted me $810. To be fair, yes, I was due for a new timing belt, as my car has over 100,000 miles. Back to this in a minute. SO. About a week later, I took a friend's recommendation and made an appointment at Imperial Auto. I had Kevin do the timing belt, and check the transmission. He charged me $560, about $250 less than I'd have paid at Beckstrom. I waited in anticipation for his verdict on my transmission. Would I need a new one? Nope. He recommended that the next time I change the fluid, I get Honda transmission fluid instead of whatever was in there, which would be about $65, but that i do not in fact need a new transmission. So there you have it. What happened to me at Beckstrom was the classic scenario we all fear when taking our car to a mechanic - that our ignorance will cost us hundreds, or even thousands of dollars. Very glad I got a second opinion. read more

Preface - I've never taken my car in for service here because they resolved my issue over the phone. Basically, I had heard good things about Beckstrom and planned on bringing in my car once I noticed strong gas fumes within my car, out of the blue. I called and spoke with Gregg and he instructed to get a new OEM gas cap from the dealer before scheduling an appointment with them. He explained that doing this was the first step in assessing the issue and if that didn't work, then they would know which diagnostics to next test for, saving everyone time (and service fees). He was right, the new cap fixed the problem and now I'm writing a review about the experience because (1) he offered his professional advice over the phone at no fee and (2) provided a resolution that was cost effective, even if it jeopardized his ability to get a new client. Car service shops sometimes get bad reviews and sometimes they deserve it. I was compelled to leave a review for Beckstrom due to the exemplary service I received for free. Hopefully I won't need any sort of car service in the future, but if I do, I won't hesitate to bring it to Beckstrom. read more

On very short notice they diagnosed my van and had it repaired in an afternoon so that I could use it the next day. And at a fair price, you can't ask for more in a repair shop! read more

The folks at Beckstrom are just the best of the best. . . TBH - I'm a short-blonde and I am always anticipating getting fleeced because I know nothing (less than nothing) about cars. Donna and Brendan spend the time walking me through what's going on and why the maintenance and repairs I need are necessary in order to maintain my cars' working integrity. They help me by only doing what is necessary and have never suggested a repair or maintenance that didn't make my car run better or stay within the Lexus warranty. My partner (30+ years) recently became interested in car repair and he has learned the difficulties and issues with car maintenance and repair - our combined trust and admiration for the work Beckstrom does continues to grow, especially given our new insights in to the difficulties and expense of this work. These guys keep me (a regional sales person who drives, when not in Covid lock down, 4-5 days a week in a territory that runs from from Ukiah to San Jose) my husband, and my son's cars safe and running well. If its a warranty issue they will steer me to the dealer, losing the repair$, and they even give me friendly contacts at the dealers the language that prompts Lexus coverage - who does that? Beckstrom, that's who. Fair, thoughtful and kind - I feel like they are are our partners, not just a repair shop. I won't go anywhere else. read more

After purchasing a car from someone who used Beckstrom Auto (previous owner highly recommended them), I shopped around a bit for a shop closer to me in San Francisco. I was unable to find any another shop in the area that matched their high level of service, friendliness, and quality of work for the price. Have been in-touch with Donna & Greg? multiple times - always a pleasure to work with and make it worth the 30min drive to know I'll be well taken care of by my mechanic. Beckstrom is very honest, upfront, and good about explaining details of work needed or that they've recently completed. Seems like too many auto-shops these days give you the hard sell on work that doesn't necessarily need to be done, where Beckstrom really focus' on their clients best interest. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! My top-5 takeaways for other potential customers: 1) Have Clients' Best Interests In-Mind 2) High-Quality Work for Reasonable Price 3) No Up-Selling - don't try to push work on you that doesn't need to be done 4) Friendly and Personable Customer Service 5) INTEGRITY & HONESTY read more

I've been a long time customer of Beckstrom Automotive and still hold them in high regard. They are quick to call back, keep you up to date on your vehicles status, and are fair in pricing. Plus their waiting room is comfortable, heated, coffee, tv and relaxing environment. Thank you Beckstrom as always! read more

$186 for an oil change service? They said, "yeah, that's the price for your service." It's been $65 max for the last decade, now $186. I feel taken advantage of. read more

Sorry there is no 6 star choice. I took my Subaru to the dealer for a broken driver's rear view mirror. They wanted $400. Wow! For a mirror! Consumer Checkbook suggested Beckstrom in San Rafael for quality and price. They asked for $232 but when it took less time, they lowered it to $210. All of my autos go to Beckstrom for repairs from now on. And it's only a 15 minute walk to Arizmendi Bakery where I had a cappuccino and a pecan roll and read "Gone Girl" while I waited. read more

I have had a really positive experience with Beckstrom's over the last year and two different cars. I feel they are very fair and do not try and nickel and dime or up charge their customers. That is especially important to me, as a woman, and I appreciate that I don't feel they are taking advantage of me or any lack of knowledge I have of mechanical issues. read more

Always prompt, always fair, great communications. A great job overall on both our Honda and Volvo.

I first took my car to Beckstrom's 6 years ago when I got recommendations from 4 lady friends who had been going there for years and were very satisfied. I'm glad I did, because it's been a very positive experience for me from day one. I feel that my car is in good hands, the pricing is fair, and probably most importantly, they take the time to explain everything in language that I can understand and are happy to answer any follow-up questions that I have. read more

My car broke down two days before Christmas and the place I usually take it was closed. My mom recommended Beckstrom because they had had cars repaired there several times before (and mom said they were great). It was almost 5:00, and I had little hope they would be able to fit my car for me before Christmas (and to make it worse, everyone was closed the entire week after Christmas!) However, they took it in and called me first thing in the morning. A hose had blown and my radiator needed to be replaced. Donna ordered the parts and her guys had it in that night. I so appreciated their fast and honest service. I will definitely take my car there again. As a bonus, they fixed the brake light that was on (and driving me nuts) without a word or a fee. Thanks Beckstrom!! read more

Very good folk. I went here for the first time two days ago. I have been to many mechanics and do my own auto work at times. I felt they were kind and fair and fast. I did not feel like I was being pressed into extra work at all and was clearly explained what was going on. I believe I now have a new mechanic. I would recommend these guys for sure. read more

Used them over and over with our 3 cars (Mazda RX, Mercedes, & Volvo). Always excellent and honest service. Highly recommended!!

This is the dream team! Their more then fair prices, knowledgeable staff, and ability to break down what's going on, what's most important, costs and steps makes working with beckstrom automotive a breeze and actually a fun experience. I have been working with them for years. I am honored to have a such a honest mechanic who is truly on my side! Don't waist your time getting screwed over elsewhere...one trip and Donna, Greg, and Allen will ensure you keep coming back...when needed! Two thumbs way up for this crew!! Thank you for the last time I saw you...and for the next! Love you guys! ! read more

I've been taking my car to Donna and Greg for a couple of years now. I find their customer service excellent. The mechanics in that workshop are 'top notch' and have always gone that extra mile for me making sure my car was safe. I always leave there with a peace of mind that it's been properly taken care of. They've kept me on the road and kept that old Volvo going strong. Always fair and honest which is a quality so many other garages lack. I'll get a call after I've dropped the car off and get a detailed rundown of the problem and it's cause then a breakdown of the repair costs.. again.. they have always been honest and true. Broken down? Get your car to these guys you won't be disappointed or ripped off. Thanks guys... see you in about 1500 miles (next service). Anthony read more

True story : I needed to smog my 1996 ford super duty 475. I took it in to a smog place in corte madera and it failed , so I took it to the Ford dealership in Novato . The ford dealership replaced an oxygen sensor and charged me $950.00 ( they are crooks) . When I went to retest the smog it Failed again after spending all that $. Then through a trusted recommendation I heard of Beckstrom Auto . They where extremely professional and happy to work on the truck , when many other places didn't work on trucks that size. In one day they adjusted the timing , then took the truck and smogged it themselves . It Passed Smog ! Then they recommended I replace a belt so I did . In the end they only charged me $200.00 for everything . What a deal ! I wish I would of known of them earlier. Any who has an older large truck or any auto issue , I highly recommend Beckstrom Auto ! Thank you to all the staff there! read more

Professional Auto Services.... They do great work, and use the best parts.... Donna provides a detailed explanation-in layman's terms- for the work that they do !!! Their prices are less than Honda & I believe that there work is much higher quality.... I've had them do: Tune up timing belt brakes suspension bushing replacement, etc They deserve 5 stars........ read more

I've been a Beckstrom customer since 1982. I've found their service consistently excellent. My first experience with them was amazing. My Honda Civic had a mysterious noise that several other shops had not been able to fix. Beckstrom did such thorough analysis that they actually swapped parts of the front suspension with another Honda Civic and finally concluded that the noise had to be in the transmission, so I agreed to let them rebuild it. But even with the rebuilt transmission, the noise was still there, so Beckstrom refused to bill me for any of the work they had done, despite having put a LOT of time into that car. I finally ended up giving them a six pack of good beer after they refused to take payment of any kind. This is the sort of performance that gives a repair shop longtime loyal customers! read more

Donna and Company are accommodating, friendly, and most of all honest. I love their thorough explanations of what and why services need to be done. I learn something new every time I am in there. Which isn't often because my car hardly ever breaks down. They work with me on a maintenance program so there are no sudden surprises in the middle of nowhere. read more