Great place to take your vehicle!! New to the area I had to rely on yelp to help me find a shop for my BMW.It lead me to Branciforte.I soon found out why they have a 5 star raiting.Louis and Nadine where fabulous. Very knowledgeable and friendly.They both put in the extra effort needed to diagnose the problem make the repair and get my car to pass smog with out charging me an arm and a leg.What else could you ask for??I could not be happier!!! I still have a lot of work to do on my bmr and Branciforte is now the only place I will take my car. THANK YOU BRANCIFORTE!!! I also want to give a shout out to the super nice book keeper who went out of her way to gave me a ride to work and got me there on time. Thank You. read more

Great honest service and everyone treated me like family. Definitely will be coming back!

I've taken my cars to Lou since the late '80s - when he was in Freedom. Lou and his employees have always been nice to us and professional. He stands behind his work and the parts. He is competitive with other garages in the area and I've never had an issue. That is a lot of years and a lot of cars. read more

Came here for a smog check and they got started straight away! Definitely the friendliest and most personal service I've had at an auto shop! Nadine is just the sweetest and they all run a really honest business. From what I heard in the office, they don't take advantage of your lack of car knowledge. They do what needs to be done. Lou didn't poke around under the hood for a while after or try to sell me a new filter or any of those irritating gimmicks. Branciforte is reasonably priced, quick, honest, and really welcoming! Thank you for a great experience! I'll be back for sure! read more

Solid service. Has become our go-to auto repair since moving to town, but only when we can't get a mobile mechanic to come to the house since labor at Branciforte is so pricey at $100/hour (for reference, our local Subaru dealership is $125/hour). Good folks, though, who make an effort to remember names and make you feel welcome. read more

Straightforward, honest service for your car at reasonable rates. Took my Jeep here after local Chrysler dealership had recommended a number of costly repairs. Branciforte reviewed all the items and eliminated the ones that Chrysler dealership had reported erroneously. All the repairs that needed to be performed came at a reasonable cost and all the work was performed within the scheduled day. Quality of work seems to be excellent. If you don't have an existing relationship with a auto repair shop or you are suspicious of the shop that is now servicing your car, I highly recommend Branciforte to you. read more

Lou and Nadine are like family. We have been with them over 20 years. Wouldn't consider anyone else. Trustworthy, personal and well... Like family! read more

Made two visits last week and they were the absolutely best automotive repair experience I have had in 50 years of driving. Friendly, honest and competent. They also saved me from having to drive all the way to Monterey from Santa Cruz and visit a dealer and then sit in their waiting room for four hours! read more

I have been here a few times with my Jeep Cherokee and they have been excellent every time! Honest, will not over sell you, prompt and will get the job done. I have not always been able to afford all needed repairs and they will do the most IMPORTANT ones first, not the most expensive, leaving the others to a later date. Nadine will even call you a week after the appointment to check on your cars progress. You don't get that very often! Definitely recommend this garage to anyone !!! read more

Finding an auto mechanic who is competent, fair, and someone you can trust is like finding gold. I didn't really think such a person existed until we started taking out car to Lou Branciforte in Aptos. I've been taking my car to Lou for over 5 years. Here are just a few of the positive experiences. We had some emissions problems that would need to be fixed in order to renew the registration. Instead of just replacing everything, Lou checked the codes, told me what he'd not worry about, replaced what needed replacement, and serviced what just needed cleaning. Result? We passed emissions with flying colors. I'm thinking he saved us a few hundred bucks. Another time we needed a wheel bearing. This was a bearing he'd replaced only two years prior (not his fault, this particular model car has a long history of wheel bearing problems). Lou replaced the bearing the second time for cost of parts only. After the repair, the car still didn't seem quite right. Lou took the car back, took some time to research the problem on the internet, finally decided he should replace the entire brake drum/wheel bearing assemble and did this all for no additional charge. We've had numerous other repairs done at Branciforte. They always seem to know what to do (or what not to do), and with the exception of the wheel bearing problem above, fix it right the first time. They communicate their recommendations in clear and thoughtful advice. They let me decide whether or not to go ahead with their recommended repairs, listen to my concerns, and work with me on a solution. They try to save me money where that can be done without compromising the work. The downside? Branciforte Auto Repair is not cheap. Shop time (in 2010) is $100 an hour. Considering that they only fix what needs to be fixed, only replace what needs to be replaced, competently complete the repairs, and actually stand behind their work, we think the cost is more than fair. We will not take our car anywhere else. In Lou we trust. read more

Nadine & the staff at Branciforte Auto Repair were absolutely delightful! Nadine was very knowledgeable and helpful, and was even able to get my car in on a super busy/short-staffed day (when a few of the mechanics got the nasty flu that's been going around). It turned out there was another underlying issue that needed to be resolved so I had to bring my car back in the next day, but they were quick and courteous in helping diagnose the issue and fixing it. Thanks to everyone at Branciforte Auto - I can see why my dad recommended this place to me, and I agree with all of the 5 star reviews from other Yelpers. I'll be recommending it to my friends, as well! read more

Awesome place, I've taken my car there several times and received excellent customer service. They always call and let me know what the progress of the car is which is nice. read more

I decided to take our Subaru in for a simple belt replacement. Not only was the belt fixed with no issues, they found some obscure oil leak that we had no idea existed...and had just assumed the car ate oil since it had been happening since we got the car. They also pointed out a small blunder that some previous "monkey" caused while trying to fix the head lights...I sheepishly admitted my guilt. In all seriousness they have an extremely well run local family owned business. Clear consultations and explanations of services are the norm. Ya just get the feeling that you've been doing business with them for years...even if it's your first time. read more

I usually dread taking my cars in for service but this is one place I feel confident about getting the best service in the county! Great family owned business..... They have proven to be honest, fair, and extremely helpful. They have gone out of their way to help me with an older vehicle. I can't say enough good things about this business and the people who own it and work there!! read more

Branciforte Auto is an amazing place!They have gone out of their way to help me with thorny problems, all in good spirits. They are honest, thorough, competent and friendly. Good mechanics are worth their eight in gold---these folks are platinum!! Go there--cannot go wrong! read more

If you are thinking about taking your car here, you should read this review. I was made to tow my vehicle from this shop after they were unable to fix it. There is actually nothing remarkable about this car. It is a Japanese front wheel drive V6. A number of parts were replaced that didn't need to be replaced in a effort to locate the trouble. Many hours were spent trouble shooting. More than 10 according to Lou. In the end they say it is the ECU but were unwilling to replace it. Lou was acting strange when I was having a conversation about it and I got the feeling he didn't want to work on it anymore. I asked him if that was the case and sure enough he wanted me to tow it away. One of the things I found very odd was after they started working on it Lou called me to ask me how old the plugs and wires were. I had literally just replaced both. The wires were so shiny and bright it would be hard to miss that they had just been replaced days before. Lou replaced the plugs anyway which meant removing the intake manifold (several hours of work.) They have been very polite and honest as have I. I expressed very little dismay upon being told I needed to remove my car and pay for the repairs. That being said I can't believe what is happening. That I have to tow it to another shop to have it fixed after already towing it here and paying to not have it fixed. After all of the trouble shooting Lou said that it was flooding on all of the cylinders because the computer was bad. So I towed it home and removed the ECU which required me disassembling half of my dash. After getting the serial number off the ECU I proceeded to search for one. A week and numerous hours of research later I called a Mitsubishi dealer and talked to the service department manager. When I told him Lou said it was the ECU because it was flooding on all cylinders he said he had never seen that happen due to an ECU. Flooding on one cylinder due to an ECU happens but never all of them at the same time. So I towed the car over the hill to the dealer to have them fix it. That's another $150 in tows for a total of $350. This puts my unnecessary tow bill at $250. So they put it in the shop the next day and called me right away. It turns out it was the distributor. This is one of the first things you check when you have an ignition problem and it took them about half an hour. So I paid about $800 in tows and repairs that didn't benefit me in any way and I find out that what was wrong with my car was incredibly simple. I also tore apart my dash and spent a lot of time looking for a part for a problem that didn't exist. One last thing I discovered was that there was a pretty substantial amount of grease on my brand new floor mat and on the door sill. I waited a while and thought about all of this and decided to send an email to try to come to some kind of an agreement. It seems reasonable to expect that a business that fails to perform the duties it promises a customer, would agree to refund part, if not nearly all of the money. It's an agreement of trade. I give them something they can use for something I can use. Well they didn't give me anything I could use. So I sent the email and they didn't respond. This review is my response to them not responding. They could lose more money from this review than I paid to have them not fix my car. I would be happy to remove this review if they contact me and refund a reasonable amount of my money. They have my email address. read more

I give Lou, Nadine and the crew at Branciforte Auto the very highest rating. They have been taking care of my vehicles since 1990! Technically, Lou is top quality; highly skilled and the service is straightforward and honest. They treat my car as if it were their own. What more could a customer ask for. I wouldn't consider going any place else. I'd give them more stars if Yelp allowed. read more

This is a great automotive maintenance shop. They have maintained my family's several cars for nearly 10 years. They are completely honest and reliable. They have my highest recommendation. read more

Great service, nice people, always seem to get an honest deal here.

I am grateful to have been referred to Nadine and Lou. They're lovely people to deal with--honest (really!), fair, and KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING. I have lots of confidence in the quality of the work done at their shop. What a treasure to have in our neighborhood. Never had a repair shop I actually liked going to, and my husband feels the same way. We both take our cars (my 10-year-old Subaru, his 1-year-old Dodge) to Branciforte. read more

I've got to agree with everyone else, this was an excellent find! Nadine and Jenny took excellent care of me and my Saturn. They know their stuff. Clean and organized shop. Well run and good communications. I look forward to being able to count on them for my future car repair and service needs. THANK YOU!!! read more

This is the only placeI bring my vehicles. They are fast and describe what they are doing and didn't try to up sell anything I didnt need and make repairs that weren't necessary. I had an airbag light going off my car would just randomly keep dying. He diagnosed the entire problem as the battery being fried and that caused the light to go off He didnt need to go into my air bag to make a costly diagnosis. It has been 3 months since my repair and I have not experienced any problems. Fast service despite my battery being a special ford battery that needed to be ordered. I wasn in and out over night and he had time to change my oil as well. Being a female ignorant about cars I felt comfortable coming here, there were two women in the office, and I didnt feel like I was being talked down to or having the wool pulled over my eyes like I've felt many times beofre elsewhere. read more

Amazing customer service!! I have never been treated nicer and been so well taken care of at an automotive shop- this is the best place to go if you are looking for honest, accurate service. read more

Amazing service and customer care. Honesty, integrity, and quality. I will no longer be going anywhere else.

We've been bringing our two cars here for years. Friendly, conscientious, reliable, competent, and reasonably priced. What more could you ask for? read more

Great service, fast turnaround, fair prices. Very friendly staff. Deserves the 5 stars and then some considering how long they have been in business as a family run business. read more

This is the Best auto repair shop anywhere. I've been taking my cars to the Brancifortes for over a decade and they have always done excellent repairs at very reasonable prices. I can trust Lou and his staff to pinpoint the problem, explain it to me, give me options, and finish the repair in record time. Great people and great service! read more