I've only reviewed a few places simply because I'm lazy and I have to really be impressed to take…read morethe extra 3 minutes. I will definitely make the time for Jason & the guys at Midwest Automotive. Personally, it's hard for me to find good auto shops. I know next to nothing about cars so it's probably easy to rip me off. I rarely get a second opinion but after an unpleasant experience at another shop, I took The Regulator (my car) to Jason. The previous mechanic gave me the speech about my car breaking down completely if I don't get xyz fixed for $900 immediately. Jason checked things out and told me the truth about what was wrong with The Regulator, and an estimate of when I would need to get things fixed. The quality of work and customer service here is unparalleled. After 3 years of searching, I finally found a great auto shop in CU. I started getting my oil changed here too. While it may be slightly out of the way compared to other oil change places, it is definitely worth it!

This is my first review for anything on Yelp, but I had such a good experience with Jason at…read moreMidwest that I felt this was the right time to pitch in. I know a moderate amount about cars, so usually I fix things myself and am leery of mechanics, but school has put me under a bit of a time crunch so I took it to Midwest. Jason was courteous and up-front the whole time, gave me all the information I needed about the damage to my car and explained both the cost and the process of repair. When I decided I needed to hold off due to the expense, Jason put no pressure on me and was totally understanding about my situation. Once I secured the funds, I decided to return and they fit me in immediately, and fixed the car way ahead of schedule for the price quoted. It was an expensive repair, but I know enough to understand that they weren't taking me for a ride. Great experience! Thanks, Jason! EDIT: I made this a year ago but I guess I just didn't post it successfully? Still, great place! Recommend highly.

Good service, on the expensive side but very thorough. Extremely pleased with the detail on their…read morevehicle inspection.

BEWARE - PDR will take your $$$ and fail to fix your car. Claim they "diagnosed" dead battery and…read morefixed it. Charged $500 - way overpriced. Day of pick up - car becomes inoperable and PDR ownership shrugs its shoulders. Take your biz to Myler Automotive Repair instead.

Joe's was recommended by my insurance agent as a great European car repair shop. My car has always…read morebeen serviced at a local dealer. A bit hesitant- I called him in advanced. In speaking with Joe, we discussed type parts used, computer availability and experience with my type car. He did mention his schedule was busy and suggested I call in advance for appt- which I appreciated and did. He suggested the time would take two hours for service and gave me an estimate- less than half the cost of the dealer. (Understand the dealer charges, almost $200 in computer charges, just to say hello/goodbye for plugging your key in to diagnose and then resetting the car's computer to say- come back again!) Thankfully, Joe has the computer onsite to do diagnostics and has the ability to reset as well- at no additional charge. Day of service, I was in/out in less than two hours, computer reset. One month later- I'm exceptionally happy to report, my car is running very smoothly! I'm thankful to have found a local European repair person, who will not inflate prices, just for driving in the lot with a European car. He and his staff were knowledgeable, very pleasant, efficient- and I believe trustworthy, not to mention highly recommended. I will definitely be using this shop again- Thanks Joe!

I brought my recently purchased used car here for a buyer's check, for $75 the price was pretty…read moremuch what I expected, but they really lost points for taking twice as long as the estimated to finish it. They estimated it would take around 2 hours, but it ended up taking more than 4. Their final recommendation was that the car was "pretty much good", but with a few minor repairs that would have cost several hundred dollars. I'm not a car person, so it's hard for me to do much more than speculate on the validity of these repairs, but it sure would have been expensive for a car that was "pretty much good." At least they weren't super pushing with trying to get me to get the repairs.

One star is too high of a rating. This is the worst service I've had of any kind in Champaign. The…read moreprice went up twice, doubling the second time. My car was there from 8am to 5:45pm, 45 min after closing, because I demanded my service was finished. I was also originally told my service would be done in 2 hours, which turned into 4, and then became 6 with a new found issue. UIUC students, do not go here. Do not find out how to get screwed over the hard way.

If you have an Audi this is the place to go. I will never take my Audi to any other mechanic…read more Before I found Ricks I only took my car to an Audi dealership for all issues oil changes anything I needed for my Audi. I was getting ready to leave my house one day and my engine light started flashing. When I turned off my car coolant went everywhere in my driveway. I had it towed to Ricks and he took his time to diagnose my vehicle and was very detailed with issues going on. Anytime there were concerns or issues he called me every time he was getting ready to start on another problem he found. I love they keep communication with the customers and make sure to ask if it's ok to proceed with the purchases as well. Everyone in the office is very polite and professional. The knowledge the mechanics and the owner have with foreign cars is amazing. He also informed me of a correction of wrong information the dealership was giving me about maintenance with my Audi as well which may have been the reason my car was having the oil and coolant issues it was having. Thank you so much for saving my car. I definitely will be only be bringing my car to this shop. It was 2 weeks ago I got my car back and I have nothing but positive outlook towards this company and staff and am very thankful I found someone I trust with my car.

Recently I was on the hot rod power tour with my 63 Impala SS and had an air shock that developed a…read moreleak. I was 2000 miles from my home in WA state and needed help! I found Reds muffler shop and the folks there were eager to help out a fellow "car guy" It was great to meet the gang there and learn about the family history of the shop. What wonderful people! If there was a way to give them a 10 star review, I certainly would! Yesterday, I fiinished up my 9000 mile trip all around this great nation of ours in my 63 yr old car thanks to the help and kindness of the folks at Reds muffler shop and others along the way. THANKS from "Waylon wires old iron" on youtube.

Dropped of my car in the morning, got a call shortly after explaining the issue with photos and…read morevideos sent. Muffler was repaired by the afternoon.

Never again they might of done good job on my brakes the owner Sam try to rip me off saying that I…read moreneeded a front frame that would be $1500. Saying my bushings are rusted that is a flat out lie. I got a second opinion with another person I have known for years said have him call him he refuses. I need work done on my car they wont be doing that in the near future. I'm so disgusted with this place when I confront the person they didn't want to take responsibility all they want to do is continue to lie to me. BE AWARE of these people they're nothing but crooks I am sick and tired trying to be ripped off especially with mechanics when they see a woman coming they want to rip them off.

Uncle Sam fixed my jeep a few weeks ago! He was super nice and everything was fixed quickly at a…read moregreat price!

I have taken my car here multiple times while living in Champaign. He is always very fair and…read morehonest. Fell behind on my oil change once and he was not shy to get on me about it. He always has everything done timely and within a fair price. He is also very nice but it is obvious he is there to do his job. In other words he is a true mechanic. It is also convenient being on campus.

I've been bringing my cars to Gasoline Alley for over 10 years now for jobs both BIG and small. I…read morehaven't had any reason to go elsewhere. They've been fair and honest each time. I started going because it was the long-time shop of one of our friends and it was a good recommendation. I just had my car serviced yesterday. My hubby thought that the squealing in my car was because of rubber that had melted from a previous belt and I thought it would be a HUGE bill to disassemble, clean, and reassemble. Nope. They tightened the belt, no charge and I had my tires rotated. Very inexpensive. They even showed my husband how to fix tighten the belt himself (yeah, we should have learned that anyway). A couple years ago I was having a problem with my heating panel, a known issue for that year of Toyota Highlanders. They did their own fix instead of doing the factory fix that would have cost over $600. It works perfectly and has lasted since. In 10 years they have treated my husband and I with respect and their workmanship is a reasonable cost and very reliable. They have a customer for life.

My AC kept changing temperature to hot when my car was in neutral or park or even idle at a light…read more I thought it was a fan but it was the timing belt. Before they worked on anything I was sent an estimate that was fair (checked comparative pricing online). They fixed the AC issue by addressing other issues I was unaware of. I appreciate their honesty.

I want to share my experience so other customers know what happened before deciding to bring their…read morecar here. I brought my BMW in because it was losing coolant, and I ended up having to bring the car back three separate times for the same issue. On my first visit, they told me the Heat Management Module (HMM) was the problem and needed to be replaced. I paid around $1,100, and they had my car for about two weeks. The part that really confused me was what happened right after I picked it up. I live only about 3 miles away from the shop. I drove straight home, parked the car, and noticed it was already leaking coolant again. Actually, the leak looked significantly worse than it did before I brought the car in. This made me question how the car was tested after the repair. I understand that not every problem is easy to diagnose, but I only drove about 3 miles after picking it up. If it was already leaking that badly when I got home, I don't understand how this wasn't noticed before the car was returned to me. So I brought it back a second time. This time they told me the coolant reservoir cap was the problem and replaced it for around $70. The coolant loss still continued. I brought it back for a third time, and this time they finally found a physical leak/hole in a coolant pipe. But while they were diagnosing the car, another coolant line broke during their inspection. They explained to me that the line was brittle and that it broke while they were checking the area with a mirror. I understand that older parts can become brittle, but what really bothered me was that I was still expected to pay around $200 to repair a line that broke while they were inspecting my car. They also recommended replacing the water pump for roughly $1,000. Just to be clear, I did NOT have the water pump replaced at this shop. Another thing that concerned me was the coolant itself. Different colored coolants were added to my car at different times. When I asked about mixing different coolants, I was basically told, "coolant is coolant" and that mixing them was fine. I also later asked about the diagnosis for the original $1,100 HMM replacement. I wanted to see the diagnostic code or some documentation showing why the HMM was determined to be the cause of the coolant loss, but I was never provided with a clear code or evidence showing that it was actually causing the leak. I'm not writing this because I expect car repairs to be cheap. My problem is that I paid around $1,100 for the first repair, drove only 3 miles home and found the car leaking even worse, brought it back multiple times for the same problem, and then had another coolant line break during their inspection and was still expected to pay around $200 for that repair. I understand that diagnosing coolant problems can sometimes be difficult and that older parts can be brittle. But after my experience, I would definitely recommend getting a second opinion before approving an expensive repair here. I would also ask for the actual diagnostic codes or test results and make sure the car was properly tested before taking it back. For reference, I attached pictures. The first picture shows the relatively small coolant leak I had before bringing the car to the shop. The second picture was taken after their first $1,100 repair, when I drove about 3 miles home and found a much larger amount of coolant leaking underneath the car. I'm just sharing what happened with my car and what I was told during these visits.