My car broke down and I had it towed to K-Tech. I was told that I needed to have a new carburetor and parts needed to be made. I was quoted $800 and then once they'd had my car for a few days the fee was raised to over $1000. My car continued to stall. I was told to bring it in, in a week to have it adjusted. I told them it was loud now and my car was previously quiet because I'd already had a new muffler put on when I bought the car as I didn't like loud noises. I was told this was due to a leak in the exhaust and it could be welded to fix the problem for $65.00. I said if that's all it was to go ahead. In the meantime, I lost my checkbook and called the office to let them know that I would be bringing in a money order payment because I stopped everything on my bank account. I brought in a postal money order with receipts for my cash purchase of the money order plus bonus funds in case they received any associated fees when I closed my account. The owner was at first unwilling to release my car and acted as if the money orders were foreign to her. I told her I'd go to the post office and bring back cash if she preferred or we could go to the post office together. She ended up accepting my payment after a humiliating walk to the post office to verify them and another phone call to the post office where I purchased them. I left with a quote of $2100 worth of other things I needed fixed on my car some of which I'd recently already paid someone to do. I was told these things were safety issues and they couldn't help that the car was louder and misfiring. I feel like I paid for problems to be fixed that not only weren't fixed but I ended up with a loud car and humiliated after the money order debacle which I had called their office about. I'm a small business owner myself and have debated over whether or not to review the shop but my car is running worse than it was before I took it in and when I gave the list of recommendations to a person I trust he informed me I'd already had most of those done. I don't know about cars, the carburetor may or may not have needed to be completely redone but I do know that when my car was quiet before taking it in, loud after and I specifically was told the weld would fix the noise I'm not happy to be driving a car that wakes the neighbors. Overall, the office staff was friendly, they provided a loaner car the second time my car was in their shop which was helpful but I left there so confused and embarrassed and worried about my car breaking down that I hired a private mechanic to come to my house and fix it rather than take it back to a shop. read more

I took my vehicle to K-tech repeatedly over the past several years. This year it was all different. The final bill was consistently 3X the estimate with no phone calls for discussion about what was being done. I see the walls papered with certificates of Kate as a master mechanic but I do not see her getting her hands dirty anymore. She did not work on my car. Finally getting my car back, I took it to another mechanic that actually knows me but works on another kind of car. He showed me where they were upselling for parts that did not need replacing. Then the cars dies again, same symptoms, So $2000 later, they had still not diagnosed it right. Still undependable to drive out of the county. read more

I brought in my Honda Civic for some suspension/brake issues. Initially, they replaced my rear tires (they found me a great deal on tires that same day), replaced a front bearing, and replaced my battery. I had to bring it back because we found out I also needed my front rotors replaced. They waived the full price of the rotor replacement (parts and labor) because I had to go back. Very knowledgeable and customer service centered! I will be returning for future auto needs! Thank you Ktech! read more

Lesson learned do your research. I had a starter battery replaced here. If the battery cost 150 dollars then they charged me $$350 to determine the battery was dead and install a new one. From other mechanics and online research those task done by a professional should take between 30 minutes to an hour worth of labor. That's between $300-$400 dollars an hour for labor. Charged $500 total.Plus the battery is in the back why were they checking my water pump under the hood? I never asked for any other diagnostic work. How would they even know I had all these other problems? Why was I paying for time under the hood when all I wanted was a battery. I had my car tuned and inspected 4 months ago without issue. read more

I started using k-tech, referred by a friend. I couldn't be happier. I felt the customer service was top-notch, responsive to my needs, my safety and my budget. Each time I brought my vehicles in I was able to go on a ride with a tech to 'listen' for the sound I was hearing. In every instance, i was validated and the issue was fixed. I love that it's a woman run business, and Jack the front man is great. They even call to follow up. That was a first! read more

I took my Porsche in for an oil change. The service was prompt, reasonable and complete. I was informed when picking up the car that the right side front and rear wheel bearings were leaking and recommended replacement. I declined the offer, but thanked them for bringing the issue to my attention. After a complete inspection, my regular Porsche mechanic found no leaks or any exceptions with right or left, front or rear wheel bearings. This incident was disappointing and has caused me to question K-Tech's integrity. I will not return to nor recommend this business to others. read more

Went on the positive reviews only to stand and wait for 15 minutes while no help was offered. People walked by and saw me without a word. Strange... read more

I told you I could not afford a tow and you NEVER offered to pay for a tow. That is a ridiculous assertion. See you in small claims court.

I've used K-Tech twice. The first time with my PT Cruiser that showed a "check engine" light. I couldn't have been happier with the results. The repairs were timely and effective. The car rides as good now as it did when it was new, and fuel economy has increased 6 to 8 miles per gallon. I just brought my 2005 Prius in for its 120,000 mile service and just as before, the service was terrific. The car was ready when they said it would be and it was delivered to my house. They have become my go-to auto repair facility read more

I have been taking my car to K-tech for 3 years now. I have been nothing but pleased with both their work and their customer service. I am surprised by the negative reviews that I have seen recently. I have never had a bad experience with this shop. They have been nothing but professional, reliable, and honest in everything they do. Do some of the prices seem a bit high, yes, but if you want it done right, then there will be times you have to pay for top notch quality service and that is what they provide. You don't get business of the year for no reason. So obviously this shop is doing something right! Thank you K-tech! read more

After two great experiences at K-Tech Automotive, I consider myself a loyal customer. I recently moved to Sebastopol, and I could tell that I needed to get my brakes looked at, so I called a couple of auto shops. K-Tech was friendly on the phone, and able to get my car into the shop right away. They gave me a free loaner car to use while they worked, and they had all my brakes fixed in just a few hours so that I was able to get to my daughter's Mother's Day school event on time! I know they worked extra hard to help me not be late, and I really appreciate that extra effort and caring they offered (how often does that happen these days?). Since K-Tech's service, my brakes have been feeling and sounding great! They were conscientious enough to let me know that I would need an oil change and transmission service soon, so I decided to go back in the following week and have that work done. Again, they were able to get my car in right away, and I got the oil changed and transmission service done in about an hour! They were super-busy that day, so all the loaner cars were out, but I just went for a nice walk down the street and looked into the cute little shops while they worked (met some cool people and discovered some very interesting places), and they were done so quickly, I couldn't believe it! Then, when I walked back to pick up my car, they gave me their coupon discount for the work (even though I didn't present the coupon), and it cost me only about half of what I was expecting! I couldn't be happier with K-Tech Automotive! My car is now running great, and I feel completely confident in their integrity and quality of work. Everyone there was friendly and gave me the impression of being people I could trust. I intend to be a loyal customer, and I highly recommend K-Tech. It's great to feel so good about a place to service and care for your car. I've tended to go to service centers at Toyota car dealerships in the past, and I can tell you, my experience with K-tech is a thousand times more pleasant. I'm so happy I found them! read more

I asked K-tech to replace an alternator that had gone bad (a mechanic friend did a diagnostic pin pointing the alternator as the problem.) They insisted on doing a "full electrical diagnostic" ($75) despite my asking them NOT to and lo and behold, they discovered that the alternator was bad. Then they replaced it with a $200 plus Bosch I did not want (given the car has 230,000 miles I did not need a top of the line part.) To top things off, they left a ground wire unconnected. I was so disgusted that I fixed this myself. Avoid. read more

K tech is a joke. They wanted to charge me $350 dollars to replace a $5 rubber bushing on my radiator, an oil change and to run some diagnostic tests. Then after I refused to pay that much they took $100 off the bill and sent me home with the same issues I came in with. Rather than addressing the engine codes and attempting basic troubleshooting they said I needed a new engine because I ran low on oil. So I leave knowing that they didnt do what I asked and right away the misfire issue comes back after getting one block down the road, I bring the car back. Now they actually had to do some work. They tested compression which came up good in all cylinders and they said they tested the ignition coils and they were all good as well. Yet I still had engine codes and misfire. So I took the car home plugged in my code reader and saw i had catalyst below threshold code and a misfire in cylinder 1. I replaced the Header/precat, spark plugs and 1 faulty coil and now my car runs great again. They were extremely kind and compassionate but I would never bring my vehicles to them again. read more

These folks have been fantastic to me. I have three very different cars--a Chevy truck, Jetta wagon and Porsche. They have done right by all of them. Also, they pick me up and drop me off when I can't get a ride there (which is almost always!) That's service. It's always nice when "shopping local" also means getting the best. read more

We have two older cars we take to K-Tech for all repairs. Everything has always been done well and in a timely fashion. It is not the cheapest place to go but their work is reliable and they don't find extra things to fix. I have no personal or professional connection with K-Tech or any of the people working there. I am surprized by some of the negative reviews here since my experience has been so different. I recommend K-Tech to friends. read more

We have a Suzuki vehicle that is difficult to find parts for and, up until now, had to take to the closest Suzuki dealer over 40 miles away for repairs. We had a serious repair needed, that K-Tech helped diagnose, and they were able to get the parts and do the repair, here in our home town! That saved us a lot of time. they also provided a loaner for the time that we were without our car and we appreciated that very much! read more

I have a 2006 Mercedes that had an issue with the transmission, as well as a problem with my heater and was referred to K Tech from another shop. That could not have been more of a mistake. I dropped my car off Wed. morning, discussed everything with the girl at the desk. Did not hear anything back that day. The next day she calls and tells me about the heater issue. I asked about the transmission and she forgot to put that on the job order. So they were going to have to charge me another $130 for the diagnostic on the transmission. Was told they would call me back later that day. Still nothing, on Fri I called and had to leave a message, no response. Called again and said I was going to pick my car up. Was asked to talk to the Shop Manager, I told him the customer service there was totally unacceptable. He said this is his first week so things have been crazy. He said he would look at my car that day and get back to me. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and he did call back before closing to say he didn't have a complete diagnosis and would have to finish on Monday. I told him he had until noon Monday to get back to me, he got back to me at 11:45 with the news that I need a new transmission, total repairs $9500. I told him I am not going to spend that kind of money on a car that isn't even valued that high and I would come to pick it up. Then he retracted and asked if he could keep it one more day to do some more research. Low and behold the next day, I didn't need a new transmission after all, it just needs the Valve Body Monitor (or something like that) and total cost for repairs $4800. I told him I was going to pick my car up. He said they needed to "button it up" and he would call when ready to pick up. I received a call at 5:15, mind you, they close at 5:30 and I am in Santa Rosa so there was no way I could pick it up that day. The next morning I picked my car up, was charged $480.00 to have the oil changed and for diagnostics. Really???? I took my car to another shop, for the same work I was quoted $2340 and this is from a shop that specializes in Mercedes Benz. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT TAKING YOUR CAR TO K TECH!! read more

Absolutely the worst rip off and scammers. I brought my truck to them a few years ago and they did a lot of work without confirmation from me and put in a faulty fuel injector pump then had to redo it. They then tried charging me for installing it twice a total of 16 hours. Ended up having a huge fight with the owner Kate and paid 4000$ of the 6000$ they wanted and truck still doesn't work. Worst experience ever read more

They tell a really convincing story, but Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware). K-Tech Invoice reads: "6/28/12: Job Name: Clunk. Work Performed - Verified concern, heard clunk when going from neutral to reverse, racked car and performed inspection, found noise coming from left rear inner axle, differential is making a slight noise from park to reverse. After performing test drive with customer to determine noise, also found right front cv axle and left rear axle clicking from reverse to drive. Recommended to replace all four axles due to time and mileage on car. Customer declined further repairs. "Job Name: Noise/Smell. Work Performed - Could not verify concern but do find oil leaking from turbo and possibility of power steering fluid leaking around rack and pinion, recommend to add dye to both oils to check. Customer declined further repairs." [Note: K-Tech's assessments cost $210.36. Recommended repairs to axels alone would cost $3,000. At the time I brought my car in, the tech was to perform an examination and make a recommendation, and, at the time, my car was getting an average of 24.4 mpg. When I picked her up - three days later - the average had dropped to 23.2, and stayed there for the week following...until I took her to in to a Volvo specialist, whose assessment follows this report.] PJ's Foreign Automotive Invoice reads: "7/3/12: Check and advise clicking sound in axles when reversing. Customer wants a second opinion. Verified customer complaint and found outer axle bolts loose. Tightened outer axle boot bolts and test drove vehicle. There is still a minor noise present but customer advised to drive until noise is worse. "Check and advise for burning oil smell from front of engine area. Verified customer complaint and found a small leak in front drive shaft area [drive shaft was completely replaced by K-Tech earlier this year]. There is a new boot on the vehicle.[Why, K-Tech?] Cleaned residue from old grease." [Note: Volvo Specialist's assessments cost $57. Average mpg has returned to 24.5 mpg.] I submit the facts so that you might make your own better informed decisions. read more

very unpleasant new customer event. Prices for potential service requested seemed above average. Did not schedule for service

DO NOT GO HERE! I recently took my car here to get diagnosed as it has having issues. They told me what was wrong and then quoted me almost $1400 to fix it. In addition, they told me I would also need to replace my timing belt for another $1000. I immediately got my car out of there and took it to a friend who was able to fix the issue in less than 2 hours. The parts cost $215. So that means the labor costs at this shop would have been $1200 for two hours of work?!?!!? That's insane. In addition, my friend told me my timing belt was fine and didn't need replacing. Lastly, when I got my car out of their shop there was no receipt or diagnostic report, as that's what I paid for. Also, they had removed my engine covers and instead of putting them back in place, left them and the screws thrown in my passenger side footwell. So unprofessional. This place is a joke, would have been cheaper to go to a dealership, and that's saying something! If you prefer not to be ripped off, avoid this place read more

I chose K Tech based on the largely positive Yelp reviews. I don't know what to say, except they seem to be a victim of their own success. Even though i made an appointment a week earlier, and brought my car in when they opened, they were not able to attend to my vehicle until shortly before closing. When i called in at mid-day for an update I was told that it was "in progress", when the vehicle was still untouched, and parked where I left it. After their diagnosis, they recommended work that I already had done withing the last month, by other shops. I don't believe they were deceptive, since the work that they were recommending are services that most owners neglect over time. I just think that their small shop is being overwhelmed by the number of customers they are accepting, and communication between the office and the customer could be improved. It is clear that they are making an effort to be thorough, but the crush of work seems to be a real obstacle. read more

First off I was assured by the receptionist that the best value would be given if I went to this business. Not only was she pushy, she did not tell me how much it was going to be to diagnose my car, little did I know it was going to be $150.00. If She would have told me how much it was going to be when i asked her in the first place i would have never gone to this business. Second I had to call three times to check on my car and she didn't seem to know if it was even being looked at or not. When I was able to go pick my car they diagnosed my car and told me it was the speed sensor and the coolant temp sensor. It was going to be $800.00+ to have those two sensors replaced because, "the after market parts wouldn't work for the Volkswagen I have". I am so glad I decided not to have work done by this business. I took my car to another automotive shop which was 20$ to diagnose and they found what was really wrong with my car. I ended up paying $320.00 to have my car fixed at another shop. It was not the speed sensor or the coolant temp sensor. It was actually the crank shaft sensor. Not only would I have had to pay $800.00 at K-tech but the problem wouldn't have been fixed and I would have been paying for something that wasn't broken in the first place. I will never go back to this business after the way I was treated and having someone diagnose my car and having them be wrong. I have never felt so cheated out of my money and will not be recommending this business to anyone. read more

So after reading all these 5 star reviews I decided to take my 1973 Corvette here. I had a leak coming from the power steering. Before I went here I took it to another shop. They diagnosed it for me told me, told me it was the power steering valve and didn't charge me a dime. I wanted to get a second opinion before I ordered a new one as they are not cheap and not easy to come by. I called and talked to Monica and she told me to bring it in. Once I got there the woman came out and took down the mileage and asked me what kind of a car it was, that right there should have told me something. When we got back in the office I was told that to look at the car it's $150, something that I felt should have been said to me over the phone. I mean at the other place it took the technician 15 minutes to put it up on the rack and look at it. It's in plain sight and easy to get to. So I asked if I had them do the job would the $150 be applied towards the bill, she told me no. She told me that these cars are hard to work on. I asked her if she even knew what a power steering control valve looked like, she said no but she used to own a 72 Chevy Impala. Ok I don't quite get the connection. So I said how can you tell me that my car is hard to work on when you have no clue what the hell you're talking about. If they're going to charge me $150 to put the car on the rack I can imagine what they would have charged me to install the damn thing. Needless to say I went back to the other shop and had then do the job and believe me I will never ever even think about going to this place or give them a reference. read more

Avoid this place like poison. I brought in my Volvo and told them there was something wrong with the front end (a rough ride) and with the transmission (slipping and clunky shifting). After a couple of days they told me they couldn't find anything wrong with the transmission, but the car needed $2,280 worth of other work (motor mounts, control arms, front-end alignment). I was on the fence (the blue book, in good condition, is around $3500), but authorized the work. AFTER they did the work, they discovered the tranny problem and told me it needed a rebuild; their price: $5,600. (Santa Rosa Hydramatic subsequently quoted me $4K). Unhappy, I explained that if I knew the car needed $7,000-$8,000 worth of work, I never would have put a dime into it. Their first response was a shrug. Their second response, after another day or two, was that maybe I didn't need a rebuilt tranny; maybe I just needed a new mass air flow sensor for $360. (This is part of the fuel injection system, which the counter man Jesse didn't know despite telling me I needed a new one. The mechanic's notes said MAYBE I needed one.) What does the mass flow sensor have to do with the transmission? They couldn't say. There are yet more details to this story that make it even worse. My opinions: (1) These people are incompetent, and (2) they'll say anything to get you to hand over your money even when they have no clue what's wrong with your car. There are many, much better options in the Sebastopol-Santa Rosa area for car repair. read more

Broke down near Sebastopol, so I called these guys to see if they could replace the clutch cable on my '89 Volvo 240. They installed the cable by the next day, but they realized it was too short and caused the clutch to slip pretty heavily, they told me this and I was alright waiting for them to get the correct sized cable. I spent most of the second day waiting around to hear from them, I gave them a call and they said they were about to install the cable and would have the car ready within the hour. After not hearing from them, I walked down to the shop and found out they had finished the clutch job, but one of the careless mechanics had smashed out the drivers side turn signal lens by bumping it into a bench in the shop. There was no sheet metal damage and they replaced it free of charge, but I had to wait around for them to get a new lens from their supplier (They also used a cheap aftermarket replacement lens and not an OEM quality Cibie lens). I'm also confident that they wouldn't have even told me about this incident if I hadn't showed up before they 'fixed' it. With the job done I paid the $313 or so dollars and went on my way. The clutch worked fine, but within 15 minutes of leaving the shop I found out one of the mechanics had torqued on the drivers side crank window too hard and broke the mechanism causing the windows glass to completely fall into the door... I called them and they denied the mechanic had really been careless, but offered to 'fix' it if we brought the car back to them. I declined because after this experience I didn't really trust them to take off my door panel in a manner that wouldn't cause more damage, so I will do it myself. I finally got out of town and drove for a couple of hours, on my way back up to Washington State, it started getting dark and I noticed my drivers side headlight didn't work. So I pulled over and found out the mechanic had forgotten to plug the wiring harness back into the headlight socket when they removed the whole assembly to replace the turn signal lens... I reconnected the harness and the headlight worked fine. I made it back up to Washington State, the clutch cable made it back without any more problems. Overall my experience with these folks was overtly negative. They got the job I requested done but during the process they don't treat your car with the respect that any real reputable shop would. If you have any pride of ownership in your vehicle I would avoid going to these guys. read more

If you like being lied to this is your place, never in 50yrs of driving have I had a worse experience with an auto shop, I spent a week without a vehicle , got it back it still had an oil leek , they had slathered jb weld on front cover like peanut butter, when front pulley was reinstalled they broke offa piece of front timing cover shoving a large piece of metal into oil pump, this was how truck was returned to me, I have pics & parts to prove this, after taking truck to a 1000 times better shop, BANANNO AUTOMOTIVE , they called me and said I needed to come see what had been done to my motor, several mechanics there said they had never seen anything like this , & where surprised my motor had not blown, well super long horror story short, I had to take Ktech to the B.A.R. Bureau automotive repair, open a case deal with that for a month, anyway what a nightmare , I would NOT let this shop work on my lawnmower , BEWARE , DONT BE FOOLED, THERE ARE BETTER PLACES TO TAKE YOUR VEHICLE . read more