I wish I would have read the reviews before going there. Hopefully mine helps someone avoid a similar experience. Zero stars! Do not waste your time or money! The owner is not a nice man and will start cussing the minute you ask any questions he doesn't like. His prices are incredibly high. He wanted over $1800 to replace my fuel pump and I was quoted $1400 from the dealership. I asked him if he could match the price and he instantly turn on me and got extremely rude! He was cussing at my boyfriend because he (very nicely) asked him about parts vs labor pricing because it wasn't adding up. In the end he charged me $255 to "diagnose" the fuel pump that I told them it was when I brought it in. Apparently it was 1 1/2 hours labor to diagnose what I already told them was the issue. Don't waste your time or money! read more

The old grumpy owner of Rick's Diagnostic Repair Service is aggressive and combative. He obviously lives within walking distances to his shop. He called me handicapped and used "F-----ing superlatives" in his communications with me. Not sure how his business services are but as a human being, there is much to be desired. Regrettably, this is my experience with an old man wearing a blue service technician uniform with "Rick's company name on it. There were plenty of witnesses beholding Rick's verbal assault on my character as, in his words..."me being a mentally handicapped person" read more

See all

My 90 yr old dad has been putting together a 1950's Chevy PU from the body up, had a few issues, Rick came to the rescue, he and his team had truck for one day and found the problems and fixed and back to our dad the next day. Thank you!!! Highly recommend this team of mechanics. H. Muth read more

I think the owner might be mentally ill. I dropped my car off on a Sunday to have them look at it on a Monday for routine maintenance. The person I talked to on the phone told me to 'park it behind the tow truck.' I did as instructed, and had to return on Monday to give them the key because he doesn't have a drop box. He was angry and yelling about how I'd "disrespected his sidewalk" by "parking on it." I was parked behind the tow truck as instructed, and my tires were maybe three inches onto the sidewalk, whereas his tow truck was also parked on the sidewalk and overlapping much more than my tires were. He refused to service my vehicle because I had parked the way I was told to. He threatened to "have my car impounded" and told me I had "two hours to move it or it would be towed." I got in the car to leave and it wouldn't start. It was running fine when I brought it there, so I popped the hood and somebody had disconnected the battery cable. I re-connected it and left. Got in the car and he had also left a very hateful message about me "disrespecting his sidewalk" and had repeated the threat to have my car "impounded." I'm not saying he disconnected my battery cable, but it does seem rather odd to me that anyone would do that when the car had been on the lot less than 12 hours. If one of his employees didn't do it, then they obviously don't have security on the lot to keep people from messing with your car. I gave them one star because it's not possible to give them zero stars. The owner is obviously unstable and looking for something to argue about. read more

I have now gone to Rick 3 times and he has always been helpful and gone over and above. Car repairs are not only annoying but expensive each time I have needed a repair I compare prices and Ricks quotes are the same as other shops. What puts him over the edge for me is that he is HONEST and that is priceless. I have a knack for buying cars with mechanical issues and Rick has always been honest and upfront with wether the car warrants the cost of repairs. Those other repair shops just wanted the repair money and did not tell me that there was more issues that were going to be pricey. I respect that and will continue to use him as long as I keep buying bad cheap cars. Someday I will learn to use that car buyer inspection he offers before I buy the car. read more

Again Rick and Ryan saved the day . Great knowable professionals with lots of experience. Great guys ,upfront with you . ASE certified mechanics . If you want it fixed right I highly recommend this shop. I'll always use them for my car problems . read more

Had all of my vehicles serviced there for the past year. Great work, price and customer service. Very straight forward , fast and accurate. Rick was able to perform a high difficulty job on my truck that saved me tons of money and time. Highly recommend their shop and services to a future customers. read more

Charged more than quoted and agreed upon. Would not discuss overcharge saying he was allowed 10% overage but could not produce that disclaimer when requested. Very dishonest, unethical person. read more

I've owned a '94 BMW 740iL that had a perpetual coolant leak and front end shimmy . No one could fix the coolant leak. Rick's did. And the front end wobbles weren't corrected either until I took it to Rick's. He's also done maintenance on my Mercedes SLK. And did it right. I have to do what I almost never do for auto repair shops, and that is ..recommend it! read more

I'm so happy to find a mechanic I can trust and actually has time to work on my cars when they need help. There are some other trustworthy ones in Tacoma, but every time I try to take a car in, they're booked out for weeks or months! Rick opened his shop on McKinley Ave just a few months ago. I had Rick work on my 1983 Silverado. I came in with a list of complicated problems that I had diagnosed myself and he quickly figured out within 24 hours that I was totally wrong and it was a much simpler fix than I thought it would be. He was considerate of my budget and kept things simple for me. He said there's a lot more work he could suggest doing, but he didn't want to pressure me when he know I was on a tight budget, so he let me know about some important little things to do myself like the license plate light, for example. When one major replacement was out of my budget, he made it comfortable to say no to that part of the repair. I decided to try doing that one myself first, then take it to him when I give up. The repair bill came out to be a bit lower than the estimate, which I really appreciate. He also removed a wasps nest from the truck that I didn't realize was there. I thought maybe there was one, but I didn't ever see it. Yay for Rick! I'll be a loyal customer from now on. read more

I am so thankful my co-worker recommended Rick's! Rick himself was very kind and informative. Ryan worked on my car and was awesome as well. They gave me tips and made suggestions, I took notes! Ryan was very thorough in diagnosing my car, went over everything with me in detail, and gave me some very reasonable estimates for what I plan to have done. I was charged an extremely fair rate and would recommend them to everyone. Yay for having a good mechanic, woohoo thank you!! read more

I had Rick change out the water pump and hoses on my older Mercedes. He gave me a detailed quote and though it sounded high at $1100, the car was dead in the water so we went ahead. He got the car Saturday but it wasn't ready until Thursday. I called around and for quotes for the same work and was told by independent shops it would cost about $650 using reconditioned parts. The Mercedes dealership also wanted to replace the belts and use new parts, but their quote was only $810. Upon picking it up the check engine light came on. It's not fully repaired yet. read more

I have a lot of older cars that require continuous maintanace that I'm happy to pay for because I get fantastic gas mileage. They have since moved over to Tacoma because the landlord of the property didn't want to renew the lease. The only bad reviews I've seen are from repeat, park in no overnight parking offenders and the island drunks. Rick and Ryan Slater are always willing to go the extra mile to make sure you and your car are happy when you leave. read more

Went in for an oil change, the price beat all the competitors on the island. The service was friendly and very helpful. I asked them to do an in depth check on my car since I just got back from a 3100 mile road trip and they did more than what I expected. I am very pleased with the service I received from Rick and his crew and I would recommend this place to others. read more

Extremely over priced and rude rude owner! I love supporting local businesses but if you don't treat another human with respect your not gaining mine. read more

All I can say is Rick is happy to take your money. Seems nice when you meet him. $200 bucks bye bye! Gone! Never again!

Took my crossover in to have the AC looked at. Very helpful over the phone and professional on site. At the end of the day, I was charged below what they originally stated. My car is not worth the amount of work needed for this, but I was satisfied with what I was provided. A quick trip for me, and will definitely consider coming back in the future. read more

After reading some of the other comments I feel a need show some support for Rick. We've used him over the past decade or more and he is solid - a good, honest , dependable mechanic who goes out of his way to do the job right. On more than one occasion he has saved my old station wagon from the trash heap, one time after another mechanic (no longer in business) told me it was hopeless. He and his wife Jan are well organized and friendly and I highly recommend them. I think this whole feud with Miles (who I've also used and think highly of) is very unfortunate and I suspect a result of their locations being so weirdly sandwiched between each other. Rick was there first, and he has a long drive between his office at the entrance, and his shop, in the back. Miles has since moved in between these two buildings and now we have a hillbilly automotive mall of sorts, with competing businesses and designated parking spaces for their "customers only" . A bizarre configuration that seems intentionally designed to cause confusion and bad blood. So I wouldn't be fooled by the first impression of the other reviewer. Both mechanics are good, they just don't get along. Pick one and then try to figure out where to park, at your own peril! read more

Avoid. Avoid. Or roll your dice and hope you're one of the few with fair and honest experience. Between the price gouging and taking advantage, I for sure recommend using someone else, even if off island. And if in need of a tow, ANYONE, is most likely better to call. He towed my vehicle from north end ferry area to his place uptown and charged me for 1.5 hours labor on the tow at almost $300 just for the tow. It's a 10-15 minutes drive each direction, but he said without proof that he was delayed by a semi truck and admitted to taking advantage of the allotted rate given to him. I asked why is he taking advantage of that with me, and he said it's to help offset the losses he acquires from other vehicles he gets stuck with. As a vashonite who supports local, I warn you fellow islanders.... stay away. read more

We paid $1,000+ to have Rick service our 2012 Ford diesel truck with 60k miles on it. Interesting enough, the truck died on me several weeks later on my way home with two young children. Took the truck back, and Rick was nice enough to rent me his old car with 200k miles on it. He took a week to tell me he couldn't fix my truck, and he would be kind enough to tow it to the dealership for $300. He charged me $277 for the use of his old car, and another $267 for the truck he couldn't fix. Then another $104 for, I'm assuming not filling the old car up with gas. The lever for opening the gas door wouldn't open! Almost $2,000 later, I don't have a working vehicle. It is worth your time and money to take your vehicle off island. I will never go back to this guy! read more

Yet again.... another attempt at theft by Rick. Right now sits a purple 97 convertible Sebring. Towed one block to his garage for $100.00. He's charging $572.00 for the tow and a $27 throttle body sensor. He wants to charge over 250 dollars for an $85 coil which he didn't install or buy. He did not fix the car and it does not run... and is now holding it ransom. The car was running when I attempted to flush the radiator... a little water splashed up and the car died. Hmmmmm ok . get a tow dolly and tow it home. got spark, got fuel... and switched sensors around which are interchangeable to cross check a bad one or to narrow it down. Found out the "brain" and or main computer is fine. The car is about to be a gift to my girlfriend... from our friend (who's had cars gifted to him... a kind of pay it forward) Spencer who had it towed to get it fixed for her... only to find out that Rick is absolutely raping us/Spencer... for something that should have been no more than $250. Unethical, Unconscionable and completely without merit. He thinks theft is the way to endear himself and maintain a customer base. When our mutual friend Keith walked over to ask about the car and charges (Keith had already come to the same conclusions for free) as was shocked as he listened to Rick try to justify the charge. As I am now. As a nearly never ending list of people who've been had by him. Nearly any and everybody I've known for the over 8 years I've been here all have the same thing to say.... Do not ever take your vehicle to that thief. read more

My car was having an issue, Rick's told me I needed $1300+ of repairs, which I had them do. However after just a few hours of picking up my car I had the same issue. When I took the car back to get some answers their response was to tell me that I would need additional $1000+ to fix it BUT they would be glad to take the car off my hands. Took my car to another mechanic, who fixed the original issue for a fraction of Rick's estimate and told me the $1300+ work that was done was not needed. I will never use this place again. read more

I've had a stellar experiences since changing my shop to Rick's. Don't be confused by the other shop located in the same complex. Every question or concern of mine has always been addressed personally by Rick. He uses top quality parts, offers full service unlike some others and warrantees his repairs. If you want it done right I can highly recommend this business. read more