I give Import Auto Clinic 10 bright, shiny star, two enthusiastic thumbs up, and high-five’s all around for the very best experience I’ve had with an auto repair shop, and for restoring my faith in humanity! And they didn’t even fix my car! My old beater minivan suddenly kicked the bucket in the middle of the intersection as my husband and I left the parking lot at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, and we were over an hour’s drive away from home. We were in real trouble. Our AAA Auto Club wouldn’t cover a tow home, and it would cost us several hundred dollars to get it towed. The van wasn’t even worth that. While we were blocking busy traffic and starting to panic, I silently prayed for help and guidance and then looked up and noticed the sign on the building directly in front of us across the street from the hospital that said “Import Auto Clinic - Service and Repair.” I looked at my husband and said “Hey, look at that! Well, they work on imports but this is a domestic. Let’s push it in there anyway and maybe they can help us with a referral.” So we started pushing. I didn’t know what to expect, but had little choice in unfamiliar territory. When I walked in, out of breath from the exertion, I noticed how very clean and nicely decorated the front desk and waiting area is, and that it had a well-stocked coffee area set up, a glass mini fridge with bottled water, and plenty of comfortable seating and magazines for customers. There’s also a few amazing metal art sculptures tastefully placed. It looks like a nice small hotel lobby, not at all like a typical, greasy, grungy auto repair shop! Tim (and their little shop dog) greeted me at the front desk and he was very gracious and professional and assured me they also service domestic vehicles and could check it out and let me know what the problem was with the van. I was initially skeptical and hesitant (prior bad experiences with expensive rip-off artists at other repair shops who take unfair advantage of people’s automotive ignorance), but a lady customer waiting in one of those comfy chairs calmed my fears when she gave rave reviews about her long history as a customer there and their 5-star ratings on Yelp, and Tim also made me feel very comfortable after explaining the company’s 40-year history and good reputation. That helped, but all I could really think of at the time was the unexpected and unaffordable dollar signs going “Cha-Ching!” that we might be facing. But It was late in the afternoon and the shop was busy, and Tim said they couldn’t see what was going on with the van until the next day. My heart dropped. That meant we needed to rent a car to get home, which would be an added expense on top of the cost to get the van inspected. It was a bit painful for us, but we had no choice. Tim kindly recommended a nearby Enterprise rental company that could come pick us up, and we were able to get home at a reasonable time. Very early the next morning, before 8:00 a.m., we got a text from Tim with a full report on the minivan, including photos and a thoroughly detailed itemized explanation bumper to bumper of all the mechanical things that needed attention on it, which I did already know about most of them and was not surprised, but the big things that the old girl had go bad were catastrophic and fatal—also not surprising. We’d have to let her go. Tim and Garrett were very kind and empathetic with our decision and walked us through the salvage process and gave us the contact info of a guy they work with, who was also very kind and helpful. Tim had walked me through the whole process and even contacted the salvage company for me and let me know what they would pay for the clunker, which was more than we were anticipating. We drove back to the shop the following day and cleared out the van, took care of the paperwork and paid the reasonable inspection fee, and made arrangements for it to be picked up and transfer of the title. I can’t give a high enough recommendation for Import Auto Clinic. If the repair work they do is as good as their outstanding customer service, then even being put on a month-long waiting list is worth it to take your vehicles there! Thanks, Garret, Tim and crew!