J & J Autoworks

Had full «$ 5400» custom paint job in october 2014. Paint started coming off in less than a week. Lifetime warranty on paint no good cuz he didnt follow manufacturer procedures when painting vehicle. Within months front bumper paint and various random spots on car that paint just flakes off… never returns calls. James stole a trd spoiler that was supposed to be painted and the money i paid to have it painted. Paint color was nice but started coming off within a month. Paid him to also paint my rims and he never did. Now J & J is closed down and I lose all the money… Tracked James down last week to a bodyshop he is working at and owner informs me he had just been fired for doing shady work/​deals form their company… but he still in the area living out of his car and advertising his old place on craigslist…

Never in my life have I been so disgusted in the practices of a business, so much so that I’m writing this review despite it being my friend that went through the following issue.
I’ll just say this right now, CHECK THE BBB for information about this business, in my opinion you should stay away from here. If I could rate negative stars I would because this guy deserves it.
My friend turned over 4 parts to this business, fairings, to be painted. He originally quoted my buddy 3 days but sadly that was not the case. Multiple unanswered text messages, and ignored phone calls later a police report was filed against the owner for return of the parts.
Through text he was told that a police report had been filed and only THEN was a response received, some bogus excuse was given and he said to meet at a nearby Wendy’s to get the parts from him. He was a no show.. .
My friend sent a picture, proof of the police report and the owner became very aggressive and said to meet at Wendy’s again at 11 AT NIGHT! He showed up but was only able to provide 3 of the 4 parts back to my friend due to the fact that he «lost one on the way over.» When my friend questioned the validity of this claim the situation escalated enough that he was forced to summon HPD to the scene.
Long story short my friend is now left with 3 of 4 parts with shoddy, elementary school level paint jobs.
He has documentation of everything.
Normally I would never preform a review as a third party but people NEED to be aware of this business and this story, your car is an investment, please protect it.
I would give this business a −10÷5 stars.

Stay away from this guy. He’s bad news, loves to rip people off, and steal their stuff. Do yourself a favor and find someone better.

Read the reviews on ripoff report and better business bureau. This guy is bad news.

This douchebag crook doesn’t even deserve one star! I really feel the ppl on here that give good reviews are a damn set up. Let me tell you about this a$!hole. First he is a pathological liar and a crook and to be honest I think he is on drugs. I took my Chevy Camaro into him for an insurance claim and a custom paint job. I figured I would kill two birds with one stone. Anyway he explained to me along with other shops by law he has to repair the damage prior to starting the paint job. He then proceeded to ask for the insurance estimate on the claim. I provided this knucklehead this. Then he gave me an estimate with the added paint job. So fast forward to January he started the work and claimed he fixed the damage and asked for 3000.00 for that portion (insurance), and I would give him the rest after he finished the paint job. He had already sanded the first couple of coats. By that time I felt uneasy, but my car had already had the paint stripped. I expressed my concerns and he gave me a bullshit answer. Fast forward two months and no word. I pop up on him and my car looked exactly the same way it did in January. I gave him a deadline to have my car painted. I then texted him a few weeks later asking him what is the status of my vehicle, he tells me has not been able to work on it because he lost my car keys! He then asked me for a spare and I told him he needs to replace the key or deduct it from the paint job. On May 11, 2015, I received a call from HPD saying my car was on cinder blocks and all four tires were missing and I needed to get my car or it would be impounded. I filed a police report and apparently his reputation with HPD isn’t that great, shocking lol. And ladies and gentlemen I feel in my heart he had something to do with it. Today the new shop I had my car towed to said that he did not replace the front fender as required by law, by the way it is insurance fraud. Which i have notified the office that deals with insurance fraud. I have tried to get a refund from him (James Thomas, the owner) because since the insurance company already paid me they will not reissue out for the claim. He has given me the run around. From asking for pictures, the police report, which has, nothing to do with the insurance fraud he committed along with not finishing a job he was supposed to do, to trying to accuse me of stealing my own tires go figure, lol. I have contacted him and the only way he communicates is through text, how you can run a business like that is beyond me. As I am asking for a refund he calls me dumb and tells me to grow up. He then asks to meet him and I told him it has to be a public place because I didn’t trust him and I did not want a personal check because he has been recently evicted from his shop for not paying rent. Which is how I’m in this mess because he got evicted and just left my car there. I did not want to get a check that would potentially bounce, he then gets mad and tells me I am harassing him and he is going to press criminal charges against me. I told him I just want the money I paid, so I can fix what he messed up and I got no response. Good people of Oahu and especially military personnel do not do business with this man. He is a crook and a very evil person and the scum of the earth.

With my custom body kit it’s hard to find a body shop that can work on my car. J&J Autoworks was the only shop even willing to look at my car and give me an estimate. James offered me a great package deal for repairing my cracked body kit and giving my baby a brand new paint job for an unbeatable price. I was shown a massive variety of paint; his color book is bigger than the dictionary. He also had colors from iconic sources such as MTV’s «Pimp my Ride» and «West Coast Customs». Not only that, but he offered to do far more than just body work. James offered me everything I needed to turn my ride into a show car from, air suspension, engine tuning, custom electrical work, sounds, Lamborghini doors, rims, and tinting. If you want that extra special something for your car, then this is the shop to go to! Ive been going to James for over 3 years now I could never see my baby in the hands of another shop. Thanks J !

Potential customers BEWARE!!! I repeat BEWARE and take CAUTION before you go to J&J Autoworks. Save your time and money and go to a real professional. Better yet you can go to your neighborhood shade tree painter for a more professional job.
Jay’s customer service and professionalism is non-​existent! I repeat NON-​EXISTENT!
I brought my 2012 Harley Road-​King to be painted and he said it would take 4 – 7 days. I got it back 5 weeks later. His excuse? First one — all of a sudden he had 25 cars to paint. Second excuse — it rained everyday. Third excuse — his dad was sick and he had to go out the country. The real reason — who knows because all of these were lies!
After 5 weeks I finally get a call saying my bike was ready for pick up. I get to the shop and begin to inspect the final product. I see there’s paint on my chrome, the bike is dirty, there are air bubbles in the paint, and my stretch hard bags have two long cracks in it. I proceed to ask him why was it cracked. First excuse — the weather caused it to crack. SERIOUSLY?!? We live in Hawaii where the temperature does not get over 85 degrees. Second excuse — the quality of my saddlebags wasn’t up to par. The real answer — he didn’t do his prep work as a professional would have known to do.
Now I have a bike that has a defected paint job and in need of a new face lift. Fortunately, it’s being handled by a REAL PROFESSIONAL that takes care of their customers. Feel free to contact me for additional info…
My overall review:
0 out of 5 for workmanship
0 out of 5 for professionalism
0 out of 5 for customer service
0 out of 5 for dependability & accountability
Please think twice before considering J&J Autoworks – you will regret it!
Ted Braxton

Jay was very helpful and a good guy to work with. His prices were very reasonable and he is one of the very few that does motorcycle work. He also stands buy his work. I had an issue come up and he was quick to do a touch-​up repair for me.

Took my 2013 Honda Civic into J & J auto works to get my car painted the experience overall was very pleasant. They staff was friendly and did a great job at painting my car. Perfect color match and as if the scratches were never there. On top if their excellent service the price was extremely reasonable and was done in a very timely manner. I would recommend this place to any looking for fast, friendly, and great service. Thanks again J & J for fixing up my baby. :)

I definitely would recommend j&j auto works to any of my friends or family. Very good pricing and customer service. James even took care of some rock chips that I had on my car that I didn’t really care about. He did a very good job repainting my doors and fixing the back bumper. Don’t hesitate to give him a call.

Check BBB for his license number, no certification or licenses on file. His paint is not warranted because he doesn’t follow the correct DuPont technique for applying paint. So your lifetime warranty is not accepted. Call the program and see, they will ask for all the paint information he bought to use and it will prompt him to respond with the receipt of paint purchased. If he doesn’t have all the mixtures correct then he is liable for the damages. Again he is not a mechanic and thus can not touch your car!

My husband’s Honda Shadow is parked outside all of the time and with the Hawaii weather it started to rust on the gas tank. Buying a replacement gas tank at a dealership would have been $ 800 not including labor. He researched his options and found J & J. We took in his motorcycle and was able to get rid of the rust, repaint the tank to factory, and brushed out & cleaned up the chrome, all for less than it would have cost to just buy a tank!
My husband’s happy with the results and if he’s happy, I’m happy.

Last week, i drove my Volvo into a pot hole as wide as my okolei, and the front of my car was ripped off. When it comes to car issues, i am a complete idiot (didnt even know how to open the hood of my car until a few years ago). I took the car to J&J autoworks, close to the airport, off Nimitz. James is an honest man, he remarked, «i have never seen a pot hole did so much damage» yup, this is going to burn a hole in my pocket, i think. Anyway, he was able to fix my car in two days, for a reasonable price (much lower than i anticipated, relief!) and even offered a great discounted rate on an Enterprise rental car. J&J delivered on time and under my budget, took the stress from me. I would definitely return to J&J again for any car issues. Of course, i will be watching out for those craters on the roads.

Came in to get my bumper repainted. Agreed on $ 750 for the rear bumper which he said would take 7 days. Kept pushing the date back, eventually finished in 11 days. When I show up, the paint does not match the rest of the car. My car is silver, the bumper was a slightly (but noticible) lighter than the rest of the car. I said this wasn’t acceptable, and his response was «there s nothing I can do». He wouldn’t fix it because he said sanding the paint would take too long and he didn’t have time to do it. Also when I got in the car, it wreaked of cigarette smoke, and the seat and steering wheel were moved, so I assume he drove my car around too! Would never do business with again, James is a crook. Don’t let the cheap prices fool you, you’re getting what you pay for, which is shoddy work. BEWARE don’t trust this business, pay a little extra somewhere else, to get quality work done.

So i took my 1966 mustang in to have the interior sheet metal painted a high gloss black as I am restoring the interior to black and blue well the out side of the vehicle is blue so I was hoping for a flawless seam between the two colors but nope and me and the owner James discussed exactly what I wanted done and i also had some factory style sound proofing sprayed on the interior panels that were normally not seen. First off it took him 2 weeks longer due to family emergencies which i totally understood because i myself was off island for that same reason and said he could take his time as long as the job was done right. Well I picked the car up and and took a look he had it sitting in his shop with a tarp over the windows and windshield i looked it over and said it was ok well I should have took it out side to have a look in the light because when we went over what was to be done he said he would be sanding the dash and door panels down to bare metal so the paint would stick better but when I see the paint in the sun light i can see very ugly and noticeable bubbles every where and the old paint can be seen under the black!!! Like how is that even possible but i advise not going to him but if you do just make sure you see the work in the sunlight before you except the job. For someone who claims to be the best in hawaii the work does not reflect that at all. For 2800 i would have expected way better. On the other hand the soundproofing job was great. That’s the only reason he got one star…

I just recently had my bike painted at J&J and I can tell you that I’m really happy and impressed with Jay and the work he does. He went beyond my expectation and the price he did it for was extremely reasonable. I definitely will be referring my friends and family to him. I found J&J on Craigslist and believe he’s a diamond in a the rough ! Thank you Jay for taking care of me and my bike !!

Guys, if you need to fix some imperfections on your car… this is the place to go to! I found this place back in 2009… I actually found this business on Craigslist.
I called and spoke with the owner (James), and he was very helpful in helping me fix my dad’s Lexus ES330, as someone had keyed the hood of his car, as well as my dad banging the rear bumper, which looked like it was in a demolition derby!
When I got back the car, the work he did on my dad’s Lexus was PERFECT! It looked factory new again! Yay!!!
Last year in May, my BEAUTIFUL vintage Toyota truck was stolen :(…I loved that truck, & had it for 9 years. I bought the truck used, & had it restored off of the frame. I did some work on the truck myself, as well as hiring/​paying people to help me get the truck back to it’s factory new condition. It was the perfect vehicle to take my doggie around, and as you know… when you have a truck, you’re everybody’s friend! I’ve helped a lot of friends move house, cut down trees & took the branches to the dump, moved a ton of large appliances, & beds.
After that experience of having my truck stolen, I did not want to deal with getting ripped off again… so I purposely looked for a vehicle that was unpopular so no one would even bother to take a second look at it…
I found the PERFECT replacement vehicle last year in June… a used 2005 Ford Focus Wagon. Yeah, it’s a unpopular car… definitely won’t pick up any chicks with this car… in fact, I think I look like a soccer dad driving it! :)
Anyway, the car was pretty clean… with the exception of a fairly large dent on the rear driver’s door, and a scratch on the rear passenger’s door.
What do I do? I called & went to see James again… I brought my car in on a Friday, and a week later, I got the car back, good as new!
The work that James & his crew does is OUTSTANDING! They are very helpful & update you with the progress of the work done on your car. The prices he charges is very competitive and reasonable…
He gives free estimates, but he is very busy, so if you want to get some work done on your car… see him, & make an appointment! You won’t regret it! :)