Mechanica Automotive

I’ve been taking my cars to Ed for about 6 years. He is literally the only mechanic I’ve ever met that I trust to not rip me off. He is always up front about everything.
He is not a plug into the computer, read the code, and start replacing whole modules kind of mechanic. For example, I brought my car in the first time with a check engine light after getting a pricey quote for work from a dealer. The dealer read the code and said a sensor needed to be replaced and it would be $ 600. I brought it to Ed for a second quote and he told me rats had chewed a wiring harness. He offered to fix it for me for the cost of labor if I wanted, but recommended that if I know how to solder just to take a piece of wire from his shop for free and reconnect the chewed wire. I ended up getting my car fixed for free instead of 600 dollars for something that wouldn’t have fixed the problem anyway. Yes… you read it right. 0 dollars. I’ve been brining my cars to him ever since.
Finally, after 6 years I can attest to the quality of the repairs. Everything he has done for me has lasted.

Hands down the best place to bring your car. Ed and team are honest, gracious, and always willing to go the extra mile. Thanks for your years of excellent service.

When I first started bringing my car to Mechanica, it was 12 years old. It’s now 17. I am convinced that if I didn’t get in an accident, Ed would have kept it going for at least another 5 years on the cheap. When I call and say I have a ’98 Civic, Ed immediately knows who I am. I think he remembers all the work he’s done on the car, too, or at least the big stuff. He doesn’t hesitate to do quick fixes for free.
Honestly, I really hated driving the Civic. It’s such a crummy car. So many times I thought about getting a new car but having Ed servicing my car meant trustworthy, reliable transportation for cheap. I learned so much from him. I would recommend Mechanica to anyone without a moment’s hesitation.

I have been Ed’s customer since 2008. Ed comes across as a knowledgeable, personal-​able and a genuine individual. He will always tell you what your car needs, not what will help him make the most $. He spends time to explain you the inner workings of any repair that he recommends. His labor charges are higher compare to other similar small auto shops, but I don’t mind paying that because I know the work is being done with top quality.

Love doing business with Ed;
an automotive scholar, honest and trustworthy.
Two thumbs up

Honest, Friendly! great place! Thank you for taking such great are of my cars. Ed goes above and beyond. His a staff is very sweet. highly recommend!

Ed is very friendly and explained everything in great detail. I was concerned about the water leaking, and I thought something really bad was happening to my 2000 Audi. Ed ran a test and told me everything looks fine, except some oil leaking which was caused by previous mechanic who was really cheap. I highly recommend Ed and will definitely go again.

Ed is the man. I’m a picky gearhead engineer and let Ed take care of my street cars because he impresses me with his knowledge and practicality in every conversation I have with him — it’s like we’re on the same wavelength. He isn’t the cheapest but there’s tremendous value in being able to trust your mechanic to just do the right thing. I never hesitate to send friends to Ed.

I have been coming to Ed since 2005 and I have nothing but fantastic things to say about his service and prices. He is always fair and explains what is wrong with the car and how to go about fixing it.
I have a ton of friends who also go there and would give him rave reviews for quality, service and cost.
On a side note, he and his wife are also wonderful people who will really go the extra mile to help.

They couldn’t figure out why my car was still overheating after replacing the radiator, I took it to another shop and they replaced the bad thermostat. Problem fixed. They could have been a little more careful on the initial inspection.

Ed is amazing. He is very smart about cars and helped me with various things on my truck like replacing oxygen sensors, power window motors, and a couple of other things. He is the only mechanic I will let work on my vehicles.
I found Ed because friends liked him and I recommended him to at least 4 friends now.

I wrote a review several years ago and this is an update — if I could give 6 stars, I would. Over the years Ed has helped me out of tight spots, made suggestions for a new car and takes care of what I need efficiently and thoroughly. The lastest episode was being rear ended — with very minor problems to the car. It was taken care of, reasonable priceing and off I went.
TXS Ed. — please don’t retire till I get to old to drive.

I’ve written this shop up before but with 2 recent experiences it’s worth an update.
First, he told me to sell the Corvette he’s fixed many times last year and if I had, I’d be about $ 4K richer today. Instead I ignored his advice, kept driving it and the guy I sold it to took delivery via a tow truck.
But as others have added here, when you need a great diagnostician and honesty, competitive prices and great service — go see Ed. Our Jeep Liberty threw a weird code, he said it’s some gas tank breather/​emissions thing and can be tricky to fix, a lot of wires, sensors and gizmos — he’d try it if I wanted him to but said, he’d stop if it wasn’t going well and I’d have to go to the dealer. Well he found and fixed the problem, and a couple other issues we’d overlooked also. He always gives you back your old parts — always ask for that at a shop!
You won”t do better than Ed. Only open M-​F and he is getting a ton of business so plan ahead.

Solid work every time. Good disclosure upfront, no surprises (Ok, a couple of times Ed came in below the original estimate, but I am not going to complain :-)
Recommended.

You’ve heard it before. It is all true.
Ed is a gentleman and a vehicular scholar.
He has great attention to detail and gets to the root of the situation.
His prices are not the cheapest but they are not very expensive and he is worth every penny.
His understanding of cars is incredible.
His attention to detail is meticulous.
And he cares.

This is my very first Unilocal review and I want to dedicate this to Ed in Mechanica Automotive.
We have a 2002 Passat. Sometimes the engine cannot start (not because of the battery) unless we use a special trick. We took the car to a repair shop close to home three times, first they claimed fixed and charged us $ 250, yet the problem still exists, then during next few vistits, they couldn’t find anything yet brought a lot of trouble for us because each time they asked us to leave the car there for a week to diagnose the problem.
We decided to get help from Ed (his place is close to work) because of the good experience we had in the past. He was very kind to offer us a ride from his place to work, and within one day, he was able to find 4 different problems with the car. He showed us a print-​out and explained in detail what the problem is and how much it may take to fix it.
Since it’s quite costly to repair all problems yet the car may only worth ~$ 3000 in its current condition, we decided not to fix it. However, Ed and his co-​workers spent quite some time diagnosing the problem, if we ended up not fixing anything, we feel bad so we offered to pay him labor based on the hours they spent diagnosing the problem. But he insisted not charge us anything and use this as a baby gift since I’m 38-​week pregnant and with newborn your living cost is going to increase a lot.
He is such a nice person and I have never received such a high quality of service from anywhere else. I’d like to write this review as an appreciation of his help.

It’s been 6 years and two cars since I first came to Ed for my car repairs, and he’s continued to provide wonderful service and expertise. If you’ve read the other reviews, you’ve already gotten to know his wisdom, honesty, and ability to care for and know his customers well.
The value I get from knowing Ed will get the job done right and help me keep my total cost of ownership optimized trumps any Palo Alto labor premium I have to pay. I continue to endorse him and the whole crew wholeheartedly!

I have always been a bit suspicious about auto repairs, since I have some really horrible experience with them. A lot of repair shop has a way to blow up small problems into something big, you come in for an oil change, come out changing your engine.
But Mechanica Automotive is not like that. My headlight is dead so I called in to schedule an repair. Ed told me in the phone how much it’s going to be if it’s a simple light bulb change and how long it’s going to take. I went in during my lunch break. Turns out I have 4 other light bulbs also died, Ed changed them and only charged for the parts. and the whole thing is over in half an hour.
The entire experience is fast, smooth and painless! This will be my default repair shop from now on! Highly recommended over dealership.

I am from Arizona, here at Stanford Hospital for treatment for my wife. When my 2007 Avalanche developed a «whomping» noise I knew I had to find a local mechanic. I found Mechanica on Unilocal and found the numerous 5-​star ratings. That was yesterday.
Today, I am writing my own 5-​star rating on this gem of a fellow, Ed. He took a break out of his day, diagnosed the problem (drive, up on the racks, etc.), determined that it is a bad wheel bearing and should still be covered by the power train warranty. He even called a local Chevrolet dealer to set up a contact for me. Wow… Palo Alto is lucky to have a guy like this in the local business community.

I made an appt for Tuesday, week in advance, didn’t pass my smog check at Union 76, showed Ed the smog diagnostic paperwork. He said all I needed was a tune up. It has been 2 years. Got the tuneup, $ 600 and past my smog check by one point. Ed offered to send it off for smogging but I had a freebie left at Union 76
Han the smog tech said to check on a new catalytic convertor… oh, no the dread… but happy that I am smogged for two years.