Jackson’s Exhaust and Automotive Services

Called 2 days in advance to bring my car in for an inspection. I was told by Jackson and his wife that I could bring in the car between 7:30 and 9am and the inspection would be done by the end of the day. I brought the car in at 8:30am and Jackson said that there wouldn’t be any time to do an inspection that day… an inspection… which takes 15 minutes. If you are unable to spare 15 minutes to do a state inspection then don’t tell a customer to come in early in the morning to bring in their vehicle. Terrible service. I will not be returning.

I’ve been taking my Jag to Jackson;s since I bought it in 2012, I wouldn’t trust anyone else to give me a fair and honest opinion on the work needed and the cost involved. Jackson and Diane are the real deal; honest shops such as this are rare!

Best customer service I have ever experienced at an auto shop. Diane was so nice and helpful both on the phone and in person. She explained everything clearly and was able to answer all of my questions. Super convenient location too, especially if you live or work in the fan and can walk there. Highly recommend!

I’ve been in Richmond 6 years and have had a hard time finding a good «neighborhood» mechanic. I’ve been to a couple places and they do not compare to Jackson’s.
Diana has wonderful customer service. When you call, she is very friendly. She is also a mechanic and is very thorough in describing issues and items fixed. Leroy Jackson is always very pleasant when we talk about car stuff as well. He doesn’t have a «fishy» or «sneaky» attitude– he puts things very simple and gives his observation and diagnosis accordingly.
I have taken my car to them twice now and am very impressed. If you live in the Fan, they’re location is very close by– near lamplighters coffee on Cary Street.

I never usually write reviews, but I felt compelled to write one after receiving such great service from Jackson’s Exhaust and Automotive Services. Even though they had a ton of cars to work on this week, they were able to make room in their schedule to take my car in right away last-​minute. I was actually able to talk with Jackson himself, and he was incredibly friendly and patient, especially with my onslaught of car questions that spanned from banal to overly-​cautious. He’ll give you an honest assessment of your car and will definitely NOT rip you off! If I ever have any car troubles, he’s definitely the first person I would call to take good care of my car! Best car service ever!

Excellent service and very nice people. Will definitely come back for servicing my car

These folks are solid.
It’s always hard to find an honest mechanic. Jackson & Diane and they were friendly, accommodating and went above and beyond.
The only criticism is that they are seriously overbooked much of the time. People know quality and honesty where they see it. I hope they decide to move out of their current small space and expand.

I cannot say enough good things about this place! I had to visit these guys twice this week for completely different issues with my car — and both experiences were excellent! Typically I dread having to do car repairs (they’re costly and I have NO idea what I’m actually getting) but that is the opposite at Jackson’s. Rather than recommending a million things that I’m sure my 15 year old Jeep needs — they fixed both issues I brought to them quickly and painlessly and the cost truly can’t be beat. I would HIGHLY recommend — and did to family that lives more than an hour away — These guys are a priceless find in Richmond!

This is my first ever Unilocal review. Leroy is incredible — the most trustworthy mechanic I’ve met and a great combination of integrity and expertise.
I had a check engine light on in my Toyota Prius and I first took it into the dealership, where I paid $ 100 to have it checked out and was told that it was absolutely a problem with the catalytic converter and it was essential that I replace it or it could do a lot more damage to my car. The cost to replace and install? $ 2000. The Toyota employee looked me straight in the eyes when I asked if there was any chance it could be something else, and he told me no way — the mechanic had determined this was the problem.
Well I said no thanks and took my car to Jackson’s Exhaust and he immediately told me — before even doing any tests — that there was a 99% chance the check engine light had nothing to do with a bad catalytic converter. Then he did a $ 45 assessment, checking the codes on the check engine light and doing some other testing and I came back later the same day. Leroy told meal the assessments looked good and he recommended to simply fill up my tank with premium fuel for 2 weeks or so and it should clean things up.
Well it’s now been a couple months and the check engine light has not come back on. So a visit to this shop saved me $ 2000 and I was really impressed by the down-​to-​earth explanations and straightforward manner in which things are run here. Can’t recommend enough!

If you’d asked me yesterday, I’d have given this place 5 stars, no question. Until today, I’ve received nothing but courteous, prompt, and affordable service.
HOWEVER, today I was treated so rudely but the owner, I will never return. I called two days ago regarding a tire rotation. I explained that I needed to drop the car off in the morning and have it back by 3pm to accommodate my work schedule. I was told this was no problem, to bring the car by 9am today.
This morning, I did exactly as I was told. I explained that I’d called, but when I checked on the expected completion time, I was told that it would be ready «sometime this afternoon.» I asked to specify due to my previously stated commitment, and was met with an incredibly rude response on the part of the ‘gentleman’ owner. He did not speak to me directly, but rather routed his response to Diane with me standing not three feet in front of him. (To be fair, Diane, the other owner, was incredibly nice to me.)
Shame. I’ll be going elsewhere from now on.

The guy that answers the phone has been a complete a** hole to me over and over.
I have a speech impediment, which causes me to pause and say «um» a lot on the phone. The pauses aren’t unreasonable — in fact most people don’t even take it that any thing is abnormal at all.
Anyway, I’m calling them to check their availability. The guy answers the phone, and he asks me what I need. As I begin to answer, I say «um» to sure-​foot myself, and he literally hangs up on me. So bewildered that anyone would act like such a caveman, I give him the benefit of a doubt and call back. When we begin to talk again, he stops me and begins to lecture me about saying um, trying to tell me that I’m an annoying stereotype or something, and that he doesn’t want to deal with me. Upon hearing this I flared up in anger, but I was struggling to get the words out so rather than telling him about the speech impediment I used the time to get the information that I needed from him. He has been giving me trouble ever since.
Some bad manners and customer service — so unbelievably rude!

Always a great experience! I would send my 70 year old grandmother to their shop and know she will get treated fair. Fair pricing, great advice and efficient. They will continue to have my business.

All the positive reviews in the world could not do Leroy and Diane justice! My car had been rejected by Midas (yes, yes I know!) but I felt I was possibly being cheated and wanted to get a second opinion. Boy, am I glad I picked this place! You will not find a more knowledgeable mechanic or nicer people. You can tell as soon as you walk in that these are not people out to take all of your money. Like a few of the other reviewers, I am a female VCU student and finding a shop that won’t try and take advantage of you can be tough. So very impressed and will definitely be back!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Jackson’s Exhaust for taking such good, honest care of your customers!

I don’t know much about cars but when I went here I didn’t feel like I was being cheated out of my money. Jackson himself helps you out and the prices were very reasonable. I had a front headlight bulb out and the repair was cheap. I would strongly recommend you take your car to him, especially for women and college students like me who don’t know much about cars and are on a budget. Great, very speedy service and an all around honest mechanic.

Jackson and Diane are great people and good honest mechanics. Their prices are reasonable and they are always very prompt and accommodating to your needs. Highly recommend.
Very convenient if you live in the fan

We had some brake problems and needed the car fixed, chose Jackson’s after reading the reviews on here, and they were able to look at it within a day and get it fixed.
Only issue was that it took a couple of extra days to get it back, we were initially told it would be ready on the same day but then something happened — maybe they forgot about it or something. It wasn’t the end of the world for us (still faster than lots of mechanics in my experience) and when we went to pick it up Diane was very apologetic and offered us (unprompted) a $ 20 discount, which was very nice.
The cost was $ 200 ($ 80 parts /​$ 120 labor) + tax to replace the brake master cylinder on an old Corolla, no idea if that’s a good price but it didn’t seem too expensive to me and they certainly didn’t try to sell us anything we didn’t need, which is always nice. It was also nice to be told the entire, all-​inclusive price up front, and prices for common services are on a chalkboard in the office which is confidence inspiring.
All the staff are very friendly, as has been noted by everyone else! Will bring the car here again if we need to.
EDIT: My girlfriend, who is my moderating voice, tells me that this was in fact a five star experience. So now it is. Also re-​reading one of the other reviews reminded me that Diane had very nicely explained what was wrong with the car in language that I could understand, and that was really cool.

I took a leap of faith and trusted the Unilocal reviews for Jackson’s Exhaust, and I am so glad that I did. Diane and LeRoy are a couple of the nicest people I’ve ever met! I was given great service and they got the job done very quickly. Thank you!

Five star review! They are great, helpful, honest, and aren’t afraid to lose some money by telling you to find the part yourself for cheaper, bring it in, and have them install it. They understand that to loses few bucks here and there works out as a net gain when you gain a customer for life. I have a few antidotes, but it all boils down to this: I trust them 100%, wouldn’t take my car anywhere else, and recommend them as often as possible.

I was impressed by the Unilocal reviews I read about Jackson’s, so yesterday I gave them a call to make an appointment about my car’s air conditioning problem. We scheduled a time for next week.
Just before ending the call, I thought I would describe the problem in more detail. Well, he diagnosed the problem and then recommended what he said would be a better place to fix it! A dishonest mechanic would have let me go ahead with the appointment and then charge me for it, but apparently not Jackson’s.
I told him that the next time my car has a problem, I’ll be calling Jackson’s again.

I just started school at MCV in this area in August so I’m not a native and had no idea where to find an oil change. Since Unilocal is one of my best friends, I decided to use it to look up places. After stumbling upon Jackson’s and reading the great reviews, I decided to give it a try. I called around 6pm the day before to see if there were any available spots for the morning. Although they did not have any appointments open, they were very understanding that I have class all day from 8 – 5 and squeezed me in for an oil change the next morning. I arrived at about 915 and was out at about 1018. Jackson and his wife were very friendly. Although I had no other choice but to wait for my car, they had a cozy waiting area with a TV, books, mini childrens’ play area and surprisingly also had wi-​fi to entertain me for the hour!
I’d definitely recommend this place for an oil change or any other services your car may need. They provide very friendly, understanding and fairly quick service! They made going in for car services a very painless experience for me and checked other things on my car such as air pressure. They also do not bother you with gimmicks and pretend that there are a multitude of other things wrong with your car in the hopes of getting more money out of you. They also do a 5% student or faculty discount off their services, but I used the $ 5 off $ 25 or more service coupon they advertised online. My oil change came out to be $ 27 and I was very pleased :)