Keiji Auto Service

My family used Keiji Auto Service over 20 years ago, and the service remains excellent to this day. Quality work by knowledgeable, trustworthy, and kind individuals. Keiji and Brian are great!

I wanted to try Keiji’s Auto service because of the wonderful reviews I saw on Unilocal and Angie’s list. We have recently moved back to Skokie and didn’t hav a local auto mechanic. Thru Angie’s List I found out the Keiji had worked for Toyota company in Japan and works on Toyota’s in his shop. We have a 2004 Corolla that had the Check Engine light come on and we also had a 2006 Toyota RAV4 that had the Maintenance light come on also. So fearing the worst I called Keiji and we brought both cars to him.
Well he used the auto diagnostic machine on the Corolla first and opened and tightened the gas cap. that was the problem. So we told him that the Maintenance light was on the RAV4 and he asked if we wanted the light off and we said yes and he got it to go off and told us that the light comes on automatically every 5000K miles. Then he wouldn’t charge us anything, only took about 10 min. total. We gave him a tip anyway. Spoke to him for a few minutes. I am Japanese American and he reminded me of my Dad and my Uncles, especially my Uncle Ben who was a truck mechanic. My Dad and his brothers grew up in Northern CA and Keiji had lived in the same area at one time.
He was great, saved us a lot of money and we have a new mechanic for our cars that we can TRUST.

30 plus years ago Keiji worked in Evanston on our cars when we lived there. We and Keiji have both moved a number of times since then and we ended up in Northbrook. This past Monday we called him about a problem with our Toyota and he told us to bring it in at 1:00 p.m. Within 15 minutes he had diagnosed our problem and fixed it at a cost of $ 25.00. Yes — Twenty Five Dollars! The Northbrook Toyota dealer we bought the car from somehow managed to find a couple of hundred dollars of work to do in connection with a routine oil change!
As long as our car can make the trip we will be taking it to Keiji.

Keijii is where you go when you have a problem as a Toyota mechanic for many years I could not figure out why my car would cut out tried many thing finally I gave up and took the car to Keiji it was fixed in two days I was ready to junk the car This is some serious honest car repair I hope he always will be there for all the lucky ones who know about him.

My husband and I have been taking our Toyota’s to Keiji for over two decades. He has moved several times over the year’s from his original location in Glenview Il. We have moved with him! Yes Keiji and his son are THAT good. Would never willingly let anybody else service our Toyota.
Honest and considered a family friend. Could never recommend more highly. The work done is of the highest quality!

The best shop I’ve used in 40 years. Wish he worked on Hondas, too! Keiji is terrific!

Keiji is honest and good. My entire family uses his services and I would trust him to make any decision about my car. In all of my years, I have never met a more trustworthy man in the car business.

I was there 2 times for my LandCruiser and service was exceptional. I trust Keiji and his team 100%, he did not try to sell me on what others were telling me what something I needed. I was told to wait until X miles before having to do the work. I recommend this team 100%.

With all of the other 5-​star reviews that he has gotten, Keiji really doesn’t need mine, but I’ll add it anyway. He is honest, does great work, kept my 17-​year-​old car running well — what more can I say? He’ll never recommend anything that’s not necessary. I can go in there and say «I have $ 400; just fix whatever you can with that», and he will!
And he’s a genuinely nice, kind person, too.
I just bought a new car and I made sure it was a Tyota, so I could still go to him for repairs.

Keiji is the real deal.
High Integrity and knows what he’s doing.
Our Experience:
05 Toyota Sequoia:
North Side Toyota told us our 05 Sequoia was undriveable and dangerous needing over 5500 in repairs. Suspect, we found Keiji through a friend. Kieji inspected all of stated items and found that we needed rear brakes, an oil change and he oiled the fan belt. — all for about 200 and he was done in a day.
06 Lexus GS
For our GS that is still under lexus warranty– the dealer told our brakes had maybe 30 miles on them and quoted 450 to replace and «reshape the rotors» Suspect, we took it to Keiji — his assessment was about 3000 –6000 miles — and he said our rotors were perfect — he would just replace pads with genuine oem parts.
Honesty, and great work. Go with Keiji if you have a japanese car.

Keiji is the best. That’s the only place I now go to when I need to get my Corolla and my wife’s Sienna serviced. Not sure what even to add to all the glowing reviews below. At the risk of sounding cliché, all I can say is that it’s car repair service «the way it should be.»

Keijisan and his son are the only mechanics I will let touch my 1999 Toyota Solara and 2001 Lexus ES300. We found them while living in Evanston. Now, we live in Lake Geneva, WI and it’s still worth the trip. I always do a lot of cost research on the internet for expected repair costs before I finally bring my cars in for services. Somehow he manages to surprise me every time with charges far below expectations. Keijisan replaced our timing belt two years ago on the Solara and charged us half of what we were quoted by other shops around the North Shore. If you own a Toyota, Scion or Lexus, Keiji Auto is your only choice. Going somewhere else is, in a word, RISKY.

Keiji has nothing but 5-​star reviews on Unilocal,and it’s truly reflective of his kind character and meticulous expertise. After an oil change place recommended over $ 1000 of repairs, I took my 98 Camry here. He told me that many of those repairs were unnecessary and ended up charging me only $ 35 to fix the power steering leak.
And he offered me a cup of tea while I was waiting, which made me feel like I was visiting and chatting with an old friend, even though I had just met him. He assured me that he doesn’t plan on retiring for several more years, so I’m thankful that I can keep going to him!

Keiji and his son Brian are top notch mechanics. They are honest and hardworking.
I take my ’98 Toyota Corrolla there every 3000 for an oil change, even though those 20 minute places are cheaper. It is worth it to me for the peace of mind. The first time they checked out my car (and every time they do an oil change and inspection) I noticed they had my trunk open. They were checking the spare tire. I have never had a mechanic check my spare tire before!
If any repair needs to be done, Keiji explains everything to me in detail. He doesn’t do unnecessary repairs or try to add extras to boost the price. He is very respectful and, I’ll say it again, honest!
My aunt and uncle also use Keiji and Brian for both of their Toyota vehicles.
If you have a Toyota, you will not be disappointed. They won’t fix it if it isn’t broken, and if it is broken you will pay a lot less here, for better work, than you’d pay elsewhere.
P. S. I live on the south side, near U of C, but I won’t take my car anywhere else.

Keiji is so good that I will probably buy a Toyota or Lexus as my future cars knowing that I have him in my back pocket to service those cars. An honest mechanic who doesn’t recommend unnecessary procedures, Keiji will get a visit from me every 3 months or 3000 miles.

Best kept secret around! My 95′ Landcruiser is my beloved truck and I’m so happy I took it here for a good tune-​up. It runs like it’s brand new and I did not break the bank. It seems like Keiji’s in business to really work on cars and not make money. He’s extremely knowledgeable as if Toyotas are his ABC’s. I will always make the trip out to see him with my Toyota no matter where I live around Chicago. Something about good honest service that is unbeatable and hard to find these days.

A friend recommended Keiji. He really knows his Toyotas. Made an effective $ 90 repair when someone else was recommending an unnecessary $ 400 repair. But recently, Keiji’s prices seem to be on a big upswing, so make sure you know the out the door prices on a tire rotation or oil change before you leave your car. He charged us $ 90 to change the oil and inspect the air filter (which he said was clean). Whoa!

I would trust Keiji with my life. Honestly.
Kind, respectful, trustworthy and KNOWLEDGEABLE.
So skilled and experienced.
Very reasonable prices.
I’ve been bringing my Toyota to him for 15 years.
(Yes, he has kept my 94 Corolla running BEAUTIFULLY for 15 years.)
God bless him!

Following a CarMax purchase and the positive recommendations on the site, we just had our used Sienna 2008 inspected by Keiji. The price was very reasonable ($ 80) for a 2 hour long in-​depth checkup. So far, we’re quite satisfied: Keiji was quickly available and completed the inspection swiftly. His explanations were brief (everything was ok) and we’ll go back for periodic checkups to see if the quality of the work holds up.

Have to add my two cents. I called Keiji after reading the other review here, and he said he could look at it the next day. I brought in my 1984 Toyota Camry, a much beloved, but very ancient and rusty old work horse, mostly held together with bumper stickers. A few hours later Keiji called me to give his assessment. He gave me a rundown of all of the small problems that could be fixed, which would amount to about $ 1,000. However, he said that none of those were vital. Instead, after a thorough inspection, he had fixed the oil leak, patched up the hole by the exhaust pipe, bent the windshield wipers back into place, and topped up the various fluids. He also showed me the gap by the timing belt where some prior mechanic had forgotten to put back the gasket. And you know how much he charged me for all of this? For the inspection, parts, taxes, etc? $ 65. Let’s just say I’m one happy customer.