I brought my car in expecting honest service, but what I got felt more like a setup. No one clearly explained the total cost upfront. and then at the end, BOOM! A shockingly high bill out of nowhere. It honestly felt like modern-day robbery. A reputable shop should at least give an anticipated price or range before starting the work, but that didn't happen here. On top of that, their labor rates are easily 3-4 times higher than other shops I've been to, with no real justification. To make matters worse, the shop itself wasn't even a pleasant place to be--it had a noticeable unpleasant smell, which didn't inspire much confidence in their professionalism. Definitely won't be coming back, and I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone looking for transparency and fair pricing! read more

Rodents got into my Audi Q7 TWICE in less than 48 hours. We had the work done at another shop but shortly after started noticing the car had trouble accelerating. Switched to AIA because it was recommended by a friend. My partner is well versed with cars, but sometimes doesn't have the tools or time to work on them himself. His insight was taken seriously, and what do you know? He was right. Work was completed expeditiously Price was fair Communication was awesome Sometimes you just want to get ish DONE; correctly and in a timely manner. They did that. read more

Best auto mechanic in Elk Grove. Fair and quick. I was recommended by my son and Love this place.

I had my engine replaced on my Mercedes' Benz C300. They got it done in a timely manner and it runs great so far. Great customer service and only recommended the things that I actually needed. I definitely recommend them and will have them do any engine service and repairs needed. Thank you to Joe, Steve and the rest of the guys in the shop. read more

Advance Import Auto - The engine they replaced - Auto Repair Near Me - Elk Grove, California

Joe and Steve are great! My 2008 S550 Mercedes had a serious problem with the suspension ride control pump. The Mercedes dealership wanted $3200 parts and labor to fix the problem. I was able to find an OEM remanufactured pump online and Steve's team installed it, bled the system, and put in new fluid. My total out of pocket w $1,200 after parts and labor! The same day I picked up my car, the air conditioning had stopped working and the coolant level was low. I took it back and Steve recharged the system and topped off my coolant - no charge! This is what I call Great Customer Service! They have just earned my customer loyalty for life. I will alway get my car repaired hear. Very knowledgeable and friendly people. Remember, alway be kind and good things will come your way. read more

The service at the front desk along with the service received on the car has been top notch. I have a 2015 BMW and have had oil changes, oil leaks fixed, brakes replaced and have been happy with all services. You can buy parts from BMW and deliver them with the car for service or they will order it for you. Feel comfortable with this place! read more

My 2006 Range rover had an computer diagnose by Advanced Auto Import on July 3rd, 2018. I called in and they gave me their finding which were that the transmission control module was bad. They recommended i take it to the dealership because only they could reprogram the computer. The diagnose was only $95.00 I am thankful for their honesty. I have an appointment with the dealership at the end of the month. When dealership tells me their findings and if they agree with Advanced Auto diagnose i will change my review to 5 stars. read more

Benny is a good man. $300 just to look at the air conditioning that he put in a couple weeks ago?! Then when questioned took $13 off the bill?!?!? Flabbergasted. Only thing that brought my mood back was this food from Mimi's Cafe on west Stockton and lacuna in Elk Grove. read more

I brought my 98 Mistubishi Montero Sport in here for a timing belt replacement and was surprised at the rapid response I received from the entire staff. They brought the whole shop out to inspect and take a look at my truck. I appreciated that because some shops will pretend they have all the experience in the world to work on Japanese motors and really don't. I spoke to Steve who I assume is the owner was incredibly knowledgeable about these trucks and all of the little issues with the lifters, etc. People who drive these know what I'm talking about. Before I was referred to this shop by a friend who has his BMW serviced here I was taking my truck to a place in Sacramento that claimed to specialize in Japanese motors when it turned out, they did not. Bringing my truck here was the smartest thing I've done since buying it used. I dropped it off in the late afternoon they ordered and received all the parts and were done with the work the next day. That was another plus. I DID pay more at this shop than I would have paid at another shop I got a quote from but I don't think I could have ever found another shop to match the quality of service I received here. It wasn't nearly as expensive as a dealership but it was more than another local shop I got a quote from. Glad I didn't take any chances to save a few bucks. All I know is this...there was separate issue with my truck that I didn't even think related to a timing belt at all, something I thought was a transmission issue, but IT WENT AWAY! after having the timing belt work done here. Now my truck fires right up and sounds PURRRRfect! Has more power, doesn't have the hard shift anymore, and just runs so much better. Wish I got this work done here sooner. Don't assume these guys just work on BMWs and imported cars, they can handle a wide variety of American cars, too. Quality is top notch. Worth the extra $$ if you want a good mechanic to make your vehicle run right the first time. Work was done several weeks ago. I waited to see how well it ran before rushing to write this review. Happy to find a local shop I can trust. read more

Always a pleasure they do a nice job thanks advanced for helping me out Great customer service and support read more

Advance Import Auto - 9 - Auto Repair Near Me - Elk Grove, California

Joe and Steve are the best. If you are in need of an honest mechanic/shop then look no further. I've been coming here for 7+ years with multiple vehicles and not only do they repair your vehicle (or oil change/smog) in a timely manner but they always make sure it doesn't break the bank. read more

The owner yelled at me in front of five people because I told him he ripped me off. i used a 29.99 coupon and he did nothing except give me an estimate that was a 1000.00 higher than anyone else. DO NOT USE ADVANCE AUTO IMPORT. They are terrible. the owner was rude and unprofessional. He did this in front of the owner of Ray's Automotive, three of his workers and a customer. Worst place I have ever gone. His prices are twice of anyone else. A total ripoff. read more

I really appreciate Steve, Joe, and the entire staff at AAI. These guys are honest and smart. No more Dealership rip offs for me.

Bring my two Mercedes gls450 and c250 and Steve did excellent job. Plus price way cheaper then other dealer.. 100% percent recommend to come here for repair... read more

Great local Elk Grove Mercedes repair! Have been looking for a local repair for 3 years and well worth the wait! They found the problem quickly and got it all fixed up. Hope I don't have to come back soon, but I will be back when my car needs more work! read more

I am beyond happy with this place. I paid $95 for a diagnostic. Joe called me and explained what needed to be done and gave me the cost up front, no hidden costs. I picked up my car later the same day, I was shown the replaced part. My friend confirmed it was correct. I left thrilled that my car no longer had the check engine light on. The shop isn't near my home, but it is definitely worth the drive. I totally recommend this place. Ask for Joe to make an appointment. read more

Advance Import Auto - Look for this shop right off of Waterman. The most honest shop I've encountered. - Auto Repair Near Me - Elk Grove, California

Advanced auto has become my trusted auto shop to take care of all my vehicles. After bouncing around between shops in elk grove, I am glad I have finally found a competent shop that stands behind their work. Simply put, they do a excellent job of diagnosing issues, and then they actually do what they say they are going to do. I know my Saab is somewhat unique to repair, and Advanced Auto always seems to quickly find and correct issues other shops struggled with. I don't often make recommendations, but with this shop I feel confident enough to have begun recommending them to all my friends and family. Keep up the good work! TroyH. read more

IN response to DIM T. Where do u get $125 starter for your late model 5 series bmw? Cheap aftermarket part ?. Get it done right the first time. Your car was towed in accompanied by your husband for a no crank , no start problem. We ran a diagnostic and determined that starter has failed. We contacted your husband, reviewed finding and detail estimate with complete breakdown specified quality reman part (there is no new starter or alternator available anywhere even dealership except new Chinese made knockoff aftermarket parts), labor,tax and diagnostic with him. Your Husband did authorized the job over the phone so we had our technician start working on your car, taking it apart. 1 hour later you call us and say you dont want to get it fix because you find a cheaper pricing for starter. Oh well no problem, we told you that you can tow your car out but you will have to pay us labor for diagnostic and labor to reassemble for a total of $190. 15 minutes later you call back and authorized us to continue the job . when u pick up your car, our service manager explained detail cost breakdown line by line from the invoice (as we always do) before you sign it. 15 minutes later you call back and say you are not happy and u want a deal break on the starter just because you can find it cheaper some place else or you will tell all of your friends and family member not to bring their vehicles to us . Sorry we can not give u that deal. We are proud at what we do here, we dont do cheap work because we never install cheap parts on our customer cars. We always stand behind our jobs, All works are warranty at our shop for 6 months ( does not mean part will fail after 6 months). we are very fair to all of our customers that is why we are always busy with our beloved return customers and new referral customers. Please Remember you get what you paid for and we are strongly believed in that. Your False, negative review on Yelp wont hurt us but Please use Yelp wisely, respectively in a true and fair way. Thank you read more

5 Stars? YES! Give Steve (owner) a call and ask for a quote and you will see what I'm talking about. Honest! Straight shooter! Quality work! Competitive price! Don't even try asking him for a discount cuz his first price quote will be the lowest you will get anywhere in the area! Trust me I tried shopping around! The freakin' guy works on every single car himself and he also answers the phones himself! Did I mention he is the owner? Got my ladies Beemer brakes done in just a few hours and he uses factory parts!!! He specializes on BMW, Mercedez and Import Vehicles. Glad I found him!!! read more

I took my truck their in December of 2014 to get it smoged. 5 minutes after they started working on it they said the check engine light is on. They can not pass it. Instant fail. However for $95.00 they will tell me what is wrong with it. Sounded fair for a diagnosis. They came back 5 minutes later and presented me an estimate for $1117.74. WOW ! They said it needed a knock sensor, a new thermostat and a new radiator hose for it to pass smog. So i gave them their $95.00 + $40.00 for the smog fee and left . I had to do a little investigating. I took it to a friend of mine who is a mechanic. He whipped out his little hand held device, plugged it into a port right under the dash and read the error codes.(took him no more than 150 seconds) He said replace the top radiator hose and bring it back to me. 99.5% Chance that is your problem. ( you could tell the hose was bad) So i spent the $20 and replaced it in 10 minutes. Took it back to my friend and he cleared the codes. (another 150 seconds...or less) He said drive it for 100 miles and if the check engine light does not come back on you are good to go. So I did and wallah ! it passed ! ( obviously took it to a honest smog shop where it passed.) A simple version of these "hand held devices" can be purchased at any auto parts store for about $65.00 dollars. In fact if your check engine light is on most auto parts stores will come out into the parking lot and plug it in and tell you your error codes for free and not charge you $95 to do it. The guy at the 2nd smog shop also says he does it for free all the time as do most honest smog shops. But just a warning...Advance Auto Import will charge you $95.00 for it. Also had they just advised me that the problem was most likely just the radiator hose instead of giving me an estimate of $1117.74 maybe giving them $95 + $40 would not be such a horrible deal for their advice. I know they have to make $$. And if they had been honest with me i would of become a loyal customer for life. But they rolled the dice trying to make a quick score and they got caught. Also the more I think about it don't you think the $40 should of included taking 2 minutes to tell me what the error codes were instead of charging me $95 on top of the $40? Their are plenty of honest smog/repair shops in the city. If i was you I would avoid this place at all costs. If they get even half a chance they will rip you off big time. :( read more

If you think you getting quality work here . You 're not. They charge up your parts ( more than double) . If you don't read the fine print or understand what they put in your engine, you better ask someone. I was promised a top of the line starter for $388 ( parts only), yet I ended up getting a remanufactor / refurbished starter which runs around $126 elsewhere. However, they will convinced you that their parts are honest pricing. Explains why the fine print said 6000 miles warranty only. This means there's a high chance my starter will fail on me after the 6000 miles. Unfortunately, what's done has been done. All I can do is informed others about this business. My total parts & labor was $750. With this price, dealership is a better option. At least , you ll get what you paid for. Unfortunately, the closest dealership is a bit far away. Hopefully, this review is useful to those of u out there. read more

Hi, great shop. Brought my Cadillac CTS in , no crank , no start. Steve spent a better part of 2 days trying to get to what was keeping it from starting . I also had some problems with my headlights , which he repaired . After a couple of days after testing all of my wiring , the problem was found and repaired . I felt the charges were honest and not to bad considering the time spent . Happy with the service and the communication . Thanks guys read more

Buyer be cautious! I brought my VW in because of a coupon they offered in the Elk Grove Laguna Shopper. After Joe pointed out the fine print it was not FREE after all and what they were offering as free is just a hook to bring in your car. I agreed to move forward with the $95 diagnostic test and provided them with a written description of what I was experiencing with my car. I received a call back from Joe explaining what the diagnostic revealed and that it was going to cost nearly $1000 parts and labor. I've had my VW for nearly 5 years and this is the first major issue I've had outside of the regular maintenance, brakes and tires being replaced. While listening to Joe go over what they diagnosed I questioned Joe about the "defective" part he kept referring to since I purchased my car brand new and have never been notified of this particular part being "defective"....in fact, my car has been working great since I purchased it. I challenged Joe about his explanation of the defective part but was not convinced. I had did some research about the panel readings that was lighting up on my dash and what other similar owners experienced so I took the written diagnoses and quote to another mechanic in town I knew and his mechanic that specialized in European cars and he reviewed the diagnoses (test "A" and "B") and questioned why Advanced Automotive said they "suspected" what was wrong with my car and that they would re-test it after installing the new part. I received a much more logical and understandable explanation of the diagnoses from the other mechanic who specialized in European cars and he narrowed it down to two things and neither option involved the work Advanced Automotive quoted me on. After all said and done, my potential cost of repair from Advanced Automotive went from nearly $1000 to just $150 and all my vehicle needed was some updated programming not the replacement parts that Joe discussed with me over the phone. I agree with other post that state this business is just trying to generate revenue. They will use the diagnoses as a tool to convince customers what work they need done instead of doing a thorough job in inspecting your vehicle of what could really be the cause of your cars problem. read more

Took my car in for the first time at this shop. Joe and Steve are very knowledgeable, approachable and very nice guys. I was treated with respect and everything the car needed was explained to me also all the prices were upfront there were no surprises. The work they do here is top notch. I will definitely be taking my car back here again for service. read more

This is an extremely nice, fair auto repair. Joe was completely understanding to my situation and really did his best to help me and my 2003 BMW. read more

These guys are not honest at all. I understand that they are a business and they want to make revenue. However if I'm in for an oil change and rotation and someone with the same car comes in for the same exact thing why is their price lower than mines and they get out before me. They judge the pricing by what the person looks and talks. I was very upset and when I left i called to get a quote and the price changes once again and they use crap parts. read more

The service and the work they do is excellent. Joe, the service manager is always welcoming, thorough, and patient. I don't know much about cars and Joe does a great job explaining in detail what the mechanics are doing. His professionalism makes my car maintenance experience smooth and trusted. read more

We take our 3 cars - Toyota Camry, Toyota Tundra, and Volkswagen Beetle to this shop. Joe & Steve are wonderful and I feel confident every time I go there that they will do a good job on my car. They let you know if there is something that needs work in the future so I can make plans to have it done. The waiting area is comfortable and the guys are nice. This shop deserves 5 stars! read more