Excellence from beginning to end. The new home for my MINI services. It is said that the devil is in the details, and man Dinan has every detail covered. Absolutely flawless experience from the time I contacted them to make an appointment to the final delivery of my vehicle. I have a 2009 Mini Cooper S. For the past 5 years I have been taking it to the SF dealership paying through the nose and I really wanted to try new options. Since I work in Palo Alto I found Dinan Mountain View via a Google search. I had heard of them as a performance BMW shop and was surprised to see they provide a complete set of MINI services. I emailed them and within the hour they answered all my questions. Very friendly people. They gave me a quick estimate and arranged an appointment 2 days later just as I requested. I was also pleased that they take amex (which SF Mini does not). They asked me if I wanted a courtesy shuttle ride back to my work which I accepted. (They cover a 10mi radius). They open at 7.30am (very convenient to drop off car before work). I love the experience there. It is like entering a state of the art shop, clean, large, super equipped with no line (have a peek through the door to the garage and you will understand). They even welcomed me by my name simply by recognizing the car (I had never been there before). Did not feel like a number more like a VIP getting private service. Compared to them the dealership was a jungle. Not that it matters much but they have a nice Nespresso coffee machine, selection of soft drinks and a clean waiting area. Details.. It's all there. Everything was explained and printed. They even worked with my schedule to have the car ready at my preferred time. There was no pressure to do more than what I requested. As scheduled car was ready when they said it would be. They gave me also a quote for future works they found during inspection (things I knew about like suspension rods, front tires worn etc). Once again no waiting. I left wondering what they could have done better and still cannot figure it out.. Maybe a car wash?.. But that's minor. They are just awesome and the new home for my MINI services. Not going back to the dealership. Oh and their prices were lower than the dealer of course.. read more

My experiences with this business have been nothing short of spectacular. Back in December 2010, I brought a car I was thinking of buying to them for a pre-purchase inspection. About an hour into the inspection, I received a call from a tech offering to cut short the inspection (and the charge) because he'd found a number of serious red flags. I appreciated both that they found the problems and that they were looking to save me $100. Mark of a business with integrity. When I did ultimately buy another car, the first thing I did was bring it to them for their free oil change promotion. A free synthetic oil change? That's a damn generous offer. Plus they had me in and out in about an hour, as promised. (Although I note the Yelp offer has changed since I brought my car in- but $80 is still a pretty good discount off what I would expect for this service.) Finally, after my great previous experiences, I felt more than comfortable bringing my car to them to do a performance tuning job. Dinan, as some readers probably already know, is one of the best known tuners for BMWs. Yes, their performance tuning is pricey compared to others, but I don't know of any other tuner offering a matching warranty for BMW's new car warranty, as you always run the risk that modifications will strain the other car components. Peace of mind has different value for everyone, but I was willing to pay a bit more for it. Anyway, if you're shopping for performance or even routine service, I highly recommend talking to the folks here. I worked with Matt and Erin, both of whom are enthusiastic and knowledgeable. I'll definitely be back in the future! read more

I came by here for two reasons: 1. Free Oil Change Promotion 2. Oil Leak on my 2007 335i I did not trust bringing it to any other shop because my BMW is newer and a bit more "advanced", as well as problematic, so I brought it to Dinan as I heard great things about them. My experience: If you want someone you can trust, the best BMW mechanics in the business, very honest & fair pricing, Dinan is absolutely the best place to go. They diagnosed my car for free (whereas the dealership or other shops would charge $150-170), they let me know my Oil Leak could be fixed with a simpler solution rather than a very expensive solution as most other shops said the more expensive solution would be the only way (while also explaining the pros and cons of each and being completely unbiased -- oh and, I called several BMW repair shops to compare), they provided me free Transmission Fluid & Coolant for Free ($150 value!), they kept their word with a Free Oil Change, and washed my car as well! They are very very honest, straight forward, they will not rip you off, and they definitely are BMW experts, better than the Dealerships themselves. They know their stuff. Also, make sure you see Erin, she is a very friendly and a very knowledgable Service Advisor. She will not haggle you with any extra or unexpected expenses and explain things in a very straight forward honest fashion. Two thumbs up for Dinan. read more

I haven't had a BMW fixed here but did pay them in January 2010 to inspect an E46 330i before I bought it. It was a high mileage car that had been in an accident so I wanted to be sure of knowing anything that might be wrong with it. They charged 50-100% more for a PPI than some smaller indie shops, but 1/3 less than a typical BMW dealer. Erin was very helpful, as was the other writer, and while I was waiting one of their mechanics answered my technical questions about BMW motors. Their PPI was very thorough, covering a lot more detail than the other PPI I had on the same car. It seems like they checked everything reasonably inspectable except engine compression (and motor mounts, see below). Having now owned that BMW for 4 months and 4,000 miles (including 2 days on the track), I would say Dinan Service missed only one major item in their inspection, which were blown motor mounts. In their defense, the other PPI mechanic also missed the motor mounts, which don't fail as often on the E46 3-series as some other rubber parts like the the RTABs, FCABs, transmission mounts, rear diff mount, valve cover gasket, etc. (They just happened to be failed on my car, maybe from the accident.) If I still lived in Silicon Valley and didn't mind spending a little extra for professional and expert BMW service (but still cheaper than the dealer), I'd bring my car here. On the other hand if I wanted the lowest price BMW service I would look at a different indie BMW/German shop. If I wanted to reprogram my car's ECU or add a Supercharger for more power, I'd probably bring it to Dinan (or a Dinan reseller). 4 stars because they're knowledgeable and friendly but a bit pricey. read more

When the windshield washer pump on my 128i gave out I went to the dealership to see about a replacement. Since they had missed it on the 'comprehensive' inspection a month before, I felt that charging me another full diagnostic seemed steep, and was referred to Bavarium by a service rep. It was worth the drive out of my area and I was very pleased with the quality of their service. Erin and Nathan were friendly, responsive and informative every step of the way, including attending to a few other maintenence items that were due. Erin was able to access my records from BMW so that she could see all past service on the car, and my car was returned in a timely way and sparkling clean. I highly recommend using this small but highly professional family owned business. read more

I thought the front receptionist was very nice when I went to get my car tuned. They seemed very educated on what they are doing and next time will be bringing my vehicle to them to get an oil change. Anyhow, only complaint was I thought it took a little while to get the software updated, but other than that I thought they did a great job on the customer serivce satisfaction portion. read more

Came here for a free oil change for my E46 M3 after I picked up a voucher from their Valley Fair kiosk. I was very impressed with the facility. The shop area was incredibly clean and well organized. Amazingly they can fit probably up to 10 cars in the bays. I kept a close eye on the technician through the door way glass while he changed my oil. As they lowered my car down, they remembered to pay close attention to my coilover springs which has a tendency to fall out as it reaches max droop. The technician spent a few moments ensuring that it came down correctly. Thumbsup for Dinan. read more

Name has changed recently but this was the place to upgrade a BMW. Suspension, exhaust , wheels perhaps a turbo. The new 3 series comes with all that. So this is an alternate to the dealers when the warranty expires. You will pay less They are in Mtn View, and San Jose 965 Kyle Park. SD = Steve Dinan ? read more

No rental car provided, slow service and did not get my car back for minor service until next day. Called shop 5 times they only have one shuttle a day and charged me a lot to change a wire. Expensive will use another shop next time that is faster and charges less or dealer that provides a free loaner car. So I took my car in for a simple task to remove wood from my car and they charged me $100 to do that. Most shops do it for free. Also they informed me of new struts and shocks needed and some other work and when they quoted me $5800 I decided to wait and take to another place. I checked with BMW Mountain View on the total cost for the same parts and work and even the dealer was less expensive by almost $2K!!!! So they are now OVERPRICED. read more

Having to do maintenance for the first time on my e90 I did not want to go cheap amd get terrible parts and full service My car needed engine fix due to it was shiking while on low gear ad well as an oil change and couple of things here and there breaks, filters so on The price was a bit over budget around 5k i didnt worry to much about an air bag sensore so i said hek with is just do the rest so still ran around 4k My biggest dissapointment was as soon as i left and after i took it to someone else. Firdt of all the most important part was not fixed it still kept shaking at the engine wow did that make me mad. Second of all my breaks never squeeked before i arrived. Then i recently found out they ARE NOT OEM BMW !!!! As well the things done i cared less about they go by a machine that tells them what to do not real car enthusiasts that have experience i spent around 1k with the obvious car maintenance by far worst decision done was taking my car here. Other then that the people are super nice way to nice and never got a rental car but will not come again found another with oem bmw parts knowledgable with bmw inside out and dont rip a whole in your pocket read more

Ever since my first review I've brought all my BMWs to Wayne and the guys here for everything from maintenance to upgrades, and will probably continue bringing every BMW I own here as long as they're in business. They've always been fair, straightforward and honest, and have never overcharged or given me bad information just to make a buck. They're also just nice people. I wouldn't trust anyone else to work on my cars and really appreciate everything they've done for me. Great guys and a great business. Do recommend. read more

Took my E46 M3 there for an oil change. Usually I would do that myself but ran out of time. I am no car mechanic but I would call myself a car nut. Here are the problems: My car was overfilled by over one quart of oil. Exhaust has very strong oil burning smell. My car has only 29K miles but the guy who debriefed me after the service said I need a RTAB. Would I want to upgrade that to a pair of rose joint bushings? I test drove my car afterwards and it does not need no RTAB. Price is OK. Total $150 for 7 liters of oil for $13 each (owner manual said 5.5 liters) plus service. However, I do agree what was said in a previous review that Dinan's targeted customers are those middle aged teenager want-to-be. read more

Came here for oil change, and they suggested bunch of things need fix... After reading the other yelp reviews, I think I will have it check out else where before committing to fixing them read more

We had service done here a couple of days ago - very good service, nice waiting are with TV and Nespresso, knowledgeable staff who walk you through their findings and patient. They also offer shuttle to and from work, and this is amazing! Will go back again!!!! (So much better then BMW of MV, it's like heaven and earth!) read more

Wife and I have a Mini JCW and we wanted to give it a little extra power. After a little research we decided to go with the Dinantronics Elite Performance inline tune. Bavarium came up as the first result with Dinan and gave them a shout. Checked them out here on Yelp. Erin got back to me basically immediately and we scheduled a day the following week. Dropped off the car end of the day and picked it up around noon the folllowing day with a oil/ filter change which they had it. Excellent communication via text. Convenient drop off/ pick up. Lots of payment methods including Venmo. Excellent service and I never even met the guys. And if you were wondering - they work on BMWs and Benzos but also Audis as well. Highly recommend. read more

My 650i Gran Coupe has had problems over the last 2 years reading the oil level and it has been at the BMW dealer over 10 times to try to correct. They have replaced sensors, harnesses, modules, re-set computers, and because it has a Dinan Stage 1, even the module. I lost the car for weeks at a time many times over 2 years. Completely frustrating and it only got worse with the dealer. In the end, the BMW dealer could not resolve the inability to measure the oil and they gave up, blamed the Dinantronics, and removed the Dinan kits (initially without my permission and never informed me). As a last resort, I contacted Erin at Carbahn for help and she offered to check out the car immediately. In a single visit, the techs at Carbahn seemed to solve the problem including with the Dinantronics re-connected. The issue was corrosion on the terminals of a harness connection causing excess resistance in the wiring. The car has been perfect since, and this was all done no charge!!! Prior to Carbahn, I had given up with the dealer and was about to sell a car I really liked because BMW could not fix the issue and they decided no more warranty work would be done. Note I have an extended warranty and the full service plan and dealer still gave up. Carbahn identified the cause in one trip, solved it, and didn't charge me. Can you ask for any better service? These folks know their stuff, treat customers really well, and exceed all expectations. I can't recommend Carbahn enough. read more

This is the second time I've come to Bavarium Autoworks, and again, I'm SO happy with the whole process and service provided. Communication regarding contactless drop off/pick up, estimate with options, and service provided was top notch. I trust them, which is huge. I'm happy to have been referred to them and will definitely be bringing my car here from now on! read more

I called to get a quote on the signature packages that Dinan offers for my car. My question is pretty simple "how much do these two signature packages and their install cost?". Three calls and the guy who answers the phone does not know what he is talking about - he verbally quoted me 6000 and 8000 for install for a package that just has an exhaust and chip (parts cost ~4000, the chip installs in 15 minutes, so essential exhaust install is the only job). I told him that price can't be real and if i could speak to someone else, I am always told a "performance specialist" will call me back but never get a call back. Who does not call back a customer ready to spend 5000 dollars? Great going guys! I'll be sure not to give you my business or refer anyone to you in the future. read more

One of the best shops in the Bay Area. They do great work with quality customer service. I always bring my cars here and have never had a single issue. read more

I called last week to get a quote for purchase and install of the F10 exhaust. I spoke to a guy for a few minutes and he told me he was going to check on inventory to see if it's in stock and ready. He promised to call back by end of day. Low and behold, it's been a week and still no call back- way to lose $3400. Taking my business elsewhere and probably not Dinan. Hello Eisenmann! read more

I've had a great experience thus far with these guys. I started working with them last year when I wanted to add some stuff to my 650i. They were SUPER patient with me and all my questions. Install was done perfectly, quickly and the cost was not too bad. I have since gone back for oil change etc. I have found them to be very honest and great to work with. The even removed the spacers on my front wheel for free! Highly recommend! read more

If you want street service on a German car they can do it. If you want dinan parts installed on your Beemer they can do it. These guys are a complete shop with 6 racks, alignment rack and machine shop. Service was very professional. read more

I recognize that these guys have a stellar reputation as experts with BMW. So I was expecting great service when I brought my 540i in for a service. Naturally they found a bunch of stuff that needed attention. Which was expensive and I figured I'd get it done at the car had been neglected for a while. Then they brought to my attention that in attempting to correct a belt squeaking noise, I hear when I start the car, that the compartment it is housed in has "sludge" in it and to clean and repair would take over $8k. What I didn't appreciate was the way the information was delivered. The young service guy who was my contact made it sound that it would be disastrous not to fix it and could result in severe damage to the engine. I felt that creating an air of urgency around which I felt pressured into complying. In the end I ask a few questions and it turned out that the car could run for many year with out a problem. I refused to do the repair. I'll get it looked at somewhere else where I won't be pressured into making expensive unnecessary decisions. A few months later my wife brought here car in and experience the same sense of being pressured into many a decision to do a repair. The question that arose for me was this the young guy's own style or did he learn from others in the business or his boss? For all their skill and expertize with BMW, I didn't appreciate the attitude of catastrophfizing a scenario in order to make a bigger sale. I won't be back! read more

I just had a complete service done on my '01 BMW M3. Excellent work, and on time and within original quote. Matt was very knowledgeable and helpful. I am taking it back to have the clutch replaced. This is the only shop I take our 3 BMW's to; far better than dealer(s) read more

Original problems on a Z3, 2000, with 35.000 miles The battery light was on. The heater did not wanted to turn off. They found out a list of problems worth $ 4.000 + I selected the parts that they said were indispensables for the car to run. We pay $3.000 + Next day car we pick up the car , they said fixed. Over the weekend the battery light came back on. I took the car back to the shop they kept it over night and next day they said, they just have cleaned the cables. I asked why you did not do that to begin with? Well if you want us to put the old parts back , we could do that! Bad decision on my part, I should have said YES! A few days later the car would not run smoothly all the lights in the dash boad came on , car was towed back to the shop. Next day they said they could not reproduce the problem. The car run again, they could not find anything wrong. A week later the car startet shaking like a wild horse and making noises again, my husband drove the puffing and cuffing car so that the mechanic could see and hear the problem. We left the car for 4 days with them, but they could not find anything wrong, at one point they called to say that the battery just has died and that had to regenerated again that was Friday. On Monday we pick up the car with nothing done. Two days later the car had the same old problem, this time we did not bother to take it to Dinan, we took it to another place that fix BMWs, the guy that runs the small BMW place said, I think I know what it is, the next day the car was fixed for good. months later, the car still runs OK. read more

I wanted to try Dinan out for my 2007 BMW 3-series instead of the BMW branded service places were I normally take it. Dinan is a smaller company and OK reviews here on Yelp. I gave them my car, paying just below 500 to change oil and to go through the car. The result was a long list of things that needs to be fixed worth $5300 of which 3700 was labor cost. As nothing on this list was urgent, I decided to take the car home and think about it, maybe I should just get a new car? At home I started to go through their quote. Dinan send me pictures of 2 error codes. One error code for a malfunction pump and the other for a broken temp sensor. Both these must function to pass smog test. I bought myself an OBO reader and yes there were 2 error codes but both were for the temp sensor. So the pump that Dinan wanted to fix is not broken, not according to the car at least. Maybe they have another way to find these codes that I don't know about but for now, this knowledge saved me 300 which I am very happy about. Now I started to look into the other things that Dinan wanted to fix and I decided to fix 2 of them myself, changing the belt tension (incl belt) and replacing an oil filter housing. This is the result: 1 hour looking at DIY videos on youtube. 1 hour on Bavarian and Amazon webpages buying tools and spare parts. 2.5 hour of labor. One trip to O'Realy 1 hour. So in total I have spend 5.5 hours. I have spend $213 on BMW original spare parts incl. tax & shipping (DINAN quoted $254 excl. tax, for the same parts) I had no tools at all so I spend another $235 on tools that I needed. So far I have learned two things: - Dinan charges +20% higher price on the spare part than what you yourself find on internet. - Dinan offers professional labor for a pretty high price. For these two tasks DINAN quoted $825 for labor. If it takes me 2.5 hours to do the actual work, then I expect a professional to spend less than 2 hours which gives a +400 price/hour price tag. To be fair, DINAN offered a 20% off the labor cost if I had paid them to do all the work on their quote in one go. But even with a 20% discount ... As a last note, all the people I interacted with at Dinan was very nice and professional. Just good people!!! read more

Just wanted to say my recent experience with Dinan of Mountain View was a good one. Just wanted to add my two cents. Not enough happy customers add their reviews! Thought I should... I have owned several BMW's and currently have a 330i convertible. I wanted other service options besides the dealership I got my "Pre-owned" BMW from. The warranty ran out, and I knew I needed to find some place reputable I could count on. A friend recommended i give these guys a call. And I'm potentially interested in some performance upgrades, but am not sure what makes sense. I called Dinan of Mountain View to talk to someone about service, and was satisfied they knew what they are doing, and made some good recommendations - just over the phone. I took my BMW in for service and spent a decent amount on service, but much less than what the dealership wanted to charge me. And i was pleased Dinan actually told me NOT to get one of the items I was considering at this time - was told better to wait until the next major service. Still thinking about the performance upgrades, but will have to wait until i have a little more disposable cash. But will i take my car back to Dinan? Absolutely - I'm sold on their customer service - and their shop is very impressive - not what I expected. I'm not an expert on BMW's, but i feel taking my car to Dinan is the next best thing - they are the experts. Give them a call - you'll agree. read more

Really disappointed with these guys. Total lack of followup, tried to overcharge me on hourly labor and begrudgingly gave back an hour after I complained. They wanted to charge 3 for 1 and charged 2. They do decent work but they don't have the integrity of the other locations. I won't be coming back. read more

Just took my car in for the Stage 2 Tuneup. I am very pleased with the work. Price was significantly cheaper than the dealer. However, I am surprised that I did not wash my car after spending over 2k. (Stage 2 tuneup, new front brakes, new thermostat, new bushings, new wipers, etc...). Hadn't done any maintenance for a while so I knew this was all coming. Great customer service, but I'm sure you can find a cheaper place. I figured it would be right in the middle pricewise between a small shop and the dealer. read more

Back when they were known as Dinan, Erin and Andy took superb care of my 1998 E36 M3 Techoviolet 5-speed sedan for almost 20 years, keeping it in great condition for 190K miles on the original engine, transmission and clutch. Since 2018, as the owners of Bavarium, they have done a similar stellar job keeping my fairly rare 2010 M6 6-speed coupe in perfect mechanical condition, including correctly diagnosing and repairing a really bizarre cause of the vehicle status not sensing the oil pressure (which is the only way to check the oil in this car, there being no dipstick). It wasn't the oil sensor or anything obvious, but failure of an internal oil pump that operates under g-force, that was not even remotely on the radar of BMW of NA. Trust me - these folks know German engineered vehicles like nobody's business - BMW, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, VW, both the more common varieties as well as the more exotic flavors. They are so good that I plan to continue to get my M6 serviced by them after I move to Santa Cruz in 10 days..... read more

Amazingly fast, professional service on our 740. Friendly, knowledgeable staff didn't make me feel like an idiot! Got the car back in less time than I anticipated, and for less money. We were out of town and they treated us like family. Five stars plus! read more

I know that there are some reviewers who love Dinan (one of which recommended that I come here since I just moved to the area) but I have to say that they did not live up to my expectations. I have a 330i that needed an oil change (and fluids to be topped off) as well as to check the brakes which squeaked. They called me back and said there was no problem with the brakes but I needed to repair something that I had not even anticipated - replacement for an air regulator. $800. I asked them if that could be the reason why my A/C sometimes blows hot air. The service guy said that should fix that problem. Well, it doesn't and my A/C still blows hot air. Two weeks after my appt, the washer fluid light came on (so obviously they didn't top off my liquids) and 2 weeks ago my oil light went on (3,000 miles before my "next" oil change). When I called back to complain, they told me to bring the car back in and take a look. However, I don't trust them from my first experience and will not go back to them again. read more

First this is more of a high end (engine) repair shop. They build race car engines for many racing groups. Which is great, they can tell you things about your engine preformace. Their quote was the same as the Mini dealership. At the Stevens Creek Mini dealership will give you are ride both ways. read more

For about 35 years we've taken our BMWs to Steve Dinan for servicing, and we keep going back. I especially appreciate their trouble shooting. Over this time, they solved a couple tough problems: a rattle that turned out to be legos that my kids stuffed under the back seat; the emergency flasher that would suddenly start flashing and not turn off, which they fixed by patching a wiring harness. read more

great service. Brian came all the way to San Mateo to jump start my car. They only did what was necessary. would go back again!!

This was my first time to Steve Dinan Auto Tech, I was referred here just from word of mouth. I must say I was a bit nervous coming here since this was my first time going to a independent shop now that my BMW is out of warranty. First things first WOW!!! customer service is on point! The lady Erin was AMAZING, she explained everything and made me feel super comfortable, and now I know where I'm going for all my future service!!! Thank you Erin. read more

After European Car changed ownership several years ago, I began taking my BMW's to Dinan for the regular scheduled tune-ups & repairs after the expiration of the warranty. I have been very happy with their service and recommendations when it comes to performing additional repairs. I find them willing to discuss the recommended repairs & to make a distinction between repairs that need to be made now & other less serious repairs that can be postponed. Although there may be lower price repair shops, I find their work to be equivalent to a dealer at a slightly lower price. I have worked with several different service advisors; however, they have all been very knowledgable. I'm hoping the latest, Chris, will be there to stay. read more

Thanks to Dinan in Mt. View for the amazing ECU upgrade to my 2013 535i M-Sport. The transformation in its performance is simply amazing! I'm a long distance customer (well over 200 miles away) but the service prices keep me coming back and I look further to getting more Dinan upgrades (the wonderful BMW-matching warranty is very reassuring!) as they become available. I highly recommend this shop for products, service, fair prices and great treatment of its customers. Jim, from Grass Valley CA. read more

Easy in and out, great place! I am happy to find a place that doesn't want to rip you off! Found no other issues with the car, unlike the BMW dealer. Very happy! read more

Excellent service and personalized customer contact makes this my favorite service for BMWs. I tried before the large dealership (for the 4 years of prepaid maintenance) and then another independent but was not satisfied by either. Dinan is THE place to go! read more