It's with gratitude that I'm writing this review on Bug Aid Inc. out of total appreciation to Brad Springberg the owner. In 1995 my Westie's transmission got cooked and people on Capital Hill, in Seattle, told me to take it to Bug Aid because they wouldn't screw me over in repairs and money. I was told if I asked, Bug Aid would only service what's of priority and let me know how long I had to service what's needed; safely biding (this starving college student) time to get more money together. I know firsthand after 25 yrs owning a VW and going to Bug Aid, Brad and his mechanics are highly skilled and dependable in automotive inspections, diagnostics, and repairs on European imports to include engines, transmissions, differentials, brakes, clutches, starters, axles, steering gears, carburetors, fuel systems, cooling systems, and other mechanical and electrical systems. Brad has kept my bus on the road, riding smooth, through it all, and ensuring the service jobs were completed correctly the first time. My grown sons and I all take our vehicles to be serviced at Bug Aid Inc. A trusted and loyal mechanic is hard to come by and after 25 yrs. I'd say Brad is pretty trustworthy, I highly recommend his services. read more

I had called this place last week to set up an appointment to have my car looked at... it's in critical condition so it needed a tow. They told me to come in on Tuesday, plain and simple. I showed up today with my car in tow, and the place was closed down. I double checked their business hours, and yes, they should be open. Nobody answering the phones, no message on the door, no sign of anyone around. It's frustrating because then I had to pay again to have my car towed somewhere else. read more

I just moved in the area from California, i was hoping to find a good vw shop near me. This the shop that i would count on them without any of worries. They worked on my 1967 bug with high performance motor. They are very reasonable with the prices! read more

Bug-Aid, Inc - Auto Repair Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Bad all around. Took my bug into another mechanic for a second opinion. He said the work done by Brad was sloppy. Hand tight nuts and bolts on newly installed breaks among other things done incorrectly which I paid for. Brad is that guy talk your ear off saying his work is second to none then hand you back your car only half way done and you still end up paying full price. I would NOT take my car here ever again. read more

Solid VW shop. Nice guys, very knowledgeable, and a quick turnaround. Most importantly they seem very much like straight shooters, honest, and are not out to squeeze you for additional work. They've recently done brake lines and exhaust work on my 78 bus. I'll continue to give them my business and highly recommend their service. read more

I had a 2001 Jetta serviced here a few times over the years with amazing care. Brad and the team definitely know VW's and always quoted reasonable rates that they stuck with. Recently my bumper needed a quick fix and he got me on the schedule exactly when I hoped. Then had it fixed in a couple hours. easy breezy. Brad is the real deal and knows a million ways to fix these rides - he will be real with you and prolly chat with you a while too. Not sure how he finds the time as they're always busy and always there! just moved to Cali and hope I can find another great place to trust with my fave car! read more

I have not been inspired to write any kind of review lately, much less for a shop full of grease monkeys, but the service and expertise here really stands out. If you have a VW, you need to know about this place. Repairs. Tuning. Restoration. Talk to Brad. He is a great dude. read more

We're bad truck owners - we admit it. Our 1996 Ford Ranger XLT has been very neglected and needed EVERYTHING done. Four-wheel drive was broken, bad shocks, bad brakes, leak in tranny...you get the idea. Bug-Aid came recommended to us by a friend. We were reticent because we have a FORD TRUCK (not a VW) but we were assured that Bug-Aid works on everything, and indeed they do! When we made the call the person who answered was courteous and helpful. He got us an appointment for two days later. We dropped off our truck the night before and by mid-day the next day we received a detailed report on the condition of our truck, what the urgent needs were, what everything would cost, etc. We didn't get the impression that we were being sold stuff that didn't need to be done. In addition, the work was completed ON TIME and UNDER budget. Auto repairs are always expensive especially for older vehicles, but we're really glad we didn't junk our truck. It's driving FABULOUS and it was way cheaper than buying something else. Don't be discouraged by appearance. The place is admittedly a bit of a dive. No valet parking or posh lobby like the dealership. Well, actually, Bug Aid DID park our car for us. :-) The only other con is that is appears their "in-patients" are parked on the street rather than in the shop or in a secured lot. A special thanks is due to the young gentleman running the front office. He placed just as much importance on our old truck as the sporty European cars they specialize in. No "car discrimination" here! Great communication and service! Highly recommend! read more

This place is awesome. Great service, great people, and damn good at what they do. Bravo! read more

Brad and his guys at Bug did stellar work on 68' VW camper bus! It was a loud shaky mess that only a Bus owner could love, but after a few strategic repairs that Brad recommended it drives like my Sunday joy-ride now! I've been back to Bug-Aid numerous with things and same expert service I've come to expect, but also continued concern for my family and bus's wellbeing. You can't find these shops very easily these days and I'm glad to share the experience! read more

I believe Brad when he tells me what's the matter with my car. He obviously cares for his customers, his staff and the cars he's repairing. He's also a drummer which is cool in my book. I enjoyed the casual atmosphere of the waiting room and the prompt and courteous service I received both in person and over the phone. Reasonably priced expert service for VW's and more. read more

Bug-Aid, Inc - Spark Plug People - Auto Repair Near Me - Seattle, Washington

I always hate to write a bad review, but after taking two differed VW's here, I feel I need to vent. My BF took his VW diesel Jetta here after a check engine light was on that his other mechanic couldn't figure out. They shaved down the head, and broke it, so they had to replace it (charged them for both) and fixed some other stuff. After about $6000 in repairs they said it was fixed. About two blocks from the shop the light went back on. Next we took my Passat here, since their estimate for shocks and CV joints were about $150 cheaper then our normal mechanic, however we didn't know if we needed these specific new parts. I have a VERY audible clicking noise in my front end that will rattle anytime you go over a bump. After making us write down our own vin number and other info (I've NEVER had a mechanic make me do that before) I made sure that my BF told them that it was a clicking/rattling noise so that they knew EXACTLY what to listen for. He said they didn't seem very interested, but figured they couldn't miss this noise. A little while later we got a call saying it was our suspension, $1700. That is a lot for us. We had them fix it, since I had been saving up for months to get this done and I wanted it done SO badly. Picked it up, drove out of the parking lot and down the street and there was the clicking noise. BF went back and told them they didn't fix it. They said they fixed the POP when you turn the steering wheel all the way to one side. That wasn't AT ALL what we had asked them to look at. AT ALL! Then to make matters worse, they made us take the car home only to bring it back on Monday so it could get aligned since they didn't have room in their garage. Monday rolls around, they said I would have it in the afternoon. They weren't ready with it until like 5. Now that I've had the car out for a month or so, I've also noticed new noises coming form the front that weren't' there before. I shouldn't have tried to be cheep and save $150 since it cost me $1700 in unneeded repairs. I've shed enough tears over this and have learned my lesson. Edited to add: The repairs they made were shot in less than a year. $2k for something that only lasts a year is a little steep for me. read more

This is the place in Seattle to take you VW of any vintage. They're honest, straight-forward, competent, and reasonably priced. They've done very good work on my 2002 TDI Beetle, and they've also had no problem working on my 1981 Diesel Dasher. They may not always be the friendliest people, but they know what they're doing and won't screw you over, and that's all I can ask for from a mechanic. read more

Saw a few bad reviews on here, so I had to put my two cents in - I've had nothing but good experiences bringing my cars here, we've brought VWs as well as other diesel cars in and Brad and his crew have always been fantastic. Many times I've had small issues (fluids needing to be topped off, etc.) and they've taken a few minutes out of their day to do it for no charge. Brad is super gregarious and everyone I've dealt with is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about cars. The office seems slightly disorganized, but I think that's due to the volume of cars they work on and doesn't reflect on the quality of work they do. I recommend them to my friends all the time. read more

I can't even begin to tell you how much these guys (Brad and Pete) jacked me around and ripped me off. Without writing a novel I'll just say that I brought my VW beetle in because the ABS light was on. They had it about 2 weeks, charged me $700 and said it was fixed. I walked out to it, turned it on and the light was on. They had it another month (after I dropped it off and said fix it or refund my money) and when I picked it up the light came right back on. They don't return any of my calls. One time I called Pete said I'll check with Brad and get back to you at end of day. A week later after of course no return call I call and they said he was in Hawaii on vacation. I've given up that I will ever get a refund. I am now going to have the dealer fix it so I can sell it. Don't go here! My neighbor said they ripped him off too. read more

I inherited Bug-Aid from the previous owners of my 85 VW Diesel Golf. They highly recommended I stay with Brad and his crew, and I am glad I did. They helped me convert the car to biodiesel and took care of her well when she needed it. Being a student I always asked them to let me know what really, really needed to be done, and while they always made an "optimal" list, they also gave honest advice of what truly needed to be done, given my limited fundage. They have always done great work and if anything didn't seem right afterwards all I had to do was call them and they would check it out and tweak it so that it was perfect. Everyone is always really cool -- they even gave me a ride to the bus stop once. They've gone the extra mile many times to help me out and I really appreciate that. I have since moved to San Francisco, and I have not yet found an equal to my friendly and reliable neighborhood repair shop! read more

This is an overall decent shop that I would trust to service your Volkswagen. They also seem to perform work on other German cars as well, and advertise that they are European auto specialists. I have had some mixed experiences with getting my car serviced here, in regard to price, scheduling, and necessity of performing the work. Here is a summary of how I would rate them in the following categories: Level of knowledge: Very good on VW's, Audi's, likely other German vehicles as well though no first hand experience with any vehicle but a VW. Quality of Work: Good. However, most recently after taking my vehicle there I am not quite able to place why the engine is now much louder than it previously was. On the other hand, some drive cup seals they installed on my vehicle failed after 6 months, and upon discovering this on a later visit they had no issue with replacing the seals at no new cost to me. Availability: Reasonable. I often find this shop to be very busy with various customers, and "Project Cars" as they term them, which are receiving various performance mods. I would recommend that you call ahead of time to determine the best day of the week to bring your vehicle in, and then allow at least two days for the repair depending upon the size of the job. I would also make certain to ask when it will be done, and insist you need it as soon as possible. Otherwise it is possible they might put it off in favor of another vehicle. Price: Reasonable. I believe you would save money over dealership repairs, though they are not the cheapest auto shop. They do use quality parts, however, for a better price than at the dealer, and charge a fairly standard, though not the lowest around, $90ish per hour. Honesty: Good. I did have one instance of them telling me I needed something when it turned out I in fact did not need the repair performed, but otherwise very good experiences. read more

Great shop, does great work. Any and every time i take my car here "which is anytime it isn't happy" It comes back to me like its brand new. Fair prices and excellent work on all the vehicles i have brought them. Wouldn't recommend any where else. read more

My first visit to Bug Aid. Bought a VW Eurovan Camper recently, brought it to Bug Aid (based on Yelp reviews) to have it examined and have a few things worked on to get it back to top condition. Great experience, these guys dug into it and really fixed things. When one of the problems escalated as they got into it, they communicated well and fixed the real problem- much better than going back again and again at a dealer. Enjoy working with Brad, I have confidence when my van leaves the shop, it's done right. read more

So i had to check in again. I've been living right across the street from Bug Aid for the past 8 months, and am now moving up north to lynnwood. But i will not be bringing my BMW to anyone else. Brad and his crew are really great guys, who are honest, hard working dudes. Every time i have them do ANYTHING, they always do a check up on everything else, just to make sure that i'm not going to run into any nasty surprises down the road. The price is always fair, and they do their best to get my car back to me as quickly as possible. Plus, it's always nice to be able to just shoot the shit with the guys who are doing work for you. read more

I had issues with another mechanic, so I decided to try a vw specialist. The guy talked my ear off instead of getting my car into the shop right away, then when I came to pick it up, he had an entire list of over $3000 in repairs that he thought I needed. One of the things was my timing belt, which has MAYBE 20K miles on it (which he knew) and EVERY other mechanic I've spoken to, including my trusted east coast mechanics who changed my timing belt, said there is no reason to spend the thousand dollars to change such a new belt. I've since find other mechanics in town who check my car over and give me their honest advice on what needs fixing and when. Despite the fact that this place is within easy walking distance of home, I'll never go back to be swindled again. (Plus, his spewing of political garbage was not fun to listen to, either. So what if you didn't vote for Obama? I vote for you not taking advantage of me because I have boobs and very little knowledge about cars, thank you very much.) read more

I've been taking my VW Vanagon Westie to Brad for about 10-12 years, whenever they took over from the previous owners. Only seemed to stump them once with my shift linkage being weird. They tried several times, no extra charge and finally said they got it as close as they could. Better but not perfect. Next time in Brad told me he had it figured out and fixed it no charge. With nearly 300k miles on the tranny I can't expect better shifting! Yes, I'll keep taking it there and now my daughter takes her Jetta there too. read more

Bug Aid is a scam. OK they do ok work but they dont care about the customer just your money. I researched what they did to my car, and it was $100 in parts [if that] and 2hrs of labor [if that] the bill was $600. never again. read more

If I could give a negative star, I would! In fact, I would give 100 negative stars. This shop is completely crooked. After taking my car their twice, I started noticing a pattern of repeat parts being replaced, or at least charged to my invoice. After mentioning this along with many other issues I had with their workmanship, they were unwilling to cooperate or reimburse me my money. Not only did they double-bill me for many different parts, but didn't bother to check my brakes which was the sole purpose I brought my car in the second time. They claimed it was a rock in my brake pads then a couple weeks after picking my car up, multiple calls complaining about the repeated noise coming from my right rear wheel, and them reassuring me my car was fine; mysteriously my entire back end seized up resulting in thousands of dollars in damage. I find it odd that this happened right after I get my car back from them and even more odd that they seemed to think my rear brakes were fine. The owner, Brad, claimed he would reimburse me my money for the double-billed parts and help with the damages from their faulty inspection but as soon as I tried to contact them - nothing! Ignored phone calls, emails, just blantently ignored. After I sought out third party mitigation, both the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney Generals Office was ignored. The owner Brad has no sense of professionalism, completely going psycho over the phone screaming at me and calling me a liar and arguing with me about my 98' Jetta having drum brakes and this issue couldn't possibly happen, when in actuality they clearly have disc brakes. When he realized how big of a moron he was and that my car does have disc brakes, he then began claiming I never told them of this issue. Any owner of a VW shop surely should know the difference, right? And surely should know a thing or two about what kind of brakes a Jetta has, right? After months of complaining and seeking out the third-party mitigation, he finally responded to them claiming many things, ALL of which were complete and total lies. This place deserves to go out of business and any person thinking about taking their car to them, THINK AGAIN!!!!! They are crooks, cheats, and liars. Any place that runs their shop so unprofessionally and completely shoddy should definitely not be in business. Take this as a warning - if you do decide to take your car their just cause they are slightly cheaper, you get what you pay for!!!! read more

I took my problem car to Bug-Aid after I had taken it to 3 other shops and 2 dealerships for a fuel evap leak. No one seemed to be able to fix it right. BugAid was the only place that had the expertise and took the time to fix the issue COMPLETELY -- and for a reasonable rate. The car I thought would never stop being a bit wonky now runs like new. I won't be taking it anywhere else again because these guys are the best! read more

I came to Brad with a warning light on my dash board. Little lightning bolt through an engine symbol. I have no idea what that means, so I took it to Brad, who'd been recommended to me. At this point I should interject that during this entire process I showed about the worst consumer smarts imaginable. I dropped it off, the next day during a phone call he gave me a list of issues, 6 or so. No dollar price was attached to anything in particular, or to the entire job overall. I didn't ask. Because I am an idiot, I didn't ask. But then again, I go through something like this once every couple years. Brad, I am sure, has a lot more experience with this. Yet he still let it happen. The price for the oil change and tune-up, plus the labor, plus a coil and one other part, plus a couple other things (like cleaning all the leaves out of my windshield gutter), was over $1000. My jaw almost dropped to the floor. Brad, to his credit, almost immediately began looking for ways to reduce the bill, and it landed at $850. I am pretty pissed off, obviously. Mostly at myself for not doing any oversight, but also at Brad. I feel like there is sort of an unspoken rule, that over a certain amount, say $200, a mechanic should ALWAYS mention price to a customer. I guess I was basically expecting around $300, with an oil change, tune up and parts. Anyway, I feel Brad really violated this disclosure ethic. He did later say that this is something he would usually do, tell the cost, but it just got past him this time. I'm not writing this to say don't do business with Brad, because he obviously knows his trade very well and I can see there are lots of happy customers on here. But I thought I should put this on here at least as a warning of what can happen if you wander in clueless, like me, and no one has your back. read more

Don't waste your time and money with these guys, just go across the street to Fine Tuning instead for quality and honesty.

STAY AWAY FROM THESE LYING, INCOMPETENT, CROOKS unless you enjoy horrible customer service and getting ripped off. I took my air cooled VW bus to this shop last month and my experience could not have been much worse. Repairs I thought would take 3 days took 3 weeks because the bus sat parked outside for over 2 weeks before they even touched it. When I called to check on the status the kid running the front desk could not answer even the most basic questions without putting me on hold and running back to check with the mechanic. On at least 3 occasions I was told that he would call me right back and I didn't hear from him until late the next day. Poor customer service is one thing. Lying about the work needed done is another. When I dropped off my bus, I explained to them that I had just replaced the master brake cylinder, wheel cylinders and brake shoes and all I wanted done was some work to the distributor. Imagine my surprise when the first thing they tell me is that it needs a new master brake cylinder, wheel cylinders, brake shoes, and brake lines to the tune of $1000 after discovering that the brake pedal was soft. I called them out on it and, sure enough, upon closer inspection all they found was that one of the brake line connections to the master brake cylinder was loose. This ended up being a $100 repair, not a $1000 repair. They then proceeded to tell me that it was not safe to drive and needed a ridiculously long list of repairs including new wheel bearings ($690), ball joints ($700), tie rod ($120), heads ($680), steering dampener ($130), drag link ($125), wiring harness ($880), shocks ($280), and more. After blatantly lying to me about the brakes, I can't believe a word they said and told them not to touch anything. I drive this bus nearly every day and it runs perfectly fine without all of the unnecessary repairs they suggested. To top it all off, they called me when it was finally done one night at 7pm and asked if I would pay for the repairs then and there over the phone without seeing the work done first. I told them that I would pay when I picked it up the next day. They called me back about 20 minutes later asking if I would pay in cash in exchange for not paying sales tax. I will never take my car to Bug Aid again. read more

This guy is a flat-out liar. There are plenty of other shops in town that are WILLING and ABLE to fix your car!

My car was not fixed after spending way too much time at their shop and after spending way too much money.

Let me disclose my experience with this shop that I know does fine work for some. My wife brought in a really rusty rabbit, looked good from a distance, was sold an upgrade to a diesel engine and 8 months later that diesel wasn't yet installed. I had to threaten to get the law involved at which time Brad finally installed the engine and charged a mere $2600 for the work. The car ran sort-of OK, but with all the investment and time and aggravation was still only worth about $1000. Way to go Brad! read more

Took my VW Golf in for a new clutch. While there, was told it needed new R side tie rods and that the driveshafts were bad. Driveshafts were still under warranty. Took the car back to the old shop and there was nothing wrong with the driveshafts. Supposedly an alignment was performed, but the car 'wanders' like it's driving in a crosswind. I feel like they were trying to rip me off. I will not take my car back to them. read more

If you have an older vehicle with out of the normal issues (Welding required, parts not available, etc.), or need a custom engine swap, etc., it can be very difficult to find a shop that can cover some of these odd-ball tasks. There is a lot more going on here than a typical repair shop will handle. Knowing what I know about this place, the one bad review I saw simply does not add up (Broke a head while shaving it?), But someone that doesn't understand what "is wrong with their car"/"being done to fix it" is probably most likely to get upset I guess. Not the most organized place, but they will always take the time to explain things in real-world terms that make sense to even the most void of automotive knowledge. There simply isn't another shop locally that can cover the wide range of work that this place does! read more