You've heard about Art's Automotive and you're curious about bringing your car in. That's excellent! We hope to convince you that there's no better place to have your car serviced -- not even the dealer! We take great pride in being an independent shop whose quality of workmanship equals or excels the dealership's, and who can provide the customer with true value. In other words, dealer-quality work at a lower price.

Don't take our word for it, we prefer to let our satisfied customers' reviews and our East Bay awards speak for us.

Want an estimate? Call us or contact us to ask for it; we can email you the exact copy so there's no surprises! Be sure to check out our article about shopping around for an estimate.

Do you suspect your car needs some service, but you're unsure of what exactly? If we've never seen your car before, it's good to start with a comprehensive full vehicle inspection in order to set a baseline. This is one hour of labor and is a 131 point inspection including fluid conditions and levels to ignition components, as well as suspension elements and oil leaks. Click here to see what will be filled out.

Print out this scheduled maintenance table so you know what to do and when. Most things are mileage-based, so try to do away with thinking of vehicle service as once a year, for example.

We often get asked whether you can bring your own parts in. The answer is a simple "No."

Check engine light diagnosis 101!! Click here, school's in session!

Can't drop off during business hours? Can't pick up until after we close? Have no fear! Lock Outs and Early Bird options are available!

Want to read all the common questions we get and the answers we give? Click here to view the extensive Frequently Asked Questions section.

A few basics

We are an appointment-based shop. Please call and ask for availability of the next appointment. We nearly always encourage you to bring the car in between 8am and 9am, then plan to leave it until the end of the business day at 6pm. Small things, like oil changes and tire rotations/purchases, have a separate appointment category so call to arrange for a "drop off" or a "while you wait" minor service.

If you require immediate attention, we allow for "Emergency Standby" at any time. The key is flexibility with the car; plan to leave the car with us for a few days so that we can work your vehicle into the workload around cancellations, for example.

We do all maintenance required to maintain warranty. Art's Automotive also has recommended maintenance that is not in the factory manual. Often the manual will neglect the maintenance in order to reduce cost-of-ownership estimates. This is bad for the car in the long term.

If you want an estimate for work, get it in writing. We can email you a line-item invoice of any work you want to have performed. This is a great tool to compare our shop with others. Keep in mind, we use all factory OEM or Genuine parts. Many shops will use cheaper aftermarket parts and perform many "inspect fluid condition" instead of actually doing anything.

We can help you get around without your car. We may not have a company car or a shuttle, but we can help you find a way to get to where you need to go.

Talk to us. We keep records of every vehicle that comes in; if you like, you can just call and ask us what it's time for. Many of our customers prefer this method, and we never sell unnecessary repairs.

For your first and subsequent visits, keep these points in mind: