Alexandria VA auto repair

This was my 1st time at Yates Automotive. Joe replaced the brake light on my car. He was very quick at getting it fixed like maybe 15 min! Which was a breath of fresh air after spending 3 hrs at another automotive establishment and leaving without it being fixed! Thank you Joe! I will be back for future work when needed.

Thank you for doing a great job! The car sparkles again, both inside and out. Even the tiniest crumbs that were stuck in places impossible to reach with my home vacuum cleaner are gone. And the chalky substance that dripped on the car from the parking garage ceiling is gone and the car’s finish looks new again. Thanks! I will come back again in the future.

While I was hoping for a better outcome for my car, I do appreciate Kris' honesty about my car's issues. He explained the issues and estimated costs if the shop were to complete the work. He also explained the consequences if I chose to continue driving the car as is. He also noted that with my car having such high mileage, he could do the repairs. However, other parts may need to be replaced in the near future. Kris let me come pickup my car, pay for the diagnostic testing and instructed me to only drive the car home as it is not safe to be driving (more than that short drive). I truly appreciate his honesty about my car issues and having great concern for my safety. I have donated the car this morning. I'm not in a rush to get a new car quite yet. However, when I do and need work done on the next car, I'll be returning to Yates for service.

Last week diesel was put in my Toyota Coralla by accident. Luckily the people at the service station told me absolutely not to start the car and it was towed to Yates Automotive on Braddock Rd in Alexandria. I have to say that I've never dealt with more efficient, kind, professional people to work on my car before. They communicated what was needed along with the time needed and let me know the costs involved before proceeding. After draining and cleaning the gas tank, they even flled it up for me as well. I would recommend Yates Automotive to anyone who needs service on their vehicles. They did a great job and made getting my car back easy and in a timely manner. The Manager, Kris, and a technician, Nick were very respectful and informative. In my opinion, you won't be disappointed with this business!

Yates Automotive is the place to go!!! Walked in and Zan immediately greeted me. After I explained my move from Maryland, he confirmed they were able to fit me in for last minute Safety and Emissions inspections. Then I had a great conversation with another employee. This type of service is definitely not something I’d be able to find in Maryland.

I’ve been going to Yates for almost 30 years. I trust them to do a good job and not to sell me repairs I don’t need. Their staff are very helpful. Zan took time to research and text me a possible solution to my arthritic hands having trouble with the seatbelt. I am happy to recommend Yates.

Update: I’m going to leave my original review below for transparency, but I have updated this because the general manager reached out to me personally about my bad experience and I feel a lot better about coming to this shop. He expressed a really genuine apology and took seriously the issues I was having. Things happen and it means a lot when a business is willing to accept responsibility and work with me to make it right. Personal shout out to Joey the GM for really putting care into running the business and taking customer service seriously. After a failed safety inspection, they quoted me $2000 to entirely replace an entire assembly within my exhaust system. They quoted me $1600 for the parts. It sounded high to me so I contacted a dealership and they quoted the same parts at $1100. So right off the bat, Yates was trying to mark me up almost 50% on parts alone. I took it to another shop who said that all it needed was a relatively quick weld repair. It ended up costing $170. So not only did they try to overcharge me by 50% on parts, they didn’t even bother trying to see if they could repair it before immediately trying to replace the entire muffler/exhaust pipe assembly. On top of that, the shop that did the repairs took a look at my car while they had it up on the lift and found several issues including brake fluid that needed to be replaced and corroded rear brakes. This was less than a month after I took my car into Yates to have it fully serviced. Yates said the only thing that needed to be done was an oil change. So I have no idea what they actually did, because clearly they didn’t service it or even look at it.

I went for a safety inspection for my car, but didn’t have anywhere to go so I had to wait. They very kindly moved my car up so I didn’t have to wait a long time. It was much appreciated.

Customer service here is unmatched. Really friendly, personable and knowledgeable staff. I worked directly w Zan. He was communicative and went the extra mile to make sure I was taken care of while Yates worked on my vehicle. Appreciate this level of attentiveness in a service organization.

Zan at Yates Automotive is fantastic! Knowledgeable, kind, and completely transparent—he took the time to explain everything and helped me fix an annoying car issue quickly and efficiently. Honest service you can trust. Highly recommend!