Hi, all. My pre-paid maintenance is well and truly over with, and the service minder is counting down steadily. So it's time to find a good indy shop to do the maintenance and work on Fenimore when I can't be bothered to.

My preferences would be somewhere around Sunnyvale or northern Santa Clara, but other locations could work depending on a number of things.

So, folks, who out there is good with MINIs?

 

Tom's Repair in Monterey not far down the street from the Del Monte Shopping Center is a very good, reliable, and cost-conscious place. I've had them do lots of work on numerous cars: Audi, Caravan, Acura, 2 BMWs, etc. Always use top quality parts, could have overcharged me many times when I didn't know what was wrong, but they always tried (and were correct) the simplest and cheapest repair first. You could leave your car there and then walk into Monterey (or ride a bike or take a cab) to the pier, the beach, or the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Then just pick up your car at the end of the day. Oh yeah, there are great restaurants in Monterey and Pacific Grove, with lots of available parking—which makes them a much better choice than Carmel.

 

And for superlative tire replacement I use Newton Brothers Tire Service in Sand City. Great guys to do business with, and they love neat cars and trucks.

 

When I lived in South Bay my mini was serviced by Edge Motorworks in Mountain View. The guys there are great, and they care for your car as if it was their own.

also checkout the local Mini Facebook group/club Silicon Valley Minis (a few of the more active folks work for Mini of Stevens Creek, but the group maintains a list of local "mini resources" which include independent shops)

 

BR Racing in Los Gatos. They know and track Minis, plus lots of very cool track prepared Porsches, BMWs, etc. to drool over.

 

Michi, that's the wrong bay. Monterey is way too far to go for service.

I'll check out Edge Motorsports and BR Racing. Any more recommendations?

 

+1 on BR Racing. Top notch work, and they really know Minis. They do all my major work. Like tomorrow they're going to prep my car for a track day and they're replacing the crank pulley/vibration damper as well as the timing chain, tensioner, guides, and main seal.


Otherwise, for regular things like oil changes, I use German Motor Specialist. An independent shop with factory trained techs. And they're walking distance for me so it makes it super easy to drop off and pick up.


http://germanmotorspecialist.com/

 

+10000000 on BR Racing in LG. Talk to Bruce. Super professional, knowledgeable and great guy to do business with. Even little things their prices are decent. I had them change oil and replace brake fluid for my mini. I've also had them install the limited slip diff.

 

I've made an appointment with Edge. They're more convenient (further north) and seem like reasonable people. I'll report how the appointment went next week.

 

Edge is definitely good too. I used them once before I found out about BR. BR is so much closer to where I live so it was a win-win.