I really can’t say how thankful I am for this shop and the knowledge the owner and his staff bring to the Toyota world here in Tucson. They can do anything! They are honest!! They know things other mechanics/shops here simply don’t. I’ve had them work on several first gen vehicles and I paid a fraction of the price AND I didn’t have to go back to have my issue fixed again because of the lame “we can’t replicate the issue” junk or the “this is the problem butttttttt” mentality.
Also… they don’t treat you differently because you’re a female which is still HEAVILY an issue in this industry of gearheads. I wasn’t talked down to nor was I ripped off which cost me thousands in other shops here. But….I’ll be cool and not call them out here because this review isn’t about those other guys and their antiquated views of gender and car culture, it’s about how 1st Rock 4x4 stands out for NOT being like that and treating me and my yoda’s with respect and decency ON TOP of actually fixing my issue so it doesn’t keep happening and stranding me in some strange boondock location.
Do yourself a favor and use this place. You won’t be disappointed.
We trust Karl at 1st Rock 4X4 with our entire family’s fleet. He has managed to extend the life of every vehicle we’ve ever owned, often outperforming the big chain shops in both quality and price. His work is fast, his rates are beyond reasonable, and his honesty is unmatched. On the rare occasion a part was defective, he handled the warranty work without hesitation. I recommend 1st Rock to all my friends and family—you won't find better service.
My husband and I both take our vehicles to Karl and Paul whenever we need auto work done. They're an amazing team and do excellent, honest work. Very grateful for 1st Rock 4x4 & Auto, highly recommend to anyone lookin for a reliable mechanic! Their prices are fair and honest.
Great place to take your Toyota or other 4x4, they went out of their way to diagnose the true problem, even though it meant a cheaper solution. 10/10 would recommend and won't hesitate to go back
Karl and his team sourced a hard-to-find part for my aging Toyota Tacoma and installed it in jockey-fast time. They were communicative and accommodating from the get and up front with their diagnoses and pricing - extremely rare to find with mechanics these days! The price of the part and the work was even a relief! And Karl's team fixed my busted parking brake as a surprise gift. Highly recommend this shop.
Great shop, very knowledgeable owner. He has helped us with a few of our cars and has always been honest with us. Trustworthy go-to place. Will definitely continue to do business with in the future.
This is the only place I take my vehicles for work here in Tucson. Karl and his team of mechanics are communicative, fast, and precise at their work. The radiator failed on my 2000 4Runner yesterday and they had it replaced and running 5 hours later, and for a price that I know I would not be able to find anywhere else in town. These guys don't cut corners and they don't gauge wallets. FINALLY a shop I can trust!
Good dude, solid work. Customer communication isn't really there, plan on 1.5-2hrs for responses. If you don't have thick skin, you will get offended. He's an old school mechanic and will talk with you like you are too. So be prepared but otherwise I'd certainly use this shop again.
Carl knows what he's doing. He's honest and fixes what's wrong with your vehicle, he is also quick and efficient and has a very clean shop. He helps make what should be a bad situation a good one.
This review is written by one of our chauffeurs, Robert:
"This shop was great, and they saved us a lot of money at a time when we didn't think we had enough money to fix our car. I would highly recommend this business! Thank you, Karl, for all of your help. Due to the savings he helped us out with, a friend of ours is going to switch mechanics and use this business exclusively from now on. I give them a 5-star rating and I do not normally do that because we are all human, we all make mistakes, and things just tend to happen when it comes to businesses. But this place was great!"
Karl's a bad a** dude
MY NISSAN NOW ROLLS ON CHEVY RIMS
he helped me get what i needed, i recommend you go to him if you need spacers or wheel adapters, he has fast and good quality service, he had my adapters made and sent to my house in two days !!!!!
I dropped my 93 4Runner off in dire shape. I picked it up ready to go off-roading or to a car show. Extremely knowledgeable staff and the attention to detail was second to none. I couldn’t be more happy with the end result.
I have had the pleasure of working with the owner and the mechanic at the shop and let me tell you how pleased I am to have found them. I came to them with my daughters car and mine with ac problems and they were able to fix them both and any issue I had had since then they had taken me in and helped me out with fair prices. They even helped give me references with our BMW and what to do as far as fixing it. He’s always been able to take me in last minute as long as I communicate with him. I definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a good mechanic that won’t break your bank account.
Super happy I found this shop. Karl is so knowledgeable and I'm extremely pleased with the work he did. He was able to get my 4x4 running perfectly. I can't stress enough how knowledgeable the owner is. While others have noted his personality isn't for everyone - it's a simple trade-off. People of this caliber can be misunderstood and feel that's the case. I've been around the block enough to know this level of knowledge he brings to the table outweighs personality any day. His recommendations saved me money and were purely selfless. I've been to many shops where they only want to upsell and make as much as they can - not the case here. I won't go elsewhere and will refer all my friends and family to this shop based on my experience. A great mechanic is worth their weight in GOLD! Five star outfit without the price tag or headaches.
Worst shop I have ever seen in Tucson. It deserves less than 0 star. The owner Karl is very rude person with a bad behaviour with customers. He wants to get a money for nothing done, be careful. Also the place is trash. If you want to BREAK you car go there..!!Bad reviews for this shop are real
I own a 3rd gen 4runner and been looking for a good honest place to take it for some work to be done. Repairs were done at a Very reasonable price. Since then I’ve had them do some fab work and I’m always happy with the outcome. If you have a Toyota then this is the place to go.
I have been working with Karl and his team for over a year now and I have to say it has been different than your average car repair shop. As a woman, many times I feel like I get treated differently when dealing with car repair services because I may not have as much knowledge or for just being a woman. I worry about being swindled because I may not know something. But with Karl and his team, they were always upfront and explained every process thoroughly. They didn't treat me like I didn't need an explanation because I was a woman. I appreciated that very much. I had multiple issues with my mazda and they always tried to find the best solution and most affordable solution, knowing I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg if I didn't have to. The communication was always very prompt and the repair time was quick as well. Overall I recommend their services over all the dealerships and repair shops I have ever gone to and I have dealt with many. Also it is important to support your local small businesses so I encourage you to contact 1st Rock 4x4 & Auto if you are having an issue with your car
I love wrenching on my 1st Gen 4Runner but when the timing chain needed redone, Karl actually treated me like a person over the phone, and his timeline and quote were the best i could find! It's driving like a whole new truck and we passed emissions. I appreciated the straight answers, and how he thoroughly worked out the job that i needed done without stacking up an expensive list of frivolous line items. Great, honest work, good communication, they really went above and beyond!
Amazing service from Karl and his crew. Had a major problem with my Jeep and the dealership said it was gonna take 4 days to complete when I was only in town for 1. Karl towed my Jeep from the side of the highway and was able to fix it SAME day no stress. Fantastic service. Highly recommend to anyone who isn’t looking to wait forever at the dealership and for a great price.
Awesome auto repair shop is not just for 4x4's! Had some work done to my car recently the owner Karl was extremely helpful and knowledgeable diagnosing the problem and even pointed me in the right direction to help me get a good deal on the parts I needed. I literally paid hundreds of dollars less than what one of the "big name" auto repair shops quoted me. Highly recommend!!!
Very knowledgeable and fair priced... Karl was able to diagnose the issue I was having before we got off the phone he was able to fix it in a matter of a few hours and saved me money. I'm am very pleased with the service and price.
Fantastic experience! Karl is very honest and straight forward, his prices and quality of work cannot be beat. The only regret I have is that I did not start using this shop sooner. I will be bringing all my work to him, I will not think twice having Karl work on my Lexus over the dealership itself.
I was fortunate to stumble across Karl and his amazing shop. From the beginning Karl was professional, called me back promptly with a quote for the work I requested and even took the time to explain what did and did not need to be done, which the other shops had not. He quickly told me repairs I were told needed to be done that were not necessarily true, and the quote was $150 less than the lowest I had received. Do not let his low prices indicate the work that was done - the staff (Andy) was courteous, professional and quick. He really is a honest guy who will take care of you, particularly women who are easy to take advantage of on car repairs. We need more businessmen like Karl in Tucson, and the world.
I had a 1st gen 4 runner built out of state. I put thousands of dollars into this vehicle to make it Rock Crawler ready. Unfortunately, the shop that built it left some loose ends, and the vehicle had numerous problems I had to get fixed. I was referred to 1st Rock 4x4. I called the shop and spoke to Karl. Karl had me bring the vehicle down to his shop. On my way there my speedometer stopped working because the shop that did the build, I later found out wrapped the speedometer cable around the dual transfer cases. That repair wasn't planned, however, Karl worked with me on that and fixed that while the vehicle was at his shop. Since I live in New River, Karl would have a mechanic just work on my vehicle all day long, so as much work could be done as possible, and I would drive it home at the end of the day. There was so much work to be done, I had to take the 4runner down there a couple times, but it was more than worth it! The fabrication and mechanical work that was done was outstanding! I'll be bringing it back to finish up a few more things on the vehicle. The work done was outstanding, and the fabrication work was very impressive! Karl really worked with me on the labor, and helped me out a lot! Great Shop! I'll be back! Thanks again Karl!
These guys are great. There is no one else in Tucson I would trust my vehicle to. I recommend them to everyone, including my children when their vehicles need help. They are honest, knowledgeable, and their prices are reasonable. If you are looking for an honest mechanic who will guarantee his work, call 1st Rock.
Have several vehicles all have been fixed in a timely manner. Aaron knows his Toyota's and since I have several all are in perfect running order. The price cannot be beat the service is great. Will recommend to everybody.
I took my car in to this amazing shop and wasn't expecting anything better than what all the other places I went to. I've never been so wrong about a car shop before. the owner is a direct and honest person, he gave me a low estimate to fix my car, When the bill came he advised me that there was a different problem then what we thought, and cut the bill lower. I plan on going to this shop for anything my car needs. This is the best shop I've ever been to and they just got a new loyal customer.
Did I also mention the owner himself called me to follow up on my car?
VERY HONEST! I am a 20 year old girl, so when I bring my vehicle to an auto shop, I expect to get lied to about the condition or the severity of the problems with my vehicle. I brought it here for a wheel bearing that I was sure needed replaced, they diagnosed it and said it didn't! Free diagnosis, too! I did have them replace the motor mounts though. I ended up paying FAR less than I could find anywhere else in town. I informed them I was going on a very long road trip so I needed anything serious to be fixed.. It's a ford focus, so it has a lot of issues. They told me everything that was clearly wrong with it, but said that they were just minor issues that won't leave me stranded anywhere. I also asked if I should change my oil. Karl suggested that I take it to Jiffy Lube, because there prices are much cheaper for that sort of thing. I was shocked in this places honesty and good work. I would certainly recommend this place. Especially if you want cheap prices and honest mechanics!!!!!! You will not be lied to here and they certainly do a good job! They even fixed a noise my car was making that I thought was the strut for free! Obviously wasn't the strut, but my point is that they are very honest!
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