Federal Way Automotive - Tacoma (WA)

5 /5 Leo Boyko: We have all our cars serviced here, recently I brought my 1995 Porsche 911 for engine reseal (it was due). Federal Way Automotive did a great job and for a fair price. I feel confident each and every time. Thank you to the team!

1 /5 Evan Larson: Brought in a 2005 Toyota 4Runner for a pre purchase inspection. I trusted this shops great reviews, and paid them instead of driving my tools over two hours to inspect it myself. They wrote it off as perfect for a 20 year old car, and only mentioned the axle boots which I told them specifically to look at. Besides that they did not look at anything except potentially the compression test I paid extra for. Complete failure to find any of the glaring issues to the untrained eye. I found all of them within 10 minutes of my own inspection after bringing the vehicle home. AC Compressor is grinding ($1500+ job to do it right), poor bondo job on rear quarter panel indicating an accident, flaking clear coat on top of spoiler indicating cheap paint and aftermarket parts. Besides these issues, I wouldn’t care if not for the rust and 1+ inch of dirt and mud stuck inside the frame. Every single drain hole was plugged with potato chip sized, 1/8” thick rust flakes and dirt. What this mechanic did not know, which my uncertified self did know, is that these old Toyota’s biggest problem is frame rust, from the inside out. A very cheap, poor used-car dealership style undercoat over everything (including so much dirt) was all it took to trick this licensed mechanic, when it took me 10 minutes to figure it out, far too late. In an attached picture is a patch of painted over rust and the next picture is the hole i lightly tapped open with a hammer, these frames rust from the inside out. Also shown is an obvious rust hole and crack along the front right member along a factory weld. Now I’m stuck spending over $5000 to fix the issues with this vehicle. Side note - The tires are also 5 years old and show signs of dry rot between treads. Having saved two hours, is costing me tens of hours of my own time and thousands of dollars. Edit: the manager Eddy called me over this review and was “confused” why I made it once receiving a refund for the inspection only. Throughout this process he has made excuses saying “we are not body work professionals” and “well the car had been undercoated.” “They did not see it.” But again that’s the entire point, an untrained eye saw these issues within 10 minutes, and it did not take swinging a hammer to call out detrimental concerns of rust. Like pieces of a puzzle, the mud, dirt, clearly large rust flakes in every drain hole, and the poorly applied undercoating are pieced together as a red flag. Also, the bondo job shows a clear sign of an accident, even though the car’s record has none. I wish they would’ve pointed this out at their shop. Edit - the car had a distinct smell which I believed to be a dog, but I just found a rat’s next in the read headliner. Opening the cargo hatch and opening the headliner slightly was all it took to find.

5 /5 Chance Gill: I’ve been going to these guys for years since we moved to Federal Way and even with the transition of ownership they still take great care of us. They handle both our personal and business vehicles. They have great communication and fair pricing. They are knowledgeable enough to let you know what has to be done, what should be done and where you can save money excluding services that other shops would charge you for. I’ve never had to second guess their work…when they fix it it’s one and done.

5 /5 Luis Martinez arias: I take all my vehicles here. Very fair pricing with great service. Highly recommend