Obie's Import & Domestic Rpr

I own a 1991 Mazda and moved to Walla Walla, WA a couple of years ago. I had excellent Mazda mechanics nearby when I lived in Portland, but there is no Mazda mechanic in Walla2. My car has been making various noises and even though the local mechanics have told me it is in great shape, I wasn't sure that nothing was wrong. I finally made an appointment with Obie's to have my oil changed and have my car checked out. He changed my oil in good time even though I was a half hour late ($#%@;!-- Mapquest was wrong), checked out my car and only charged me $41. I was very pleased and feel a lot better since he told me my car was in excellent condition.

One of the reasons I have bought the occasional VW is that Obie will work on them. He used to be the service manager for Mel Winter VW here in Pendleton. Mel went out of business around 1990; Obie had left some time previous to that. He knows VW's inside and out, and if he can't get it right the first time--which happens occasionally--he'll keep at it until he does. Very reasonable rates. Great mechanics work for him. Highly recommended.

I was told about OBIES years ago by a local auto shop owner We live 45 miles away. Obie provides great service, reasonable prices , has saved us alot of money on unnecessary repairs and is a great source of information regarding cars and locating used or hard to get parts.

All you need to do is go to Obie's and look on the wall. It is papered with thank-you notes from all over (being just off Interstate 84, he gets business from everywhere). My first experience was with a faulty instrument cluster on a 97 Eurovan. First he tried to fix it, when that didn't work, he tried to find a used one as he thought this was an unusual failure. When he couldn't and had to get a new one, he felt bad about the cost! There was no charge for all the trouble-shooting he did on the bad one or for installation of the new one. The most recent job was to diagnose a noise in the rear end of my 89 Audi Quattro. Result: a bad wheel bearing (final drive differential was fine) and an estimate of $225 to fix it. No charge for the estimate or test drive. This was actually a second opinion. The first was from an Audi dealer. Result: a bad bearing in the differential and a repair estimate of $8,400 (that's right, eight thousand four hundred) for the part alone! Even the mechanics on the floor got a laugh out of that one. I do all most all my own car repair, so I rarely go to a mechanic. Obie is one of the few I trust with my own vehicles and it is worth making the 60 mile drive to Pendleton. A good friend has had Obie service his 94 Eurovan camper since it was new. It now has 190,000 miles and is still going strong and he (my friend) has nothing but praise for Obie's service, quality of work, and fair prices. So if you are out here in Eastern Oregon and you have car trouble, try and make it to Obie's in Pendleton. How many mechanics do you know that can paper anything with thank-you notes, let alone an entire wall? Robert Brandon La Grande, OR