-
August 2023 by BatalCR7
Very rude for no reason! maybe I caught him on his bad day, but that does not justify his tone and treatment.
-
January 2023 by Steven S
Had the pleasure of speaking with Tim. He's a no nonsense kinda guy. Told me what was wrong, gave me a fair quote, and it was fixed. Having a Vanagon, there aren't many experts around. They know their VW stuff, I couldn't even stump them and I've been doin this 35 years. You explain to me how to 'lap valves' after doing 'head work' on over a half million mile Vanagon.. I tried to keep up. I swear. But the ole girl was tired. And she feels amazing after the refresh. If you enjoy Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, bmw etc German stuff. Just swing by. The guy just knows things.
-
October 2022 by Ian S.
This place is to car repair what Neverland Ranch is to childcare. Your vehicle ain't coming out right, if it ever comes out at all. Let me explain... This past summer on August 21st, our BMW broke down on the highway and got towed to the only German auto specialist for hundreds of miles. We call the shop in the morning and are treated to a delightful conversation with Tim Miller -- owner of Sierra German Auto, a man who treats his customers like they're a Lego he just stepped on and who's most recent memory of happiness was watching Chicago cops beat up hippies at the DNC in 1968. He has never let another human being finish a sentence and ain't about to start today, so he interrupts me six words in by barking into the phone, saying that it'll be at least a week before he can look at a vehicle. There's nowhere else to take the car, so we leave it with him. He proceeds to hold the car hostage for the next 70 days. And never lifts a finger to fix it. And lies to us every time we call about it. Always saying "I'll look at it next week." Meanwhile, we're back at home -- begging, borrowing and Ubering to get ourselves and our toddler around the city, praying that this week will be different, hoping against hope that maybe -- just maybe -- this sentient wad of tobacco spit will finally do his job. He never did. So after two and a half months of this, we gave up. We cobbled together the resources to get it towed to the nearest shop, over 200 miles away. Again, to put this in perspective: entire vehicles can be built from scratch in the time it took Tim Miller to not fix our car. If you are presented with a choice between taking your car to Sierra German Auto or driving into a forest fire, remember that the fire will be cheaper, quicker and friendlier.
-
October 2022 by Christina Duphorn Zehnder
I love Tim. He's the only person in Bishop that works on German cars. He did a great job fixing my husband's manual Volkswagen passat. Thank you so much ?
-
June 2022 by Tobin Fricke
Just after successfully navigating Sonora Pass, with dismay I discovered I could no longer shift gears on my 1986 Volkswagen Vanagon, and the clutch pedal went to the floor. I made it into Bridgeport and then had the van towed to Tim down in Bishop, feeling relieved that there was an expert Vanagon mechanic within reach of my 100 miles towing allowance from AAA.I was a bit nervous about all the negative reviews here, but I found Tim to be warm and helpful, friendly and communicative. He seemed excited to work on my van, but warned me that he had "ten cars ahead" of mine. Perhaps of note is that I never met him: the van was dropped off by tow truck, and a week later I picked it up after hours. So our interaction was by phone. And I wasn't in a hurry.Tim charged a fair price, and I enjoyed the confidence of having an experienced Vanagon mechanic work on my Vanagon. I would definitely go to him again should the need arise.My van was towed to him on the morning of Monday 5/23. By the next day, he had looked at the van, made a diagnosis (failure of the clutch slave cylinder), and ordered a replacement part. On Sunday 5/29 (yes, the Sunday of Memorial day weekend), he called to say it was ready. The next day I came out to get it. His lot is packed with cars, so the quick pickup was appreciated.Services: Transmission repair
-
June 2022 by Tobin F.
Just after successfully navigating Sonora Pass, with dismay I discovered I could no longer shift gears on my 1986 Volkswagen Vanagon, and the clutch pedal went to the floor. I made it into Bridgeport and then had the van towed to Tim down in Bishop, feeling relieved that there was an expert Vanagon mechanic within reach of my 100 miles towing allowance from AAA. I was a bit nervous about all the negative reviews here, but I found Tim to be warm and helpful, friendly and communicative. He seemed excited to work on my van, but warned me that he had "ten cars ahead" of mine. Perhaps of note is that I never met him: the van was dropped off by tow truck, and a week later I picked it up after hours. So our interaction was by phone. And I wasn't in a hurry. Tim charged a fair price, and I enjoyed the confidence of having an experienced Vanagon mechanic work on my Vanagon. I would definitely go to him again should the need arise. My van was towed to him on the morning of Monday 5/23. By the next day, he had looked at the van, made a diagnosis (failure of the clutch slave cylinder), and ordered a replacement part. On Sunday 5/29 (yes, the Sunday of Memorial day weekend), he called to say it was ready. The next day I came out to get it. His lot is packed with cars, so the quick pickup was appreciated.
-
January 2022 by Steven R.
Tim is a little gruff, but he got our sprinter van fixed up pretty quickly and got us back on the road at a fair price. Cleaned up the mistakes a much pricier city mechanic did.
-
March 2021 by Eric Schloesser
Tim was very helpful to us when our car broke down in Death Valley. Our car was towed into his shop on a holiday, and he was considerate of our time and situation. He even left us with a list of parts we needed and their prices.
-
March 2021 by Michael Brode
Great place with amazing quality service!
-
November 2020 by James Sloan
So rude!!!! This man lacks respect and communication skills.
-
August 2020 by Danielle R.
Heads up! We didn't end up leaving our car here as we decided to drive to a different auto shop. The reason being Tim was disrespectful and difficult to talk to. Barely let us explain the situation over the phone and was worse in person. I'm sure he is a great mechanic but extremely difficult to interact with! God bless him!
-
July 2020 by Lisa M.
Our RV lost a fan belt and we limped it in to Miller's Auto Repair. Tim was extremely helpful. He got on the phone right away and ordered the part. It came in the next morning and he and his mechanic had us fixed up and on the road again before noon. We are so thankful that they were able to help us so quickly. I hope we never break down again in Bishop, but if we do we will call Miller's Sierra German Auto again.
-
June 2020 by Ernest P.
Here I am driving my 1979 Bus east over the Sonora Pass and really enjoying life. Just saw good friends in the Bay Area and now taking in the beauty north of Yosemite. I stop in Lee Vining for fuel - and what happens? The bus won't start. Of course, it won't start. I'm stuck 350 miles from home. At least its summer and not snowing.... After several attempts to self-diagnose the problem, and a recommendation from the Lee Vining Shell station (a great guy named Shelley), the bus was towed to Bishop and taken to Sierra German where I eventually met Tim Miller. He took interest immediately and noted some problems with fuel seepage. Being the only noted VW mechanic for some hundreds of miles around, he was busy with work - and the pandemic wasn't helping. Anyway, he traced the main problem to a frayed wire to the cylinder head sensor and also a bad electric connection to the air box. He noted a few other things "that should be taken care of" too. All in all, the experience was top notch and my bus came alive and made it home. Bishop is a great small town in a beautiful part of California - so the pace there is understandably different than the bigger urban areas of the State. I read some of the other yelp reviews before heading to Sierra German. That said, Tim was responsive to my plight and is an expert I'd seek out again if I'm ever passing by within a 200 mile radius of Bishop. On the wide, open road that is California and Nevada, Tim's shop is now on my list of reliable mechanics.
-
June 2020 by A Google User
Tim really knows his stuff and is a great guy! I highly reccomend tim for all your European car needs.
-
March 2020 by Rob D.
Tim and Zach are competent mechanics. Don't expect them to be at all friendly, polite, communicative or in any way helpful. I would actually use 'hostile' to describe the interactions I had. I had a no start Sprinter issue. I called around the bishop area and quickly felt that Sierra German was the only place to go. It was determined to be leaking fuel lines leading to no-start. They fixed the problem but I wish I could have taken my van literally anywhere else. As it was, I was a captive audience as I was stuck in Bishop. They replaced a headlight for me and charged me a half-hour labor for this without any discussion/request/authorization. After waiting for over a week to get the hell out of Bishop and return to family, I was too irritated to complain. I do, however, think it was shady of them to charge me 55$ labor (1/2 hour) for a lightbulb replacement. I routinely change these myself, and it takes me about 2 minutes. All in all, they did fix my van. I do feel I was jerked around a bit and left wishing I had the ability the find alternate diesel services willing to work on Sprinters nearby. I would recommend if you can drive your vehicle anywhere else it would be worth it.
