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Jim Russell now has his own place

calexand

calexand

Experienced Member
Joined
17 July 2002
Messages
368
Location
SF Bay Area, CA
For those of you who are fans of Jim Russell (formerly of Hopkins Acura) as I am, this is good news. Jim had briefly managed the service center of Serramonte Acura, but now co-owns Belmont Car Center and will service NSXs and other cars himself there. For anyone who hasn't heard, Jim is not only incredibly knowledgeable about NSXs, but has an uncanny ability to find and fix a squeak, buzz, rattle, etc. anywhere in the car. It's like he's got spidey-sense in finding where they are coming from.

I think it is great that not only is he now more conveniently located and doing all the work himself, but that I can bring my Lexus and BMW to him too. He may know NSXs and other Acuras particularly well, but I bet he'll do a great job on the other cars too. This is the same shop which is also Cologne Auto Body (with Dieter, the other owner, running the body and paint shop part -- which I can also recommend). I wanted to spread the word.

I went and visited him Monday, and in minutes he had found the source of the odd noise I was hearing under acceleration -- slightly loose screws on my custom-engraved acrylic engine cover. But just in case, he drove the car again after fixing that, and found that my Tubi exhaust had moved over time and was slightly rubbing the diffuser, the spring on the engine cover glass needed to be flexed out to really hold the glass closed, etc. So he quickly went around and fixed those too. Wow.

Jim Russell at Belmont Car Center
1250 Old County Road
Belmont, CA 94002-3921
(650) 592-3657
 
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Chip,
You think he can fix my window operating too. It's slow on the driver side.
 
calexand said:
This is the same shop which is also Cologne Auto Body (with Dieter, the other owner, running the body and paint shop part -- which I can also recommend).
Jim Russell at Belmont Car Center
1250 Old County Road
Belmont, CA 94002-3921
(650) 592-3657
Click to expand...

That's funny, I went to Cologne and had Dieter paint my '76 Mercedes years ago.
 
Decisions, decisions...

I've been going to Don for years, and have no complaints.

But...

Jim's new shop is literally three minutes from my house.

It's almost tune-up time... Might be time to switch allegiences.
 
Follow-up: Took my car to Jim this week. The man is a god. He found things on the car that I never even knew existed, and fixed them all. My car runs better than ever! So sweet to drive.

I'd highly recommend Jim Russell and his shop. Superb work, and over the top customer service.
 
I may try him out for my mis-firing issues and TCS/ABS lights are on.

What's his hourly rate?

image002.jpg
 
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The man IS god. Very nice guy and knows just a ton about our cars. Had him take care of a list of things that have been bugging me for a while.

When you talk to him, you can tell he knows what you're talking about, has done that procedure many times before, and will recommend associated areas that may need attention. When I asked him about S/C installation, he told me that he's a bit slower at it than other folks and that Don could probably do it for less hours. When money can be saved elsewhere, he'll let you know. I very much appreciate that kind of honesty and straight talk.

The ease of access right off 101 in Belmont is nice. Another huge plus is that his shop is actually apart of a larger body shop. So they can take care of paint and body work while your car is there. I had some paint blemishes on my car and he had the detailer buff it out with some compounds while my car is there. Sure saves me time and effort.

Will be going back in the future.
 
aridon99 said:
......When I asked him about S/C installation, he told me that he's a bit slower at it than other folks and that Don could probably do it for less hours.......
Click to expand...

I made some calls and here are the SOS Supercharger installation rates:

Don - $1200
Jim - $1500 - $2000~

Foreign Affairs don't want to do it.

Driving Ambition price is around the same as Jim.

The impression that I get from talking to Don and a few others that had their CTSC installed is that Don has done more Supercharger installs than both Jim and Foreign Affairs combined.

I suspect that is where the fixed $1200 comes from and the low price. Their's no learning curve since Don's done a few.
 
BATMANs said:
Their's no learning curve since Don's done a few.
Click to expand...

Go with Don. I've been to his shop many times, and have no complaints.

I'm using Jim now mostly because of convenience -- it's right down the street from where I live. Don requires a trek to Daly City, and then figuring out how to get out of there.

But knowledge-wise, I'd rate Don and Jim equally.
 
I live about 5 blocks from Don's shop and I will be bringing Jim all of my cars from now on if I can help it. I usually bring some small job to a "new" shop to suss them out and see what I feel about the shop. Don's shop and service seem quite good, but Jim's was great. I recently brought a bad transmission down to him and we talked for a while about it and he shared a lot of good install tips and just really cares about cars and making sure that the problem is diagnosed and solved correctly. It was pretty obvious that he knows the cars inside and out and he did all of the work himself (transmission bearing replacement and intermediate shaft rebuild). Also he'll tell you straight up if it would make more financial sense to go with another option, even if it means losing the business. It's hard to beat this sort of service and he works on other makes besides Hondas too.

ChopsJazz said:
I've been to Jim's a number of times recently for some NSX and Insight insight and I can honestly say that Jim has better hair. :wink:
Click to expand...

Can't comment on the hair part, because Don was wearing a hat both times I was in there. I smell a biased opinion here :D
 
I called Belmont Car Care Center on Saturday (9/10/2011) and was told that Mr. Russell does not work there anymore? I was told that he just moved over to Sunnyvale Acura? Can anyone confirm this?

If anyone has current contact info for Mr. Russell, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Good news. I had the same concern when they told me that too and was bummed out. However, I spoke to Jim last night, and he says the new gig is temporary and he will be back at Belmont Car Center (where he remains a partner) soon. (See update to this below)

Meanwhile, he is the service manager at Sunnyvale Acura so you could see him there. He also gave me an email address and said I could share it: jim AT jimrussellauto DOT com (replace the words in caps with appropriate symbols). He says he typically checks this email once a day.

Chip
 
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Update: Jim just told me that Sunnyvale Acura made him a good permanent offer, and he has decided to stay. So if you want to see him (and I continue to believe he is a fantastic resource for our NSXs), it looks like Sunnyvale Acura will be the place.

Chip
 
d.n said:
Hey Chip,

Do you know if being the service manager translates into not wrenching on the cars personally?
Click to expand...

I don't know. You should ask Jim that, I think. I do know that I first began working with Jim when he was service manager at Hopkins, and there he either worked on my NSX personally (esp. for tricky issues like noises) or closely supervised one of his best people in doing so. But I don't know if that will continue at the new place. I think I'll ask him that too.

Chip
 

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