Kaimuki Auto Repair Offers Straight Talk and Fair Prices

2025 SmallBiz Editor’s Choice Award winner: Owner and mechanic Alan Nakamura works to earn customers’ trust in the family business.

Car troubles are never fun and always inconvenient. And because you depend on your car, you want a repair shop you can trust. Owner Alan Nakamura and the other folks at Kaimuki Auto Repair say they work to earn that trust with excellent customer service and the best pricing possible.

“We won’t try to sell something that isn’t necessary, and we treat each customer as if they were our own family. Our dad, Alan, spends the time talking and answering whatever questions the customers have,” says VP Laurie Marcouiller.

“He will break it down to terms they can understand instead of mechanic verbiage. If we have younger customers, he will talk to their parents and explain to them so everyone is on the same page.”

It’s also that now rare kind of auto repair shop: one that also has gas pumps.

Marcouiller says Kaimuki Auto Repair can provide excellent service because of its employees, some of whom have been with the company for 20 years or more.

“It’s not easy working here since we are usually pretty busy and it’s always fast-paced. Not a lot of people can work as hard and efficiently as our current employees do,” she says, adding that others who could not keep up have left.

Kaimuki Auto Repair has been around for 54 years and Marcouiller hopes it’s open for many more.

“Our grandpa took over the service station in 1971 and our dad was working as a mechanic and eventually took it over when our grandpa passed away. Being a small, multigenerational business, we have seen many generations of customers as well,” Marcouiller says. “Our customers are so loyal and many of them are just like family. We’ve heard many stories from the time our grandpa was alive, which is always nice to hear.”