John Graf Repair LLC

Slid off the slick highway and My truck was stuck in the mud, so i called John at 5am on a sunday morning for help and he came through pulled me out of the ditch before 6am.

Passing through central Illinois with our travel trailer, we discovered that we had a broken leaf spring. John got that fixed the as soon as the part came in. Back on our way, 30 miles down the road, we had an axle/hub issue. We called on John again and he made his way to us as soon as he could. He not only advised on what would needed to be done, but allowed us to stay on his lot overnight. Although the parts for the axle repair were delayed, John was good to communicate with us the status of things.

Absolute lifesaver. Got a TPS warning just outside Bloomington and watched the tire pressure drop from 30lbs to 13lbs by the time I reach McLean. Lady at Dixie gas station told me about John and I gave him a call. From the time I called to the time my tire was patched, it was less than 30 minutes and I was on the road again. Great work, fast, and fair prices.

This shop was a blessing and saved us a lot of aggravation. We were traveling through the area and ran into trouble with a tire. They fixed it immediately and sent us on our way. We were thankful to find them and appreciate their service.

UPDATE 2: I am happy to report that I change my review back to "5 stars", I was wrong about what I said in the previous "UDATE 1". John did produce a receipt for the alternator and offered guidance on getting a "labor claim" with Advanced Auto Parts. My initial review was correct, John is a quality and standup guy. I apologize for any harshness in the previous update.

UPDATE 1: Unfortunately I must change my review to "one star" because my experience with John after he installed the new alternator (see original review below) has been very frustrating. I paid him $700 to install a new alternator and it has been trouble for the past 3 months, two mechanics in St. Louis have looked at the car and diagnosed a failing alternator. I know these things happen, but for the past FOUR DAYS I have talked to John and on every occasion he has promised to send me a copy of the alternator receipt, AND HE NEVER SENDS IT. Can't help but wonder where he actually did acquire the alternator (but I still give him the benefit of the doubt). I paid full retail to have the alternator installed and now am faced with another full charge to get a second alternator installed. Really disappointing because I thought John was a solid, quality standup type person. The mechanics in St. Louis guarantee the alternator and their work for 12 months, so what I would like to propose to John is that he refund me $300, that would be the right thing to do, and he would have still made money on the 1.5 hours he spent working on my car. So what do you say John, will you do the right thing? I will gladly update this review again to let everyone know that you are indeed a quality guy (like I said in the original review).

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
We were driving from St Louis to Wisconsin, a Honda Odyssey Minivan packed with luggage, two kids and a dog. Suddenly the alternator decided to go out and we were stranded on the side of the highway. We were scared and didn't really know what to do, the Honda dealer in Bloomington Normal Illinois was no help whatsoever, told us it would be two days until they would even be able to look at the car. Several other shops were similar in their response. I decided to try John Graf, he answered the phone and said he would be willing to help us. We were in a serious Jam. John came over and rescued us from the side of the highway and got our van over to his shop. Someone came and rescued My Wife and Kids and dog and I hung around with John until he was able to get the repair completed. I have an interest in repairing things, so I watched the whole process and I can tell you that this guy does very good work. You can tell when a mechanic cares and is particular about his work and that is definitely the case with John. Also he is a very nice person and has quite a life story to share. He has some stories that are unbelievable almost, but they are true and he can prove it :-) I really enjoyed my time with John, even though it was horrible breaking down on the road. He was the Silver Lining to a dark cloud that day. I believe he did a good quality job for me, and he really saved us. Thank you John I hope to see you again under much better circumstances.

Honest, fast service when our car had a flat tire in the area and we didnt have a spare, on a Sunday at 8pm even!

honestly I don't understand all the one star reviews! I had found John Graf through an RV dealer who recommended him to do an inspection an an RV I was planning to buy. Best $120 ever spent, saved me from buying an unsafe vehicle full of rot and rust and $12000 for the RV plus the thousands more of repairs along the way. He spent a full hour inspecting, had pictures of the problem areas on his phone he showed me, and gave his honest opinion. He could easily have just said "oh yea just some new tires and a belt and you'd be fine" to get another $500 out of me and sent me on my way, but he was honest and truly spent good time on the vehicle. Again, best $120 I ever spent.

Pulled off the interstate to get gas and realized something was dragging under our car. Saw this place was only .3 miles away, so drove over to see if they could help. They immediately got us in, took care of the problem, and got us out in about 20 minutes at a very reasonable price. We really appreciated the help and friendliness of this small business.

Saved us time and money, we got a flat tire on the interstate as we were headed home to michigan on a friday evening, all other options were closing and not available until tuesday, meanwhile this company is open 24/7 , the tire was fixed in 5 minutes, if that, and at a very fair price. the guys were also super kind to us! highly recommend this service if you are in car trouble nearby!

Thank you John Graf for coming to my rescue last night! I was 3 hours away from home and my 1973 Beetle broke down. I called John Graf, he was out by me quickly and fixed my car so I could get home!! His price was awesome! Thank you John! I made it home and I’m so thankful you were there and such an honest person!

My wife and daughters broke down on the highway trying to make it back home from MO to WI. BATTERY light on and battery going dead, Check Engine light flashing and engine shaking as they pulled into the Mobil Gas station. We prayed for direction and found John Graf Repair across the street from them. I called him to ask him to go to them to check it. The engine then restarted and no lights on; however, I recommended she take it there. John was gracious to check it out and said the Battery was fully charged and Alt. working; had a misfire clocking on cylinder #4 but felt it should be no problem getting it back home without repairs. What a gentleman. Thanks, John!

He service was professional got the repair fixed in a timely time they stated. Got me to a safe location. Offer to bring me food and shared business tip. Would recommend there service

Does wonders on my car. Need work done go to him. On the plus side he's open 24/7.

Had a wheel bearing on a farm trailer go out. Took it to John and he had bearings and seals in stock. Took care of me right away and price was right. Thank you for your service.

This place is awesome they got me right in on a Saturday afternoon fix my truck up found problems that even the dealership didn't find the day before fixed everything and I'm good to go thank you very much great staff great people would recommend to anybody that's got a problem

Thanks a lot for the great service; quick response, professional help at an affordable price. I would definitely highly recommend it.

Life saver. Replace both leaking rims on my trailer and a tire. Highly satisfied.

Great knowledgeable mechanic! Great prices fast work!

Very helpful when you need a odd sized semi tire.

John is a good guy, and does great work!