I have a 1973 Karmann Ghia that I have restored myself and will not just let anybody work on because that's my baby. After installing new engine I was having a little trouble fine tuning the dual carb timing and distributor settings. These guys were awesome! My car runs so good now and they even adjusted my brakes for free. I will definitely be back and cannot say enough good things about their service. They were professional extremely knowledgeable and affordable in today's economy. Also extremely efficient. Thanks Old Volks! read more

Turn around time was done quickly and professionally. Dropped off for a clutch replacement and done next day.

Very knowledgeable about older model volts wagons. My is a 1975 camper. It needed up grade and fine tuning.

old Volks Home is the best! as a VW löver, been taking my 70 bug, as well as my golf there for decades.

The greatest place for old VW care! After searching, only to be told "we don't do cars that are that old" Old Volks Home was PERFECT. They know their stuff, fix problems easily and do extra care... reasonable priced as well. read more

Had our 71 Bay window in to OVH for engine issues. Librado diagnosed the problem immediately. I needed HP pistons for my 1800cc so it took some time due to the recent supply chain issues. Lee got the engine r/r and now it runs great! I feel confident in the work done by Team OVH. I will be back for my 1000 mile tune up and any other issues that arise. Oh, btw, the reason I had OVH do the engine....well, I tried a local air cooled 'mechanic' and the guy wrenched down tooooooo tightly on my valves. Overheating, a little smoke and then a flat bed ride to OVH for help. Stick with the PROS from Old Volks Home. Cheers. read more

I have (2) 2001 VW Jetta Diesels one of them with almost 300K miles on it. The Old Volks Home is the best trusted source for VW repairs. DO NOT go to Santa Cruz VW they are a ripoff and the work is shoddy! The Old Volks Home is a 5 star quality repair shop. Everything from timing belts which are critical to be changed every 60k on diesels or if they break the motor is toast. Suspension and transmission work is excellant!. love your VW like I do Bring it to the old Volks home Tell the Jersey John sent you John read more

Late post: Old volks home has been my consistent go to mechanic when my volkswagen goes bizzark. I give them three stars because they were successful at resolving a lot of my car troubles. The reason I don't give a 5 is because I paid them so much money to make repairs and to repair the same repairs and they still charged me for it. Then they said they had repaired them but then a few months later same problem, charged again... read more

Old Volks Home - My little car they help fix many times over! - Auto Repair Near Me - Soquel, California

Until 10 years ago we were regular customers. Lots of repairs to our 71 Bus including a rebuilt engine. All seemed fine for many visits until....... Went to pick-up and pay for a repair. Don't remember the details. What I remember is that we had recently replaced (2 months prior) an old part with a new $300 part in the engine. When we were checking our bill before paying the parts list included another new $300 part. We asked what's up with that? Tony told us the old part was worn-out and he'd had to replace it. We KNEW it wasn't warn-out, so we asked to see the "old" part Tony removed and replaced. "Oh, I threw it away already. It's gone." We are not confrontational people so we paid but as we were leaving my husband said to Tony. "That part was 2 months old. Sure would have been interesting to inspect it ourselves before you threw it away so completely that it is no longer in the building 6 hours after the repair. Your trash-man comes much more regularly than ours does." Tony was stone-faced and didn't say a word. I'm looking for someone to work on my 2001 Eurovan and Tony came up as a possible choice so I wanted to tell this story now since yelp wasn't around back in the day. We have always believed we re-bought from Tony our own 2 month old part and he couldn't produce an "old" part to prove us wrong. Caveate Emptor. (Let the buyer beware.) read more

My girlfriends New Beetle had a problem with its engine. I suggested that we go here because of the great reviews, and I figured it would be much cheaper than taking it to the dealer, as she usually did. To be fair, the car was worked on relatively quickly, they identified the problem, it was an issue that had to do with spark plugs an their connectors, and fixed it. All in all it was a couple of hundred dollars for parts and labor. Now, the one star come because of what we found out later. The problem was a recall. For another unrelated reason we went to the dealer a few months later and threw a random string of conversation we found out. The entire procedure should have been free. I have taken my car many places, good honest mechanics and schemers alike, but I have never gone to a place that didn't check the recall list before charging a customer so much money. It's unacceptable and cost my girlfriend hundreds of dollars. As someone who is not a mechanic and didn't grow up under the hood of a car tinkering a way like some of my friends, I find that an honest and trustworthy mechanic who respects their customers concerns no matter how much they know about cars is essential. Sadly, we didn't find that here. read more

Recently bought an old bug. Took my bug in to Tony. Now I'm a complete ditz when it comes time to mechanic stuff. Tony was great! He didn't talk down to me, but explained what was what, and he even put together a list of what needs to be fixed & what its going to cost. I will definitely be back soon to have more work done on it! read more

feel these mechanics are genuine and real. I recently brought in my air cooled westy and Lee and his team were very friendly and honest, something I found is a hard thing to find in today's mechanics. Lee has been working on these vehicles his whole life, and I feel strongly that he is truly an honest guy not trying to make as much money as possible off you ( as I experienced before I brought my Van into Old Volks) read more

Old Volks Home - Peace - Auto Repair Near Me - Soquel, California

Cheap Chinese, middle of the road Mexican, or Good ol German... Tony will install it all for a reasonable price in a timely manner. I'm really glad Tony still works on the air-cooled models, unlike that other shop that had to change their name although they were really good too. read more

While on a short roadtrip, my '73 Westfalia broke down on the freeway not too far from Old Volks Home. I called them up to see if they had the time to give it a look, hoping to have it fixed up and back on the road as soon as possible. It only took about 30 minutes for the diagnostic: an electrical issue and a worn out old fuel line. I gave 'em the go ahead and in an hour it was good to go and running like a champ! Pricing was absolutely reasonable, and service was excellent. Thank you guys for saving my trip! :) read more

I love this place. We have two bugs (2003 and 2006) and they are so incredibly honest and do great work. I feel like I get a completely honest assessment of what is wrong, whether it matters or not (today I had two things that actually aren't important safety-wise and they only charged me for their time), and what my options are for fixing the issue. I am consistently impressed with them and it makes me want to continue to buy Bugs so we have mechanics we can trust. read more

They did a simple value adjust and tune on my friends 72 Bay with a pancake engine who was on a road trip from So Cal up north with no issues until Old Volks touched it. By the time the bus reached San Fran it was running hot, but made it to the campground (with proper cool down times). Next morning however, it would not start. Had to have it towed to the closest shop and have heads replaced due to them at Old Volks adjusting the values too tight. Worse yet, they would not stand behind their work and denied any wrong doing. The motor was new out of the box less than a year before they did the work too. I do not recommend them at all! read more

I've had my 84 westfalia for over 12 yrs and thanks to the guys at the shop my van still keeps me out on the road for my road trips if you need a VW fix I highly recommend them. Chris J read more

I would definitely recommend taking your older VW to see these guys. My '99 Jetta was having issues starting and had loud rattle... Catalytic converter needed replacing. I thought it was having other issues and they said it may be a sensor or two so I had those replaced since they're at least 13 years old They got everything fixed the next day. My bumper was also coming off on the passenger side, common problem since the splash guard is so low it gets caught on curbs when I park and almost rips the whole front bumper off when I leave a parking space. They did this minor body work without even being asked or saying anything! It had always bugged me and they took care of it. Reasonable prices, great service! read more

Got new ball joints, with trailing arms attached, from Wolfsburg up north, had 'em shipped here and installed by Old Volks Home. Phone quote of $245, and upon pickup, that's what I was asked to pay. I asked if they had lubed the whole front end (as is, I understand, VW standard procedure for this operation) and was told they had. Good. Got my old parts back and will be shipping them north for a core charge refund. I'll admit, Sarah K's Yelp post of 3/9/2013 had me somewhat on guard. My experience- easy transaction, no troubles, friendly service. Aaahhhhh! At last the funky play (which I'm no longer spending any energy ignoring) in the front end of my 71 bus is GONE and feels solid smooth and like it would as new. read more

Lee, the mechanic brought my 73 Bus back to life. Thank you!

These guys have been great! Got my Westi humming and later fixed something - no charge. I'll be back!

I brought my VW Vanagon 1982 Westfalia to the Old volks home to have a problem diagnosed and fixed. The problem was that sometimes the vehicle would not start. The mechanic diagnosed the problem as being a small electronic spray injector that is supposed to spray extra fuel into the engine when it's cold and help starting. right away i thought this didnt seem right becuase we were in California in JUNE! it is not cold by any means. also iv had trouble starting it even when iv been driving it for an hour. So cold starting is not the problem. BUT he assured me this would fix the problem and all would be well. The new part came at a hefty price tag of $150. So that + the labor to diagnose the problem $50 and the $40 to fit the part brought the total to $240!! now i thought, ok if this fixes the problem it will be worth it. They ordered the part, fitted it. charged me. I paid and went on my way. I drove about 10miles to check out the "mystery spot" as a friend said it might be worth a look. I came back to my car after about 40mins of exploring and bush walking. NOTHING!! the car would not start. I called a tow truck, sat there for over an hour cranking the engine trying to get it to start. I finally got it to start but the engine was idling way too high, i dangerously drove back to THE OLD VOLKS HOME. explained the problem has not been fixed, and there is infact another problem (the idle speed) there mechanics looked at it but said they could not do anything this late in the day, so i had to spend another night sleeping out the front in the van. (Second night sleeping out the front) Come morning one of the mechanics came to the conclusion that it was not the spray unit but it was the valves that needed adjusting. So he adjusted the valves (about 20mins work) and fixed the idle speed. And told me it was good to go. Then the owner tried to charge me $50 for this!!! even after i already paid $150 for a part i didn't need, $50 to incorrectly diagnose the problem and $40 to fit a part i didn't need. I Said i wasn't paying, he said "Dont come back" I drove about 250 miles, stopped at a fuel station to get gas. GUESS WHAT. id did not START!!! exactly the same problem!!! Car continues to have this issue on and off for the next month. The problem occurred a couple of weeks ago again at a shell service station in Canada. A man helped us and said that it sounds like a fuel pump issue. I also described the issue to a friend in Vancouver and he also said it sounded like a fuel pump issue. We figured out a trick to starting it where if its having trouble we can unplug the fuel pump, start the car and quickly plug the fuel pump back in again and it starts. one week ago we are driving to a friends house and the fuel pump begins to die, we can only drive at about 30 miles an hour!! SO WHY COULD THE MECHANICS AT OLD VOLKS HOME NOT DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM, when a friend (not a mechanic) and a random citizen picked the cause straight away. STAY AWAY FROM THIS MECHANIC!! read more

I usually do my own automotive work, but there have been times with my job or an upcoming vacation where I simply didn't have the time to do it myself and went to Old Volks Home. These guys really know what they are doing, the owner has even helped me diagnose problems that I ended up fixing on my own. I had a brake pad crack and fall apart the afternoon before a vacation. I brought the car in and told him my story and he put everything aside to fix my car. If you're low on cash, they will even install used parts or parts you bought at Kragen. Their prices are very good as well. Often times the final total comes in a bit less than what is posted on their "menu" (for lack of a better term). read more

I recently purchased a 71 VW van and completed the deal in Santa Cruz. The seller told me of Old Volks Home. Before we completed the deal, there was some engine work that the seller was covering. The level of service from the initial contact with Librado was top drawer. I completed the purchase and then asked Librado to do some extra work. I like the fact it is a small shop and seems to put out some quality work and service as indicated by the posts. I like the shop!! read more

Our 1994 Jeta's vacuum supply pump was not working correctly. The part alone is well over $250. When they looked at the car, the pump was functioning as it should. They could have easily taken my word and blindly replaced the part plus labor. This is why we made the trip from Bodega Bay (~150 miles). We trust them and their work. Thanks guys! read more

We have enjoyed doing business with Old Volks Home for years. Tony is a wonderful guy who really knows Volkswagens. If you want to do business with someone who you can trust you have found the right place. read more

I have brought my 81 Vanagon to Tony now 3 times and everytime I leave paying a bit less than I had even anticipated,. I have nothing but good things to say about this shop,. read more

They fix air-cooled VWs quickly, correctly, and reasonably. Truly, what else do you want from a shop? Librardo knows his stuff. This is the last true air-cooled repair station around and we have to everything we can to insure they're around for many more years to come. read more

I have been taking my Jetta here for years. These guys are great. Wouldn't go anywhere else. very friendly.

GREAT VW shop! Reasonable, knowledgeable, and helpful. The Best!

I took my Cabriolet to Tony for years. In fact, it's the only place I have ever taken it except for when I lived out of state. Now, I will NEVER go back. I thought that they were being really nice and storing my vehicle after some major work when finances were hard. In fact, Tony told me that it was being stored in his cousin's carport when they lost their extra parking lot. Unfortunately, what really happened is they SOLD my car without my knowledge or permission. I found out by getting a letter from a building inspector in Contra Costa County that my car was in a field and needed to be moved or it would be towed and destroyed. When I called Old Volks Home, I was told that they had been trying to contact me and when they couldn't, they assumed I didn't want my car so they had it towed. The fact is that I NEVER got a phone call!! They were never good about calling. Even when I would take my car in for a regular service, they never called to tell me it was ready. I always had to call them and they would always say that they were just getting ready to call me. I did get my car back (the person that bought it handed over the keys--and said that they had bought it from the mechanic so it was never towed), but the battery is gone, the door handle is gone, and the convertible top is slit. Now, I'm looking for another mechanic for it because I will not go back there. read more

had vdubs all thru the 60s 70s and part of the 80s and just recently decided to get a bug to drive when i didnt need my gas eating truck . most of the places where i used to go for parts are no longer around so i thought i would check these guys out . i needed some points condenser and a coil to get my bug running and they said they could have everything by the next day . well they had the ''parts' but as it turned out the condenser was the wrong one which they happily exchanged for the correct one , and i soon discovered that the coil was bad however i went to see them and they were not even really opened because of the holiday but i explained the problem and was given a refund on the spot . the thing with vdubs is that there are so many parts that come from so many sources, now days ,that it is easy to see that sometimes you get the wrong part so no big deal , the good thing here is there was no problem making everything right so i will not hesitate to use these guys again as i get back into vws read more