The Buslab

Update to previous review.
So now I’m about 15,000 miles & just over a year post The Buslab’s repair work (warranty is 12mos or 12,000 miles mind you), & I’m in the middle of a long distance, business related road trip. The completely BRAND NEW, top to bottom, entire exhaust system that they sold me for well into 4 figures has just developed a loud, alarming leak sound. Upon investigating (on my lunch hour — which means no lunch) I find that not only has a support bracket nut loosened itself and disappeared, but a nearby header bolt has also loosened itself as well and disappeared — a fairly obvious & dramatic deviation from what is normal or expected. And although I spent the better part of this late afternoon & early evening after work attempting to remedy the situation by replacing both the missing header bolt & wavy washer and the missing support bracket nut and wavy washer, the SEVERE exhaust leak is persisting — which indicates that due to the vibration caused by the loose header & associated loose support brace, the entire system may have developed cracks throughout, and I fear the entire system will need to be replaced AGAIN. IT’S CALLED A TORQUE WRENCH BUSLAB!!! I’m so disappointed yet again, that I don’t even want to try and have a conversation with them about remedying the situation. I now have ZERO faith in their ability to repair an issue right the first time. If you have to stick to the East Bay I would say give Karmakanix a try instead. I’m heading to either Van Café in Santa Cruz or Valley Wagonworks in Mill Valley.

As a broke college grad students the Bus Lab seemed expensive at first; however, the mechanics are so good that they often found the ‘real’ program and others that were far more detrimental to the longevity of the vehicle.
Due to the specialized knowledge, the hour rate for their crew is a steal! They are also tend to be cheaper on part cost too. I highly recommend entrusting your VW children to these responsible babysitters:)
GO BUS Lab!!!

These guys are awesome. I own a 1989 Westfalia and the Buslab is where I take my van for all repairs and maintenance. I have had a few transmission issues this past year and they have been really great at working with me to get it right. They stand by their work and I really appreciate their passion for these vehicles and their commitment to quality. Without a doubt the best in the Bay Area.

The Buslab replaced my Syncro’s Wasserboxer with a 2002 Subaru ej251−3 about 25K miles ago. (The Syncro was registered in Canada, so I could use a 2.5). Well, apart from using a gutless starter and a crappy non-​SS exhaust that immediately cracked, all was well with the new engine until last week, when it slipped its timing belt.
Upon teardown, we discovered Buslab had not replaced the tensioner or pulleys from the donor heads, and had forgotten to put in a timing belt sheild, which Subaru requires on all manual shift cars. Apparently, since my donor engine was on an automatic, it lacked the shield. Without that $ 10 shield, and by their reuse of the 2002 high mile belt tensioner and pulleys, the belt finally slipped and I came within a tooth or two of losing the whole engine in a tangle of valves and pistons. Way to go, Buslab. If you still want these guys to do yours, make sure they install a new belt kit with water pump, a diesel starter, and real SS exhaust. Or use an older 2.2 or 2.0 non-​interference engine. I wish I could make them pay for this, but of course, it’s way past their 12 month warranty.

We’ve taken our van here for 11 years and loved this place. However, after they moved and expanded their space, Steve the owner is no longer hands on. The service has seriously suffered. They’ve been forgetting items which has required us to return to have things redone. We’ve witnessed other people complaining in the office about the same thing. It has made us very sad to take our beloved bus elsewhere for service and when we did, we got a lengthy list of things they had missed. They used to be the best.

I’ve been here 5 times for parts. Each time they acted like their doing me a favor by deigning to take my Money. Never a smile or a friendly hello. Once I called in for a repair estimate, 4 days later they got back to me with a quote 30% higher than I had just paid.
Last month during the usual interminably long wait for a part I tried to make some polite convo. There was a story online about the FSU quarterback who got suspended because he hit a girl who hit him first. I brought this up as a hypothetical, opinions were exchanged for 45 seconds and that was it. Today I go in there and they said I was totally inappropriate, literally said I was a asshole to pose that topic and to never come back.
These are some straight up wingnuts!
Give your money to go westy

Bad customer service, untimely, and an all around bad experience. Bus lab needs to work on the way their employees and the manager treat their faithful customers. When their technicians displace car parts and their customers complain, they should apologize and do their best to accommodate them instead of telling them never to come back.

These guys are the best when it comes to VW busses. Got mine back running great, took a little bit of time but they did the job. Everyone was very up front and honest. Thanks!

Buslab is the only shop to go to if you have a VW bus or van!
We had an emergency while road tripping through the area. Van wouldn’t start. Had to push start it and the first place I thought of to take it was the Buslab. After-​hours envelopes were available because it was already a few hours past closing. We crossed our fingers, left the keys, and explained our predicament… that we were on a road trip. So we called back the next morning and made sure everything was in order. They did a good job of managing our expectations because they were actually booked out for the next three weeks! Lo and behold, they called back a few hours later after moving things around so they could put it up on the rack asap. A bad starter was the culprit and we were back on the road by the end of the day! Such great service! I will only take my van here if I’m in the area again.

Let me say that after 3 years our van is still running strong! Good work guys. However, I do feel like the customer experience leaves a lot to be desired. I am guessing this is primarily because vans are so popular these days and they have a heavy backlog of bu$ine$$. The first time we brought our van in there were a couple major communication problems but they made right on the job in a big way so thats cool. The second time I came in they fixed the problem promptly but managed to break off one of our curtain rods and loose a custom made curtain somehow. The curtain rod was just hanging from the sliding door broken when I picked up the van. When I asked about it the response was ‘oh that’s not very good attention to detail is it? *chuckle*’.

Okay, so since my last time at the BusLab, I have been there again and they do a great job. They are reasonable and do great work. Disregard my other review… things have changed.

Dylan and the staff at Buslab are the best mechanics I have ever worked with, hands down. They were generous with their time; patient with the customer (and the customer’s kids!); accurately and promptly diagnosed the problems; communicated directly; effectively set expectations; and got the job done correctly, on time, and affordably. HURRAH. Buslab is one of the best parts about owning a VW bus. I proudly display the Buslab sticker on the back window of my 90 Vanagon Westy.

Had the worst mechanic experience of my life at Buslab this week. We have a ’77 VW Westfalia and took it in for an «appointment» (I use quotations because appointment have no meaning in Buslab’s world) on Thursday at 9am per their directions. We don’t hear from them and it’s 4pm-​ish so we call and they say they didn’t get a chance to look at it but will do so first thing Friday morning. A little annoying, but whatever. So Friday afternoon rolls around and we still haven’t heard anything from them so we call them around 3pmish. They have barely even looked at the car, and haven’t made any diagnoses and won’t be able to finish the car until Monday. So we are stuck without a car for the weekend, which is yet another annoyance. Monday comes and they call us around noon to say that they think they found the problem but it requires a part that won’t come in until Wednesday. Too bad (as we had already told them multiple times) that we needed the car back by Tuesday morning for a drive back to Sacramento. If they had actually looked at the car on the day we had an «appointment» the part could have been ordered in time. Instead, we paid them $ 350 for nothing (the van is still in the exact same not properly functioning condition as when we brought it in) and the inconvenience of being without a car for 4 days! Sounds like a sweet deal for them.
It might be a bit of a drive, but if you’re in the Bay Area we have had nothing but amazing experiences with Paul at Valley Wagon Works in San Rafael. He won’t give you an appointment unless he can look at the car, is quick, smart and honest. Has never charged us for doing nothing and kept the car for an inordinate amount of days. Will never bring my van back to Buslab again, that’s for sure!

the folks at BusLab are great. They are all enthusiasts who not only are extremely knowledgeable about all the quirks, but also are happy to go into as much detail as you’d like which is a rare thing.
I bought a used westy and had no idea what kind of shape it was in. fortunately, BusLab have an awesome service to do a thorough detailed check which really helped me know exactly what needs to done. they spent a good hour+ going over the results with me and prioritizing work that should happen sooner rather than later. well worth every penny

Marine Layer Bus.
’69 restore, repair.
Specialists on it!

I am not a customer… yet. I am shopping for a Westfalia, and visited these folks recently, in order to possibly find a bus, or a reliable mechanic for when I procure one. When I entered their shop as a ‘cold-​caller,’ they welcomed me warmly, and spent their valuable time confirming to me that they know their stuff. I have done my research, and they clearly are the go-​to organization for any obvious and/​or quirky questions/​needs/​repairs any owner may have. I sincerely hope to purchase from Steve and his compadres, because I have so much confidence in them.

after my Vanagon failed smog check 4 times, the Buslab got me in the same day and fixed the problem. passed inspection and its all history now. They also diagnosed and fixed a problem with my coolant system I’ve had for over a year.
Great attitude from everybody I dealt with. This place is a great asset to Vanagon owners and Berkeley in general.

I don’t understand why I ended up with such poor service, but it was such a phenomenal and continuous set of failures that I’m perplexed as to why everyone else rates them highly. I’m shocked that they managed to charge me hundreds of dollars to put my car in worse shape then it was when I brought it in.
I brought in my Ghia because I needed:
1) A new ignition key
2) A new headlight switch
3) For them to tell me why my new generator wasn’t fixing my charging problem.
They installed the new ignition key, and now my horn isn’t working. I’m pretty sure it was working before, though I can admit that I have no way of being sure it was while it was there that it was broken. So we’ll let that one go.
However, in putting in the new headlight switch, they managed to break the speedometer cable. I mentioned it to them, but they claimed they talked to the mechanic and he knew nothing of it. I decided not to fight it because VW speedo cables aren’t super expensive and I can install it myself. Except that after trying to order one I discover that the speedo in my car isn’t standard, and I can’t find a replacement cable anywhere, so now I have to buy a new speedometer.
Furthermore, I noticed that when I turned on the parking lights, the dash lights came on, but when I further turn on the head lights, the dash goes back off. I decided this also wasn’t worth a fight with a company that doesn’t seem interested in taking much blame, but sadly I later discovered that my taillights are doing the same thing — only coming on with the parking lights, but back off with the headlights. I suppose it’s possible that I’m dealing with another connection problem, but my guess is that they screwed up the headlight switch installation.
And finally, when I picked up the car, they tried to charge me over $ 200 to tell me that the car wasn’t charging. Right. Just like I had told them when I dropped it off. They want to charge me over $ 200 to tell me something I told them? And even if I hadn’t told them — do they really get to charge over $ 200 to tell me that my generator light is on? Really? And maybe they even hooked up a voltmeter as I did and discovered that the generator isn’t charging. That’s $ 200+? Heck, I should become a VW mechanic, I’ll be rich.
Never going back to this place. Perhaps they’re great if you have a VW bus, but if I were you I wouldn’t bring my VW here.

These guys are awesome. I just bought a 1991 Westfalia Camper, brought it in for a full inspection to see where it was mechanically. They gave it a once over, and then explained everything in layman’s terms to me. They fixed the most important stuff first, and we made plans to fix other items later, as they didn’t need fixing quite yet. They did great work, and now my «new» Westy runs like a champ and we are ready to have some adventures in it.
Loved the customer support and the quality work they did.

Wow. These guys are LEGIT. I am a long time VW enthusiast — having restored many early Type II buses. I recently purchased a vanagon, and brought it to the BusLab for an initial inspection as the new owner.
They performed work for me, and provided a thorough review of items that may need to be addressed in the future. No pressure, just straight-​up guidance.
These guys even fixed a couple cosmetic odds and ends that were small items, but things that just ‘bugged them’ to see unattended.
They have won me over with their honesty, their passion, and just being all around nice guys. I now know that I have a favorite «go-​to» shop to keep my vanagon in top running shape. The BusLab rules. (Also walking distance from the Ashby BART station).
–Dan B