Thunder Mobile Repair

I responded to this ad on Santa Barbara Craigslist via email. I waited several days with no response so I called and spoke with Jeremy. He said that he had received my email but had not had the chance to get back to me yet. He asked me to email him my address as he was driving and had just picked up his son but he assured me he would be over the next day to fix my vehicle. He never showed up nor answered when I called to see what happened to him. Maybe he was just having a bad day but I never heard from him again.

I was stranded on a Saturday so I Unilocaled and googled and found Thunder Auto Repair on Google. I was towed to an area he told me to be towed to. He doesn’t have a shop and works on the side of the road.
He sounded nice and competent on the phone and assured me that he was familiar with older VW Vanagons. I was told he had friends who raced them and he would work on them with his friends.
This is a long and convoluted story so I will make it as brief as I can and summarize.
1. When I was dropped off via tow truck at his recommended spot — I was greeted by him and his buddy. The buddy wreaked of alcohol and the main guy, Jeremy, kept telling him ‘go stand over there’. He was very obviously annoyed by his buddy.
2. He diagnosed that it was a water pump problem and he’d have the part Monday morning. This was Saturday around noon.
3. Fast forward to Monday morning. He showed up with the pump. And as he started taking my car apart I could see things going from bad to worse. He had no jacks with him nor a roll under the car dolly. He didn’t have a headlamp and when I asked if I could hold a flashlight he declined. It was dark in the engine compartment and that is where the water pump is.
4. What I view as mistruths started flying. He had a heck of a time undoing the bolts. When questioned again if he was familiar with these cars he told me ‘My dad sent me to the VW factory to be trained. He sent me all over Europe to be trained on all different cars. I’m getting my master mechanic on Wednesday.’ He said ’ I don’t know why they tighten these bolts so tight.’ I replied that only expert VW mechanics who know about my type of car have ever worked on it. My heart started to sink even deeper.
5. I finally had to call uncle and I’m sure he was relieved. I said ‘just let it be — I’ll have it towed to Corey motors (known for their fine work on VW vans). «Don’t even put it back together». I was scared to death by this point in time that he would do some serious damage with half of my car taken apart.
6. I had it towed to Corey motors which is as good, if not better, than GoWesty and Broad Street Automotive. They fixed it right. Knew full well what they were doing and I was on the road in the afternoon.
What did I learn? Stick with Unilocal reviews if you can. If you have a speciality car, only let people who know what they are doing work on it.
And if you don’t feel it in your heart, cut your losses and move on.
In all fairness, I do want to say that on some minor repairs and in-​a-​pinch situations, this guy may be able to help you. Talk to him and see if you feel good about him working on your car and if it’s something he has the tools and expertise to handle.