LaVere's VW restoration

[RJ69]

I had picked-up a Ghia a couple of years back and did a restoration project on it. I took it to Lavere's for some basic service and was given a sales pitch to upgrade several parts on the car. I was planning on driving to Monterey for the weekend with my wife and our friends so wanted to make sure the car was in tip-top shape to make the trip without any issues. I went ahead and let them do the suggested work - picked-up my car and eagerly looked forward to the trip.

On the way down to Monterey, we hit traffic and the car started running strange. On the way back, the engine would completely cut out and then start again when we were on the freeway. We pulled over and the car completely died. We called a tow truck but as we were waiting, I looked at the engine and found several problems. The main issue was the wire from the coil to the distributor wasn't properly plugged in and was loose. The air cleaner hadn't been tightened down and the new fuel filter was dripping gas. I couldn't believe my eyes!

This experience could have cost me my car with an engine fire and, most importantly, put our lives at risk. I'll never go back there based on my experience and the shoddy work performed on my car. I spent a few thousand dollars for the work and consider it an expensive lesson learned.

[otis_bartleh]

Yeah, I used to get a few random parts there, but then shortly after my previous post, I went and picked up some Cal Look rear quarter window seals since mine were leaking pretty bad. I didn't realize it till I was about done putting the second one on, but he gave me 2 completely different looking seals. One is nice and sits pretty flush, the other is more sucked into the car (for lack of better words). F*ing pissed about that. This guy calls himself a VW restorer, and this is the kind of crap he pulls?!

I had also ordered the vent window rivet and washer from CIP1, which he said I wouldn't be able to find and to bring it in if I can find one. I brought it to him to install so that I would be able to open my vent window finally and he refused the job. I'll never be back there again, and warn everyone to stay away. I'd much rather now pay for shipping for parts and am glad I do my own work...
_________________
-Adam
'59 Mango Bus - getting buried in it
'69 Bug - sold and highly missed, so it stays in the sig

[kmmcdonald]

After LaVere's ignored my repeated queries two years back (see previous post), I ended up taking our 1978 Westfalia (of which we are the original owners) to Competition Engineering in Phoenix for restoration, and we couldn't be happier with the results:

[otis_bartleh]

I've had a few more bad experiences with Gary, but I will say if I haven't before, Jason is the saving grace to this place. If you absolutely must go to Gary's shop, I'd recommend dealing with Jason if possible. Thanks Jason!
_________________
-Adam
'59 Mango Bus - getting buried in it
'69 Bug - sold and highly missed, so it stays in the sig

[steve n]

DON"T GIVE GARY LAVERE YOUR BUSINESS!!! I trusted Gary to do a 40 hp engine rebuild and a matching numbers transmission rebuild in my 1963 Beetle. (he also farmed out some body work under the dash. That actually turned out very nice, because it wasn't done by LaVere's!!) Gary said 1 to 1 1/2 months. After 7 months and 11 days I finally towed it home. I couldn't get it to drive over 55 MPH. I found a problem with the coil wire shorting out. I found the carburetor was full of crap, even after they cleaned my tank, fuel line and carb. Unfortunately I had to work on it to find these issues. Gary said his guys would drive it and it was perfect. Ran great, not a problem at all. B.S.! I went to pick it up 3 times and all three times I had to go home empty handed. And now it still leaks engine fluid and tranny fluid. It smokes when started, there is a singular knock on the 1/2 side, and there were multiple amateur problems. Over torqued bolts, leaks at the axle seals leaks at the axle plates, leaks at the nose cone, (the nose cone was sent out special, the seal is not available anymore, that is what I was told. They sent it out to a guy for an extra $450 and it took 3 more weeks. And it still leaks.), it also leaks at the new sump plate he charged me for. All of the nuts and drain plug are rounded off. They then RTV siliconed each one to try to stop the leak, the plate is also not new. I was charged for a seal that goes at the body where the clutch and accelerator cable exits the body. There was NO seal there at all. It took me one hour to put one in myself. My heater boxes were swapped for some other ones that didn't work. One sticks and the heat stays stuck on. I fixed the heat before it was even thought of having anyone else work on my car. Gary denies they were swapped out. He asked why would we do that? I don't know why, maybe to use on another car. He's a liar, he never did what he told me he would do. He is a salesman, not a mechanic. I like one of his guys but that doesn't make it a good business. Just stay away. Save yourselves a headache and having to deal with a bunch of B.S. about. "well your car is over 50 years old, things happen". I don't trust Gary LaVere at all. I can't get any of my $7000 and my 61 Bug matching numbers all original, that I traded for $3500 off the bill. If you go to LaVere's and get ripped off, it's your own fault. This is a heads-up to anyone who does research, I do most all of my own work. I told Gary I know VW's very well and have done all these things before but I don't want to do the work on this car. Unfortunately I didn't do enough research about "LaVere's". So I figured I would try to help out some of you other V-Dubers before you become "suckers" like I did.

[steve n]

I still want to warn people about LaVer's Restoration. The only restoration he will do is restore his wallet with your money. I still feel hurt with what I paid for and the shit work I received. I work hard for my money and I don't care how long ago I was taken, I want to still warn people of this shady POS. I feel I have $9000 and a 61 Bug I traded to him for some crappy workmanship, and months and months of promises. The engine he rebuilt smoked and leaked, the tranny he rebuilt, works fine but now leaks from the custom $400 nose cone, that was unavailable and had to be custom made. (that was a boat load of lies that I found out). Just don't go to LaVere's please. I don't hold grudges but this one really hurt and I feel I need to warn everyone about how I will be mislead. Gary seems to be a real nice guy, friendly, personal but he never once offered me a refund, never offered to fix it on his dime either. After I was so upset and done with him he just let me go like I was nothing to him. This is why my review will always live on as long as LaVere's is in business. I am a very unhappy customer of his. Beware. I don't think he expected me to be so diligent in my pursuit of justice.

[steve n]

I see LaVere's is trying to sell someone's 1960 Bug. It may be fine if Lavere's has not done any work on it. I had to finally trash the 40hp matching numbers engine LaVere's rebuilt for me. Smoked from day one, leaked oil, Never ran correctly. I now have to replace the matching numbers transmission he also rebuilt. It leaks like a sieve at the nose cone, axle plates and of course the axle boots. Those i'm ok with but the rest is just horrible craftsmanship, rounded off nuts, stripped trans mount. Silicone on the outside of the nuts to try to stop the leaks. Now is that right?? NO. It shifts fine but looks like garbage. Everytime I see the name Lavere, I'm posting a warning. Kind of like those women who are blaming these guys years later for being screwed by them, I will warn you all ASAP. Best of luck with your choices. I paid him a lot of money to get ripped-off and he never offered restitution so I have every right to state my claims.

[Ebehne]

Alright, I’ve got another horror story from Gary Lavere’s shop. I don’t have anyone work on my VWs as I’m extremely particular and I like to have things done right, however there are limits to what I can achieve in my home shop. This brings me to my recent experience with Laveres shop in Concord.

My very original 1961 beetle finally required an engine rebuild. This beetle has been in my family or owned by friends of my family since new. It was originally sold in Berkeley and hasn’t ever spent much time outside of Northern California. After stripping the engine down, I began looking for a VW machine shop to do the necessary work on the case, cranks, rods, heads, etc. I thought about shipping it out to Southern California, but decided against it as I was worried about damage or loss in shipping. I called up Laveres after finding them online to ask if they know of any machine shops that specialize in ACVWs in the area. I was told, “Oh yeah we have a guy, bring in your parts and we will have him take a look”. Alright, I figure that’s harmless.

I dropped the parts off and get a phone call from Gary saying that despite being very busy his machinist will take the job and since everything was disassembled it shouldn’t take him very long to finish it. Gary assured me he’s the best and that he “won’t do anything to my case/parts that isn’t necessary”. I give him the go ahead.

Fast forward to 1-1 1/2 months later, I get a call from Gary saying that my engine and transmission are done. Since I didn’t give him a transmission, I’m now fully concerned. He says it’s a simple mix up, my parts will be done in another week or so. Two-three weeks after this he says my parts are done.

When I show up to pick them up, literally none of the parts are mine. Different case, different heads (mis-matched between original stud mounted rockers and converted bolt on) and he’s missing my timing gears and flywheel that I gave him hoping that my rotating assembly could be balanced. Again, told it’s a mix up and he will find my case.

A few days later I get a call with “good news”. This ugly POS, dirty, half spray painted case actually IS for me, a replacement for my case as it was un-rebuildable. I asked where my numbers matching case went and I’m told that it was scrapped. Obviously I wasn’t happy about this and I certainly didn’t want the case he was trying to give me as a replacement.

Finally after another week he tells me he has the rest of my parts. I show up to get them and again they’re all questionable as to whether they’re actually mine. Tells me that one of my heads wasn’t any good because of a threaded insert at the spark plug. That’s pretty easy to demonstrate it’s not mine as the casting numbers don’t match and I know mine didn’t have an insert, but whatever I’m over it at this point.

Finally he tries to charge me the full amount for all of this. I tell him I’m not interested in really any of the parts at this point because I’m just going to buy a long block that’s already built (he wanted $1040 for case machining, crank and connecting rod machining and rebuilding heads btw). He says, “What you just expect me to eat $1,000?” and I say “yes”. He lost his shit and just said “Fuck you, don’t come back”. I’m already one foot out the door at this point, the damage is done and this guy has nothing to offer me at this point. I left with way less than I brought in, don’t even have core parts to cover a core charge and somehow he feels like he’s the one who got screwed.

TL:DR this guy will promise you the world and under-deliver while charging extra for the pleasure. I don’t like sharing all this, but I feel that hopefully it will add to the others on here and maybe steer at least a single person away from this shop. Maybe they’re good at something, but at this point I wouldn’t trust this place to check the air in my tires.