D & K Volkswagen Service

We came through Santa Cruz in the afternoon, in route to a New Year camping trip up in Big Sur. I had had an new alternator put in my 84 Westy just that morning, in Redwood City, but it seemed to be failing. David dropped what he was doing, diagnosed the problem (the RWC mechanic had wired the alternator wrong, and it burned out) and then fixed the wiring and put a new alternator in — on the spot. We still made it to our camping site by the evening. And the alternator has been working great since. Very knowledgeable and trustworthy guy; I’ll be bringing my Westy back to him for all my maintenance/​repair work.

We had a cold idle issue on our 1990 Westy. I fooled with the TPS while on the road but didn’t fix it. Dave was recommended and he listened carefully (!) to my description of the Van’s symptoms. We left the Westy with him and went with friends to Capitola for lunch. Before we were through Dave called to say he’d found some problems (over advanced timing and poor contact in the air flow meter) and had fixed them, plus had replaced the O2 sensor. We went back to pick up the car and he explained what he’d done and what I should do with the engine in the next 10k miles. We’ve since driven 1000 miles, towing our 1000 lb racer car over the Rockies, and the van has been fine. Dave is the man. 5 stars plus another for being a true Vanagon expert. ******

Awesome service! Pulled up and was fixed up (for an idling issue with my 1984 Westfalia) within in minutes. I am planning to go back soon for a full check up before my drive down south in a few weeks.
Thanks again & I’ll be back!

I an honestly say that Dave is the most competent and honest mechanic I have ever met. He is always friendly and does an extremely good job. We have used him three times now and have alwAys been 100% satisfied! I have no hesitation at all in recommending him and just wish I could give a higher rating!

David is fantastic and came highly rated from other VW mechanics in the area. We have an ’85 Westfalia with an overheating problem, and I needed it fixed before making a 3,000 mile trip to Mexico and back.
He diagnosed it as an issue with a non-​functioning air conditioning unit, which he recommended removing. He also brought to my attention another couple of issues (including torn CV boots) and recommended a series of repairs to ensure it would be reliable.
I picked the Westie up a week later and it ran like I’d just driven it off the show room. It ran flawlessly the entire trip to Mexico, which was tremendous peace of mind.
I will be bringing it back to him for regular service and some upgrades I have in mind. I would recommend David to everyone.

Tired of dishonest mechanics? David is the guy for you. He knows more about VWs than anyone I know — and I’ve had over 20 of them. He’s been maintaining my VWs for over 20 years. Look no farther than D&K for an honest appraisal and repairs done with integrity.

David is my favorite mechanic of all time! I’ve owned so many cars over the years, and used so many different mechanics, and I’ve done a fair bit of wrenching myself. I’ve learned what to look for in a mechanic and what kind of horrible things can happen when you get screwed by s shop. But D & K is the absolute best auto shop I’ve ever dealt with, by far! Plus, cheap, too :)
I’ve taken 3 or 4 different cars to him over the years, mostly vws from 80’s and 90’s, and probably probably at least a dozen times in total.
David knows bloody everything about older VWs, all the things that might be going wrong, all the things that could be causing any particular problem you bring to him. He’s always eager to answer questions, and hey, he’s just a real nice guy! It’s a small shop, so his expenses are pretty low, I guess, which must be how he can keep his prices so reasonable. Every time I’ve brought a car to him with one sort of mysterious problem or another, he’s very quickly identified the problem, sometimes even quickly opening things up before even giving me a quote. I’m not sure if he works on the newer vws or cars by other manufacturers, but probably, and he’s completely trustworthy, which is the key! Check him out — whatever kind of problem you’ve got and he’ll tell you what’s up and what your options are.

When my ’01 Golf started having problems, I called up Volks Café, which is basically the go-​to place for Volkswagens in Santa Cruz. They wouldn’t work on my car (too new, I guess), but they said that D & K was the only mechanic in Santa Cruz they would recommend.
The shop seems to be owned by just one guy. He’s polite, efficient and is an excellent diagnostician. He is very quick to identify the real problem, give me all the options, from the cheapest to the most expensive, and then get the job done. He doesn’t just read the error log and start replacing parts like some sort of repair-​by-​number jig. He really troubleshoots a problem, trying to make sure he knows what’s wrong before he costs you too much more money.
His work is great — I’ve been there twice, and I’ve had no problems with the repairs he made. (The repairs other shops made are a different story). He gets the diagnosis right, and he fixes it right the first time.
He is also very courteous. He answers the phone quickly, and usually remembers you by name (and remembers your car). He explains exactly what he’s doing — he’ll tell you how he figured out what was wrong, why this thing might have gone wrong, and how it can be fixed. He’ll also show you the part and where it goes, and doesn’t seem to mind you standing in the garage watching him work. He also is very good about answering questions, even those unrelated to the immediate problem.
He’s resonably priced for Santa Cruz — $ 90 an hour for labor — which is to say horribly expensive anywhere else. But $ 90 is about what mechanics go for in Santa Cruz. And he’s worth every dollar.