I bought my bus, Betty, back in June 2012 and if truth be told, I bought it in a rush without really looking around or doing my homework. After having a dent or two knocked out of it, having it resprayed and lowered, I thought my bus was the nuts. I had a mechanic mate doing engine stuff for me so I thought everything was hunky dory.

However, as time went by, lots of mechanical things started going wrong and the AA soon became my best friends. After too many breakdowns and noticing various patches of rust appearing, I decided that I needed to find someone else to sort Betty out and after a decent bit of Googling, I found VW Down Under, made an appointment and drove to Thurrock to see them. I met Paul and immediately felt comfortable as he looked over the bus and asked me the killer question. “What’s most important to you about the bus”. My answer was, making sure it got from A to B each time without me wondering if Mr AA was going to need another phone call. It was therefore top priority that we got the engine sorted out. A year later, and the rust was growing around the wheel arches (Paul hadn’t done any work on this yet) so I once again made the trip to Thurrock.

Once we started looking at it, the jobs began to grow. Me (not Paul) saying well if we’re going to do that we might as well do this at the same time. To cut a long story short, I went for a full restoration which has just been completed and my bus looks the absolute dogs.

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The point to this long-winded review is this; I was lucky to buy a sturdy bus (no major rust problems) after not doing my homework. I then spent money doing superficial stuff first just to make it look better, which as it turned out, was not done properly and was a complete waste of time and money, money which would have been better spent on mechanical stuff and earlier bodywork. So, if you have a bus or want to buy one, Paul and the boys at VW Down Under are the people to see. They can sell you a quality, already-done bus, that you can drive away with confidence. Or, they can find you one and help you buy it (using their finder service) making sure you get one that’s not going to bankrupt you in a year or two.

Or, if you own one and want it done up, looked after, or just serviced, they are definitely the boys that know. I discovered today that they also hire campers (according to the sticker they gave me!). They live and breath VW campers and Beetles. A regular Joe Bloggs mechanic can fix your Ford Fiestas, BMWs and Honda Civics, but they don’t know VWs like Down Under. And they don’t care like Down Under either. These guys take enormous pride in their jobs/projects and really care about their customers. They have a really good eye for design too. As far as I’m concerned, VW Down Under are THE place to go for all things VW camper and Beetle.

Great customer service and excellent workmanship.

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Nick