Mexico paint job destroyed my Vanagon – Part 1

Lots of talk about Mexico paint jobs. This is my experience which was not positive.  If I could go back in time and undo the paint job I would.  That said, here is the entire story.  I do my best to be fair but of course, everyone has some bias.  Do your own homework and check with other people.  I am publishing this several weeks after the fact.  I especially invite others with good or bad stories to share them.  

I have been following Livethevanlife on Instagram now for years.  Shane the guy responsible for LivetheVanLife.com and associated Instagram has done a simply great job of creating a brand.  Up till getting my Van back, I was somewhat envious of Shane.  He has built two businesses and a brand playing with Vans, living the life in Mexico, and traveling extensively.  I bought into that brand and that is where this story begins.

As you can tell from my other posts on Instagram and this blog I have a Vanagon and I love it.  I would put myself as above average in my Vanagon knowledge but in a reading sense not in an I have been working in a shop for 20+ years and seen it all sense.   If you have been doing Vanagons for a while you might notice these two types of knowledge folks out there.  Hands down the shop guys are the better of the two but they are not writing articles and very few are making youtube videos.  Some of them are downright unpleasant to talk to if I am honest.  Those shop guys that are doing videos etc just don’t do a great job.  That said, I’ve tried blogging in the past but I did not have the staying power.  Writing content and making videos is hard.  Kudos to those who do it and in particular if it is helpful to some other guy trying to do a project.  

GoWesty.com and to a slightly lesser extent Vanagain.com have built brands by adding value everywhere they can.  Vanagain videos are super helpful (though I have to play them at 2X speed).  The Go Westy library, as I have said before should be stop one if you are getting into VW vans of any sort.  I spend $1000s of dollars with vangain and gowesty and I have no problem doing it.  They have both backed me up and gone above and beyond the call on multiple occasions.  Livethevan life is distant to these but does add value with his stories and posts even if ultimately self-serving.  The guy is an Instagram marketing success for sure.  He got me to believe, or maybe “there is one born every minute.”  Likely a little of both.  

In truth, my van did not really need a paint job.  It was in really great condition all things considered but I had hit a deer which did some minor damage in front and the van had a very minor dent in the rear when I got it.  I was interested in perhaps getting those things fixed.  There was also just the 35+ years of nicks and dings.  My VAN was/is in fantastic condition (69K original miles atm) but 35+ years is a long long time.

A couple years ago Livethevanlife started advertising his “concierge services” for getting a van paint job in Mexico.  He was using a shop in TJ called Los Panchos that is still there and doing work but raised their prices such that Shane moved on.  He re-opened his operation in La Paz Mexico and was advertising windows out paint jobs for $4000.  He moved away from “concierge services” to “Van Restorations” in his branding. 

After a few months, I took the plunge and emailed Shane.  He asked me to send pictures but ultimately said the $4k would cover it (he has since raised his price to $5,500).  No extra charge for the minor body repair.  So I made ready to go forward and sent Shane a deposit.  I want to say it was $250 to hold my space in line.  He did not hard sell me by any means but did create a little pressure in saying that I am almost full for the year.  In fact, I tried to push the trip due to personal issues and Shane said it would be well into ‘22 before he could get me back in line.  All indications point to a booming business.

In the course of back and forth, I ended up agreeing to also get my Van leveled and to get the AC fixed.  I was going to get the paint job plus the black texture coating on the lower part of the van “a la Gowesty.”  I was getting the bumpers and swing away done too.  I was overemphatic about how I wanted the texture done including the inside of the bumpers and the footwells – As per an article on gowesty which is here. It amazed me that Shane had not read this article.  He also never read it to see what I was requesting.

A few weeks went by and I saw that Shane was going to be in San Diego from his Instagram posts. I messaged him and asked if it made sense for us to meet and check out my Van.   In about another week or so he came by and we talked about Vans and other Van people that we both have had dealings with.  I liked Shane.  Talking and hanging out with Shane he comes across as a real solid guy.  He has years of Instagram and no one is posting bad stories but then again I have never seen anyone post a positive one either.  I trusted and took a bit of a flyer.  

During our meeting Shane said something to the extent that my van was one of the nicest and cleanest Vans he had ever seen.  This is a common reaction.  Every shop that has seen my Van has said the same.  I am the second owner and the Van has low miles.  I don’t know that it had been slept in before I bought it.  The Van was immaculate when I got it.  Shane did sell me into doing the interior.  We reviewed everything I wanted done and how I wanted it.  I could not have been clearer.  I also sent him a picture of a Gowesty Van picture of the colors which were stock plus a black stripe.  Thanks again gowesty.com!

A month or so down the road I was making plans to drop the van off and Shane asked me if I had the fabric for the interior.  Well, no I don’t.  You never told me I had to provide the fabric.  So anyway he points me to sewfine.  I call them up and select a fabric.  They tell me it will be a couple of weeks and I am leaving for La Paz in about two weeks so I tell Shane we have to cancel the interior.  Bummer but not a big deal.  I had the Wolfsburg weekender corduroy and it was starting to shred.  I used to just put a Mexican blanket on it and was just going to keep doing that.

The day arrives and I start for La Paz.  This date was coordinated with Shane about 2 months in advance but there was still some last-minute scrambling to make sure he could meet me and take me to the airport.

From where I live in Oceanside to La Paz is a 20ish hr drive.  I planned to drive till I was tired and then grab a campsite or hotel.  I love road trips in my van and this was no different.  Just me and the road.  Great views of the sea of Cortez and the pacific ocean plus desert scapes and mountains.  I listened to podcasts about side hustles to pass the time.  It was a really nice drive and for me not a chore at all.  I ended up camping out in Guerrero Negro on the beach by the airport the first night.  I found the spot via the I-overland app.

The next day I got a great breakfast, took a dip in the Sea of Cortez midway, and showed up in La Paz a couple hours ahead of schedule.  I found a hotel and made plans to meet Shane in the AM.  I posted a quick couple of pictures of the Van on instagram with a caption that I was nervous and that through miscommunication the interior was not getting done.  

The next morning Shane showed up and we walked the van again.  He asked if he could do anything to make me not nervous and told me he could provide fabric for the interior.  We came to an agreement on him sending me samples of fabric and away we went.  He dropped me off at the airport and I flew to TJ, tunneled to SD, and ubered home.  This is a cost you need to factor in.

Up till this point, I was really pleased with everything.  I trusted Shane’s brand from years of following him and he seemed like a great guy.  I was excited to see the Van and to have Air Conditioning again.  It has not worked since I got the van though I have a complete system.

Shane and I did lots of back and forth on text and email.  This kept me feeling all was well.  Shane is super responsive and I was at ease.  We blew it here though because these projects are pretty complex.  Shane is probably dealing with several projects and who can remember everything.  We should have worked off a joint google doc where we documented running changes.  So much of Shanes’s offering depends on the customer to connect dots and do quality control.

It was at this stage I made a couple of really large mistakes.  I told one of my best friends with a Vanagon about what I was doing and advised him to do the same.  Shane was filling up, or at least that is what he said, and my friend needed to jump on the service now if he wanted to get in this year.  I feel guilty about this but still have hopes that Shane does better by my friend than he did by me. 

The next mistake, and it’s a doozy is I agreed to buy a Syncro from Shane.  He had been chronicling a project Syncro called Pancho on Instagram and when it came up I committed to buying it for $40K.  Now I had been watching Shane restore the Van on Instagram.  He picked the van up in Mexico for maybe $10K.  Though I don’t know I feel pretty confident this is in the ballpark.  It’s actually probably high given the back story on the Van.  He got an interior and pop-top in the US.  The going price for this stuff is about $2500.  So he has 12-13K into the van.  He paints it and has it gone through by Geraldos.  Geraldos is a pretty well-known VW shop in La Paz going back a long time.  Anyone who VWs in S Baja likely knows of them.  All reports are that they do good work.  Shane has Geraldo’s go through the Van, replacing a bunch of suspension stuff, wheel bearings, and brakes.  It is far from a complete restore.  The engine is tuned up but not rebuilt.  The cooling system is stock as is the fuel system.  Shane has maybe $20K into Pancho at this stage, MAYBE.  I knew this but still thought it was a good deal because I trusted Shane’s brand. 

It’s about now that I start to see some minor issues.  The first is in conversing with Shane I come to find out Pancho does not have a Spare Tire, Jack, or lug wrench.  These things were not in the Ad for the Van so yes my mistake for thinking a Van 900 miles down the coast of baja being sold by a reputable Vanagon guy would have a spare tire.  My mistake for thinking his brand was not the kind of brand to send you on a 900-mile road trip without a spare.  Especially with him making $20K on the sale.  That said I took ownership cause it was not in the Ad and I went out and bought a spare tire and wheel.  Not Shanes fault.  His Ad was crystal clear and the spare was not in it.  Of course, there are a million things in or on a Van that were not listed.  He did not list fuses and fuse panel or windshield wiper fluid reservoir. Does the Van have those things? Not a big deal and I am still all in with him.  What kind of idiot buys a Syncro site unseen on the south tip of Baja anyway?  All Shane has to do is a good, or even decent job on Osa my brown Vanagon at this point and we will be fine.

Next post coming soon with the story of the pickup and how things started to go sideways.