V & V Auto

Over the years and over countless car and mechanic issues, I keep coming back to this place because the service is fast, no-​nonsense, reasonable, and the owners seems to be just very good people. Having owned a vehicle that required constant repair, I learned a valuable lesson — that it’s really hard to find a mechanic you can trust. Everywhere you turn, mechanics try overcharge and under-​deliver, especially if you are a woman who doesn’t know much about cars.
Years ago when my car’s engine blew and the dealership wanted to charge me $ 6,000 to repair it, I found Walter in a moment of desperation. He even came out to the dealership and looked a the engine in their shop for free, while the dealership charged me $ 900 just to open the engine and diagnose the problem. He gave me an estimate of $ 1,500 to fix it, and that day it was towed to his shop, where he quickly fixed my engine and I’ve been bringing my cars to him ever since. So happy to say that I think I’ve found a mechanic that I can trust. My whole family goes to this shop and I’ve told all my friends to come here and everyone has nothing but good things to say.

Many years ago somehow I wandered into a Citgo station right by Northeast High School on Cottman. There was a tech there called Walter who like the rest of the staff was from the old USSR. I went to the place for years ’till they came up to a problem — their contract with Citgo required that they pump a lot of gas and the price Citgo charged was not competitive.
They sold out to a very nice Indian fellow from Northern NJ who owned 2 other big gas stations up by the GW Bridge. He happily pumps a whole lot of gas now at very good prices.
Peter, the owner of the Citgo station opened Petra’s Auto Service on Oxford ave just north of 5 points where he does some repair work with his son, Serge and sells used tires for very decent prices.
Walter set off on his own, and now at his second location on Torresdale. Walter provides full service for all sorts of cars from Volvo’s to BMW’s to Ford’s, Honda’s and loads in between with his son, Adam helping to run the place.
I have even seen him change the engine on a Porsche 911 and do work on various S and E class Mercedes!
Walter and Adam can do most anything from inspection and emissions tests, to tune ups, to fixing strange problems, to replacing engines and transmissions. They run a word of mouth operation where they know everyone new folks come in by recommendation.
If you live anywhere close by and need a great place to bring your car stop on by — they are not too great on answering the phone and they call back eventually — they have not grown enough for an advisor or someone to get the phone yet. It’s best to drive over and talk to Walter or Adam in person.
They don’t get rolling for a while in the mornings but they work late often to 8 or later.
I can’t say enough about Walter who seems able to fix many problems for much less then a dealer while doing great work.
How some guy from Ukraine got to work on all sorts of sophisticated German and Swedish cars and perhaps the occasional ZIL to learn his trade rather then the Ladas, Moskvich’s and Volgas that most guys in the USSR wrenched on is a mystery he does not speak about, but comrade Walter with his son manages to run a mechanical shop and a body shop with some skill and aplomb.
I strongly recommend them! By the way V&V? Walter is pronounced Valter in Russian and Adam’s Russian name begins with a V too… or so I was told :)