Overland.Sally(Juan) | Mechanic and Parts

Juan, Luisa, and Santi have been our guardian angels with helping us to resolve all of our camper problems. In addition to creating their own high quality overlanding products and incredible in-house solutions for vehicle/camper problems, they also work with amazing mechanics and workshops. Whatever problem you have, they will help you fix it and they’ll work with you every step of the way. Juan and Santi were instrumental in the reconstruction of significant parts of our damaged camper. Without their hard work and attention to detail we wouldn’t have gotten back on the road so quickly. We also have to give Santi a special thanks for keeping our spirits up throughout the stressful rebuild. We highly recommend working with the Gadgets 4x4 family. They are the best!

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Juan and Luisa are the overlanding guardian angels of Colombia and beyond. It was our big luck to meet them, they’re the ones who made our travel possible. Juan is a jack of all trades - electricity, woodwork, paperwork, mechanical engineering (list goes on!) and brings creativity and deep relationships into his work. He has his teams in different workshops around him and both quality and speed are top notch. An overlander himself, Juan knows and anticipates any challenges or sees opportunities. He also knows Colombia like the palm of his hand and will be able to advise on where to go (or not). Juan has found the right vehicle for me and helped me steer through the paperwork jungle/any necessary changes to the vehicle. Full trust, couldn’t recommend more.

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Summary first (as it is a long check-in):
Juan provides a valuable service (for which you pay a fair rate) but you do need to keep a close eye on the outcomes (which can be difficult given the way he operates as an intermediary) and while he claims you avoid paying “gringo tax” with the sub contractors there is no transparency in this pricing arrangement.

The details: Juan asssisted us with quite a complex job- we had a new water tank and a grey water tank built and installed (plus a few other smaller jobs). Overall it is not something we could have done in a big city like Bogota without local assistance so grateful for the assistance but it wasn’t cheap (same cost as we would have expected to pay in South Africa but for lower quality workmanship) and despite providing detailed diagrams and specification sheets not everything was done to spec meaning we had to “make a plan on the fly” for some items. Therefore be aware of this and monitor closely both the work done by Juan and his sub-contractors.

We also had a number of items delivered to Juan house via Amazon which again would have been difficult without an intermediary.

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Juan is the guy in Colombia for sure. Him and his wife making really good overland products that you can buy. He knows all mechanics and can find the right place to fix pretty much anything. his help ranges from making new cabinets, to fixing electrical issues, to making custom rims. anything overland related really. also, he has the sweetest shepherd known to man.

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This is about the Service of helping to Sell a car: I can recommend Juan for this topic, as he had been able to find a buyer quite fast.

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this is the translation of our friend from brazil: Juan Varon helped us a lot when we arrived in Cota.
Our van had a problem with the steering and he knows everyone in the region and immediately took us to a mechanic shop to fix it.
So I explained to him that I had some things that I wanted to fix for a long time and he helped us with everything we needed.
We bought a new battery for the house, washed the van, aligned the wheels, bought buckets of water for the house, he sells very good products for your car.
We bought a shower curtain with him, a bag to put dirty clothes, some organizers for hygiene products and even my tools. I call him Batman because he has all kinds of gadgets.
He even installed a water tank with tubes that he made for our van.
I highly recommend Juan
The guy is very good.
Thank you very much, Juan and Luiza for the super welcome ❤️

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Juan Varon nos ajudou bastante quando chegamos a Cota.
Nossa kombi estava com problema na direção e ele conhece todo mundo na região e logo nos levou a uma oficina mecânica para consertar.
Então eu expliquei a ele que tinha algumas coisas que fazia tempo que gostaria de arrumar e ele nos ajudou em tudo o que precisamos.
Compramos uma bateria nova pra casa, lavamos a kombi, alinhamos as rodas, compramos baldes de água para a casa, ele vende produtos muito bons para seu carro.
Compramos com ele uma cortina pra tomar banho, uma bolsa pra colocar roupas sujas, umas organizadoras pra produtos de higiene e até pra minhas ferramentas. Eu chamo ele de Batman pois ele tem todo tipo de gadgets.
Ele até instalou uma caixa d’água com tubos que ele mesmo fabricou pra nossa kombi.
Super recomendo o Juan
O cara é muito bom.
Muito obrigado Juan e Luiza pela super acolhida❤️

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Juan got a list of various things done for us while we were out of the country.
a custom mosquito net for our back door which turned out amazing, new battery terminals to clean things up, checked a number of mechanical things on our diesel labdcruiser and had it detailed with a ceramic coating for a very reasonable price, and a few other things.
We were on a timeline and needed it all done by the time we got back so we could pick up the truck and go, and for the first time in all our our travels everything was done, it was all done right and it was ready to drive off when we arrived!
that speaks volumes about Juan. He is trustworthy, detail oriented, and dependable.
We couldn't be happier!

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Juan just sold my Toyota 4 Runner, and that was not an easy job in Colombia in the off season!. He is a very friendly person, speaks excellent english and organized all the necessary paperwork for me. He charge a half or full day modus, what I find very fair. Sometimes there is not so much to do to get the documents done, and than it's a fair price. He used also his accounts and different sites and contact to advertise the car. Visa extension, TIP extension, oil change, Poder or storing my car is not a problem for Juan. He knows exactly where to go to and what to be done. I trust him to 100% and can recommend him for all kinds of requirements.

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Juan is awesome! We needed quite some stuff done on our Landcruiser and are on a strict budget. He understood our situation and went out of his way to help us get what we needed. Juan is enthusiastic, creative and knowledgeable. If we had more time and cash we would have definitely done some more work on the truck with him!

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(updating my review from 8/8/23): feel sad to write this review but also necessary. in august we had a lot of work done at Juan's mechanic. One of the things was a completly new timing kit ( pulley's and tensioner).unfortuanatly 2000km down the road our timing belt jumped which damaged our valves. The culprit turned out to be the faulty tensior that Juan's mechanic put it. We got in touch with Juan and his mechanic ( he always replies) and they couldnt believe it... they were convinced that there was another cause for the tensioner to fail. After getting back on the road we made another shop at another expensive shop who supposed to be really good in problem fixing. They also could not find another cause for the tensioner failing.... now we ate about 6000 km down the road and our car is still running fine. So i guess the conclusion here is that it was the timing belt tensioner fault i will update this review if other news appears.

i would also like to stress that i do not believe there were bad intentions in play here. When we broke down in the middle of nowhere Juan was always in touch with us and trying to find solution. Also, they wired us back the money we spens on the tensioner bit unfortunatly not for the damage it caused. The lesson for us, for Juand and his mechanic is when you doing delicate stuff like timing belt accesories its better to go with original parts.... i guess this kindof shit can happen.... on the other hand, we paid Juan a fee on top of the mechanical cost to oversee all the work that was being done on the van. Maybe someone should have spotted the tensioner was of inferiour quality

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short review: recommended!

long review: we first got in touch with juan when our timing belt snapped close to la guajira dessert, north of the country. we were pretty desperate but juan provided us with a contact in valledupar who helped us to replace the valves in the head cilinder for a decent price. that contact was a life saver for us.

we decided to have a lot of work and maintanence done in cota as we knew it would be easy to find parts for our van and because juan already helped us in the past, it seemed like the right choise.

Glad to say juan did not dissapoint: the mechanic shop he took us to was very busy but came acros highly profesional. Juan wemt to visit the shop mulitiple times a day and kept us up to date about the whole proces. Yes, Juan does charge a fee but this was agreed upon in advance so there were no annoying suprises for us. The shop manages to do evrything we wanted them to do in 4 days ( it was a big list), including finding parts we werent able to find ourselves.

Few days later, when we washed the whole chasis, we noticed some other oil leak ( didnt notice it before because of the mud). we took the van back to the shop and they fixed one of the oil leaks under warrenty because they could have noticed it with the first dissembly.

the only feedback we had givin Juan after our first visit is that we always want to be updated when the shop changes a part and why. we wanted pictures of the parts that needed replacement and an explenation. During our second visit we noticed that juan already put this feedback into practice and he sent us pictures and info about different car parts.

conclusion: would use juan services again. it's good to have someone in your corner who knows his stuff, speaks fluently english and spanish and has your and your rig's best interest at heart!

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If you need anything for your car or a mechanic, juan is the guy to visit or call. We needed a new front leafspring for our 4x4 sprinter and he organised everything within a day. We stayed in medellin during this time and he sent the parts to us. Sadly the partsstore shiped the wrong part and we had to ship it back. But juan also took care of this and even paid our shipping costs. Thank you so much, juan
At the end everything went well we got the parts.
Did i mentioned he speaks good english!

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Juan is the man if you need assistance with anything in the Bogota area or even Colombia. He received packages for us and arranged for Multicar Cota to remove our windows remove rust and reseal the windows. He kept an eye on the work and recommended so improvements. They also made a great cover for our awning. please support him.

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So you are jeopardizing my name and my work for something you think you heard? well, no! I don't overcharge in the shops and yes. I charge for my service, which is a fixer and problem-solving. and I have a network of shops that I work with that I know can do a good job for a good price and at the best possible time

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Without question Juan and Laly are super nice and Juan really goes out of his way to solve problems. We also had super nice and interesting conversations with the two of them. Nevertheless, our stay had a thready aftertaste. We were not quite aware of it, so we would like to share it here for everyone: Taking care of overlanders is part of Juan's job and accepting his service means he gets paid. Which in itself is absolutely no problem because of his efforts. So on the second day of our stay we asked Juan what he wants for his help and he told us an amount which we were happy to pay. Later, however, two strange situations followed. Juan exchanged more expensive spare parts for cheaper ones for us and made sure not to mention that he had to give us back the difference in the parts. However, we finally got the money back. Also at the end of our stay he said we still had an open bill which we didn't know of and finally paid another 40% on the previously agreed price - it was very unpleasant and unclear. Also (as we think we overheard in a conversation in a workshop) Juan additionally receives commission from the workshops he takes the overlanders to. Also this he won't mention to us. So how much you pay commission and for his service is very intransparent. We would have appreciated it very much if Juan had told us that we would use a service if he helped and what the cost was. We came here with a few things that needed to be repaired and before we knew it, we apparently had booked an allround carefree package with Juan and he then charged us accordingly. Long Story short: If you need special things done in Bogotá or need special parts that you can't find yourself, we felt that Juan with his expertise and contacts in the area is your go to guy. He will do everything in his power to get your problem solved. But: other "simple" work on the car, such as welding, windshield glass work, adjustment, etc. we would recommend having done on your own. There are countless workshops that are not difficult to find and with broken Spanish and a translator, it is no problem to have these things done and thus get away cheaper. However, if you feel better with a mediator who clarifies all your wishes with the workshops, then Juan is your guy - of course for an extra charge.
What bothered us was the lack of communication.

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Juan was a great help, he can put you in touch with the right person for any problem. the welcome from Juan and his wife was extraordinary, if you go through Bogotá do not hesitate for a second, he is the best person to help you.

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Juan is super helpful and very resourceful. Helped us connect with his mechanic for a tricky wheel situation. Highly recommend!

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It is very hard to write a negative review after so many positive. But we do think it is important to let everybody know it is not always sunshine and rainbows.
We have had a rollercoaster of a month where so much went wrong we can write a book about it. But the reason why we want to write this message is to share our main conclusions so you can draw your own conclusions from them.
What we want to say first is that we, like everybody else, think Juan is a nice person and no one was trying to scam or harm us on purpose. But:
- When using Juan’s service be critical to which shop he will bring you. Juan works primarily together with andenauto’s, they are specialized in 4x4 off-road vehicles. Juan assured us they had the knowledge to work on the motor of our car. But in hindsight we should have known better. But we just trusted Juan so much. Big mistakes were made when working on the car. In our opinion they should have brought us somewhere else because they were lacking the knowledge to work on our car. They did ask for help of another mechanic. But talking to him later on, he told us they did not follow his advice and big mistakes were already made. It was his word against theirs. When Juan would translate information of the other mechanic to us he would sell it to us as nonsense. This cost us lots of money, time and extra problems. And when at other mechanics without Juan’s involvement, it was not nonsense after all but the only correct solution. They lacked the ability to give up and send us somewhere with more knowledge and experience with our car.
- Also know that Juan and Andenautos wants to get you the cheapest option which is nice of them to help you save costs, but it was in our car the worst option. They cannot and do not fully explain the pros and cons of the cheap and expensive option. In our case it cost us triple the amount that we would have paid if we would have chosen the more expensive option immediately.
- Also getting parts is somehow very difficult for them which we don’t understand. We experienced twice that correct new parts were readily available (within 2 hours or a day) through other mechanics but Juan and Andenautos weren’t able to find them, ended up buying the wrong parts after days of searching or said they had very long delivery times (weeks). Somehow the parts Andenautos bought for us were also much more expensive.

To conclude we are really unhappy and unsatisfied with the work that was performed by Juan and Andenautos. Hopefully this helps you to decide on the best solution for your situation. Maybe that is trying to find another mechanic that is specialized in your problem. Or maybe it is contacted Juan and let him help you.

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It's difficult to write some negative but I have to. To make it more easy I want to split 2 things: Juan and Lalu are lovely people. But the business of Juan is just really bad, at least the part I was dealing with. Maybe it chanced (it happened a few months ago, but I guess not. Because Juan told me this is how Colombian people work).

I bought a motorcycle and Juan help me finding one. Already quickly we found one. I got some pressure from Juan because he told me other people are wanting the bike as well. So I bought the bike for 21mil pesos. I payed Juan to help me with the paperwork (RUNT). I had to pay a friend of Juan to help me with the property card of the bike. For that you have to go to an office. This normally takes 3 days maximum before you got your papers. I waited 7 weeks for this card. Juan was saying his friend didn't do his work. And Juan didn't help me out with it. Just let me waiting and asking his friend to fix the job and Juan kept telling me next week I certainly would have it. After 7 weeks the seller of the bike contacted me. He was really unpleased with the situation and told me he will go with me to fix the property card. We went to the office, 3 h later i had the card for what I was waiting for 7 weeks! The seller in the end helped me the best. He did actually the job Juan should have done; help me buying the bike. Also the seller told me the bike was 19 bil pesos. 2 bil pesos he had to give to Juan. Juan never told me this. Only that I had to pay for: helping with paperwork, finding the bike (paid for that also 600 mil) and upgrading the bike (had to pay for that also 600mil). The 2 bil he never mentioned and I really felt in a scam situation with Juan. I payed a lot of money and waited 7 weeks for some which could be done in 3 hours. Juan didn't compensate me for the 7 weeks. All by all: I recommend strongly not to by a vehicle with the help of Juan, but do it yourself or with someone else.

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Juan helped me and some friends, he has all the tools, gear and knowledge to solve things easy, good and fast.

Great person along his wife Lali. Great adventures told and also a lot of invitations to for an adventure together, for sure a MUST to contact if you're in Colombia

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Juan and Laly are incredible. They solved some of our issues that could not be solved for over a year.
We drive an Iveco Turbodaily with original rims that are two piece, therefore tubes are needed. This caused us a lot of issues with 13 flats in 13 months.
We were looking for tubeless rims everywhere before (North America) with no success, but Juan was able to find a set in Bogota in half an hour.
Him and his mechanic Jonathan helped us with other issues as well (radiator, brakes etc) so Juan is your man if you need anything done.
This is his business and he does a great job helping overlanders.
There is also a parking lot nearby where you can spend the night.
His mechanics, Andenautos is in Bogota.

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Juan and Lally are top people and keen to help travellers. They are overlanders themselves and understand the sentimental value of our vehicles and the importance of making a durable repair and not just a temporary fix. Juan knows his stuff.

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Juan is a tremendous resource and asset to anyone overlanding through Colombia. He has contacts throughout the country and can source just about anything. He is also happy to receive and hold packages, and even get them to you anywhere in Colombia. He is also happy to help with any projects you might have to do. Like everyone before us wrote, Juan is great and we highly recommend him.

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Je vous conseille d’aller voir Juan si vous avez un quelconque problème sur votre véhicule ! Juan s’occupe de tout et il connaît plein de monde… de la mécanique pure, à la carrosserie en passant par l’électronique ! Franchement allez-y les yeux fermés ! En plus Juan est un gars vraiment très sympa !!

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I travel with a Sprinter 4x4 Camper Van from Germany. I had an accident in Pitalito, a Bus was hitting my back. Juan helped me with the process of getting an estimate for the repair cost and was online in the negotiation with the Bus company, because my Spanish is not good enough. He reviewed the contract afterwards, so I was save to sign it.
Juan is very helpful and reliable.

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Completely agree with the comments below. Juan is very eager to help travelers. Whether going north or south, this is an excellent stop to get your vehicle checked or upgraded. Juan has an extensive network throughout Colombia and can even help out if you aren't near Bogotá.

Juan connected us to a great mechanic, Jonathan at Adenautos. He's specialized in 4*4s but can also help with any mechanical issues on a 2wd like ours. We learned so much from observing and lending a hand.

Thanks so much Juan for helping us out and inviting us into your home. It's been a great experience. Wishing you all the best!

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I´m Overland.Sally(Juan). Any thing you need, let me know and I can see if I can solve it. I have a vast network here in town, Bogota and even allover Colombia.

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Juan is awesome, he’s also an overlander and speaks fluent English (overlandsally). We messaged him before we arrived with some parts we needed that we haven’t been able to find, even in the USA. He managed to track everything down and have it ready for us when we arrived! We spent the day at his house installing a new backup camera and outdoor lights, plus some little here and there things that needed work. He has lots of tools, which is super handy. Bonus: he fixed our drone too! Highly recommend him for any projects you want done, parts you need to find, or even just for a beer!

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Go to this place.

We met Juan at the Colombia overland meetup and got in touch with him again when we arrived in Bogota. The things that Juan can help you with are varied. He made some really nice canvas storage bags and cushions for our Troopy. He took the time to listen to what we wanted and delivered a quality product that exceeded our expectations.

Juan arranged for a sitter for Dixie while we went on a multi-day trip where dogs were not allowed.

We had a special circumstance with our TIP and Juan drove into Bogota to go to the Dian office with me. After working on this for no less than a FULL day we got our TIP extended. I can tell you that without question it would NOT have happened without his assistance. He’s a bulldog and didn’t give up.

Juan is fluent with both English and Spanish.

Just an all around great resource for anything that you might need in Colombia. I recommend him to you without reservation.

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Everything as described. Juan and Lali are awesome. They go above and beyond to help Overlanders. We arrived in town, needed to run errands such as dentist, hairdressers, getting a new battery for the phone etc and he helped us achieve everything in one hour!
We camped at a local Parqueadero in Cota with direct access to a bathroom and water faucet and with electricity for just 15,000 Colombian pesos a night. There we were able to get our new funky pink lights fitted too. Which Juan also helped us with (taking us into Bogotá multiple times).
We like the others also had Juan and Lali custom make a shoe ‘rack’ for us, an outdoor bag for our charcoal and some pouches for the car. Excellent quality and super practical.

Thank you ‘overlandsally’ for all your hard work and foremost your friendship. We look forward to seeing you on the road.

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Juan helped us with a lot of things. He installed electrical parts for us and solved problems with our backup camera. We also had to fix our radiators and he helped us with that aswell.
In case he can't repair it, he definitely knows somebody who can. He drove us to any shop to get spare parts or things we needed. He also speaks very good English.
We bought a custom made bag from him, which is just perfect. Thanks again to Lally and Juan for the wonderful time with you and your whole family. Highly recommended for whatever you need!

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Juan Varon can arrange anything you need. He's a mechanic and electrical engineer van origin. He has a small company where they make all sorts of accesoires for overlanders aswell. From bags, nets, awnings, to anything you want. Also custom designs of very good quality.

He speaks good English and Spanish.
Apart from mechanical stuff he helped us with other stuff like sourcing a special UV lamp for our waterfilter, paperwork (for example TIP extension) and they helped us with a medical appointment aswell. He has a lot of connections throughout Colombia in case he cannot help you, he knows someone who can!

Most important, they are overlanders themselves, so they know what people want and need! ;)
Can't recommend Juan enough. Best to give him a call or whatsapp beforehand. +57 319 7786600

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Juan was very helpful while we were in Colombia, receiving and consolidating several international parcels as well as helping us source various parts and supplies for vehicle maintenance. He was happy to drive us to the city to the automotive and electronics districts and knew were to go to get what we needed. He was a big help.

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I visited Juan in 2017 the first time I arrived via Overland. I drove from Cartagena to Santa Marta where he and Lali were living at the time. He is a great host. Everything he did for me from start to finish was wonderful. A place to stay, vehicle repairs, and connected me with many people as I journeyed further south into the country. I highly recommend his hospitality, know how and his way of helping you get all things accomplished. Great job Lali and Juan. Keep up the great work for the Overlanding community passing through Colombia. I now live in Bogota and certainly will be seeing you soon.

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