[jam388]

The much dreaded service light has come on again for it's 90k service on my 1999 GT TDI. Since I've had the car, it's always been taken to the delaers who clearly rip off those of us who want that little stamp in our service books.

I was just wondering what you guys thought about having service carried out elsewhere, may be a local garage, especially with a high mileage vehicle?

Any ideas of what needs doing at 90k and what parts are required?

Cheers

 

[Craig_C]

What is the point at 90k (it's not 'that' high anyway)? Do you think a potential buyer is going to give it the 'Oh nice motor, VW up to 80k, hmm, hang on, what's this stamp.....' Don't see it making any odds at that stage. Save your cash.

 

[kjohal]

I agree mate - I bought my car a couple of years ago and it was on 70000 with full vw SH - I just found a vw specialist who is considerably cheaper than the dealer and has never let me down yet [] - so long as you keep a FSH on the motor you wont have any probs.

 

[Richard W]

I took mine to the local dealer 'cos for a 90k service on a GT TDi at ?95 they were cheaper than my local specialist....

 

[20valve]

I took mine to the local dealer 'cos for a 90k service on a GT TDi at ?95 they were cheaper than my local specialist....

Thats the same as what we charge...........sometimes your no cheaper taking to a non-franchcise garage as they often jsut change eveything (all filters, plugs etc) when they might not be due for a change where as a dealer will always stick to proper service schedule........

 

[Haddock]

I took mine to the local dealer 'cos for a 90k service on a GT TDi at ?95 they were cheaper than my local specialist....

Yes and they spend approx 20 mins, dropping the oil and changing the filter... Specialist would lube the

brakes and a whole host of other things.

Cant see the point of taking a car to a main dealer, you just dont know who will be working on it, and

your paying silly money for the privilege.

 

[20valve]

I took mine to the local dealer 'cos for a 90k service on a GT TDi at ?95 they were cheaper than my local specialist....

Yes and they spend approx 20 mins, dropping the oil and changing the filter... Specialist would lube the

brakes and a whole host of other things.

Cant see the point of taking a car to a main dealer, you just dont know who will be working on it, and

your paying silly money for the privilege.

If every one realsised what overheads a franchise dealer has then you'll understand why there prices are what they are..........

.........& the local garage that you take your car to to get problems fixed, who's the first person there on the phone to cause they ain't got a clue whats wrong..........the VW garage that you didn;t want to take you car to........(not all local garage mind before someone jumps i a bites my head off[] but most)

Like I said the general public will never understand why prices are what they are.........its only when you have worked at a franchise dealer that you will understand.........

 

[Haddock]

I took mine to the local dealer 'cos for a 90k service on a GT TDi at ?95 they were cheaper than my local specialist....

Yes and they spend approx 20 mins, dropping the oil and changing the filter... Specialist would lube the

brakes and a whole host of other things.

Cant see the point of taking a car to a main dealer, you just dont know who will be working on it, and

your paying silly money for the privilege.

If every one realsised what overheads a franchise dealer has then you'll understand why there prices are what they are..........

.........& the local garage that you take your car to to get problems fixed, who's the first person there on the phone to cause they ain't got a clue whats wrong..........the VW garage that you didn;t want to take you car to........(not all local garage mind before someone jumps i a bites my head off[] but most)

Like I said the general public will never understand why prices are what they are.........its only when you have worked at a franchise dealer that you will understand.........

No, I fully understand where the money goes, and very little of it goes on the parts and labour that fixes/services your car...

 

[20valve]

I took mine to the local dealer 'cos for a 90k service on a GT TDi at ?95 they were cheaper than my local specialist....

Yes and they spend approx 20 mins, dropping the oil and changing the filter... Specialist would lube the

brakes and a whole host of other things.

Cant see the point of taking a car to a main dealer, you just dont know who will be working on it, and

your paying silly money for the privilege.

If every one realsised what overheads a franchise dealer has then you'll understand why there prices are what they are..........

.........& the local garage that you take your car to to get problems fixed, who's the first person there on the phone to cause they ain't got a clue whats wrong..........the VW garage that you didn;t want to take you car to........(not all local garage mind before someone jumps i a bites my head off[] but most)

Like I said the general public will never understand why prices are what they are.........its only when you have worked at a franchise dealer that you will understand.........

No, I fully understand where the money goes, and very little of it goes on the parts and labour that fixes/services your car...

With a statement like that you clearlty don't pal.........

Have you ever worked at a VW franchise garage??

 

[Craig_C]

Those guy's further up (Richard) etc have done OK there and that price is good. No probs paying that at all. For 90 it isn't worth going anywhere else is it.

I think what most people get cheesed off at is the YTS numpty 'fixing' their car and they see their wallet haemorraging ?120 every time the hour strikes......From what I here, VW are the worst for this crap out of the German manufacturers.

Depends what's wrong with the car really. If it's something that I know isn't VW specific, but i can't do myself, it's off to backstreet we go. Why would anyone do different? (Only including people on the planet for at least a few days that is).

Example, my bonnet was jammed (cable probs, seeized lock etc etc). Took it VW and they wanted 50 for investigation (that is the real joke!), plus $$ depending on how long the fix was on the hourly rate (?120 at Camberely that day!!!). No thanks boy's, place over here was ?20, even then he didn't want to charge me.......still took him a little bit of time as well. Do you think i should have paid the VW price and say 'Ah, overheads will be overheads.....'

 

[jam388]

Cheers for the advice guys, very much appreciated. To be honest, i was swaying towards taking it to a local garage to get the work done anyway. Though it best to get a 2nd opinion from you chaps first though[]

I understand where people like 20valve are coming from, but I've just been on the phone to VW Birmingham who have quoted me ?160 for just a lube service!! To charge that much for what takes 20mins and maybe ?20 worth of oil is ridiculous. If their overheads are really that high, they need to look at where they can cut costs rather than just passing it on to their customers. In any case, I appreciate the advice from all of you[]

To be honest though, it sounds like it will indeed be a local garage/specialist job.

 

[20valve]

Cheers for the advice guys, very much appreciated. To be honest, i was swaying towards taking it to a local garage to get the work done anyway. Though it best to get a 2nd opinion from you chaps first though[]

I understand where people like 20valve are coming from, but I've just been on the phone to VW Birmingham who have quoted me ?160 for just a lube service!! To charge that much for what takes 20mins and maybe ?20 worth of oil is ridiculous. If their overheads are really that high, they need to look at where they can cut costs rather than just passing it on to their customers. In any case, I appreciate the advice from all of you[]

To be honest though, it sounds like it will indeed be a local garage/specialist job.

?160 is a f***ing joke.........were a VW dealer & we charge ?80-?90 depending on what car (oil price is what makes it different)

 

[Haddock]

With a statement like that you clearlty don't pal.........

Have you ever worked at a VW franchise garage??

No I havent, and Im not your pal...

Have you ever tried to eat a whole pickled egg quickly?

 

[Brian1.8t]

With a statement like that you clearlty don't pal.........

Have you ever worked at a VW franchise garage??

No I havent, and Im not your pal...

Have you ever tried to eat a whole pickled egg quickly?

LMFAO

but really, does it matter? you want to pay more and have the stamp - take it to VW dealership. You want to save money and know a reliable independant....take it there?

Mine has fvwsh and due another service in 2000 miles (60k!!! oh no!). Ill be going to a specialist this time!

 

[thechief]

The problem with specialists is that they pick and choose the jobs they want.

eg. local specialist wanted ?450 to change my cambelt, tensioner etc and waterpump. VW franchised dealer want ?220!! Guess where my car will be going?!?!

Even if the specialists service includes plugs etc, i'd rather put it to the vw dealer for a cheaper price then change the plugs myself !

 

[20valve]

With a statement like that you clearlty don't pal.........

Have you ever worked at a VW franchise garage??

No I havent, and Im not your pal...

Have you ever tried to eat a whole pickled egg quickly?

Muppet.........

 

[Haddock]

Hang on a sec...

I said:

"No, I fully understand where the money goes, and very little of it goes on the parts and labour that fixes/services your car..."

You said:

"With a statement like that you clearlty don't pal.........Have you ever worked at a VW franchise garage?? "

The majority of the money surely goes on the daily running of the dealership, i.e. Building Lease, Accounts/Finance dept, Insurance, Staff training, Advertising etc etc..

A smaller gagage or specialist doesnt have these expenses, or at least if they do they will be much smaller, and therefore can spend more time on your car for less money.... This is the same of many larger companies, the huge overheads mean that the markup has to be much greater to cover costs before any proffit can be made...

 

[20valve]

I always laugh when I hear the Specialist.........we have a couple of so called VW/Audi Specialist up this way.........& who is the first person they call with problems.........us the VW dealer

One called this morning as he didint even know what is to be done at a 30k service.........i'm sorry but if your claiming to be vw/audi specialist then this is the basic stuff to know for god sake.........

 

[UK Paul]

Cheers for the advice guys, very much appreciated. To be honest, i was swaying towards taking it to a local garage to get the work done anyway. Though it best to get a 2nd opinion from you chaps first though[]

I understand where people like 20valve are coming from, but I've just been on the phone to VW Birmingham who have quoted me ?160 for just a lube service!! To charge that much for what takes 20mins and maybe ?20 worth of oil is ridiculous. If their overheads are really that high, they need to look at where they can cut costs rather than just passing it on to their customers. In any case, I appreciate the advice from all of you[]

To be honest though, it sounds like it will indeed be a local garage/specialist job.

PD oil from a dealer will come in ?50+...PD oil from the specialist came in at ?32, I've seen PD oil in a motor specialist for ?28 so I was happy, my car came back from its 4 year service, the first outside of VW, feeling and going like new, parts have actually been changed, oil replaced brakes are magic & its lost its burping problem (touch wood). They checked the engine code to see if it needed the cambelt changed (some do @ 40,000 miles) & MOT was (computerised) cheaper than the VW garage....I'll not be going back in a hurry to VW.

It was recommended independant by a couple of people, & I'm happy to recommend it myself now.

The Dealer 20 min oil service is done as you said by the chimps (I've watched them do it as the first service they did I didn't believe it was done as the charged for new sump plug, oil was filthy before I drove off etc & hadn't even removed the plastic sump cover), they suck out the oil through the dipstick........ after 2 minutes they reckon they have 95% of the old oil....so they did it again while I waited but in about 12 minutes, oil out, new in & new filter element.

 

[20valve]

MOT cant be cheaper as its a standard price of ?44.15

The PD oil retails at ?28.85 + vat for 5l from VW dealers.........?50 + vat is for 5l of Longlife oil