Main Dealer Servicing Costs.

[Thrustyjust]

33 minutes ago, Nick Mace said:

Don't mock. It's an illness...

I think you're right ................... its nice , but not 85k nice. And its a Ford diesel woohahahahaha

[Blatman]

3 hours ago, Thrustyjust said:

its a Ford diesel woohahahahaha

And what's wrong with a Ford diesel? I've had a few and done hundreds of thousands of miles in them with nary a glitch to be seen or heard. I love 'em.

Or did I bite a bit too hard there  

[Nemesis]

My A4 Audi 3.0 litre  Diesel was due an oil service recently, they rang me to let me know (how kind are they?)..... so here's my question(s) to the booking clerk (please note the PC term for girly)

"On account you're franchise haven't seen my car for anything other than warranty work at 700 miles (near 50k on the clock now).... how do you know when the service is due? Does my car talk to Audi via the Sim card in the MMI unit?? If so could you show me my signature on the Data Protection forms please??? And who do I send the bill to for the Mobile Data you've used.....  that I have to pay for???? I promise the mark up won't sting as much as your poor workmanship !"

She yammered and stammered a bit then announced that she was bemused as to why I was so terse with her..... so I reminded her that when they did the warranty work they neglected to actually re-assemble my car..... and on account that caused me no end of aggro they would never see my car or me again, I also requested at that time that they remove my contact details from their database..... so why wouldn't I be a bit terse????

Anyhoo.... on to the nause of warranty and the T's & C's of said items..... My Audi warranty makes no mention of OEM or equivalent parts should I choose to service the car elsewhere, it just says must be maintained in accordance with the schedule..... however the fair trades agreement (also known as the Treaty of Rome) states that your warranty cannot be revoked as long as you have used OEM or equivalent specification parts and the work is carried out be a suitably qualified person, (it doesn't mention it but you should use a VAT registered company).

For my Audi the filters are made by MANN and the oil is made by Castrol, the sump nut and washer are easy and cheap enough to buy from Audi, dead simple really..... as long as you keep all of your receipts!! I got queried about servicing recently when one of my HID's gave up & I took it in to get replaced under warranty (yes it's covered.....that surprised me too) "hello sir, we've done the bulb for you but can't see the last scheduled service on the Audi record"...... "nope says I, you won't.... because I tried to ring up and get it registered and the franchise I called refused..... so here's the receipts"..... quick peruse and referral up the food chain and..... "Oh that fine sir.... thanks for choosing Halesowen Audi"...... I'm going back there soon for the Haldex coupling oil change and the first MOT.

Also I got offered 'price match' when the second franchise rang me about my service being due soon..... There we go with the Data theory again..... they've only done one service for me and it was ok to the point of when I asked for 4 tires and they said "we've fitted them sir, they are all the same name and size but there are 2 different tread patterns.... that will be fine won't it sir?..... like he was some kind of Jedi master pulling the old mind trick"...... "errr no not really..... you know the car's a Quatro right??"..... "yes sir, I know that (with a roll of the eyes thrown in for good measure)"..... "Well I'd love it to perform like one and not destroy it's own tires due to different traction performance"...... they got really ****** with me when I told them to take them off and re-mount my original boots..... but before they did I had a quick peek at the car.... they hadn't mounted the pairs front to back.... noooooo far too sensible.... they had put them 2 on the left and the others on the right..... Pure Genius!! BTW that's Wolverhampton Audi.

Anyway enough of the ramblings...... Main dealers are in my humble opinion incompatible with the products they represent.... I shall continue to buy the correct parts and go to see my trusted garage for all items except Timing Belts, and Haldex Couplings(the former because it it breaks within it's life time it's the main dealers problem and the latter because Audi quoted a cheaper price).

 

I'm popping to the Westfield factory today, it's been ages since I looked at the ASBO.... time to crack on , anyone in Essex need anything????

 

Nem...............    

[Thrustyjust]

Well, Oxford Marshalls want even more money for the service at £279 . Cant believe that in a radius of 25 miles of my house , I have from £160 to £279 for the same service , all at main Skoda dealers..........

[SootySport]

4 hours ago, Nemesis said:

My A4 Audi 3.0 litre  Diesel was due an oil service recently, they rang me to let me know (how kind are they?)..... so here's my question(s) to the booking clerk (please note the PC term for girly)

"On account you're franchise haven't seen my car for anything other than warranty work at 700 miles (near 50k on the clock now).... how do you know when the service is due? Does my car talk to Audi via the Sim card in the MMI unit?? If so could you show me my signature on the Data Protection forms please??? And who do I send the bill to for the Mobile Data you've used.....  that I have to pay for???? I promise the mark up won't sting as much as your poor workmanship !"

She yammered and stammered a bit then announced that she was bemused as to why I was so terse with her..... so I reminded her that when they did the warranty work they neglected to actually re-assemble my car..... and on account that caused me no end of aggro they would never see my car or me again, I also requested at that time that they remove my contact details from their database..... so why wouldn't I be a bit terse????

Anyhoo.... on to the nause of warranty and the T's & C's of said items..... My Audi warranty makes no mention of OEM or equivalent parts should I choose to service the car elsewhere, it just says must be maintained in accordance with the schedule..... however the fair trades agreement (also known as the Treaty of Rome) states that your warranty cannot be revoked as long as you have used OEM or equivalent specification parts and the work is carried out be a suitably qualified person, (it doesn't mention it but you should use a VAT registered company).

For my Audi the filters are made by MANN and the oil is made by Castrol, the sump nut and washer are easy and cheap enough to buy from Audi, dead simple really..... as long as you keep all of your receipts!! I got queried about servicing recently when one of my HID's gave up & I took it in to get replaced under warranty (yes it's covered.....that surprised me too) "hello sir, we've done the bulb for you but can't see the last scheduled service on the Audi record"...... "nope says I, you won't.... because I tried to ring up and get it registered and the franchise I called refused..... so here's the receipts"..... quick peruse and referral up the food chain and..... "Oh that fine sir.... thanks for choosing Halesowen Audi"...... I'm going back there soon for the Haldex coupling oil change and the first MOT.

Also I got offered 'price match' when the second franchise rang me about my service being due soon..... There we go with the Data theory again..... they've only done one service for me and it was ok to the point of when I asked for 4 tires and they said "we've fitted them sir, they are all the same name and size but there are 2 different tread patterns.... that will be fine won't it sir?..... like he was some kind of Jedi master pulling the old mind trick"...... "errr no not really..... you know the car's a Quatro right??"..... "yes sir, I know that (with a roll of the eyes thrown in for good measure)"..... "Well I'd love it to perform like one and not destroy it's own tires due to different traction performance"...... they got really ****** with me when I told them to take them off and re-mount my original boots..... but before they did I had a quick peek at the car.... they hadn't mounted the pairs front to back.... noooooo far too sensible.... they had put them 2 on the left and the others on the right..... Pure Genius!! BTW that's Wolverhampton Audi.

Anyway enough of the ramblings...... Main dealers are in my humble opinion incompatible with the products they represent.... I shall continue to buy the correct parts and go to see my trusted garage for all items except Timing Belts, and Haldex Couplings(the former because it it breaks within it's life time it's the main dealers problem and the latter because Audi quoted a cheaper price).

 

I'm popping to the Westfield factory today, it's been ages since I looked at the ASBO.... time to crack on , anyone in Essex need anything????

 

Nem...............    

Hi, Paul .  You still working at Bradwell?

 Your A4 doesn't have an Haldex coupling, it's permanent  Torsen 4wd.   Only the A3's and TT's have the the Haldex with 2wd & 4wd when required.  

[Nemesis]

I shall be calling them in the next ten seconds to clarify the situation..... standby for further updates.... and yes for my sins I'm still at Bradwell mate.

 

I'll give you an update ASAP.

 

 

[Nemesis]

Bernie.... you just saved me some dosh..... the dolly bird booked it in for the Haldex and MOT, the service dept. translated that to brake fluid and MOT, I have cancelled my appointment due to the fact the brake fluid had already been done and shall be getting a local MOT..... beers are on me next time!

 

Why aren't you an Audi main dealer? You know more about them than they do !

 

 

 

 

[CraigHew]

7 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

Why aren't you an Audi main dealer? You know more about them than they do !

Clearly a case of being too honest?

[SootySport]

Yes, I would definitely fail as a businessman. The only main dealer employee I ever talk to is the workshop head honcho as he seems to be the only technical bod  that knows how a car works, the rest of the staff are just sales persons.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

I hate main dealers. I've had more to do with them this year than ever before due to an issue with a car under warranty.

If someone came up with a dealership that

1.employed normal people that are knowledgeable rather than smarmy a********s (any arnold clark dealer) and women trussed up to the nines wearing massive heels (Audi glasgow) that dont actualy know anything whatsoever about the cars they sell.

2. Have a service department that charge real world prices and realistic labour charges and don't send the car home in a worst state than when it went in (Arnold Clark linwood ford)

3. Have a set financial fair product rather than them trying it on with a crap deal with 12.9% Apr (best deal sir). Really I can get a loan for 3%? Oh ok well we can do 4.9 then. 

If this dealership exists with the 3 stipulations above I'm in. I currently lease our 2 cars and its great however the only issue is I have to deal with the pillock dealers for servicing.

[jeff oakley]

Nemesis wrote quite a lot and questioned if his car communicated. Well in short not sure on that but all cars sold in the EU from March 2018 must be fitted with Ecall, which seems a good idea when you explain it will automatically call the emergency service if there is an accident. 

The security service like this as well as every car is then trackable in real time and potentially they can shut them down if need be, so no more Hollywood car chases.

The downside for consumers is they are using this to try to control servicing etc, so your car will tell them when it needs a service, they call you to offer an appointment cutting out your choice as they are not making this information available to the aftermarket independents. The cheesy film below explains the issue but the connected car is here and they are trying to use this as a wedge for far reaching aims.

 

 

[Nemesis]

Nicely put......

[DE04*]

My daughter has a Audi A3,at the end of this month is 2 years old. At the beginning of this month a notice came on the dash saying it is due a oil change and inspection in 30 days.(2 yearly service) I phoned and booked it in where she bought it at Audi Bexley. They quoted £337 which I thought was expensive. So on Thursday I went to a Audi service centre as I was passing and asked for there service price. There price was £472. I asked what I got for that price,he said oil,oil filter and pollen filter. So I said that is about £50 where is my other £422 gone,he said we have to reset the computer,so l laughed and he just said it is what Audi charge. Then he said if it was OUT of warranty it would be £167. So I got up and walked out shaking my head. That is £305 difference between in and out of warranty. £337 doesn't seem so bad now.

[Blatman]

5 hours ago, DE04* said:

Then he said if it was OUT of warranty it would be £167.

I'd love to see the clause in the Audi warranty T's and C's that covers this, especially how it deals with the cost differences for in and out of warranty.

[jeff oakley]

7 hours ago, Blatman said:

I'd love to see the clause in the Audi warranty T's and C's that covers this, especially how it deals with the cost differences for in and out of warranty.

So would the IAAF who represent the independent after market as I suspect would trading standards. That looks like blatant price fixing to me