I feel RIPPED OFF....

[CraigR]

Also in the North Shore but i go to BWA in seven hills. They have heaps of courtesy cars that they provide for no extra which is really helpful since all the good mechanics seem to be out in the middle of nowhere.

North Shore VW have free courtesy cars and shuttle bus also.

[HenryJr]

What was done on your service?

Just the standard 45k factory logbook service

[TinyCarGuy]

I work at a euro specialist in Five Dock.
Can confidently say we do a better job than most dealerships and their mechanics, for much less money.
The youngest guy in the shop has 12yrs or more under his belt. I'm not saying all dealerships or their mechanics are bad, I've worked in a few myself. But you're playing a lottery with who works on your car, and paying a fortune for wham bam thank you mam service.
Specialist shops spend time on your car, mechanics talk to you personally, there is a lot more transparency if you go to the right ones.
Dealership labour rates are massive now.
If you're worried about not getting as good a service, or warranty issues or quality of parts/oils, all I can say is, find a good independent, stop worrying and start saving!


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[Dan199]

I feel even more ripped off now i just paid $629 for a 30k service at VW Brighton!!!!!

[green_comet]

So getting your car serviced at an independent mechanic won't affect the factory warranty? As long as long as the work is done on time and to a high standard using genuine parts?

My car is coming up for it's first service in a couple months and I want to get Fortune Automotive next to my work to service it, but I'm worried about it affecting the factory warranty.

[Hillbilly]

So getting your car serviced at an independent mechanic won't affect the factory warranty? As long as long as the work is done on time and to a high standard using genuine parts?

My car is coming up for it's first service in a couple months and I want to get Fortune Automotive next to my work to service it, but I'm worried about it affecting the factory warranty.

The only thing it may affect is how generous or otherwise VW will be if you have problems down the track. As long as the work is done in a licenced premises by appropriate staff with the CORRECT oils and parts it is perfectly OK.

Make sure they use the VW APPROVED oils If they havent got it buy it yourself and supply it . Thats what I do at the dealers as its nearly half the price they charge at a service

Perhaps for a first service it may be desirable to get the dealer to do it as there may be software upgrades or recalls to be applied.

[prn31]

I have my Passat R36 serviced by an independent VW specialist. I though long and hard about doing the same with our new Golf. However I decided to go with our local VW dealer mainly for the reasons outlined by Hillbilly above. VWA's generosity for out-of-warranty claims. I know the dealer will be a little more expensive, but after three years and the big 60,000km service I will take it to my independent.

[TinyCarGuy]

Yeh, fair enough. I worked at BMW and Porsche, and they definitely helped out the customers with full dealer service history more willingly than ones that had never given them a cent after purchase.
Especially Porsche was really good with out of warranty claims when you had a long history with the dealer.

If you have a serious issue with the car and it's within the 3yrs, they can't deny the claim as long as you've used approved maintenance products and serviced at the right intervals.

If you have a very good relationship with your dealer, I guess it's like an insurance investment, could come in handy or could be money down the toilet.


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[Mountainman]

I get our Polo and Golf (and Subaru before that) serviced at Advanced Service Centre in Toowoomba even though we now live in Brisbane. Either car only uses 12L of fuel to do a return trip anyway and I find the time to do the 1.5 hour trip each way. They are VW, Audi, Subaru & Mazda specialists and have consistently done honest perfect servicing on all 3 cars for years. The basic oil/filter change service on the Polo is $240 ($260 for the Golf from memory) compared with $423 quoted at the local VW dealership. If Advanced Service Centre is making a good profit on that then the dealership must think it has a license to print money.

[insanesam]

I hate the feeling of paying someone to something but only to second guess on whether they've actually performed the job or whether they've performed the job properly.
I had to service my mum's Polo over the week (2 year service). I was quoted ~630 at VW which included the brake fluid flush and pollen filter replacement. I called a few VW specialists and was quoted ~550 which isn't really that much cheaper.

In this instance I decided to do it myself and forgo the remaining 11 months warranty (the car has 18000km on it in 2 years, so its very unlikely that anything engine related will go wrong).
Repco had 30% off storewide so I bought Penrite 5w30 Enviro+ for $60, Castrol Dot4 brake fluid for $10.
Ordered a Mann oil filter $16, Mann Pollen filter $26.
All up $112 and 1.5 hours of my time on jackstands which included topping up the very important washer fluid and checking suspension components/tyres etc.