Shock Horror - we are getting screwed by Car Dealers on W'tee and Servicing

[feenix74]

I understand that the dealership in question is not just an exclusive VW dealership (ie it sells a couple of makes of vehicles), hence the service department works of a couple of makes . . .

[Kachingg]

I walked away from our local dealer after two incidents where the cost of quoted repairs ran off their tongues with out any hint of concern for the customers hip pocket . Okay sir your auto shudder and lumpy gear change cant be fixed as we dont service them that will be $12000 ! then next visit after a repair bill of $3600 for a service and air con bearing failure the reply was yes sir we fixed the bearing with a $1600 new compressor . Oh and by the way sir your Turbo may have an internal oil leak yes we can further reduce your life's savings by another $6000 Not money robbing bastards as mentioned above but CRIMINALS hiding behind a corrupt company .

Yeah damn

It,s posts like this that will keep me going back to max my vw mechanic he owns over 7 vw,s and has many more in various stages of restoration its all he does and his wife does the books and his son is working alongside him all in the family and all love vw,s
Better than seeing the latest apprentice drive out of dealership in his hsv/silvia/wrx ect

[Umai Naa!!]

There isn't exactly a lot of choices for VW oil, especially in a dealership I would have thought. Isn't the VW genuine "Longlife III" 504/507 compliant and pretty much the standard across just about anything seeing the inside of a dealership these days?

Would have to be a mutli-franchise dealership for that to happen.

Meanwhile the '09 Tiguan I worked on yesterday had 15W40 Shell Rimula in it, according to the previous independent workshop's invoice. Certainly looked thick when I drained it...

[Sunny43.5]

When we bought our latest Transporter from a BIG VW dealer in the Valley in Brissie a few years back I only took it to them ONCE after purchase due to total ignorance from their "technicians "and the service personel . Got fobbed off by an idiot who when I told him what was wrong he ignored me and forced me to spend 3 hours driving and then waiting for this idiot to diagnose exactly what was wrong. Then they told me that the doors that rebounded on the striker plates were not faulty and their answer was to spray a lubricant onto the door seals DUH . Any one could tell the seals were compressed to the point that the doors bounced back when you closed them , remember the TV ad where the guy is telling customers who are buying another make of car that his brand is just like a VW and he is shutting the doors to show how they shut with a nice thunk . Well ours shut more like a Chinese built Chery car , oh no thats wrong the Chery would have been better than the VW !! Independants for me all the way now will not go near those big guys anymore .

[Idle]

My Mk7 TDI has had 3 services (by the same dealership) and has had 3 different oils (none VW branded) + the delivery oil so should be getting the "benefit" of all the various additives..

[Ozsko]

If apprentices are not allowed to work on your car how do they become qualified and open up their own independent workshops? I sense a double standard here, I could be wrong of course but it seems one of the first whinges of all these threads, we don't want an apprentice working on our precious car. Where do you think the independent technician got his experience, working on cars as an apprentice of course.

[weonarok]

If apprentices are not allowed to work on your car how do they become qualified and open up their own independent workshops? I sense a double standard here, I could be wrong of course but it seems one of the first whinges of all these threads, we don't want an apprentice working on our precious car. Where do you think the independent technician got his experience, working on cars as an apprentice of course.

Agree wholeheartedly, but, where issues arise is when these apprentices are allowed to work on any/all vehicles completely unsupervised while the overseeing qualified mechanic is working on an unrelated job and management charging full hourly rate for two qualified mechanics, but in reality that wouldn't happen would it.

I personally don't have a problem with apprentices touching my vehicle, but only if the head mechanic is keeping an eye on proceedings, at least from a distance. A first year should be doing more observing/learning than actual hands on and practicing on non customer/wrecks to build confidence, but that also depends on the individual as we all learn at different speeds.

[BenT]

I've always used Customer Care Automotive in Ringwood for 6 new cars over the last 19 years and never had issues getting warranty repairs from the dealer.


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[Ozsko]

Apprentices have always worked unsupervised to some extent if not totally a lot of the time. That is how they get experience at making decisions and working out how to do stuff and it is how your favorite independent workshop tech got to be where he is. My workshop/dealer experience goes back over 40 years and it has never been any different. My son who stupidly followed in my foot steps was running a work shop while still an apprentice as that is what was required of him as part of his training but I have never seen any other workshop do that. As you may have guessed this is a bit of a hobby horse of mine. The industry is in dire straits and can't get enough trained personnel to fill positions and car owners are going to be paying through the neck because of it in a few years time as dealers are paying the thick end of a 100K to keep good techs. This was unheard of a few years ago but not now and my son is loving it and says it will only get better as the shortage gets worse.

[Umai Naa!!]

Dealerships have better quality control these days.

VW dealers are audited annually on it.

Everything is double-checked by another technician, prior to the customer collecting the vehicle.

Dealerships NEED better techinicians with hands-on experience. They aren't going to be much use after four years of pushing a broom around the workshop.