Servicing Tiguan - Discounts/deals

[jimbomort]

Thought I'd start a thread on servicing, particularly as I dont have a lot of faith in dealership servicing departments and my brother who had some VW vans found his local dealer outrageously expensive on any kind of work.

I also wonder whether anyone has sought out servicing elsewhere (ie not at a dealer) or found a dealer whose servicing they are very happy with.

Myself, a friend and one other who have 4 tigs b/w us, were interested in making a bulk servicing deal, both to reduce cost and help ensure quality as a bad job means they lose a quite a number of customers. We wanted one or two more ideally, but in any event our local dealer suggested we needed at least 8 in the group before they would talk turkey.

Anyway interested in others experiences with servicing and/or interest in such bulk arrangements, where geographically possible.

I note Arctra's excellent thread on care and my apologies if this thread duplicates a servicing thread I have missed.

[harrip]

I guess if I were a VW dealer I probably would not play ball either. On the basis most folks would go back to where they bought their car anyway, what's really in it for the dealer to agree to a discount?

I'm happy to pay a 'bit' of a premium for servicing in return for the free extended warranty and roadside assist, but if it becomes silly UltraTune or an independent will get my business.

[clip]

I think you'd have more success putting that proposition to someone like Ultra T' than a VW dealer. I'd be finding a dealer or VW specialist that you you can develop a relationship with, and force the relationship by convincing them that you will be straight up and loyal if they are - be up front with them about it, most will appreciate it. Might then have a better chance of getting that servicing deal that you're chasing?

[Sharkie]

Jimbo, since you're not to far away from Brisbane I'd be looking at a specialist rather than a dealer to do your servicing. The GC and Brisbane have a few VW specialists that to a far better job than a dealer with better quality of work for much less.

Talk to jmac on here, a VW/Audi/Porsche master tech, he does all my servicing and prides himself in doing a good job. And the price is amazing.

For 4 of you he'd probably even do a trip down to Byron ...

[T&M]

I'm happy to pay a 'bit' of a premium for servicing in return for the free extended warranty and roadside assist, but if it becomes silly UltraTune or an independent will get my business.

That's very funny - so do you want that number for Ultratune then?

[Sharkie]

I'm happy to pay a 'bit' of a premium for servicing in return for the free extended warranty and roadside assist, but if it becomes silly UltraTune or an independent will get my business.

You have free roadside assist no matter where you service your car ..... free extended warranty is tied to the dealer and not transferrable to another (2nd owner or dealer). Not worth the paper its wriiten on IMO due to all the exclusions ... read the fine print.

How about 50% off the VW service cost ?

AND do you think a qualified mech is servicing your car ... its an apprentice in 90% of the cases ... do you want someone learning on you car ? I know I don't ....

[harrip]

As I said only when VW prices become silly in MY opinion will I go elsewhere. As for UltraTune, I've used them in the past and they've been fine. You even get the whole car back when you take it in

The extended warranty saved me quite a few $$ on a Golf I had so I cant discount the advantages of this. I appreciate there is a lot of small print though and you may not get 100% of costs back.

[Maverick]

As I said only when VW prices become silly in MY opinion will I go elsewhere. As for UltraTune, I've used them in the past and they've been fine. You even get the whole car back when you take it in

They have no idea what they're doing, they might be alright for a straight service on a EA falcon but they don't have the tools, the experience or the knowledge to perform a VW service. This has been discussed before and they didn't even do the service correctly for one of the supporters and left off some major inspection items.

And would you trust them to use the correct oil after they used a no name bulk oil that didn't meet any standards in all the cars serviced at at least of the locations? They had heaps of castrol signs up but were selling an oil that cost less than a dollar a litre. This oil blew the engine on a VW Van, VW tested the oil and it didn't meet specifications, customer had to wear the cost of replacement at $20,000.

If you trust a franchisee where they specialise in servicing for people that don't understand anything about cars and with high staff turnover by all means feel free but don't be surprised if VW knock back warranty work down the track or it effects your resale value.

[harrip]

OK. So if VW servicing pricing becomes silly you still go there. Fine. UltraTune was given as an example.

As this is hyperthetical from my perspective, perhaps we should return to the point of the thread - grouping together to get discounts from a dealership.

Will it happen? And if you do get a discount, are we just going to start accusing the dealers of cutting corners?

[Maverick]

OK. So if VW servicing pricing becomes silly you still go there. Fine. UltraTune was given as an example.

As this is hyperthetical from my perspective, perhaps we should return to the point of the thread - grouping together to get discounts from a dealership.

Will it happen? And if you do get a discount, are we just going to start accusing the dealers of cutting corners?

I don't see any real benefits. If you're a corporate customer you get 10% so this is all you could expect.

There are dealers that look after you around the place and others that don't. In Brisbane I use Highway, they look after me with reasonable prices that are a lot cheaper than Austral and I use them for all my servicing including the interim 6 month one.

Sure I could save a few dollars by going elsewhere but I get a free loan car, you have an ongoing relationship which helps if you have a warranty claim that is a bit iffy or out of warranty, better resale value, service history is logged into the VW system so it's all online if you have to take it to another dealer for warranty work and so on.

The quality of work is good, I know that they use the correct oil and that the work will be performed (unlike with places like ultratune).

Each to their own but I prefer using the dealer for the peace of mind, if they stuff something up they'll fix it and by only taking it there it leaves no room for finger pointing.