GTI 30,000km service cost

[VW Convert]

To be fair to chris' sentiment. Dealer service is not always as fantastic as people make it out to be.

Ive been a victim of sloppy work twice on my own car which has caused issues that I have had to rectify myself.
I also had a friend come over the other day with his MKV GTI just after having had it serviced and he was just as surprised as I was to see the massive pool of oil forming underneath his car. Lucky we were able to sort it out but he had lost well over a litre of oil as it wasnt even showing on the dipstick. Such a sloppy mistake that just shouldnt happen.

You talk about good will but Id rather establish a relationship with a quality independant workshop. The money you lose in resale will most likely be more than made up by the dollars saved.

Poor service is not solely the domain of dealers, poor service abounds in every facet of our lives be it car service, restaurant service & shop service to name but a few. I've personally had bad experiences with independent workshops, but that is not to say all independents are bad, it's all about the way those individual businesses are managed.

The crux of the issue however is that it is wrong to make the statement that people who get their cars seviced by a dealer are dumb. An appropriate comment might be "I believe independents give better value" but as I said before, stating people are dumb simply because they disagree with your own opinion is rude and demonstrates a lack of understanding of the fact that we are all entitled to an opinion and having a different opinion does not make us wrong.

Cheers

George

[Tim]

Arguing moot points on forums is dumb.
You guys seem to be stuck on 1 comment made. Didnt you ever learn as a child that sticks and stones may break your bones but names can never hurt you?

And no-one said poor service was the sole domain of dealers. I have had all sorts of issues with independants before as well. Worst case was a brake booster vacuum hose not correctly reinstalled. Made for an interesting drive when it popped off.

Again what I have said is having a relationship with someone u know u can trust and is experienced is in my mind the way to go especially if you plan to keep the car long term.

[Maverick]

Out of warranty repairs are at the discression of VW. Not your dealer. Quite often the deal will be VW will supply the parts and your dealer will still charge you labour to fit them.

Out of warranty repairs are based on how much the dealer is prepared to go into bat for you with Volkswagen, the service history of the car and the type of problem. Volkswagen dealers also get a goodwill budget or allowance (one of the VW dealers on here can explain how it works) IIRC.

My simple point is in most instances you will get better service from an independant because the person working on your car will be better qualified/have more industry experience. There are some systems on these cars that even you yourself know more about than the average VW Tech and youre not even a mechanic!

Volkswagen dealers so get a lot of training and access to support from inside Volkswagen and as cars get more complex I can see that this is going to be a big factor in choosing where to service. Even the Mark V and VI's are incredibly complex for your average mechanic, I doubt that many of the specialists would take on even a dsg fluid change let along a clutch pack replacement.

I'm not dismissing that the independent can do a very good job but when you look at the size of many of them only have one or two staff and having to keep the workshop full to pay the bills it can be hard for them to take time out to train or learn new skills whereas the dealership can send staff away on training without too much of an impact. If I had a Mark I, II, III or IV I'd be an at independent in a flash but the Mark V onwards are starting to get pretty complex and that's why I would rather keep my dealer onside by taking it there and maintaining that relationship as it could be beneficial down the track (plus it means no finger pointing).

[Tim]

Volkswagen dealers so get a lot of training and access to support from inside Volkswagen and as cars get more complex I can see that this is going to be a big factor in choosing where to service. Even the Mark V and VI's are incredibly complex for your average mechanic, I doubt that many of the specialists would take on even a dsg fluid change let along a clutch pack replacement.

A good independant specialist should have a working relationship/contact with a dealer that they can turn to if they get themselves in too deep.
MKV isnt that complex. Id argue that once you know your way around it the cars systems can actually make diagnosis far more simple in some regards.

There are squillions of independants that are happy to tackle the DSG fluid change. There are even independant transmission places willing to install LSDs. I doubt a VW dealer would do that. I have even heard of VW Dealers outsourcing gearbox work.

Yes there are procedures required to be followed but none of it is rocket science. Just like there are procedures in refilling standard Auto gearboxes. These procedures are available to independant mechanics and there are anti competition laws especially in the US that stop the protection of this information.

At the end of the day if VW choose to void a warranty on your car then the workshop performing the work is liable. This is why they have insurance. This can and does happen.

It doesnt really matter what anyone says there will always be an opposing argument. That is all im trying to present.

[li21]

If I ever do get a 2nd hand GTi I will do as much of the servicing as I can myself and leaving the rest to the local reputable mechanic.
(prob wont have warranty anymore anyway)

Serving at a dealer is a rip / joke.

If the car is only $50k, seems a bit ridiculous to spend $1000's a year to maintain it.
(think: buy-run cost ratio)

[Fangy]

Hey guys,

Anyone in Melbourne recently got their 30,000km done? If so, can you please let me know how much it was and where you got it done?

Cheers.

[Maverick]

If I ever do get a 2nd hand GTi I will do as much of the servicing as I can myself and leaving the rest to the local reputable mechanic.
(prob wont have warranty anymore anyway)

Serving at a dealer is a rip / joke.

If the car is only $50k, seems a bit ridiculous to spend $1000's a year to maintain it.
(think: buy-run cost ratio)

Labour rates between service centres doesn't vary all that much so you're still up for labour no matter what. If the manufacturer specs certain standards again you're looking at similar costs again. There isn't a huge difference between independents and the VW service centre's dollar wise.

There is no mention of spending thousands of dollars a year on servicing.

The minor services (year 1, 3, 5 and so on) are under $300. The year 2 service is the same but includes brake fluid etc so should be under $600 and year 4 includes DSG, plugs (some models) and so on and is around $800-$1200.

Cost over 5 years around $2500 or $500 per year for servicing.

In the meantime you're paying $700+ for rego each year, 000's in fuel, 000's in depreciation, 000's on finance (maybe), $500+ on insurance plus tyres and so forth.

I don't really see servicing the Golf at the dealer (or independent) to be expensive or over the top especially when you consider the complexity and tools required to do much of the servicing. $500 a year is only a few coffees or beers a week.

[Beaker]

A company can't void your warrenty unless they can prove something you did (or didn't do) contributed to the fault.

I can't comment on VW sevice as I'm yet to take delivery of my first VW, but I can ausure you that my expereince with Nissan has been pretty ordinary.

It went back to the dealer for the fist service and since that debarkle its never been back and I've since serviced it myself (and I'm not a mechanic, just reasonably handy with a spanner), its had some stuff done under warrenty, and while they postured and carried on about it not being serviced by them (and with non genuine parts) it only took me to stand up and point to a few relevant bits of legislation to have it fixed.

My lease car (Ford) has always serviced by the dealer (as a condition of the lease) and so far they have been good.

The point I'm trying to make is, don't be scared of taking it elsewhere due to warrenty - you do have rights, having said that if you build a good relationship with your dealer, it will make it smoother if you do have issues.

[FIR-26T]

A company can't void your warrenty unless they can prove something you did (or didn't do) contributed to the fault.

I can't comment on VW sevice as I'm yet to take delivery of my first VW, but I can ausure you that my expereince with Nissan has been pretty ordinary.

It went back to the dealer for the fist service and since that debarkle its never been back and I've since serviced it myself (and I'm not a mechanic, just reasonably handy with a spanner), its had some stuff done under warrenty, and while they postured and carried on about it not being serviced by them (and with non genuine parts) it only took me to stand up and point to a few relevant bits of legislation to have it fixed.

My lease car (Ford) has always serviced by the dealer (as a condition of the lease) and so far they have been good.

The point I'm trying to make is, don't be scared of taking it elsewhere due to warrenty - you do have rights, having said that if you build a good relationship with your dealer, it will make it smoother if you do have issues.

WELL done, totally agree, could not have said it better myself......

Cheers....