MK6 servicing in Melbourne. Dealer or VW Specalist?

[sharkablue]

I am coming up to my first service for my MK6 GTI. I got it from Barloworld Glen Waverley.

What are people's thoughts in going to a VW dealer or VW Specialist for their first service? And then later on for later services?

If you know the costs you paid for your 15,000km services around Melbourne, and if I was at a dealer or VW Specialist we can get a nice list forming of where the best places to go are.

[sharkablue]

To start I suppose, I have heard that VW Burwin (Knox city), have very reasonable pricing ($380 from memory) for the 15,000 service.

[Corey_R]

Sorry... what's the topic of this thread?

Dealer vs VW Specialist, or where to get your car serviced in Melbourne?
If it's the former, lets get rid oft he melbourne stuff.... if it's melbourne, lets get rid of the debating stuff. Otherwise the thread will just become useless...

[sharkablue]

Sorry... what's the topic of this thread?

Dealer vs VW Specialist, or where to get your car serviced in Melbourne?
If it's the former, lets get rid oft he melbourne stuff.... if it's melbourne, lets get rid of the debating stuff. Otherwise the thread will just become useless...

Corey relax. I thought it made perfect sense. I have gone and fleshed out my O.P to help.

Just wanting to compare servicing costs across Melbourne betweens dealers and VW specialists... All in the name of finding the best price.

[ravun]

Actually Corey_R this is a great topic and very relevant to me also. I got my car from the ACT so will not be getting it serviced from my dealer any time soon. Also I have not had any problems with my car so far to require the need to go to a local dealer to sort out any warranty work. So just for the fact I want to get a tune done soon, I am leaning towards Volkspower so I get my service and stage 1 done at the same time.

But I am also interested in hearing other peoples experiences with servicing options in Melbourne.

[DDTW]

To maintain the new car warranty, must we only service at a VW dealer?

[Corey_R]

The reason I posted is, this topic has already been done in many places already. The "debate" about whether to have your service at a dealer or at an aftermarket specialist in other threads has gone to many many pages. So I view that as a separate topic. It is not specific to VIC people, nor is it specific to the MK6 forum, and therefore I would be renaming the title and moving this thread to general.

The topic of where to get your cars serviced in Melbourne is much more useful as a "reference" if it's just a listing of places that members know of. If those listings are "scattered" through a really long thread intertwined with other debates, it becomes much less useful. This should really also be moved to general, but I know what most of you MK6 guys are like, so I'd probably leave it here.

If the topic is "how much to service your MK6 GTI", then you need to be clear on that. Also, did you look at the existing threads on that topic?

If it's for the "servicing costs in general for the MK6 in melbourne" you need to ask people to be clear about what car they have, and what service it was (15,000 / 1 year, etc) so that it again, stays relevent and useful. Please confirm what your direction is and I'll clean up the thread and edit/move it appropriately. Thanks.

[MkVIGTI]

To maintain the new car warranty, must we only service at a VW dealer?

The short answer is no. As long as they perform the service according to the book, the warranty remains. I got mine done at Burwin btw

[MiiLos]

hey guys,

i know a mechanic that works on a range of cars, going from your average commodore, to the oldskool classics, to the jap specs and all the way to the big boy porches, odd lamborghini and ferrari (he was actually doing a full rebuild on a 351 GT the last time i was at the workshop).

the place is ACCC certified and services he carries out are by the book and maintain new car warranty (all genuine parts are used for the life of the warranty and then the option is given to use other brands to save costs).

anyway in saying all that, i have only recently been put on to this mob by a good friend while selling my Golf TDI that needed a few things done. they gave me great service at VERY good prices. the bloke that runs it has told me that he can do the services to my yet to arrive GTI for under $200 using all VW parts and recommends 10k service intervals. going by the above do you guys reckon its something I should consider?

finally i plan to keep the car for a good while and this mob is not a big 'franchise' type mechanic yet it seems to be very popular in the immediate community.

[Maverick]

hey guys,

i know a mechanic that works on a range of cars, going from your average commodore, to the oldskool classics, to the jap specs and all the way to the big boy porches, odd lamborghini and ferrari (he was actually doing a full rebuild on a 351 GT the last time i was at the workshop).

In other words you mean a ultratune/kmart auto/repco style of garage that specialises in nothing.

the place is ACCC certified and services he carries out are by the book and maintain new car warranty (all genuine parts are used for the life of the warranty and then the option is given to use other brands to save costs).

What is ACCC certified, there is no such thing.

As for maintaining new car warranty this would require them to know what they're doing on each car so I don't know how they can do this if they don't specialise. Following the book isn't always required as there are other areas that require attention and only a specialist/dealer would know these.

anyway in saying all that, i have only recently been put on to this mob by a good friend while selling my Golf TDI that needed a few things done. they gave me great service at VERY good prices. the bloke that runs it has told me that he can do the services to my yet to arrive GTI for under $200 using all VW parts and recommends 10k service intervals. going by the above do you guys reckon its something I should consider?

The under $200 I would question, an oil change on the GTI using 504.00/507.00 oil is getting close to that let alone the inspection side etc of the service. As for recommended 10K intervals I assume he means 6 monthly as well? This is another topic entirely but the service book should be followed not the word of someone who doesn't specialise in the brand (the intervals are 12months/15K but for severe conditions 6months/7500K is recommended).

[Corey_R]

Yep, I can atest to that. 5L of 504 oil has a retail of around $75 and the oil filter and sump plug is $25 - thus you're already at $100 before the labour... and that's only for the oil.

[MiiLos]

In other words you mean a ultratune/kmart auto/repco style of garage that specialises in nothing.

Well they are all franchises to me, there's 100's of them. This place is a one off, and no they don't specifically specialise in a certain field but they seem to know what they are doing and are up front and don't give you any bulls**t.

What is ACCC certified, there is no such thing.

As for maintaining new car warranty this would require them to know what they're doing on each car so I don't know how they can do this if they don't specialise. Following the book isn't always required as there are other areas that require attention and only a specialist/dealer would know these.

Sorry i got that one totally wrong! I should have typed VACC, mind was elsewhere.. And I see your point with your other comment, however it was obvious that the guys I spoke to knew what they were on about. Anything I would query, they had an answer straight off the bat and it was the same stuff i got told by the VW dealers. Like I said before, i was told if i was to carry out my services with them my new car warranty would not be affected at all. Not trying to promote these guys, just my opinion on what I saw and the service they gave me with my car.

The under $200 I would question, an oil change on the GTI using 504.00/507.00 oil is getting close to that let alone the inspection side etc of the service. As for recommended 10K intervals I assume he means 6 monthly as well? This is another topic entirely but the service book should be followed not the word of someone who doesn't specialise in the brand (the intervals are 12months/15K but for severe conditions 6months/7500K is recommended).

Yep I was very surprised with $200 also as I've been servicing my TDI myself for 3 years until I sold it just recently (oil + filter cost me $100 from VW). But that's what they charge. He also told us that our family Rav4 that just had its warranty period expire would cost about $120 to service. BTW he claims that their service would be no different to what a VW dealership would provide.

They are called - AB Automotive.

[hooba]

My 5 cents, I don't understand the logic behind spending $30K+ for a new car and then saving a couple of hundred bucks a year by not servicing it at the dealer while it is still under warranty.

The money you've saved won't cover the depreciation cost for a month. Take it to the dealer, let them give it the software updates and fix any of the little niggles that VW pick up after having a thousands of customers field test them.

Once the warranty expires, now that's another story.

[MiiLos]

Yeah i get what you are saying and its most likely that I will end up doing my services with the dealership while under warranty.

I guess i was just looking for some opinions on a what would be a pretty good alternative from what I've seen.

[Johnbu]

Yep, I can atest to that. 5L of 504 oil has a retail of around $75 and the oil filter and sump plug is $25 - thus you're already at $100 before the labour... and that's only for the oil.

I'm not debating the pros and cons of dealer servicing.

But $200 is what I would a fair price for a 15k service AT the dealer.

4.6l of 504/507 oil in bulk would be $46, oil filter at $10. Sump plug washer $0.10

2 hours of labour at $20/hour.

The other $90 is for overheads & profit.

I think that is a fair price.

Dont forget the dealer makes more money from servicing than selling cars.

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