Is this normal? Golf GTI repair costs - ACCC

[raz25]

My first post here!

Got a question regarding some repairs that I recently had done at a VW dealership in Sydney, as part of my servicing. I have a 2014 MY14 Golf GTi. I took the car in for regular servicing last week. Later that day received a call from the dealership saying that they found 2 issues which required new part replacement and labour: Oil Pump and High pressure fuel pump. Total came to almost $1600! My car has done about 50k kms since 2015. I mostly only drive it on the weekends and have had it serviced regularly from the same VW dealership for the past 5 years.

The car is out of warranty so I went ahead and got the repairs done, as I was told that the car could be dangerous to drive due to the defects.

After some researching I found that the consumer law actually covers repairs/maintenance for cars even if they are out of warranty. Do you think these repairs would come under this consumer law to be fixed by the dealership at their expense? Should I bother lodging a complaint with ACCC to get the cost/partial cost refunded? Any advice would be great!

[tigger73]

It’s actually a bit late now if you’ve paid for it.

Dealerships are well known for trying to extract extra money while you have your car in for a service. If it’s not essential that the fix happens that day then I’d be taking it for a second opinion at a VW independent workshop.


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[LunchboxVRS]

Hold up a minute......did you say oil pump?

Is that what they actually replaced?

I had a high pressure fuel pump replaced under warranty on my 2012 polo gti. It was marking a tapping sound and the warning light come on. Wasn't actually the pump. The fuse fell out so it sat at max pressure and the relief Valve Was constantly going off. They just jump to conclusions from the noise. Didn’t even plug the computer in. They tried to blame me for the fuse but turned out the locking mechanism at the back wasn’t locked in all the way in the factory.

[raz25]

Hold up a minute......did you say oil pump?

Is that what they actually replaced?

I had a high pressure fuel pump replaced under warranty on my 2012 polo gti. It was marking a tapping sound and the warning light come on. Wasn't actually the pump. The fuse fell out so it sat at max pressure and the relief Valve Was constantly going off. They just jump to conclusions from the noise. Didn’t even plug the computer in. They tried to blame me for the fuse but turned out the locking mechanism at the back wasn’t locked in all the way in the factory.

It was the "Vehicle tandem pump" and "high pressure fuel pump" that required replacement.

[raz25]

It’s actually a bit late now if you’ve paid for it.

Dealerships are well known for trying to extract extra money while you have your car in for a service. If it’s not essential that the fix happens that day then I’d be taking it for a second opinion at a VW independent workshop.


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It was made to seem as though the car should not be driven until this issue was fixed. I, at that moment, decided to go ahead with the repair. Will ring up the ACCC and get their advice and see if I have any grounds for a complaint. Thanks for your help!

[LunchboxVRS]

Ah...in your case they should be one in the same.....runs off the end of the head and houses the high pressure fuel pump and the vacuum pump.

Was there any lose in engine or brake performance before the service?

Did you have an check engine light on?


Which service was it?

$1600 seems steep.......The pumps not that hard to change.....do you an itemised invoice.

[tigger73]

It was made to seem as though the car should not be driven until this issue was fixed. I, at that moment, decided to go ahead with the repair. Will ring up the ACCC and get their advice and see if I have any grounds for a complaint. Thanks for your help!

Yeah the service advisors are paid bonuses on the additional services they sell customers.

If they don’t get you to do the additional repairs they don’t get paid their bonus.

Not saying these things didn’t need to get done but it’s likely the service advisor stretched the truth to get you to commit to getting these things done “while your car is still on the hoist”.


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[ABCD]

Any chance you might share which dealership? Don’t need names just something like the one near the airport or northern beaches or upper north shore or similar.

[raz25]

Ah...in your case they should be one in the same.....runs off the end of the head and houses the high pressure fuel pump and the vacuum pump.

Was there any lose in engine or brake performance before the service?

Did you have an check engine light on?


Which service was it?

$1600 seems steep.......The pumps not that hard to change.....do you an itemised invoice.

Nope, no engine light on when I dropped it off for the 75k/60month service.

[raz25]

Any chance you might share which dealership? Don’t need names just something like the one near the airport or northern beaches or upper north shore or similar.

lower north shore

[Umai Naa!!]

The high pressure fuel pump is known to leak fuel.

[LunchboxVRS]

So they said it would be dangerous not to fix straight away but what was dangerous about it?
If it was a leak as suggested I would understand but it sounds like the explanation was vague.

Would you mind posting the invoice so we can see what they charged for parts/labour and what was the service part. You can cover the dealers info.