Warranty servicing

[GTI JOE]

Valid points, yes, however, most people know how over priced dealers are on their servicing..that's the area they make the most money.
If a car was serviced by a reputable VW servicing centre (non dealer), by the book, then there should be no issues with this at all, IMHO. At the end of the day, what counts, is the physical inspection of the vehicle, whether it's from you or a mechanical workshop. As I have mentioned before on this forum, log books, although useful to a certain extent for private sales, mean jack-squat when trading-in. So, why spend more for the same service you would get from a dealer? Reputable independents have the same gear as the dealers, and believe me, you would be saving a lot more than $100 a year So, if you still believe in the dealership giving you a far superior experience and have bucket loads of money...then go for it.

BTW, the only time I would take my car to the dealership is obviously for warranty work.

[STV4SYT]

OK, this doesnt make sense, you want to save a few dollars on servicing and yet trade your car in??

I just had the 15k service done on my GTI, in my suburb there are 2 reputable VW/AUdi specialists and a Genuine Dealer Workshop.

List price of the service at VW was $105 more than than the independents.

While the car was at VW the tech ran a VAS scan of the system and picked up a recurring fault code on the rain-light sensor, this explained my random climate control functionality that i had reported (and was a known fault on vw's database) and had the sensor replaced at the same time.

To me thats worth a little bit more, and i didnt pay full retail as there is always a bit of movement if you play it the right way.

[sVWatt]

OK, this doesnt make sense, you want to save a few dollars on servicing and yet trade your car in??

I just had the 15k service done on my GTI, in my suburb there are 2 reputable VW/AUdi specialists and a Genuine Dealer Workshop.

List price of the service at VW was $105 more than than the independents.

While the car was at VW the tech ran a VAS scan of the system and picked up a recurring fault code on the rain-light sensor, this explained my random climate control functionality that i had reported (and was a known fault on vw's database) and had the sensor replaced at the same time.

To me thats worth a little bit more, and i didnt pay full retail as there is always a bit of movement if you play it the right way.

This is great reading - I was dealer inclined but have not had a great experience from the Belconnen dealer. Both the service rep and the brand manager have yet to contact me, even though both said they would. Maybe they don't want my business, maybe they are not hungry enough for business, but courtesy would have me at least call the customer back if that's what they'd agreed...

...dealers need to meet (realistic) expectations.

[brad]

The other thing to consider is resale. So you save $100 a year by going to an independent. I for one if I go to look at a 2nd hand car would use non Vw dealer logbook stamps as a tool to bargain down or walk away.

As a buyer if the vendor has been a tight ass on servicing. What else have they skimped on over the lifetime of the car?

Maybe running it on 91 or e15 to save a few $$$.

Cheap tyres and non gen brakes?

Available software updates not being applied due to lack of Proper diagnostics equipment. Also faults being missed due to the above.

For an extra couple of hundred over the life of the car is it really worth it?

I think not.

When it comes to dealer service, I don't think cost necessarily equals quality. In many ways, it shows that the owner is willing to blindly give their car over to the dealer without considering what they get in return. I pay a specialist independant to do my servicing & I know that they do more to the car than what the dealer does.

Yes there's a possibility that they have run 92 or E10 - maybe they've even run E85. Maybe they've tried to save money on fuel so that they can get that "all important" dealer service stamp.

Cheap tyres? You can tell if they are cheap just by looking at the brand on the sidewall. Don't like it? Easily fixed with a trip to the local tyre shop.

non-gen brakes? Yes please! The OEM ones aren't the pinnacle of braking technology.

Software Updates? I think once a vehicle is a few years old the software updates are few & far between. Only this morning a mate with a 2005 M3 BMW was telling me that his independant specialist updated all the software for his factory GPS/Bluetooth/DVD & turned off the bluescreen when in motion...... for free! Independants do get access to software updates.

Extra couple of hundred over the life of the car? I saved $400 (about 35% cheaper) on my last service. Over the next 3 years that I intend to keep the car, it will add up. What will the car be worth by the time I sell? Bugger-all really. I think most purchasers by then will be happy that I've serviced the car at all. Plenty don't.

[GTI JOE]

OK, this doesnt make sense, you want to save a few dollars on servicing and yet trade your car in??

I just had the 15k service done on my GTI, in my suburb there are 2 reputable VW/AUdi specialists and a Genuine Dealer Workshop.

List price of the service at VW was $105 more than than the independents.

While the car was at VW the tech ran a VAS scan of the system and picked up a recurring fault code on the rain-light sensor, this explained my random climate control functionality that i had reported (and was a known fault on vw's database) and had the sensor replaced at the same time.

To me thats worth a little bit more, and i didnt pay full retail as there is always a bit of movement if you play it the right way.

When did I say I wanted to trade my car in? I gave two options Private OR Trade-In. My point is that if you are loyal to a dealership, buy the car from them and get it serviced there for many years. When it comes to trading-in, as an alternate choice of sale, the service books don't count for anything, no better deal for your loyalty, just bottom line market value BTW, I sold my previous cars privately but acknowledge that there are many who prefer to trade-in.

[STV4SYT]

At the end of the day, each to their own. I will continue to use my local VW service centre comfortable in knowing that when i go to sell my car privately, as i do with all my cars, that noone will be able to use that against me in bargaining, and it will be a "feature" in my advert.

I also have piece of mind that if something does go wrong with the car during warranty then there is a lot higher guarantee that the issue will be resolved without any conflict (Dealers hate Ultratune stamps espescially).

I also have the added bonus that even if the car is out of warranty, "Good Will" fixes are a lot more likely to be granted if the car is bought and serviced by VW for its life.

All in all if i wanted a car that was cheap to service, id have bought a falcodore.

I went into my VW experience fully aware of the running costs involved and was, and am prepared to maintain that.

[brad]

All the good will went out the door for me when they sent me a letter saying "sorry, we've dumped the franchise. Your nearest dealer is now 45km away."

[Umai Naa!!]

Dealership servicing is what helped us sell our 120,000klm-travelled, 2004 MK4 Generation for $12,500 privately. The new owner was looking at those sorts of things specifically.

Unless an independant is in bed with a dealer, they don't have access to software updates. Even then, they're not supposed to just update control modules with gay abandon. Independants aren't always that great at following the service schedule, either. Only the other day we had to do the balance of a 60,000klm service at the 75 for a customer, because a so-called VW specialist CBF'd servicing the DSG.