Genuine VW service pricing

[Sunny43.5]

My 2005 T5 2.0 petrol manual is in with Jmac at the moment for timing belt and water pump its on 220000kays so this is its second time for belt etc . Jim is going to give it the once over and service whilst there , I can imagine he will be giving me an update tomorrow as I am sure his expert eyes will find things I tend to ignore .

[S.A]

30K service for my Ed25 Multivan (2011). $765 quoted by VW Chatswood.

[Tornado T5]

Well...expecting a $2,500 service cost for my T5 only to get a call early today saying the service mechanics noticed a knocking noise from the front and short story is they discovered number 2 cylinder cam lobe is worn down. Replacing camshaft and necessary components plus head bolts etc...$5800. this will be on top of the scheduled service bill, so over $8k, which coincidentally is the trade in valuation on my van for a new MY14 Lwb T5GP. To say it hasn't been a good day is an understatement.

[Sunny43.5]

I feel your pain Tornado , late last year our older T5 had a metallic rattle and I also thought it was cam shaft so did the dealer at first , but then they rang and told me it was the aircon compressor bearing had failed causing the mounting bracket to brake . Out of interest I was initially told it would be around $6 k to fix if it was the cam ended up being $1600 for the air con . Then the service advisor gleefully tells me the Turbo has an internal oil leak that needs fixing geez I wonder if this mob know any figure under $6 K to fix things . If I had and endless supply of money {which I don't} that one trip to VW could have cost me $6k for turbo $1600 for air con add in the service done at the time on the auto and the normal service another $2000 that one trip alone would have been $9600 . I won't bring up again what happened five kays from the dealers needless to say it WAS an $11000 repair bill on top of the other work done , and like you how much is the van worth according to VW dealer $4 k to $8 k sigh .

[brad]

+1 to what Frantic says. I'd have thought all these vehicles were well out of warranty or any period of "goodwill" that a dealer might offer.

Either way, I still feel sorry for you. A bill of that magnitude would make me vomit.

[Tornado T5]

I really need to know why people get themselves oops sorry their cars serviced at dealer's? 2-5 Times the price an independent will charge using same parts and oil. For warranty/recall work the dealer still must do it and you have a mechanic On your side who will check it's done, not a person under pressure to meet the dealer/groups deadlines or budgets.

Partly because the independent service mechanic can't sell me a new van at a decent discount knowing I've been servicing at their dealership for 16 years. Also I have a brand new van as a loan vehicle, (I swapped the initial Amarok for a T5GP) and in my case where we supply the animal farming industry, delivery reliability is just too important. A hire van is about $800 for the same time frame as well which can be considered a cost factored into dealer servicing. I know I would pay less at an independent, whether it's half I can't say. Labour would be the biggest component of my repairs I'd imagine. Plus in my case my dealer has been excellent in all those 16 years. I've even called up with a problem, had an O2 sensor replaced right after calling in and been sent away loosing little time. I'm not flush with excess cash but up until now I've had no reason to question my dealer at all. In fact one staff member told me consider changing over before this service to save the cost, god do I wish I had listened.

[Tornado T5]

+1 to what Frantic says. I'd have thought all these vehicles were well out of warranty or any period of "goodwill" that a dealer might offer.

Either way, I still feel sorry for you. A bill of that magnitude would make me vomit.

I would have vomited too however I decided to buy lunch after I popped back into the dealership and discuss the problem and see the parts in question question before deciding what I would do...see I'm starting to joke now, the shock is starting to wane., lol.

[SnowMotion]

I can handle the dealer pricing but certainly don't like the poor service I have received from the dealer I purchased my vehicle.
Having had 2 major warranty problems, I have had to take my car to a different dealer to get the warranty items replaced as the dealer I purchased the vehicle from could / would not identify the faults and repair them.
First fault being faulty Air conditioning where the temperature was 10 degrees different from one side of the van to the other. Second fault being a leaky over boost valve making the van sound like a mooing cow. Second dealer diagnoised it in 20 seconds. First dealer had the van for 4 hours and could not locate the problem.
The icing on the cake was when I was sent the service invoice from the purchasing dealer and our address was listed as "Do Not Contact"
Had to laugh... it is a company that does not want to know when there service is not good enough.

[Sunny43.5]

If you are referring to my post" frantic ", I was at a desperate time as we had scheduled to go away for a trip and the guy I would have rather do the work was up to his armpits in work and could not fit us in . So the dealer was the only other choice , after that shamozzle I vowed never to go to Highway VW again , they even rang me twelve months later to remind me it was due again I very politely told the lady that they would never get another dollar from me ever again . We are due to get our new T5 purchased from Austral VW serviced for the first time soon from what I have read $400 to $500 is the norm at the dealers .Hmm lets see last week my 2005 T5 was in for its second timing belt and water pump plus full service and repair brake pad sensor how much for all that $653 yes Jmac is the man I would dearly love to use him all the time much better value for money and he tells it like it is no nonsense great communication . The only reason I am going to take our new one to the dealer is there are some warranty issues they will have to fix or someone is going to hear this quote from Pulp Fiction
" And I will strike
down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you! "

[Tornado T5]

Well, got my red baby back yesterday and all is great. Even had service manager comment that he was surprised at how smoothly she drove. I quipped, it's because it's a less highly strung, larger capacity engine driving a conventional auto...lol. They asked to take it home by the head service guy to ensure everything was spot on before handing it back to me rather then do a "round the block" test drive.

Ended up doing the equivalent 180K service which is a very big one for T5 5cyl. models, the camshaft replacement, turbo seal and also all brake rotors and pad as undersized for further machining. Total just over $8K...which surprised me (pleasantly) as my initial quote before doing the brakes or finding turbo problem was $8200 for just the service and camshaft replacement work. Parts dept. and service guys did a deal ...add in I had a brand new T5GP dsg and Amarok auto for 9 days saving me plenty in hire charges and I really can't be too upset. Must say, even though current dsg's are far better than the first sample I drove in 2010 the smoothness of the "old red head girl" is unmatched in stop/start suburban and cbd driving, of which I did 600km alone in the loaner van.

I joked over the phone to the service dept... that my credit card didn't have enough funds to cover the payment as my customers all pay on the last day of the month and I settle credit card accounts the next day ..surprised me by offering to let me come in the next day and keep the loaner, and it was already 4:00pm.......probably I paid more then private service centres but in this case the service was exceptional.

[Umai Naa!!]

Good to hear they looked after you, given the circumstances.

[brad]

You can't put a price on the loaners.

van must feel like new!

[Tornado T5]

You can't put a price on the loaners.

van must feel like new!

It certainly does. Did a small trip from work, near moorabbin airport to CBD in peak, to Laverton, back to Kew, work and then to Pakenham to Richmond then finally home so a real good mixture of 100 km of freeway to full on stop/start crawl and it was great. It does seem even smoother then I remember especially the idle, pulls like a train on the freeway, thank god I have cruise as I missed this and Bluetooth the most in the loaner. ....but things come in three's, a small rock hit the bottom right corner on the screen and a crack has opened up, I marked it with a texta and it's already spread 5 cm during my drive....this time I laughed ......any referrals for windscreen replacements appreciated?

[Umai Naa!!]

Try and find someone who's done them before on T5s, as they've got the antanna in the windscreen itself. All too common for windscreen fitters to break the connector at the top of the screen, because they didn't disconnect it.

Also, don't be in a rush to drive it too soon after the glass is in. The sealant needs time to cure and set. Otherwise, if you drive it before it has set, the body flex can cause it to not set properly, and eventually leak.

[Tornado T5]

Try and find someone who's done them before on T5s, as they've got the antanna in the windscreen itself. All too common for windscreen fitters to break the connector at the top of the screen, because they didn't disconnect it.

Also, don't be in a rush to drive it too soon after the glass is in. The sealant needs time to cure and set. Otherwise, if you drive it before it has set, the body flex can cause it to not set properly, and eventually leak.

Thanks for the tips, will be doing some unsealed road driving next Friday so might book a replacement after.