Dealer Rip Offs on repairs

[flango]

As most of you will know we recently got an Audi A8 for SWMBO which is a fantastic car any way when it came it had a couple of minor faults on it.

The electric ariel had stopped working, and there was a strange clicking noise from behind the dash which at first we thought was something to do with the ariel or Indicator relays, anyway long story short. Ariel was replcaed with a pattern part from GSF, Hazard and indicator relays also replaced but the clicking still continued. Vag - Com diagnostics showed nothing and no fault codes

Anyway quick search on the Audi forum and it turns out the clicking is the HVAC motor on the air distribution flap, a common fault the flap goes to its stop point but the little cog that drives it carries on turning and the clicking is the cog teeth going past the stop point.

The motor is burried towards the bulkhead directly behind the centre console, so its a careful dash strip down to remove and replace the motor, fiddly and time consuming but doable. Anyway all in all it took me about 2 hours to do the job, all sorted no more clicking.

Yesterday we get a customer in with exactly the same problems on the same car non functioning ariel and clicking behind dash

He had just come from the dealer and had been quoted the following prices.

Full Ariel replacement £380 Inc VAT (£184 parts rest labour)
Replacement of HVAC central motor £1021 inc VAT (£98 parts rest labour)

Total cost of both jobs a massive £1401

Total cost of my job £120 in parts and 3 hours of my time, that means to be equal to the dealer I could charge £300 per hour labour

One of the reason for the discrepency is the dealer allows 8 hours for the HVAC motor job, no idea where they get that figure from

And they wonder why people don't trust Main dealers?

Moral of the story there are some really good forums out there full of people who have already been through your problems and are willing to share their knowledge and can come up trumps when others haven't a clue or diagnostics are of little help and I'm pleased to say this forum is one of them. So check them out first guys it could save you a fortune

 

[d w124]

A friend took his audi at the dealer for a service for oil and filters to be changed.When he went to pick up the car two day later,got a bill for nearly 2k .They replaced the timing belt without telling him nothing and they said that it had to be changed as the mileage was just over 100k

 

[corned]

Don't get me started.

"Only kidding" - or was I?

 

[amg_me]

I thought merc servicing prices were expensive !!

 

[sunil1234]

isnt this covered by warranty?

my local audi dealer cant even quote me for the right 2yr/20k longlife service. They keep emailing me referring to an "oil service". When i queried does that replace the pollen filter and they said "no", then i said they had the wrong service. Needless to say i never got a reply to that and its been a week!

Whilst waiting for my wifes car to be serviced there one sat morning, a guy called in as he had filled his petrol with some diesel and then panicked and called them (worst thing to do IMHO). The service manager was heard loudly in reception joking with the sales staff along the lines of "that is gonna cost them",

I put petrol in my audi common rail diesel once, drove it a few miles without realising until the shudder on idle at standstill. Called a firm off the web, came, drained it, repalced fuel filter and refilled with some diesel and additive and its been fine for 15k - cost £90!

 

[markjay]

The dealer probably quotes the official VAG repair times - every manufacturer has a comprehensive list of jobs and the time it takes to carry them out, and this is the base for labour charges.

However it is a well known fact that manufacturer's official labour times or overly generous towards the dealer. Many years ago a friend of mine had a dealership dealing mainly in commercial Vans, and he once told me that when a customer puts pressure on them to do the job quickly (as he need to be back on the road with his van), ans was happy to wait, my friend would tell them OK I quote you for a 4 hour job based on manufacturer's spec, I'll do it in 2 as long as you don't complain that I'm charging for 4... but these were different times (early eighties).

 

[LTD]

No wonder their nickname is 'stealers'

Give me an honest Indy any day of the week. You'll probably get more 'real-world' experience.