Continental/Giltraps vs the rest

Started by JAKEM, July 11, 2008, 04:01:08 PM

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JAKEM

Hey all,
Have seen quite a few mentions of people getting their Audis and VWs serviced at Contis and Giltraps.
Now I'm all for getting cars serviced by guys who know and love cars, but the price differential is eye-watering.
Conti's told me the 60k service on the V6 A3 (see this thread for what I'm talking about http://www.vask.org.nz/index.php/topic,10652.0.html) excluding the transmission (cause it's new) would be a grand.
Meanwhile, Autofixr in Newton, (who Cooper Cars uses to do all of their VWs and Audis) quoted me $250!
Obviously they'd be charging a lower hourly rate, but are they also using cheapo plugs/filters etc?
Cheers all,
Jake

djrisk

Motorscience service mine and Turbos S4s, ex giltraps mechanics so they have the know how without the extra cost. Dont get me wrong, they arent cheap, but a little cheaper than the afore mentioned dealers!
Him - Amarok highline
Her - S3 8P

vaudiw

Both our cars are serviced by the agents. GP for my Audi and Tristram for our Passat. The last service on the Passat was $350 for the basic stuff (170k service). The wife got a newer Passat to drive for the day and the car came back valeted (a pretty tough job in itself when you have 2 kids and a dog and a wife who doesn't give a sh@@ about cars!!) My last service on the s4 was $700 including front brake lines and a wheel align. Again nicely valeted and good service. Neither case I thought was too excesive and you get the nice little stamp in your book as well (hopefully worth something at resale).

The price differential between GP and the other crowd is too big to be just labour charge and parts markup, there must be more to it. GP will stick to the service schedule so it may include pollen filter, sparkplugs etc full check over (check your service book for the details of a 60k service), whereas the cheaper one may be just oil and filter and out the door.

You should ask them what it is you will be paying for so you are comparing apples with apples.

JAKEM

Quote from: vaudiw on July 11, 2008, 05:48:05 PM
Both our cars are serviced by the agents. GP for my Audi and Tristram for our Passat. The last service on the Passat was $350 for the basic stuff (170k service). The wife got a newer Passat to drive for the day and the car came back valeted (a pretty tough job in itself when you have 2 kids and a dog and a wife who doesn't give a sh@@ about cars!!) My last service on the s4 was $700 including front brake lines and a wheel align. Again nicely valeted and good service. Neither case I thought was too excesive and you get the nice little stamp in your book as well (hopefully worth something at resale).

The price differential between GP and the other crowd is too big to be just labour charge and parts markup, there must be more to it. GP will stick to the service schedule so it may include pollen filter, sparkplugs etc full check over (check your service book for the details of a 60k service), whereas the cheaper one may be just oil and filter and out the door.

You should ask them what it is you will be paying for so you are comparing apples with apples.

Great advice, thanks very much!

beeker

My parents made the assumption that going to Bavarian motors (established BMW service agent) from Jerry Clayton for the BMW 5 series would be a better value for money offering. $1200! for a 60k service!! (including front pads) And... the small additional task of moving the child seat from the old car to the new car was done incorrectly to the point of being criminally negligent! (he got a bollocking from me later).

Lession learned. Smaller non official dealers are not always cheaper or better.
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