Servicing

Started by Rusty05, November 15, 2005, 01:46:02 PM

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taupoq

I dint mind the prices charged by the dealers I have found most to be quite reasonable it's the prices of the parts which are rip off which is of course the curse of EMD.

Buy your parts from Vagparts.com in the uk and get a local audi dealer to fit them that way you will save heaps and any good dealer will be happy just to make on the fitting than lose the lot.

And $1000 for a timing belt try $500 for a mazda2.5 V6  MX6 which is in the words of any mechy I have taken it to "a real bitch to work on". Hence why I wont touch it but I do most of the remedial work on my TQ myself ( mainly due to the lack of an Audi service center in Taupo).

orggti

$1000 is alot but as you say the parts cost heaps, there could easily be two $200 tentioners and idlers, plus oil seals and the belt .................yea its still alot ??? But i know they often charge about $700 for a quad cam subaru.

John Stone

Quote from: orggti on December 24, 2005, 10:14:36 AM
I would say that CCS would be the best at getting a latest model VAG car serviced and fixed, the factory will put them first and help them most and they will have the parts and name for 2nd hand value. But they will not be the best for your old 10v URQ, as i have seen from the work done on Frans one. This isnt surprising tho as to them its just annoying old stuff, so dont take old stuff their, take it to German Autos on the shore.

When I picked up my quattro from them after the waterpump job recently it wouldn't speak to me. Didn't notice the lack of checklight when I switched it on in their garage to drive home - too busy getting it out from between $100k neighbours. Then when I got home and went to reverse into the shed I never got told off for unfastening the seatbelt.
Up with the rear seat squab, re-fit the live feed wire to the auto-check and .......ohhh she sounds so sexy ;)
Top dollar service rates don't always mean top quality work, they should have confirmed the auto-check before signing off the job, I rate it as a critical part.
They do a mean valet though  ;D ;D ;D

John
86 WR
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05 V50T5

beeker

Quote from: John Stone on December 25, 2005, 06:32:21 AM
When I picked up my quattro from them after the waterpump job recently it wouldn't speak to me. Didn't notice the lack of checklight when I switched it on in their garage to drive home - too busy getting it out from between $100k neighbours. Then when I got home and went to reverse into the shed I never got told off for unfastening the seatbelt.
Up with the rear seat squab, re-fit the live feed wire to the auto-check and .......ohhh she sounds so sexy ;)
Top dollar service rates don't always mean top quality work, they should have confirmed the auto-check before signing off the job, I rate it as a critical part.
They do a mean valet though? ;D ;D ;D

John

Something that has always hacked me off with CCS services (and I haven't used giltraps much, so cant comment there) is that I always supply a list of extra todo's. Like bulb is out or stuffed speaker. 90% of the time they don't seem to address these things and say nothing about it. It almost seems like it never even gets onto the job card. Not a big issue, and a bit like dealing with builders where you need to continue to follow everything through over and over until completed (trust no one, and double check everything!). The other thing is you ask for technical detail about what was done, and you often get incorrect facts. Overall not a big deal, and its probably me as I'm so anal about detail.
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orggti

I think its just those big companys where it gets passed around to different people for all the different jobs. Then the guy you deal with at the desk probly dosent even know who did what. And it seems to me that being an arrogant nimwit is a fairly high priority of working in a euro car shop these days, they like to think that they are the special ones and you have to be very very rich or famous or perhaps beautiful before you get treated with anything like friendlyness. But what would i know, ive only bought old out of date car parts from them, and gasped at the prices :P

Simon MkII

#25
You're probably right about the job cards getting passed around. I think often the guy you give your money to is at the front counter all day, he doesn't necessarily know whats been going on, especially when they are busy. I think you're way off with your other comment. I know in parts we treat every customer the same regardless of whether they are a $20,000 per month customer or someone wanting a light bulb for their Peugeot 505.
If your serious then you should tell them your not happy with how you were treated otherwise it will just keep happening.
Mazda Mx5

beeker

Quote from: orggti on December 25, 2005, 11:41:10 AM
I think its just those big companys where it gets passed around to different people for all the different jobs. Then the guy you deal with at the desk probly dosent even know who did what. And it seems to me that being an arrogant nimwit is a fairly high priority of working in a euro car shop these days, they like to think that they are the special ones and you have to be very very rich or famous or perhaps beautiful before you get treated with anything like friendlyness. But what would i know, ive only bought old out of date car parts from them, and gasped at the prices :P

Dont get me wrong, they treat me with respect and so on, and i would expect my level of service is similar to everyones, but its the attention to detail that gets me. I believe their processors need improving. I run my own business, and when our business continues to grow i know how difficult this type of thing is.
14 RS6 Avant Black
23 RS6 Performance avant on order
17 Q7 S Line 200kw
93 E36 M3 Targa Car
01 Porsche Boxster Series Race Car
17 Porsche 991.2 GT3 clubsport
94 DC2 Integra Targa/Track Race Car
13 TR86 race car
2018 Highlander
2017 Outback

Audi-man

In a recently past life I was a construction project manager who did a lot of building work at certain Euro car showrooms. You guys would sh*t yourselves at how much these guys spend on building work. When the Tuareg came out they spent $50k installing a new timber floating floor in the VW showroom just to promote the car? Did anyone notice this? This isn't all the dealers fault as it is driven from VW headquarters, but is a small example of the silly costs these guys incur which are untimely passed on the the buyer, service costs etc. I could give other crazy examples but need to be careful...............................

The main reason servicing is so dear is because of the new Audi, Porsche, and VW show rooms just build over the past few years by all the car dealers. These cost $10's millions of dollars and are passed on to the purchase and servicing costs of low volume cars to recover the capital investment costs. Say the new Audi show room and service center cost $10m to build. With a business loan at 10% interest, you have to recover $1m in interest (never mind a return on the investment) to justify that building. Say Conti's (or Giltrap's) sell approx 100 Audi's a year, thats $10k tacked on to the cost of each car just for the building overhead!


Simon MkII

Thats a pretty good point, they do spend a crap load on facilities. But couldn't that example be used for any modern dealer? Look at the new Mitsubishi showroom in Newmarket for example, thats bigger than anything ever built by Contis or GIltraps.
Mazda Mx5

Audi-man

True - the Mitsi building is fantastic piece of architecture if you ask me. Much nicer than some the cheap apartment sh*t I've built recently.

I think the difference is volume. Mitsi's probably sell 20 to 1 Audi. Does anyone know how many Audi's they sell a year? 200-400 units would be my guess. I remember reading once they sold about 500 BMW's in NZ each year. (P.s since when did leasing could as a sale?)

To be honest I like the buildings, its all part of the 'feel good' factor.

The biggest issue I have is the kids they employ to sell the cars. All the sales people are in their early to mid twenties. I'm omly 30 myself, but I find it funny a twently year old selling Porsche's/Audi's etc. Most poeple who buy these cars are in their 30-50's. You think they would employ similar aged people.

The best part of working at Conti's was hearing the Ferrari's scream up the road every 10 times. You'd hear it before you saw it! They seem quite reckless with the cars. Fun to watch at others expense, but wouldn't like it if it was my car.

Having only recently purchased an Audi, my car goes in for its first service on the 29th Dec. Beekers comments where interesting as I have several rattles, tiny bits etc. I want fixed on the car, so it will be interesting to see if these done.

bigbumper

I expect that the majority of CCS service customers don't pay the servicing bills themselves, as their cars are owned by their companies (though I appreciate this may not be the case with VASKers, but we are probably in the minority).? Anyway my point is that cost is not such a factor if you're not paying the bills...

I have also found that their customer service now often leaves a lot to be desired.? Case in point - a friend of mine suffered a broken cambelt on a car with a full CCS service history from new.? The cambelt service interval on his car is 6 years/50k miles, and he'd done 2yrs/12k miles since the cambelt was last done (by CCS).? CCS said oh dear, 12 months parts and labour warranty, can't help you, bad luck pal.? We can fix it, but at full whack and it will cost you at least $3k.?>:(? Needless to say CCS will not be doing the repair or any future servicing on that or any of his other cars.? Such a shame because in the Tim Bailey days, CCS had exemplary customer service.? Now its just another faceless corporate concerned only with this years bottom line

Audi-man - agree with your comment about the kids selling Porsches etc.? I'd certainly have reservations about buying a six-figure motorcar off some spotty youth

Neil_Corrado

#31
Quote from: bigbumper on December 27, 2005, 10:19:45 AM
I have also found that their customer service now often leaves a lot to be desired.? Case in point - a friend of mine suffered a broken cambelt on a car with a full CCS service history from new.? The cambelt service interval on his car is 6 years/50k miles, and he'd done 2yrs/12k miles since the cambelt was last done (by CCS).? CCS said oh dear, 12 months parts and labour warranty.
Audi-man - agree with your comment about the kids selling Porsche's etc.? I'd certainly have reservations about buying a six-figure motorcar off some spotty youth

So if the cambelt was only a year old what caused it to break? It was out of warranty you can't expect CCS to foot the bill when prehaps Audi AG should be.

Whats the issue with buying a car from a 'spotty youth'? (Not that CCS Porsche have any)

Audi-man


Not wishing to turn this into a hacking Conti's secession, but I agree it was a much better company in the days of Tim. That guy was truly magical! My Dad's had Porsches's ever since I was about 5 and had dealt with Tim regularly.

I remember asking Tim which was the better car, a Porsche or a Ferrari when I was about 12. I always liked Ferrari's more as with Dad having Porsche's, somehow they seemed a little less special. His reply was that Porsche's are better made, but offered to take me for a drive in a 328 GTS as I was drooling all over it.

A truly magical childhood experience which I will never forget!

P.s. Even if your company is paying for the servicing of the car, at best your still ultimately paying 2/3rds! (unless your an employee with a very expensive company car!)


Audi-man


The problem with 20-something sales people is that they are dealing with smart/successful people 10 - 30 years older than them. These people have a maturity and wisdom that a university graduate simply doesn't have.

When you are buying a big ticket item, a significant part of the experience is the relationship between buyer and seller, and a pimple faced sales person is going to struggle to personify the integrity and trust required to sell to a more mature person.

bigbumper

Quote from: Neil on December 27, 2005, 01:09:55 PM
So if the cambelt was only a year old what caused it to break? It was out of warranty you can't expect CCS to foot the bill when prehaps Audi AG should be.

The cambelt was 2yrs old but we don't know for sure what the cause was.  The bottom line is the car has been serviced by the same dealer, using parts they've supplied, all its life.  The cambelt snaps and there's no "look, we don't know how this has happened, let us take it apart and see if we can find the cause and we'll go from there", just a "bad luck sunshine, now open your wallet".  As you say, its more likely the manufacturer that should be footing the bill (or at least some of it), but CCS are their representatives and they handled the whole thing very poorly.

I don't mean to pick on CCS, as they are far from the worst dealers around.  Its just frustrating when they used to be head and shoulders above any other car dealer, now they are merely at best on a par with their competitors.

Audi-man - again I agree with your comments.  And I always thought Gary Periam was the perfect VAG/Porsche salesman.

orggti

If your cambelt snaps before time its the cambelt maker who you have to deal with to get your car fixed.

RS ZWEI

Quote from: Audi-man on December 27, 2005, 09:51:52 PM
The problem with 20-something sales people is that they are dealing with smart/successful people 10 - 30 years older than them. These people have a maturity and wisdom that a university graduate simply doesn't have.

When you are buying a big ticket item, a significant part of the experience is the relationship between buyer and seller, and a pimple faced sales person is going to struggle to personify the integrity and trust required to sell to a more mature person.


I disagree.
Im a 20-something selling Real Estate for Bayleys in Hawkes Bay. It doesnt matter how young or old someone is in a sale position, it comes down to how you treat the client and your passion for the job.
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Neil_Corrado

Quote from: orggti on December 28, 2005, 09:08:25 AM
If your cambelt snaps before time its the cambelt maker who you have to deal with to get your car fixed.

Depends why it broke.

Neil_Corrado

#38
Quote from: Golfboy666GTI on December 28, 2005, 09:30:55 AM
I disagree.
Im a 20-something selling Real Estate for Bayleys in Hawkes Bay. It doesnt matter how young or old someone is in a sale position, it comes down to how you treat the client and your passion for the job.


That is exactly it, I'd rather buy a car (or for that matter anything) from someone that was passionate about their job.

boraV5

Hey Neil  :-)

Happy Christmas :D

Any word on my badges?