Dealership recommendation- sales and services

Started by soulighter, March 18, 2011, 12:08:42 PM

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soulighter

Hi, another post from me..

Got the new Polo TSI and love it, but now with the Polo GTI becoming available I'm really like to get my hand on one, esp with a price tag of $37500, which I've waited a bit longer...

Anyway, I'm thinking of trading in my 3-month old Polo (is this wise or am I gona lose too much) and get the GTI. My questions are, esp those who have already ordered one already

1) Which dealer did you use and will you recommend it? I'm in Auckland and got my TSI from North Shore VW. I've previously visited Continental in Newmarket but the 5-6 times I've window-shopped there, NO salesman ever to come out of there comfy office (even though they've clearly seen me), and same with Giltrap prestige in New Lynn- may be they are selling so many cars that they are just not interested in selling anymore.

2) What's the expected wait for delivery? I know looking on the OZ forum the wait time is anywhere from 6 to 12 months!!!

Any comments on your experiences dealing with VW dealerships is welcomed, not just on sales but also on maintenance services- do they all charge the same so it doesn't matter which one you bring to, or were you just been treated like a cash-cow since I expect they charge a lot more compare to your regular garage?

Sorry I haven't own a European car before this one.

Y0RKI

you'll blow a fair few $$$ trading it in so soon.

Instead of just window shopping have you thought about actually going in and asking about the cars?
driving such a new car i'm sure that a dealer would question whether to talk to you or not as why would anyone want to swap a 3 month old car, plus totally kill you by offering you a trade price.
Any dealer would want to be the last person to give you a price as the first one to tell you will not sell you a car! haha
Everything is for sale, you just have to offer the right money
2002 Maserati 4200 Spyder
2006 Alfa Romeo 147 GTA - For Sale
2001 Fiat Coupe 20Vt Le - gone
1998 Fiat Bravo HGT - gone
1996 Fiat Coupe 16vt - gone
1990 Fiat Uno Turbo - gone (to heaven)
1986 Fiat Uno Turbo - gone

the phantom

I've dealt with Tristram (North Shore dealership) and they're a friendly bunch
Land Transport New Zealand, taking the fun out of driving since August 2008

b0000st

From what i've been told the entire allocation has already been sold and VW cannot say when they will become available again  :-[

Matt

SpikeyLemon

First of all, you'll lose thousands by trading in such new car. Unless they agree to a certain value and let you keep driving it while you wait for the new GTi.

I heard of good things about Tristram North Shore, but I have not tried it.

I originally bought my 2007 Polo Bluemotion from Continental Newmarket, the sales girl didn't know much about the car and has since left. I recently went in to look at the Golf R but no one came to talk to me when I've practically flip the car upside down. I am unlikely to go back there since they charged me $30 to change a light bulb while the car is in warranty. $5 for windscreen wash added to the service bill when I've filled it up the night before myself. (small amount but it's dodgy tactics that annoys me. Hate to think of them doing it to 10 customers a day and stacks it up)

Giltrap Grey Lynn have too many cars on their forecourt some of which you can't even open the doors to get in. Service is good, they've done several warranty work for me when I didn't buy the car from them. But they outsource wheel alignment on my car and slap a fat margin on it, and quoted me $350+alignment for a CV boot replacement which I've got it done for $160 all up with original parts just 2 doors down at a normal mechanic.

soulighter

I suspected as much, I know I'll be losing $$$ for trading in so new car- think I will hold on for another year or two the.

Sounds like Tristam on the shore is the place to go then, I got my TSI from there, albeit the young salesman I got it from knew absolutely nothing about the Polo apart from the fact that it's COTY, knew nothing about the difference between 1.4 and 1.2 TSI, contrast that to the Honda salesman a few doors down the road who can tell me everything about the Honda Insight.

I guess I won't be going to Continental to get my Polo serviced when the time comes, pity as it's a lot closer to where I live. WIll hate to drive all the way to North shore for service and may give Giltrap a go. Do all three VW dealers charge the same for scheduled service?

If it's a warranty issues, can I take it to any dealer, even if I haven't bought the car from them?

polo_GTI

Slighter, welcome to the forum. I have test driven TSi and they are lovely cars.. As you know the new Polo GTi is a fantastic car, but don't trust it's fuel use claim again. I test drove fabia vrs last time and its fuel use (obviously enthusiastic drives being a demo) was around 10.2litres/100km. Which I thought was a little too much more than its claim figure. My current GTI does that on average daily commuting crawling in traffic.

What colour is your car, and how many km has it done now? Private sale will be the best bet for you. I think waiting time for new GTI is around 9-12months...

Lovely cars though - apparently Revo chip will take it to around 180kw at flywheel. Not bad!
NZ '06 Polo GTI 9n3 REVO Stage2 / H&R springs / Whiteline adjustable sway bars / EBC / SS brake lines / APR mount / Uprated bushes / Forge DV / 3" Downpipe / ECS flywheel / 4barFR / Seat intake / K&N / Forge strut
NZ '06 Golf GTI DSG, Xenon, Leather, Reverse sensor / Bluefin Stage 1

j

Just purchased a Polo GTi from Giltrap Grey Lynn for my girlfriend.

Joe who sold it to us seems to be a real friendly chap, and responded to our email queries relatively efficiently. The whole process was a breeze. We're not people to buy on impulse and usually think for ages before purchasing big items (like a car). However we saw the car on Friday and put a deposit on it on Monday. There was so much information available even before we asked for it - Joe knew we were looking at another Polo on TradeMe and obtained its ownership history for us to make an informed comparison.

What really put the icing on the cake was him telling us we could drop the car off anytime for a free car wash while we had a coffee at the dealership, whenever we wanted, for as long as we owned the car. This was after we'd signed the purchase agreement too. This is extremely important for the ladies, trust me, especially if the car is black.

With CCS Newmarket I walked in the other day to have a look at the A4 wagons and Neel said hello and talked to me about the car and all, he even offered to let me take the car home for the night, which was great as I needed to see if it would fit my bikes and equipment. However when I returned the car he wasn't there, and unfortunately wasn't able to answer his subsequent calls for one reason or another. I suppose he thought I wasn't interested in the car anymore even though I called him back, and haven't heard from him since.

My experiences thus far. :) Hope that helps.

soulighter

Hi J, you must really like you GF to buy her a Polo GTI. I would really like one but now that I'm heading to UK to work for 12 months next year I will just to wait until I get back.

What did Giltrap tell you regarding delivery date? I know in delivery time in OZ is about 6-12 months (closer to 12 than 6 months) and after talking to Tristram European on North Shore it seems like it will be same here, was told by them if an order placed now will be delivered next year!!!


NZDoug

I recommend Giltrap.
Any service, even a WOF or a tire repair gets a full wash and groom.
Every WOF or service I get a loaner, of my choice.
Got a new EOS for a loaner last time I had my Golf v6 serviced.
Fun, wow!
Going for a Passat CC when I get B6 Passat WOFed.
Had a quote on sloppy clutch pedal on Golf from another VW service place, and got quoted$700.oo for replacing a heap o stuff.
Giltrap said it was a split nylon washer and it would be 90cents for the washer and 2 hours labour, or $201.00 all up but not to worry about it as it wasn't degenerating.
Knowledgeable staff, incredible facilities, fair and honest.
HEY! HO! LETS GO!

soulighter

I dropped of 2010 Polo TSI off at Giltrap Grey Lynn a few weeks ago for them to check on my windscreen wipers (both front and back) because they were problematic- they judder from day 1 and it's now 3 and half months down the line and the front one don't skip anymore but squeaks a lot and back one still skip.

The guys at Giltrap said the wipers aren't covered under warranty (which I wasn't happy about since they were good from day 1) and quoted me about $142 to get all three replaced. I wasn't happy to pay that much to replace something which in my mind have failed to perform from day 1 (and given that they cost so much to replace, they should be performing much better both quality and duration). I told them I will bring it back to Tristram European since I bought it from.

The guys at Tristram checked it when I drop by and agreed there's problem and I had to book it in for them to fix it. On the day, they apparently tried "everything" incl changing the wipers and giving the screens a good clean a few times. They lodged a query with VW NZ and now I have to bring it back again next week for them to have another go.

My experience out of this is, the guys at Tristram tried a lot harder to fix it whereas Giltrap had gone for an apparent easy fix and was gona charge me for something which wouldn't have worked. May be you get treated differently depending on where the car was bought, i.e. the dealer which sold you the car tried harder to fix things under warranty? Anyone else has had this kind of experience?

I'm not saying the guys at Giltrap are not good. In fact, I may still take my Polo there to service in the future because they are closer to me than Tristram, and also the idea of being to chose my a loan car  is very appealing to me.

j

Quote from: soulighter on April 06, 2011, 03:27:52 PM
Hi J, you must really like you GF to buy her a Polo GTI. I would really like one but now that I'm heading to UK to work for 12 months next year I will just to wait until I get back.

What did Giltrap tell you regarding delivery date? I know in delivery time in OZ is about 6-12 months (closer to 12 than 6 months) and after talking to Tristram European on North Shore it seems like it will be same here, was told by them if an order placed now will be delivered next year!!!

I'm sorry, I failed to mention it wasn't a brand new one we bought! We're picking the car up this afternoon - was ready for us to drive away yesterday (3 days after we put the deposit down) in fact.

New ones - I think he mentioned there're none at the moment but some people have placed orders anyway and will be waiting for it to be delivered sometime this year.

The new ones look much better IMO, maybe we'll upgrade when we've saved up enough in a couple of years or so (and when the price drops :P).

NZDoug

Quote from: soulighter on April 06, 2011, 10:31:04 PM

I'm not saying the guys at Giltrap are not good. In fact, I may still take my Polo there to service in the future because they are closer to me than Tristram, and also the idea of being to chose my a loan car  is very appealing to me.
As any dealer will allow any one off the street to go for a test drive, if they have a valid licence, I'm sure any dealer will allow a client the same.

Its just a matter of asking, I'm sure!
HEY! HO! LETS GO!

Y0RKI

Quote from: NZDoug on April 09, 2011, 11:42:59 AM
As any dealer will allow any one off the street to go for a test drive, if they have a valid licence, I'm sure any dealer will allow a client the same.

Its just a matter of asking, I'm sure!

erm, no.
Any dealer who lets anyone off the street take a car for a demo needs to teach their salespeople a lesson.

A courtesy car is exactly that, a car given out of courtesy while yours is in for service.
Everything is for sale, you just have to offer the right money
2002 Maserati 4200 Spyder
2006 Alfa Romeo 147 GTA - For Sale
2001 Fiat Coupe 20Vt Le - gone
1998 Fiat Bravo HGT - gone
1996 Fiat Coupe 16vt - gone
1990 Fiat Uno Turbo - gone (to heaven)
1986 Fiat Uno Turbo - gone

RS ZWEI

Quote from: NZDoug on April 09, 2011, 11:42:59 AM
As any dealer will allow any one off the street to go for a test drive, if they have a valid licence, I'm sure any dealer will allow a client the same.

Its just a matter of asking, I'm sure!

Yip, errr, NO!
1980 VW Golf GTI Track Car
1995 Audi RS2
2003 Mini Cooper S (Written off - rear ended)
2005 Mini Cooper S
2006 Skoda Octavia vRS Combi
2009 Renault Megane 230 R26 (Written off - rear ended)
2013 Renault Megane RS265 Redbull RB8

GLIDN

Well I can say dealing with a few VW yards over the years. Conti's, Giltrap, Tristram.

I will have to say I got the best service thus far from a guy called Mark Wadman from Giltrap Prestige in Grey Lynn,
Top guy. Would recommend him to anyone wanting an Audi or VW.

Sorry Clive, no VW's Audi new on your yard. But if anyone wants awesome service with an Alfa or Citreon Go talk to Clive at Dealership in Newmarket, also known as Coupe on here.
Audi A4 DTM - K04 NZ New | All bolt-ons | Carbon Clean done
2012 MK6R Golf |Stage 3+ | Stage 4 DSG | Tuned & Built by HSP Tuning

NZDoug

HEY! HO! LETS GO!