My A3 2.0TDI is coming upto its first service on the longlife plan. Ive rung 3 dealerships and the have all quoted me in the region of £300. A localish VAG specialist has quoted my £175 all in. When I asked about the warrenty issue with AUDI they said because they use VAG parts and are VAT registered (what that has to do with it i dont know) then the warrenty will NOT be void with AUDI. Is this true? Am I ok to use the specialist with peice of mind that I am still covered with AUDI should I need to use them for warrenty work?
A3's first service, can I use a specialist and not void warrenty?
- Thread starter Mikey
- Start date
You wont void the warranty as long as they follow the schedule and use genuine audi parts. You will still get a stamp in the service book, it just wont be an audi stamp. That may put some people off when you come to sell, you can still say it has a full service history, just not a full audi service history.
Dont know why a non audi full service history should put people off given the low standards of work at most dealerships, but thats the car industry for you.
Dont know why a non audi full service history should put people off given the low standards of work at most dealerships, but thats the car industry for you.
Under EC law you are entitled to service your car outside the manufacturers network without losing warranty, as long as the manufacturers service schedules and procedures are followed....
We know this but in the real world when a claim needs to be made.... they can be funny!
Pedro
We know this but in the real world when a claim needs to be made.... they can be funny!
Pedro
Hi, Not sure but to get the third year of warranty i thought you had to get AUDI to service it.
The first two years of the warranty are provided by Audi and the third year by the suppling Audi Centre. The Audi Roadside Assistance package lasts for two years. To maintain cover free-of-charge after the second year, you must have your vehicle serviced, and repaired by an authorised Audi Centre or Audi Authorised Repairer.
Most 'specialists' are just Audi trained technicians who have gone their own way, presumably to earn more money than working for a dealer. Fine when they are working on older Audi's but personally I would rather trust my new Audi to a dealer who's technicians attend regular update courses by Audi UK and the dealer is kept up to date with all the latest information from the Audi AG.
In my case I am paying for a 3-year service and maintenance agreement through the dealer so I just take it to them and sign a document to say the service has been done. Service or warranty or anything else, it's all down to the same dealer, who I do trust as I've been using them for over 10 years.
Most 'specialists' are just Audi trained technicians who have gone their own way, presumably to earn more money than working for a dealer. Fine when they are working on older Audi's but personally I would rather trust my new Audi to a dealer who's technicians attend regular update courses by Audi UK and the dealer is kept up to date with all the latest information from the Audi AG.
In my case I am paying for a 3-year service and maintenance agreement through the dealer so I just take it to them and sign a document to say the service has been done. Service or warranty or anything else, it's all down to the same dealer, who I do trust as I've been using them for over 10 years.
Ive read on here that to trade it in at a Audi dealers you need full Audi service history , is this true Dave?
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I know what you are trying to say Dave but just because Audi technicians are trained doesn't mean they are any good particularly judging by the inept technicians I've dealt with in my time.
Also, it is illegal under block exemption ruels for a dealer or UK distributor to withhold any service information from the independant dealer network, anyone found doing this will be subject to quite severe treatment, as VW well knows
Also, it is illegal under block exemption ruels for a dealer or UK distributor to withhold any service information from the independant dealer network, anyone found doing this will be subject to quite severe treatment, as VW well knows
With regard to the Audi Roadside Assistance, all I am doing is quoting from the Audi UK Assistance and Warranty Details booklet dated 10/06 that came with my car. I'm sure that will have been well checked by Audi's lawers before release.
I'm also pretty sure Audi does not have to notify ever single garage and one man band in the whole of the EU with every piece of information that it supplies to it's dealers.
I'm also pretty sure Audi does not have to notify ever single garage and one man band in the whole of the EU with every piece of information that it supplies to it's dealers.
I'm sure most dealers would prefer a dealer service history, but whether they would not take a car without one, I don't know. I've never been in that position. I've traded-in all of my A3s, nearly always with the dealer I bought it from but not always, but they have all had a full dealer service history. I think you will get a better trade-in price for one with a full dealer service history than without, but I don't know about a private sale.
I suppose that's the same in every industry. Some good some bad and a few plain useless. I've been having problems with my internet banking over the past few weeks with some accounts showing, some closed accounts showing and other open accounts not showing. Most of the staff at the call centre were pretty useless and it was not until I could actually get to talk to someone senior at the computer centre itself could I make any progress. All sorted now I glad to say.
There's a thing called the internet, quite useful in diseminating information on a wide, almost global scale and removed the need for Audi, or any other car manufacturer to visit each of their highly overpaid dealers and share highly useless information on a face to face basis
Very true and I totally agree with you
Glad you've got your internet banking sorted, in a years time I'll have my Audi 3 situation resolved too
Thanks for the replies guys. Ive booked my car in with the VAG specialst, PSI Tuning in Stoke. The chap there, Andy is VERY good and ive had him work on many of my previous VAG cars so I trust him. I just wouldnt like to leave my car with someone I dont know even though they may work for AUDI. Ive had too many bad experiances with main dealers in the past and I refuse to go through that again with the best car ive ever owned.
Personally I wouldn't buy a premium car that hadn;t been serviced by a main agent. It's easy enough to get a service book and stamps (there was someone on ebay advertising them) if it's been serviced by a main dealer it's easy enough to check. An older car, fair enough but one still in warrenty.
It's really easy to get a set of invoices printed up - anyone with a computer and a printer can do it.
It would also make me wonder what else they have penny pinched on...
These are just my opinions though.
Your quote of £300 does seem a little steep, have a look at the stick thread at the top of this forum most first services are under £200.
J.
It's really easy to get a set of invoices printed up - anyone with a computer and a printer can do it.
It would also make me wonder what else they have penny pinched on...
These are just my opinions though.
Your quote of £300 does seem a little steep, have a look at the stick thread at the top of this forum most first services are under £200.
J.
but doesn't audi send out bullitins to it's dealerships? Would a private garage have access to this? I know they get leaked eventually but how up to date are they. Also what private garage is going to spend time surfing the web to find them? some I guess do, but all of them? Surely they are going to want to spend an hour of the day working on someones car instead of loosing the £55 an hour they would be making surfing the web?
J.
Hi Mikey, I know you've made your mind up, What about STAFFORD AUDI just down the road.
This was my cost from stafford Audi
20K Serivce (a.k.a long life)
Cost me £175.00 then they wanted...(EBAY PROMOTION)
Aircon refill £69.99
Brake fluid £69.99
Nice clean car priceless:icon_thumright:
I guess it depends on the dealer, a good independant will, in my view, probably take the time and effort to learn or at least make themselves aware
in my experience with a main dealer, with a common well known problem (the steering rack), with known bulletins from Audi and most of the internet being aware a franchied dealer didn't know about the problem
A good one more than likely will... But I guess a good ex audi tech will still have his contacts within the the dealer franchise so will probably know anyway. How many people from your old firms do you keep in touch with?
