A6 service at Audi dealer

[A6UYC]

My A6 20tdi 2006 with 25,000 miles is due for a service in 200 miles, I have phoned three Audi main dealers and got three differant anwsers.
My question is how much is the service and what do you do? All asked for the number plate and checked on thier system what was to do. The most annoying was the guy form Audi Amersham who first quoted £275 for an A service then when I asked about the £99 service on the internet his said it is the same but with less visaul checks!! So I would appreciate any help or thoughts.

 

[Buck]

A6UYC

I recently had my A4 serviced on the £199 main service deal with Audi

Can't say they did anything less compared to the full service (They did try charging me £324! before I reminded them that it was the £199 deal!)

The only bit I've noticed is that I didn't get the litre of Castrol in the boot that I used to get

CM

 

[Spaceylala]

Ok maybe Im just unlucky but I took my A6 in for its MOT and service today and to be honest am not overly impressed. Service £200 - consisted of an oil change and new oil/air filters. Oh did I mention that when i checked the invoice they had charged me for screenwash??? Yes I hear your "and???" How can they charge me for screenwash when the little light thingy flashed and beeped at me on Sunday and I got hubby to fill the screenwash up to the absolute brim (inclusive of screenwash) - not use the screenwash between now and then and still charge me?????????? On top of that they wanted £40 for new wipers (said no and got them online for £14 plus £3 P+P) £50 for break fluid top up - errr for £50 I want job lot replacing and gold dust added to the brake fluid (OK I do not really want gold dust added). I know certain things are going to cost me but how the hell did I go from a (special offer price) £200 service to a potential £1053 bill??? Hmmm simples!!!!!!!!! Audi tell you that everything is wrong with your car!!!
Service £200
Brake Fluid top up £50
Air Conditioning check £60
Windscreen Wipers £40
Cam belt change £329
2 new tyres (although current tyres did pass MOT) with a todays special price offer £187 each (apparently they come gold plated - oh no hang on that is what my staff asked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Total price £1053

Went home and discussed which body parts I could sell if we decided to take them up on this!!!! decided that instead Audi deserve this -

 

[Cockney Boy]

All you paid for was the Audi name, and their labour charge that is sometimes £90.00 per hour. I would be inclined to contact them and tell them about the screenwash etc, and express your concern about being robbed blind.

They are the same as any back street garage, but with a nicer waiting area.........

Ok maybe Im just unlucky but I took my A6 in for its MOT and service today and to be honest am not overly impressed. Service £200 - consisted of an oil change and new oil/air filters. Oh did I mention that when i checked the invoice they had charged me for screenwash??? Yes I hear your "and???" How can they charge me for screenwash when the little light thingy flashed and beeped at me on Sunday and I got hubby to fill the screenwash up to the absolute brim (inclusive of screenwash) - not use the screenwash between now and then and still charge me?????????? On top of that they wanted £40 for new wipers (said no and got them online for £14 plus £3 P+P) £50 for break fluid top up - errr for £50 I want job lot replacing and gold dust added to the brake fluid (OK I do not really want gold dust added). I know certain things are going to cost me but how the hell did I go from a (special offer price) £200 service to a potential £1053 bill??? Hmmm simples!!!!!!!!! Audi tell you that everything is wrong with your car!!!
Service £200
Brake Fluid top up £50
Air Conditioning check £60
Windscreen Wipers £40
Cam belt change £329
2 new tyres (although current tyres did pass MOT) with a todays special price offer £187 each (apparently they come gold plated - oh no hang on that is what my staff asked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Total price £1053

Went home and discussed which body parts I could sell if we decided to take them up on this!!!! decided that instead Audi deserve this -

 

[Spaceylala]

Cockney Boy - thanks and I am taking it back next week as they did not fix my window and hell yes the screen wash will be brought to their attention!!! Yeah sorry everyone but I am one of those irritating people who complains about minor things!!!! (usually in writing - not one of those "*** why is this person in front of me kicking off way") But hey I got a five quid ASDA voucher for complaining about their own brand toilet rolls!!!!!!!!

 

[The Fiend]

Hi

I really have to stick up for the main dealer. I do not work for an Audi franchise but do work for a main dealer. We have recently come up against the "how much". I can get it elsewhere. Cheaper. What the consumer has to bear in mind is that a service at full price includes lots of little checks and adjustment that a lot of other garages wont be carrying out. They may use a lower quality oil and in some cases non-genuine parts so when customers compare prices, the comparison isn't what it seems. Proper maintenance will often prevent failures or faults occuring in the 1st place.

Has anyone asked their local garage if they can carry out a certain job only to be told that they cant complete the work as they dont have the "special tools". These tools can cost a lot of money and the franchise dealer has to re-coup this outlay by charging more. The other items that you mention, Brake fluid, aircon, and cambelt and routine service items. At £50 it will be a brake fluid CHANGE, not just a top up. Aircon systems contain gas and importantly oil. If not refilled the compressor can seize and these can be upwards of £1000. Cambelt change, If the dealer doesn't tell you and it snaps you could be looking at a bill of well over £1000 for repairs so £329 to change this is a good investment.

Cut the dealers some slack. I know there are bad ones out there who just want to fleece customers but we aim to keep cars running with the minimum of mechanical fuss. Cars need maintenance. How much do we relay on them to start 4 times a day, hot, cold, wet, dry. A service for your car can cosy the same as some people spend on hairdressers or shoes!!!!

Thanks for listening

 

[elan2s]

Autocar made similar comments about dealer servicing in relation to their TT TDi with a first service costing £408 (at Audi West London) when it would of cost only £220 in Devon. However they also state that Audi will be normalising service pricing across the dealer network in the New Year - not sure if that means we will all now pay the highest price however!

Strangely they complain about the high cost of the Audi service (presumably carried out at about 18k miles based on variable servicing) yet they don't complain (in the same issue) about the £300 spent servicing a Renault Laguna at 12k miles. Whilst in noway condoning the price charged by Audi the Audi service cost 2.26ppm whilst the Renault cost 2.5ppm so is actually more expensive

 

[silverstealth]

If you booked it in for the £200 service I'm hoping that's all you paid for! Anything over and above agreed items, ie what it was originally booked in for, MUST be agreed before completion. If they didn't ask, you simply do not have to pay.

I would NEVER get tyres from a main dealer and have disappointingly encountered exactly the same thing from my local Audi stealer. Every time the car went in, it would NEED a whole wealth of things doing to it. So much so that I tested them in the end and changed oil/filter, air filter and a wealth of other things before allowing my wife to book it in for "MOT only". Sure enough, she was advised later by phone that it needed a wealth of things done including the oil/filter. Obviously, I had her query this - had they looked at the oil? Yes, comes the response - it needs changing! Needless to say, I allowed them to complete no further work on the car and it has never been back since and neither will I.

I would add that I honestly believe that not all dealers are like this. Indeed my local Audi had been rather good until taken over by a different franchise, at which point customer service went down the pan. Oh, a funny story..... at one point one of the salesmen/service staff informed me when I booked my A4 Quattro in for a service that it needed a haldex oil change! I asked him how long he'd been working for Audi and was he sure that he knew what he was talking about? Definitely! Can u explain the difference between a torsen differential and the haldex system? The response - Huh!?!?!?

I would never allow them to top up fluids and would suggest this mob for tyres (http://www.mytyres.co.uk/), though yr local tyre shop may even cut you a better deal (all in) if you go to them with an idea of what you want and how much they cost! I got 225/18 PZeros fitted at my local tyre shop for £100/corner...

Not yet conviced that theyre that much better than Toyos, but Ive yet to track them.

 

[Shroud]

Personally i would prefer a garage to tell me all the things that either should be addressed (according to service schedules) or look they they need replacing soon (i.e. tyre with 2mm of tread). It's then up to me to decide what i get done, if anything, but at least i know what is due or will be due soon. So IMHO thumbs up to Audi.

Finding a really good reliable independent specialist garage is always the key, but even then they will not always give you the cheapest deal on some items such as tyres or brake fluid replacement.

 

[Daytona_Ben]

My tip would be (particularly when your car is still under warranty): have your Audi serviced at a VW, SEAT or Skoda dealer. Because they use exactly the same parts your Audi's warranty will not be affected, as far as I'm aware.

If you do visit the Audi dealer: don't have tyres changed there, you can get that doen at an independent KwikFit etc. Also, it is worth highlighting that you don't want screenwash (saves at least a tenner)

 

[Spaceylala]

Good news!! After refusing to have cam belt done and, previously mentioned add ons, - albeit after numerous letters emails and phonecalls!!! I took said car back to Audi (just slightly out of warranty) and again complained about the window function. Having taken them out to the car for a look at the problem they finally agreed that my window did not do what it should! Knowing it was now out of warantee (but also knowing said fault had been reported in warranty) Audi agreed to fix it. Several hours later I also got a call about (yet again) the cam belt needing replacing! Yes I more than likely have paid over the odds , as to be honest the amount of letters, emails and phonecalls did eventually wear me down. Audi offered a cam belt replacement and free air conditioning service for £300 - £30 less than original cam belt offer and £60 knocked of for the air con. Hubbby asked if I would go for it I said not unless they threw in my brake fluid top up (Allegedly £50). Hubby hung up on me after telling me to freaking deal with it (Hubby likes dealership stamps on the books!!!) Called Audi asked what the deal was and would they throw in the brake fluid top up, the air con service and cam for the same price and got a yes! Yep I know I been done but car is fixed and if it goes bang - Audi's fault lol

 

[Spaceylala]

yeah sorry forgot about the tyres - Audi as mentioned earlier did offer me the discounted price of £187 - and as he gleefully mentioned that this was the discount price. I thought my luck was in - oh £187 for two I like that" hmmm a second or two of silence before the whole "ohhh errr ohh err no each" at which point I did laugh and say " Ohh sorry I didnt mean to laugh but you sounded dead pleased when you said £187 for one is a special offer! But are you having a laugh? I can get the same tyres through hubby's work for £120 each!!!" ...... "Oh so you do not want us to change the tyres then?" errrr no!!! Funnily enough car passes its MOT!! To be on the safe side I have booked my car into said company garage and will now spend my hard earned pennies on a pair of Pirellis that cost me £120 each rather than £187 each!

 

[A6UYC]

Had the £99 service done today, got a phone call from them saying I also needed brake fluid changed at £95. It's so typical that they always charge the highest price, the internet and adds at the dealers at quote £49.
The little things annoy me more so, the service book did not have the mileage written in it, I noticed this when I collected the car and got it added but when I got home I also found that they had not ticked the box for the brake fluid change on the page for additional work or stamped that part.
Then this evening I noticed that they had not reset the on board computer so it still reads Service when I start the car and the service indicator reads 17 days or 100 to service. It's a pain as I will have to take the car back to them.
Should I have not gone to a main dealer??

 

[Cockney Boy]

Should I have not gone to a main dealer??

I never take my car to an Audi service centre, as i hate my wallet ebing raped.

i take mine to Holmer Green ( just up the road from Amersham) Bosch technical centre. They do all my servicing and its a whole lot cheaper than Audi, but they use Audi parts. ironically if Audi cant fix a problem they take it there.

 

[A6UYC]

I never take my car to an Audi service centre, as i hate my wallet ebing raped.

i take mine to Holmer Green ( just up the road from Amersham) Bosch technical centre. They do all my servicing and its a whole lot cheaper than Audi, but they use Audi parts. ironically if Audi cant fix a problem they take it there.

Thanks, I will take it their for the next service.