Goodwill explained

[mjr901]

I'm currently on a course in Milton Keynes at the VWG main centre.

Goodwill cropped up.

I had no idea that up until recently Audi actually allocate £500 (per car!!) to go to goodwill each time a car comes in for work. Thats If you kicked up fuss. Which is easily done.

The system has been slighty abused...so..

They have have recently reduced this to £250.

Obviously this is to be used under the service advisors discretion, but nevertheless worth knowing the Audi dealer is sitting on a potential £250 off your bill.

Usually the above only applies to people who have been loyal to the brand, ie serviced by Audi fairly religiously.

Probably not unheard of by most, and if had, validity may have been hazy.

But I've heard it from the horses mouth, so there are definitely benefits of main dealer servicing...but obviously a risk you'd have to take.

 

[Dave-S3]

Good to know, but £250 isn't a huge amount in the grand scheme of things when the garage is likely to be charging upwards of double in labour compared what you would pay at a good independent garage.

I thought goodwill was usually a percentage of the bill knocked off though?

I used to have a 2006 Golf GT Tdi 2.0 with the dreaded ESP light ABS brake pressure sender fault. VW quoted me something ridiculous like £1300 + VAT + Labour, which was then reduced by 30% as an act of goodwill… i however still declined.

 

[s3_sid]

good will is exactly what it says its not to be abused its only normally used to keep a customers faith in a brand

some of the best companies out their for customer service have large amounts set out for goodwill and that actually has a physical worth to the business

companies like apple spend hundreds of millions of pounds each year in goodwill and probably the same with audi it keeps you loyal to the brand and hopefully you tell people about your good experience and that all has a knock on effect

also its good for taxation purposes for the garage or audi as if you have a large bill and say you will offer someone 30% off they can write off 20% against their corporation tax so only actually costing them 10% in the long run so it actually adding value to the customer but not costing the garage any physical money

edit sorry dident read it all ! but yeah their is business reasons to do it not just its available for no reason and a dealer could give a goodwill gesture to a customer without asking vw/audi uk to give them a contribution as they can put it against the dealers own end of year books

 

[crazylegscrane]

I had a quote from Audi recently for my canbelt which was near as damm it £790, had a quote from an independent for £530.

Went back to Audi who agreed to price match and do the work, not goodwill as such but I was gobsmacked they would price match and were willing to charge £260 more for the job. My car is always serviced there as well

 

[Av4nt]

£250.. so basically thats the labour taken off for most jobs. In which youd have to argue insessantly for to get it. pointless.

Independant still remain cheaper and in some cases..more knowledgeable ***.

 

[tcardio]

this took care of my driver harness replacement no questions asked

 

[Av4nt]

I have breakdown repair cover with AA... they contribute £500 towards repair bill for mechanical breakdowns. That will do for me.
As much as I love audi..i just cant bring myself to get things serviced or fixed by them unless i have no choice as its extortionate