Audi dealer or Audi specialist - who would YOU choose?

[Cossie_boy]

Hi guys,

I am a bit torn over how to play my next step.

So far the Audi dealer have told me my hesitation 3k up 4/5/6th gears was due to tandem pump, thats been changed by specialist, still does the same.

Audi dealer then said its probably the turbo fins worn or blocked, thats been changed by place I got car, again, still does the same.

As the place I got it from have exhuasted all options, they have agreed to pay for 2 hours diagnostics to Audi, so thats something.

However, had I had all this work done at dealer id be £2300 out of pocket at this point and no further forward!

Im now trying to decide do I use these two hours with local dealer or my local specialst?

I know its sometimes process of elimition but id be tad angry had i forked out all that money and then still have same problem!

Any opinions of comments appreciated.

Many thanks for reading

CB

 

[Shadowman]

I only had good experiences with Vindis Audi in Cambridge when I was in your neck of the woods, but to be honest I would be prepared to travel to someone like Ed and his team at APS in Brackley ( www.autops.co.uk ), as they really know their stuff and are a lot cheaper than the stealers, whilst having the same diagnostic equipment....may be worth speaking to them in case they have seen this before.

 

[Cossie_boy]

Thanks for the information mate

 

[drnutta]

Cossie,

I think we meet before when my mate got his SEAT from you...

Anyway... my advise is perhaps get AMD essex to have a look... they have been great on my car.

 

[jaydav2306]

TTS Roadsport in Bedford, wouldnt take mine anywhere else now

 

[MrLapou]

Having had many makes of car, I've found dealers rather a let down and way over priced. I do not take my cars to dealers that often, but I'd say 4/5 times they mess up in one way or another.

A) Fix a seatbelt warning fault. Audi said, oh yes, no problem sir. Their solution was to disconnect the plug!!
B) Cambelt change, car was perfect before the work was done. On pick, up engine light came on. They had a look and said crank sensor was faulty, "someone had tried to glue it together". I know for sure this was BS. Oh no problem sir we'll repair it free of charge. Oh yeah your tech broke it and tried to cover it up.
C) Bonnet not secured, went over a bump and light came on. Jumped out to find the bonnet was open and only been held by the saftey catch.

Having serviced my own cars for years, I'm not taking any BS they might dish out.
So far my local Audi specialist in Lincoln has been excellent and inho it's a better experience compared to the local Audi dealer.
Perhaps I'm biased, but if you find a good specialist..USE THEM...

 

[audicruiser]

Having had many makes of car, I've found dealers rather a let down and way over priced. I do not take my cars to dealers that often, but I'd say 4/5 times they mess up in one way or another.

A) Fix a seatbelt warning fault. Audi said, oh yes, no problem sir. Their solution was to disconnect the plug!!
B) Cambelt change, car was perfect before the work was done. On pick, up engine light came on. They had a look and said crank sensor was faulty, "someone had tried to glue it together". I know for sure this was BS. Oh no problem sir we'll repair it free of charge. Oh yeah your tech broke it and tried to cover it up.
C) Bonnet not secured, went over a bump and light came on. Jumped out to find the bonnet was open and only been held by the saftey catch.

Having serviced my own cars for years, I'm not taking any BS they might dish out.
So far my local Audi specialist in Lincoln has been excellent and inho it's a better experience compared to the local Audi dealer.
Perhaps I'm biased, but if you find a good specialist..USE THEM...

The same applies with dealers though... My Audi dealer is great, always do what they say and don't cost the earth so likewise if you find a good dealer, use them too! Dealers and Indies are really only as good as the techs in the workshop.

 

[MrLapou]

Dealer £115/hr.
Specialist £50/hr. They use genuine Audi parts.

Do I need to say any more!

prices excl VAT.

 

[hades-]

cant you just take the car back for a refund ?

 

[S3Alex]

My local dealer is pretty decent,but to be honest,I always take my car to AMDTuning when it needs anything done.

They know exactly what they're doing,and can diagnose faults the dealers have no idea of.

 

[audicruiser]

Dealer £115/hr.
Specialist £50/hr. They use genuine Audi parts.

Do I need to say any more!

prices excl VAT.

Price will always be a factor to people....

Labour at my dealer is only £75hr +VAT so again labour rates aren't the same across the dealer network. People will have different experiences all over the country. I am not defending the Audi dealer network, just saying don't instantly tar them all with the same brush and in addition to that a mate of mine had a very bad experience with a specialist showing that cheaper isn't always best!

 

[andrecc]

The way I see it is your paying with a service, for example on my previous car I was looking at tints and was been quoted around £120-170 I end up going to the cheapest and they used a crap film and it keep peeling off had to take it back so many times and it's just unnessary hassle when I could of paid £30 more that done all my friends car with perfection.

End of day it's all to do with budget if you can afford to take it to Audi, if you like to have spare cash to do more mods take it to an independent. I've had friends when have been messed around for not screwing a bolt properly.

 

[Cossie_boy]

Thanks guys for all the feedback, seems a pattern there

I have spoken to the place I got the car this morning and they are ok for me to take it where I want and in agreement that the £250 they are bascially allowing for diagnoistics is better used at a £58 specialist for 4 odd hours than £110 at stealers for 2 hours then they stop.

On speaking to some of the recommended people above I am hoping to be honest its either the boost control soleniod/N75 or the MAF as these are fairly cheap to replcace, and look very easy, although im always a bit dubious about changing things myself then the dreaded emls start doing their disco thing!

Dr, yes I realise who you are now, Alisair yes? we must stop meeting like this you probably recall me paying an interest in your car at the time, i sold a lot of cars whilst there but do recall the very clean blue ibiza SE? with the nicer wheels and belive it was Fernandez?! or Mr?!

 

[Cossie_boy]

or maybe it was a Sport!

 

[audicruiser]

Thought a MAF could be proved at fault by unplugging it.... Well that was the case on the 1.8T engine.

 

[Cossie_boy]

True, yes I recall this on my 1.8T Quattro when needed to check!

 

[essIII]

End of day it's all to do with budget if you can afford to take it to Audi, if you like to have spare cash to do more mods take it to an independent. I've had friends when have been messed around for not screwing a bolt properly.

Disagree. At the end of the day it's all to do with the quality of service. If you want your car looked at by people who know what they're doing, take it to an independent specialist. If you want it looking at by monkeys, take it to Audi.

 

[andrecc]

Disagree. At the end of the day it's all to do with the quality of service. If you want your car looked at by people who know what they're doing, take it to an independent specialist. If you want it looking at by monkeys, take it to Audi.

Its about finding a independent specialist that actually knows what they are doing though.

 

[essIII]

Its about finding a independent specialist that actually knows what they are doing though.

Yep, which in my opinion is easier than finding an Audi Dealership who actually knows that they are doing!

 

[audicruiser]

It's a no win argument due to everyones different experiences of dealers and specialists....

 

[N8]

Your a wise man Scott

 

[Cossie_boy]

Indeed!

Spoke to the specialist today who think its the MAF, boost control solenoid or the software on the ECU

They propose to put a map on it to either cure that or highlight the other parts which could be faulty, so shall keep you updated

Thanks for all the advice

CB

 

[audicruiser]

Indeed!

Spoke to the specialist today who think its the MAF, boost control solenoid or the software on the ECU

They propose to put a map on it to either cure that or highlight the other parts which could be faulty, so shall keep you updated

Thanks for all the advice

CB

Mapping a car to find the fault... Oh dear. That's bad advice!

 

[PaulAr]

AUDI will honour some goodwill contributions towards remedial work on cars upto 5 years old with less than 60K miles, IF it has a full dealer history.
Dealer history makes a differerence come reasale p/x time in my personal experience. Worth considering.

Having said that, I have often had any recommended repair work carried out at a specialist after a dealer service. Keeps costs sensible and the book full of AUDI stamps.

This all depends on how long you want to keep the car though, age etc..but I would say use a dealer for the servicing and an Indy for more expensive remedial work and preventative maintenance.

 

[Cossie_boy]

Cheers, mines done 64k but when I spoke with Audi UK about this fault being there from new they kept saying the previous owner should have got it fixed whilst still in warranty which was a shame as they had always been very helpful when speaking to them before.

Why is this bad Audicruiser? I can understand that maps can often highlight the problem more, they are planning to test with it on then take it off, if it solves the issues it is the ECU software faulty