Getting screwed by dealer?

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone has any advice for me here. About two weeks ago, I took my 99 VW Passat in to a VW dealership for a 70k service. They went through all the usual checks, and replaced the engine belt. After I left the dealer, I started hearing a slight humming sound, but I was out of town for much of the next 10 days. When I got back, the sound seemed to get progressively worse, like a loud throbbing on the right side, which would vary with the car speed, and which I seemed mostly to hear when I pressed the brakes. I took the car back to the dealer to get it looked at. What they're telling me is that my front and rear brake rotors are entirely shot, and that I need a new set, plus pads. Now, I have multiple problems with this:

1) I never had any of this throbbing sound until after I brought my car in for the 70k servicing. I had some brake squeal, but nothing remotely like this.

2) I just had my rotors replaced about 8 months ago! It was at another shop with third party parts, which the dealer is now claiming could have been the problem.

3) Even if they really had nothing to do with this problem, they were supposed to be doing a 70k service, including inspecting the brakes! Shouldn't they have picked up on the fact that both rotors and pads needed replacing?

The dealerships position is that nothing they could have done during their servicing could have possibly caused these rotors to warp. I have to admit I can't see what they could have done either, but the fact remains that I had no problems until I brought my car in to them. Their idea of a gesture is to give me 10% off of an $800 bill. Any suggestions on what I might do?

Thanks

-al

PS - For VW owners, I'm talking about the Hamilton VW-Mazda dealership in NJ. I would avoid them at all costs.

Reply to
Al Wang
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Al-It is hard to imagine a timing belt change effecting the brakes, could be a coincidence. Typically warped rotors appear as a back & forth shake in the steering wheel when you apply the brakes, do you have this symptom? Did they show you the shot pads & demonstrate the rotor runnout (warpage) with a dial indicator? Both front & rear all at once does seem a bit unlikely. A rumbling/roaring noise all the time which varies with speed could be a wheel bearing, you say the sound is on the right? Does it get worse when you make a sharp left turn (this increases the load on the right wheel bearings)? CV joint/axle trouble isn't out of the question, though more usually this manifests (at least initially) as a lighter clicking sound.

Dan

Reply to
Dan

If they charged you $800 for a service and didn't catch the brake problem, something is wrong. Or, is this not the whole story?

Although it doesn't seem likely, some yahoo might have driven your car while it was at the 'dealership' and abused it.

'Dealership' What a concept!

Reply to
Larry Smith

That seems to be a really common dealer scam these days.

The new rotors they make are composite things and the wheels have to be put on with a torque wrench in order for the rotors not to warp.

They use an impact gun and the rotors get destroyed.

The took off your wheels for the inspection and put them back on with a gun.

Go try yourself undoing the wheel nuts. I will bet you can get maybe a couple and the rest are so tight they won't move easily or without an extension pipe on the wrench.

A friend just had to rotate his tires on his 2002 vehicle and he used a power bar and a pipe and just broke sockets and finally the wrench.

The dealer is now doing a 'free' tire rotation for him, that was crazy.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Al Wang wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Not exactly: the service cost $100, but they didn't catch this brake problem, which suddenly surfaced and will now cost me $800. My experience in the past with warped rotors is that you gradually notice the sound getting worse over time: it's unlikely to just go from fine to awful in 2 weeks of light driving.

Reply to
Al Wang

Al, I used dealership service on my company car (Passat) in Europe because it was policy and because dealerships there have a different attitude that most American ones.

But, you would never get out of any service with only $100 fee. They kept the car all day (at least) and worked on it intensively. They checked absolutely everything. And the bill was normally $500-1000, or more. The dealerships there have well trained mechanics and are committed to doing it right.

They could have been sued had they not done their job professionally.

It sounds to me like your dealership could not have done much of a service inspection for $100.

I've never priced rotors for this car, although mine were caught by the Norwegian dealership during an inspection, and the bill was nearly $1100.

Had the car been mine to pay for, I would have probably tried to do the work myself because I am basically a tightwad.

Reply to
Larry Smith

Part of that 70K service must include greasing the front wheel bearings. IN doing so they removed the rotors and calipers. After they put it back together there was more noise than you noticed before. This is a common complaint on VW's when non-OEM brake parts are used. So while the dealer didn't try to sell you a brake job in the first place his solution is to put OEM parts on now if this noise is too bothersome to you. I have trouble with paying $800 for the original service, but you did this willingly. I don't think they are really trying to cheat you now, just doing the "normal" dealer thing at dealer prices.

Reply to
WasteNotWantNot

Hi,

I can't offer any advise on the mechanical aspects of your trouble but as an owner of a 99 Golf who has had nothing but trouble from a number of dealerships i offer this...

  1. If/when you are outside of the warranty stay away from Dealerships
  2. Find a good independent VW mechanic in your area - i can't stress this enough - VW's have an almost passionate following mechanically - Dealerships are about $$ - that's it.
  3. Get a second opinion on their assessment
  4. Go over you receipt/report of your 70k tune up - any reference to any brake problems? at all?
  5. Speak to the Dealership manager/owner - if no response or lack of co-operation escalate the issue to VWoA

Good Luck!

Reply to
Stuart H

Bing bing bing! I think we have a winner here!

I was also wondering what they might have removed and replaced to make this happen.

Now go to Pep Boys and pick up some new rotors. I normally don't recommend Pep Boys parts, but their brake parts seem good. Just make sure that any new rotors you buy aren't made in some thirld world country. I get the cheap ones from Canada that cost $18/each and they work just fine (price is for a Ford Escort, yours will cost more).

Reply to
Childfree Scott

The squeal may have been the pad warning sensors letting you know it was just about time to change the pads.

Maybe, maybe not. But the dealer will always say that. The same thing could have happend with dealer supplied parts. A lot of times brake wear depends on your braking habits. Also, what does entirely shot mean? Are they warped? Are they too thin to machine down till they are straight? Have you tried measuring the rotors yourself?

Yes, they should. Ask for a partial refund of what you paid for the

70k service. If they did the second inspection for free, you should point out that you wasted time coming in a second time for what they should have done the first time, so you should still get a refund.

The dealer is probably right that nothing they did caused the problem.

----------------- Alex __O _-\

Reply to
Alex Rodriguez

When I bought my first VW which was a 1984 GTI, back in 1984, it was making a clunking noise when hitting small bumps. The dealer said it needed the upper strut mount replaced which sounded logical since the rubber piece was split.

They replaced the part and I picked the car up and immediately noticed that my tires were squealing when going around turns. This was not normal for a GTI with Pirelli's and only 5000 miles or so on it. When I got home I went to turn into my driveway and almost crashed into fence because the wheel stopped turning halfway through it's turn.

I got out of the car and noticed that when making a left turn I could turn the front wheels so far that they were almost perpendicular to the side of the car but making a right turn the wheels would only turn to maybe a 60 degree angle.

IOW the rack was screwed up. (Why they screwed with that for an upper strut mount is beyond me, but read on)

Back I went and raised hell.

They took the car in and calmed me down but I suspected something was still amok so I wandered into the garage and here I see my car on a lift and the mechanic standing there looking straight on at the front wheels. He turns a bolt, steps back a little to look, turns the bolt again and so forth.

IOW the idiot was aligning my car by EYE!!!!

I went crazy.

To end the story I got VWoA involved and the car was sent to an independent shop where the guy did a perfect alignment and VW extended my warranty for an extra year.

That dealer went out of business thank goodness.

I now have a great dealer where I live and while I do all my own work, he does any warranty stuff and does a great job.

psycho

Reply to
psycho_pastrami

I am one of the most vehement antidealership posters on this newsgroup, because of the experiences I have had with a number of them of Houston over the years.

I normally do my own service work, but when I have a new car, I have felt more or less constrained to use dealerships for warranty considerations.

Yes, there are some dealerships where good service can be obtained. Overwhelmingly, in this area, they do incompetent work, are overly expensive.

On the AAA list of approved mechanics/garages for this area, there are now several dealerships. The last time I checked in the Denton/Dallas area, there were only a couple.

Maybe things are getting better.

Reply to
Larry Smith

And you live in Wawa, or North Bay? The closest trustworthy VW dealerships are equadistent east and west, about 35 hours drive????

Just joshing ya - but there ARE good and bad dealers. I worked as service manager in a Toyota dealership for 10 years. We were the "good" dealer among 5 within a 40 minute drive.

Reply to
clare

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