Main Dealer or Independent Service

Jesus. That's stupid amounts of cash for a cambelt and service. It's only a VAG V6 (ISTR), not something exotic.

I good indie should be able to do a service for around £150 and the cambelt etc for £250-ish.

I certainly wouldn't use a dealer charging that amount of money.

I thought there was a new ruling that to maintain the warranty, ie stamp the logbook, anyone can do it so long as genuine parts are used. Land Rover allow this as I know an owner who uses this method.

toy

Thanks for the reply.

I don't need to worry about the warranty as it runs out this week.

Thanks

Richard

Best to try & find a decent Independent who specialises in VAG. Such as

I.

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately I am in the North East. I believe there is a VW\Audi locally but I don't know anything about them so I am wary about using them especially when I have an honest garage close to my home. Unfortunately they don't specialise in Audi but how hard can it be to work on them ?

Richard

I know a guy who does my MOT's in Sheffield, v small back st garage(but in v posh part). he does things like Masaratis, 70's or older Jags etc or brand new stuff or the run of the mill s*it 1.1 festas. Not the fastest at getting round to doing it, or maybe thats on my cars. But i can ask him a squestion and he seems to know all the ins and outs about all brands. Whats a regualr mailure etc or things like that.

I wouldnt trust my Toyota dealer to work on my car (1977 Celica) but someone like him.

If it's any help, I have a Rover which is well out of manufacturer's warranty but for which I have an AA warranty. The deal is that I have it serviced professionally, i.e. not do it myself. But they do not say that it should be a main dealer, so I use an indie.

Rob Graham

For my money, stick with the guy you trust, and have the genuine parts. BUT see if there is a VW equivalent - while waiting in our local VW parts shop (which is next door to the Audi parts shop), the assistant served a customer to a part, and commented that the same part from the Audi spares place would cost a great deal more!

Richard Goulding ( snipped-for-privacy@nospam.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

A small specialist indie is FAR more likely to be good than a dealer.

Think about a typical mechanic's career path - start off in a dealer, training up, senior technician, then off to start own business. If they've chosen to specialise, it's usually in a marque they know well and are enthusiasts for.

A dealer will also get away with sub-standard work, as they don't need to trade off their reputation - there's a bloody great big sign outside that does all the selling for them.

A dealer is also not going to see as much of the long-term work on older cars. They're mainly going to get the first couple of years routine servicing.

Pay more for worse quality work? Hmmm. Let me think.

Before you make a choice, get quotes from a few other dealers in your approximate area (£800 buys a lot of petrol ;o)

I can't remember exactly how much a service varied between low and high in my area, but it was something like 50-100%. Yep, up to double from a different franchised dealer.

One also upped the price substantially when I converted from a quote to booking the car in. And lost the business in the process..

I'm personally very happy about specialists carrying-out work, but stick to the dealer for the service stamp. 'Tis up to you, really..