online source for coil in a 96 cabrio?

Try

(AKA Adirondack Auto) I checked, they have the coil listed for 69.00. Not a bad price, and these guys are honest and know VWs. I get all my Scirocco parts from them.

Bethesda, a MD suburb just north of Washington, DC.

I seem to recall a sign indicating their hourly is $92. The term "thieving bastards" keeps coming to mind.

Fortunately a shout-out to our local neighborhood mailing list got a couple of other recommendations. So once I get the bare minimun done at the $tealership (to eat up the estimate fee) I'll be taking it elsewhere. At least now I know a little more about what's wrong. The last local shop I tried f'ed it up and overcharged as well.

Have you tried Wheaton Service Center near the Wheaton metro? Also Volkswerks in Falls Church, although Ted (the owner) is kinda twitchy sometimes and hates Corrados, he is still an excellent shop. Also I've heard that Curries, which I've heard good things about but never used as they used to be out in Centerville or Manassas or somewhere like that, has some locations closer to DC now. Finally International Auto in Annapolis is good as well, although that may be a little out of the way for you. I'd give an "eh" to WB Motors in Fairfax; I've used them a couple times and have been neither impressed nor pissed off by them, but apparently the girlie paid big bucks to have her A/C fixed there and they apparently used a used compressor but charged her full price.

nate

One neighbor mentioned volkwerks but I'd prefer to find something a little closer to home. I had a guy up in Baltimore some years ago that just hated an old A1 Jetta of mine. He loved the '80 Scirocco though, to each his own I guess. I spoke with Pat Lavelle at Glen's Auto off Gude Dr, at the recommendation of another neighbor, seemed like a nice guy. I'll be letting them look at the car the 1st week in January.

Since it was just an abberant sensor I'll just top off the oil and wait until Xmas shopping is done. I am having the dealer replace the sensor, if only to chew up the estimate charges. Given how arrogant they've been I'm certainly not going to just give them the estimate fee by itself.

I'm girding for battle when I pick it up this afternoon, I fully expect them to try further shenanigans like charge me for the work AND the estimating. While I'm not opposed to a dealer being able to make a reasonable profit, the attitude of arrogance from the guy handling it was over the top. When I questioned the logic of how a sensor would be 'ruined' by replacing it now and then the gaskets in three weeks, he actually copped a "that tone isn't necessary" response. I'm plenty polite, up to a point, but when a clerk starts trying to double-talk his way around things I start asking for step-by-step explanations. That's apparently 'impolite'. More like they want to intimidate the customer into silence why they screw 'em.

It's my money and if they want it they'd do well to at least be polite while trying to screw me out of it. The nerve of some folks, yeesh. Guess that's par for the course with $tealerships though.

We guys don't have a chance in situations like this, so if your wife is the assertive type, send her. My wife is like that, and it's just amazing how often she easily swings the other side to her point of view. There is no shouting going on either, just "Yes, Ma'am, I see what you mean. Sorry for my error". If I go in there, they just look at me and hand me the bill.

And they say females are the weaker sex. Ha!

I can tell a story that's just the opposite. I had a girlfriend some years ago that took her Sentra in for one of the $75 tune-up specials at a Firestone dealer in Baltimore. Yeah, she didn't ask me for a shop recommendation first. So when I took her to pick it up imagine her surprise at seeing a nearly $250 bill. That and the invoice was all scribbled over, with corrections and such. She was rather beside herself at the unexpected jump and the salesman just started pouring on the bullshit about how dangerous the condition of the car was, etc. I'd listened up that point and asked him to print up a fresh copy of the bill with clear line-items on it. He trying faking being insulted that I'd make such a request. So I said, well, if you can't give me a clearly written invoice then I'm not paying for a damned thing. He disappeared for a few minutes. When he came back, lo and behold, the bill was $100. I didn't give him any static on the sudden change and he didn't offer any explanation. But it seemed reasonable given they'd replaced a fuel filter (not part of the special). We paid it and off we went.

What happens? The girlfriend gets mad at ME for being "so rude" to the clerk! She'd nearlt been robbed of $150 and somehow *I* was the bad guy. Go figure.

I'm a ball-buster when it comes to getting what I want, provided it's reasonable. "Give me what I want and I will go away". Sometimes they're smart enough to see the value in that. Otherwise they get a free lesson. Somehow I'm imagining tomorrow's going to be another day for free lessons.

But you make an excellent point on sending her instead. My wife's an attorney and pretty good at giving 'em enough rope to hang themselves.

Well, my post was tongue-in-cheek - meant to present a little humor. Lighten up!