1,000 euros for VW Passat service???

Dcully

Hi folks,i have an 03 VW Passat TDI with 53,000 miles on the clock.
I bought here @ 48,000 on her.
Great car really nice drive and performance.
Ive been advised on this forum to get oil changed every 5,000 miles.

Im just off the phone to Michael Moore car sales in Laois and they tell me for full service im looking at 1,000 euros.
That includes timing belt and labour of 85 euros per hour.
I mean can this be true?
I realise timing belt is time consuming but telling me the price beforehand is a bit dodgy is it not?
My past dealings with Moores was terrible,i bought a 97 Passat [4 years old at the time]before and a year down the line i was selling only to realise it was a former taxi car [which i wasnt told about]and cost a small fortune to get tax book changed over,i also tracked back servicing history of the car and rang a guy in the log book who claims Moores got him to mess with the mileage clock.

Really can this service cost 1,000 euros?
Can anyone suggest somewhere else?

kluivert

Avoid at all cost please dont even entertain, that is a joke and you know it is or you wouldnt question it.

maidhc

€85/hr seems very expensive, especially when an apprentice on the minimum wage will be doing it.

There is nothing odd about knowing how long a job takes, and how much it will cost though. I was quoted €350 to get the timing belt done in a ford garage (mondeo), but normally get it done for about €250 in a local place.

Drax

Stay away from this - Timing belt would cost you 400 quid tops. Unless this guy is planning to replace the bushings on all 4 wheels included in the price then maybe but that is a rediculous price. Whats a nmormal service anyway? 200 - 250? 85 euro an hour sounds a bit step tbh.
Good luck....

Dcully

Ok i just rang Sheehy VW dealers in Naas and they quoted 980 euros ,fooking hell.

Drax

Dealers will always charge you more - try finding a a small garage with a few grease monkey's...

That is an unbelievable rip-off...

prospect

There is an independant VW/Audi specalist in Clane, (near Naas). You should try them, I cant think of their name, but someone here probably has it.

bazz26

The timing belt on the Passat takes longer to change as the engine is mounted length ways rather than the normal transversely mounted engine.

Even taking that into accout €1,000 is way too much and a total ripoff. Since the car is no longer under the manufacturer's warranty I don't see the need to go to a main Stealer. A highly recommended good independant mechanic is your best bet.

Dcully

Ok i rang a mechanic friend and he says it is a big job but nowhere near 1,000.
He said he will do it but is unsure whether its 60,000 or 80,000 for timing belt ,he thinks its 80,000 on newer models.
Off i went scouring the net and came across a VW TDI FAQ which states the following on timing belt.

The replacement interval varies depending upon model but is generally 96,000 km for manual transmission models for the 2001 and prior model years, and 64,000 km for automatic transmission modeis for the 2001 and prior model years, and 128,000 km for 2002 model year regardless of transmission. The 2002 model has an updated belt and tensioner design which may be retrofitted to A4-chassis models of prior years to take advantage of the extended change interval provided that both the belt and tensioner are replaced. The extended-life belt and tensioner cannot be fitted to the older A3 or B4 engines because the belt is a different length and will not fit.

Anyone know for sure?
Each dealer i ring say 60,000 miles but this could possibly be a marketing ploy.
Im still headscratching here lol.

faigs

It is 60000 on most diesel cars so that would come to mind as soon as the mechanic hears 'timing belt'. However if the Passat is different you should ask any VW dealer, or it should say it in your manual (the service booklet.)

drdre

Efioanaes wrote:

Hi folks,i have an 03 VW Passat TDI with 53,000 miles on the clock.
I bought here @ 48,000 on her.
Great car really nice drive and performance.
Ive been advised on this forum to get oil changed every 5,000 miles.

Im just off the phone to Michael Moore car sales in Laois and they tell me for full service im looking at 1,000 euros.
That includes timing belt and labour of 85 euros per hour.
I mean can this be true?
I realise timing belt is time consuming but telling me the price beforehand is a bit dodgy is it not?
My past dealings with Moores was terrible,i bought a 97 Passat [4 years old at the time]before and a year down the line i was selling only to realise it was a former taxi car [which i wasnt told about]and cost a small fortune to get tax book changed over,i also tracked back servicing history of the car and rang a guy in the log book who claims Moores got him to mess with the mileage clock.

Really can this service cost 1,000 euros?
Can anyone suggest somewhere else?

thats well over priced, you should have laughed on the phone as thats what i did when i was quoted 500 for a brand new vw golf service in dublin.if you donot want to have a full serivce history then just get it donoe from a normal garage they will be much cheaper.but micheal moore are really ripping people off i thought they would have been cheaper.

Carpenter

Hi
I have a Audi A4 when should the belt be changed on it .
The car has 39500 miles on it would it be the same price this is mad money total rip off ireland at it,s best

crosstownk

Ridiculous money!! Do not pay this!! Also changing your oil every 5000 miles has no benefit. Your Passat has longlife service. If you put in the correct oil you could get from 10000 miles to 30000 miles between services. Some people do not feel comfortable with 30000 mile intervals but in my experience it causes no problems. But 5000 mile intervals were dropped by VW over 10 years ago. In most cases the dealer puts the 5000 mile sticker on to earn more money.

BTW the price you've been quoted is there or there abouts for a main VW dealer but so many non-franchised repairers are equally as good and I'd recommend trying some that were suggested in earlier posts.

VW don't really have a scheduled t/belt interval but they recommend that the belt is checked at every service and replaced if necessary - a bit wishy washy given longlife service intervals. I would not let any VW go beyond 60000 miles without changing the belt but I hear of people going to 80000 with no problems. If you interested I know a guy in Dublin who will do the service and belt for about €600. PM me if you want details.

crosstownk

Carpenter wrote:

Hi
I have a Audi A4 when should the belt be changed on it .
The car has 39500 miles on it would it be the same price this is mad money total rip off ireland at it,s best

As per VW Passat - see my previous post.

Lex Luthor

prospect wrote:

There is an independant VW/Audi specalist in Clane, (near Naas). You should try them, I cant think of their name, but someone here probably has it.

It's Alan Kane in Sallins. (Kane Automotive)
His number is 086 2549270 or 045 855882

I have use him a few times to do work on the BMW, but he specialises in all German cars. Highly recommend him. Really nice guy and reasonable. No bull$****. He'll tell you up front the cost and is very thorough. His labour rates are definitley cheaper than dealers and you can at least guarantee the work is done by someone in the business a while.

pburns

Ridiculous! One of the many reasons why I'm anti-VW - the dealers...

I know of someone who brought in a Merc (same importers/dealers) & rang up to complain when a regular service (first service I think) cost >€1000.
The salesman told him if he couldn't afford the prices he shouldn't have bought a Mercedes!!!!

Greedy, grabbin' b*****ds!

lomb

If u are spending the $$$ get the water pump replaced also. this is critical, as if the bearings seized the belt will snap. also these give trouble on vw around 55-75000 miles so get it changed with the belts and tensioners. the fins on the impellor are plastic and as such crack and snap off so defo get pump changed whatever u do.

luckily vw use self tensioning spring tensioners, and thus a backstreet mechanic has as much chance of doing the job correctly as a main dealer. buy the parts at german swedish french in dublin 22. i can recommend a mechanic in edenderry, hel do it for around 300 labour give or take. the parts will be 200.

BrianD3

85 euros per hour (not including VAT probably) is very dear for a garage down the country. I thought Moores would be chaper than this obviously not. Come to think of it anytime I was in that place I got a real sense of snobbery there - it was as if they were doing ME a favour by letting me into the showroom and considering selling me one of their "prestige" VWs :rolleyes: Like pburns i am quite anti VW and the attitude of the dealers is one reason why. Of course they can get away with this as there's no shortage of mugs out there who think VW are a premium brand and are therefore willing to go on waiting lists for new VWs, pay OTT price for servicing etc.

crosstownk

BrianD3 wrote:

85 euros per hour (not including VAT probably) is very dear for a garage down the country. I thought Moores would be chaper than this obviously not. Come to think of it anytime I was in that place I got a real sense of snobbery there - it was as if they were doing ME a favour by letting me into the showroom and considering selling me one of their "prestige" VWs :rolleyes: Like pburns i am quite anti VW and the attitude of the dealers is one reason why. Of course they can get away with this as there's no shortage of mugs out there who think VW are a premium brand and are therefore willing to go on waiting lists for new VWs, pay OTT price for servicing etc.

You're quite right. The problem is that due to block exemption VW dealers have been coerced into upgrading thier premisies in order to retain the franchise. This upgrading costs a lot so in order to get it back the customer ends up footing the bill. This is rampant with all main dealers - the bigger the dealer the higher the costs. So as a result all dealers are charging what was previously conceived as 'Dublin' prices.

Anyway, Moores were always crap to deal with - but VW dealers in general are so unpleasant to deal with. I know of one that is reasonable - Newmarket Motors in Cork.

lomb

Annseley in dublin will probably be cheaper as tehy havent yet upgraded their premises. u are right about the block exemption thing though, its been bad for consumers so has had the opposite effect to intended.
funny thing was when ordering a new golf there a few months ago i got quotes for discounts and all the nice places started at zero off the list:eek:

BrianD3

That's true about the block exemption still there are main dealers (non VW) that manage to have fancy showrooms and charge 50-60 euros an hour labour which is still a lot but 85 is ridiculous. Judging by other posts in this forum by drdre etc. it looks like VW dealers in Dublin are even worse and might be charging close to 100 euros p.h..

Moores in Portarlington have always had a big glossy showrooms and snobby bollox salesmen as long as I've been calling in there. As for Sheehy's VW garage that someone mentioned Jaysus I don't think I'd recommend them at all based on what I've heard!

crosstownk

As the importer here for VW (MDL) also imports Mercedes, a lot of VW dealers also have the franchise for Mercedes. I think this may have something to do with the labour rates. A Toyota or Nissan dealer will be a bit cheaper.

Squirrel

BrianD3 wrote:

That's true about the block exemption still there are main dealers (non VW) that manage to have fancy showrooms and charge 50-60 euros an hour labour which is still a lot but 85 is ridiculous. Judging by other posts in this forum by drdre etc. it looks like VW dealers in Dublin are even worse and might be charging close to 100 euros p.h..

Moores in Portarlington have always had a big glossy showrooms and snobby bollox salesmen as long as I've been calling in there. As for Sheehy's VW garage that someone mentioned Jaysus I don't think I'd recommend them at all based on what I've heard!

Depends on the person, I used to work in a main VW dealer in Dublin and some of the people wouldn't be too bothered, but others would do nearly anything to try and help. That said I found all the staff helpful, and so did a friends dad who was wandering around before giving me a lift home

oli_ro

how about frank hogan in limerick ?

if anyone knows of a good garage or mechanic in lim which specializes in german cars please pm.

Cheers

crosstownk

oli_ro wrote:

how about frank hogan in limerick ?

if anyone knows of a good garage or mechanic in lim which specializes in german cars please pm.

Cheers

If you wanna go to Limerick STAY AWAY from Hogans. Worse than Moores - by a long shot. Try Franklin Motors in Cahernorry. They are VW specialists and excellent mechanics.

Dcully

Unless your going to buy a 70,000 plus vehicle from Moores they look down on you,i always got that feeling from them.
Anyways thanks for input guys.
Im going with my friend i mentioned earlier,he does my brothers celica work and always done my late Fathers cars.
He reckons 80,000 is fine for timing belt but is going to do service and check out timing bely on Thursday morning.

About the VW dislike here,i think the passat is an outstanding car tbh.
I got it from a non VW dealer for 4,000 eoros LESS than Moore was looking for.
This is the first time ive actually dealt with a VW dealer for servicing.
My last car was an avensis,loved the thing tbh but once i drove the Passat TDI i fell for it.

crosstownk

Efioanaes wrote:

Unless your going to buy a 70,000 plus vehicle from Moores they look down on you,i always got that feeling from them.
Anyways thanks for input guys.
Im going with my friend i mentioned earlier,he does my brothers celica work and always done my late Fathers cars.
He reckons 80,000 is fine for timing belt but is going to do service and check out timing bely on Thursday morning.

About the VW dislike here,i think the passat is an outstanding car tbh.
I got it from a non VW dealer for 4,000 eoros LESS than Moore was looking for.
This is the first time ive actually dealt with a VW dealer for servicing.
My last car was an avensis,loved the thing tbh but once i drove the Passat TDI i fell for it.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking VW cars or commercials. It's the dealers that are complete ar*eholes. I'm a VW fan and used to be Service Manager at a VW dealer and would recommend the cars above most others. But I know the attitude that VW dealers have. In my current job I deal with all sorts of car dealers all across the country and without fail VW/Audi/Merc dealers are the most obnoxious.

CrowdedHouse

BrianD3 wrote:

85 euros per hour (not including VAT probably) is very dear for a garage down the country. I thought Moores would be chaper than this obviously not.

They were €65 per hour this time last year when I was getting my A4 done.A €20/hr increase is fairly saucy,I suppose the guy that does it wouldn't even get 20% of that.

crosstownk wrote:

If you put in the correct oil you could get from 10000 miles to 30000 miles between services. Some people do not feel comfortable with 30000 mile intervals but in my experience it causes no problems. But 5000 mile intervals were dropped by VW over 10 years ago. In most cases the dealer puts the 5000 mile sticker on to earn more money.

True - they put a 15000 Km sticker on my new GTI

crosstownk

CrowdedHouse wrote:

True - they put a 15000 Km sticker on my new GTI

It happens all the time - greedy ba$tards!

Just wait til your display tells you that you need a service. You can check it any time by pressing the spanner button on the dash when you are stopped - if you press it while the car is moving you will activate the speed warning.

bazz26

oli_ro wrote:

how about frank hogan in limerick ?

Cheers

Another shower of muppets imo. As if they were selling the best products in the world. Pure arrogant and their trade-in valuations are a laugh to say the least. Alot of their sales or leasing are to the fleet markets and don't really care whether the average joe private customer buys from them or not. Even their petrol is expensive.

A friend of my father's a few years ago was buying a brand new Merc E Class from them, no trade-in. He was made wait 40 mins in the showroom, he walked out and bought it somewhere else. He then parked it outside the showroom and went into the shop to buy a newspaper letting the muppets see the sale they missed out on.

CrowdedHouse

crosstownk wrote:

It happens all the time - greedy ba$tards!

Just wait til your display tells you that you need a service. .

You can be sure that I will crosstownk !

The GTI(all Golfs ?) is slightly different - turn on ignition without starting, wait til the 'fasten seat belt' writing goes out then press and hold the trip counter reset button