Recommendations for a Service

mack10

I have read through a lot of threads in this forum regarding where best to bring your car for a service. Some say stick with main dealer and others recommend going to an independent garage. People have strong opinions in both directions.

For someone (like me) who is not involved in the industry and knows nothing about cars - can anyone tell me where I can get a reliable service on a 4 year old VW Passat. It has a full service history stamped by dealer but at this stage I presume the warranty is up and I don't plan to sell in next 3-4 years (only bought it in January) so would it be worth my time and money going to an independent garage?

Can anyone recommend an independent garage or if you don't advise using independent garages can you recommend a dealer that offers value for money? ( Dublin south side preferably)

After all, in this current economic crisis - value for money is paramount.

cheers

Mac

Ferris

Having a dealer service your car is certainly not worth the premium you pay them once the car is out of warranty, some would say (me included) its not worth the extra money full stop.

If you are southside Jetstar in Dun Laoighre are VW specialists an actually perform contract work for the likes of Ballsbridge Motors. They did the timing belt on my da's A6 and seemed to be good. I think that there is another specialist in the Firhouse area too. In fairness most mechanics could service your car, its fairly easy work. Just ask them to use the correct VW approved oil and parts and to follow the service schedule for your car.

_Kaiser_

It's an interesting question. I'd say in the OP's case, going independent is probably the best option as the car is already 4 years old, he's not selling it anytime soon and the warranty is long expired.

If he was planning to resell it though in the next year or two (like I will probably do with my 06 Passat in 2010 - money permitting of course!), then it'd make sense to have continued with the main dealer servicing? (Mine has been done by the same crowd I bought her from since new).

Do people really take regular/scheduled main dealer servicing as more important than the same record from an independent when it comes to resale value? May be an obvious question, but just curious as to some of the more experienced views - of more concern really I suppose would be that the car will still be on the CC based tax system?

Mr. Larson

Similar dilemma for myself...

I just dropped my car in for a Service to a main Volvo dealer this morning and I've got a funny feeling it will be the last time I do it. Although there are only 59,000 miles on the clock, the car is now 6 years old.

When I bought the car, it had been serviced every year on it's birthday, sometimes with as little as 5,000 miles in between services. 23,000 when I bought it. Now I'm starting to rattle up the mileage and I'm wondering why I have been going to the dealer for each service... Regardless of whether or not I would want to sell the car (which I don't) I'm not going to get a whole pile for it in todays climate. It's a 2.0l Turbo Coupé

I guess the service history was so on the money that I didn't want to ruin it. But now the car is 6 years old with 50k it no longer makes sense to go to the main dealer. Getting it serviced by the main dealer allowed me to keep my options open for the first year or so of ownership but time to move on, now, methinks.

PaddyFagan

Hi Folks,

Just a quick recommendation - Mobile Auto: 1890220220

A few of the guys here in work have used him for services (mainly on VWs) and found him good - I got him to do the brakes on my car recently and was impressed, he'll be doing my next service when it comes up.

You ring him and he'll arrange a time, and call out to you - he has a big van with all the tools and equipment and will service your car on the spot! He even takes Laser/CC payments with a chip & pin device in the van!

I had a good chat to him when he did the brakes on the Golf and he was very knowledgeable and a sound bloke to boot.

Paddy

mack10

thanks Paddy,

I just saw their add on google and had a look at their website
http://www.mobileautoservice.ie

Looks like a great service and could save me taking time off work.

Cheers

cabrwab

Didn't know about this service glad i do now, could solve alot of problems!
Cheers.

On topic once the car is out of warrenty i would go to a independant garage, they are usually easier to deal with. I will always tell them when booking in to use the specified oil and good parts, i can get the oil if its required no problem!

Once you look after the car and have it serviced it cuts down on problems.

Bandara

mack10 wrote: »

thanks Paddy,

I just saw their add on google and had a look at their website
http://www.mobileautoservice.ie

Looks like a great service and could save me taking time off work.

Cheers

Thats a brilliant idea, simple but brilliant.

what_car

mack10 wrote: »

I have read through a lot of threads in this forum regarding where best to bring your car for a service. Some say stick with main dealer and others recommend going to an independent garage. People have strong opinions in both directions.

For someone (like me) who is not involved in the industry and knows nothing about cars - can anyone tell me where I can get a reliable service on a 4 year old VW Passat. It has a full service history stamped by dealer but at this stage I presume the warranty is up and I don't plan to sell in next 3-4 years (only bought it in January) so would it be worth my time and money going to an independent garage?

Can anyone recommend an independent garage or if you don't advise using independent garages can you recommend a dealer that offers value for money? ( Dublin south side preferably)

After all, in this current economic crisis - value for money is paramount.

cheers

Mac

not all main dealers despite what people think, carry out the service as per the recommended service schedule in the users manual of the car.

i rang around a few irish dealers and queried the service (40,000 km) and what it included, on a 2.0 petrol...

however none of the irish dealers mentioned a key component of the service ( valve clearance check).. which is in the service schedule and listed to be done at 40,000km

i then rang, a few dealers in the uk, and ALL mentioned that the valve clearance check had to be done,

where as the irish dealers i spoke to said it wasnt needed!! and its only normally done every 100k km...


:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

T-Maxx

Would the indy mechs have all the electronic diagnostic hardware & software though?

FredsWebHead

T-Maxx wrote: »

Would the indy mechs have all the electronic diagnostic hardware & software though?

Doesn't really matter anymore. During the early 90's car manufactures added there own ecu electronics and diagnostic for emissions mainly and provide there technician with a good starting point on faults around the car. To wards the late 90's consumers started siht strriring that they paid for the product, so they should be allowed to read these fault codes. The law was passed that a certain protocol be used and guidelines to be used so customers would be allow to read the car ecu. Up until now it was just petrol cars, diesel cars came into this in 2001 i think. Up until 2006 there was something like 5 to 6 protocol used by various car manufactures up to 2006, Like Toyota used ISO9141, Merc used KWP2000. A law was passed in 2006 that all cars used the same protocol (CAN control area network ) so 1 reader like an OBDII reader can be used to read all cars. Car manufactures still have something like 20 - 30 fault codes that cannot be read by the consumer but in sayin that 400 - 500 error codes that can be read is sufficient for the consumer.
Please correct me if i'm wrong on anything here, at the moment thats how i see it. Hope i helped.
Beef,
Fred.

Mr.Diagnostic

FredsWebHead wrote: »

Please correct me if i'm wrong on anything here, at the moment thats how i see it..

I think your understanding of EOBD is flawed but aside from that basic, or enhanced, EOBD tools are far from sufficient for professional use. There are plenty of cases where they are not suitable for normal service work let alone trouble shooting. The info available under EOBD is only a small percentage of the possible available info and data.

Well, you did ask to be corrected