Audi service costs, thoughts?

naughtysmurf

So Jr bought a 181 A4 tfsi in February, all good, full Audi history, 1yr warranty.

Got an email today offering a two year service plan, next minor service, major service & brake fluid change for €599, this seemingly will save him a massive €314, sounds a bit saucy to me but I’ve no experience of Audi servicing costs, thoughts?

Was planning to get it serviced early 25 while still under warranty with them, use our Indy after that

TIA

bazz26

In the grand scheme of things, €599 doesn't seem bad from a main dealer but depends on what they define as a major service. To me it should include, oil, oil filter, air + pollen filter and maybe spark plugs if needed. Brake fluid change is self explanatory and would be recommended every 2 years by the manufacturer, dealer might charge €100+ for that alone. Won't include replacing brake pads or discs however but don't be surprised if they are recommended to be changed when they are doing the fluid.

All that can certainly be done cheaper by an indy and worth pricing it but you obviously won't retain the full main dealer service history going down that route. Up to you really whether you think it's worth spending more to keep the full service history or not. I traded my 2017 car recently that had low mileage and a full main dealer service history from new, some garages showed little interest in that while others did.

CMOTDibbler

Use your indie whenever you can. My experience of main dealer servicing (including Audi South Dublin) has been woeful. Audi alone cost me two NCT failures. Nissan cost me a DPF because they never changed the glow plugs when they were due.

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397735#Comment_122397735

Glow plugs don't have a set replacement schedule, they would be replaced when they fail so I'm not sure how you can claim they cost you a dpf?

Paul MCM

I have 2017 A6 and would only use my local mechanic now. I used the main dealer for small service before but a few years ago I went to book my car in with a Audi main dealer and the list of items that they suggested I have work done on added up to over €1,400.

My local mechanic said it needed none of it and serviced my car for €200.

CMOTDibbler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122398110#Comment_122398110

Because you need good glow plugs to regen the DPF. Primary cause of DPF failure is bad glow plugs. The recommended mileage for their replacement is 80-100k kms. The car was last in for a service at 175k. EMI was on and they couldn't figure out why. 🙄

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122404089#Comment_122404089

If the EML is on for glow plugs then of course replace them but they aren't on a set schedule, why they couldn't figure out the engine light is anyone's guess

CMOTDibbler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122404168#Comment_122404168

It wasn't on for glow plugs, it was on for the DPF. EML doesn't come on for glow plugs. You check the glow plugs quite easily with a multi-meter. Main dealers would have even better equipment than that, but it's a trivial check either way.

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122404195#Comment_122404195

Glow plugs log a code when they have failed so the dealer should have had no trouble telling they were gone, no need to get the multimeter out

comerla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122401721#Comment_122401721

Someone said to me once that Audi think in terms of thousands - so when you go for 'free' health check they will find brake pads, tyres etc that need fixing and you will end up with a quote for thousands.

This is exactly my experience. My local told me that I needed none of it; just a basic service and I drove another year on those brake pads.