VAG Parts Prices

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Thu 30 Sep 2004 10:53
VAG Parts Prices - Wee Willie Winkie
Is it just me, or are VAG prices outrageous?

My heater blower packed up on my 1997 Passat TDi a couple of days ago. Instead of taking it a VW dealer, I dropped in to see my local "Dodgy Dave" (joke - in case you read this Dave!) garage. He looked around for the obvious things, fuses etc and then concluded it was knackered.

The local VW dealer quoted £230 plus VAT for a new heater blower motor. They also said the motor was a "non repairable part"! Anyway - I set about ringing around German Swedish and other parts suppliers only to find it is now a dealer only part. Hmmm. Not fair me thinks.

Anyway - to cut a long story short, Dave set about dismantling the glovebox area and fiddled and fettled.

Result? A revived blower motor and a £20 bill for me.

I bet VAG dealers are rubbing their hands on glee when customers walk through the door and they write off the option of repair rather than replace.
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Thu 30 Sep 2004 11:06
VAG Parts Prices - Aprilia
Even worse are the MB blower motors. The dealers in the UK will only sell a complete blower unit at many hundreds of pounds. However I have discovered that motor parts (brushes and bearings) are sold by dealers in the US. Consequently I've ordered brushes from the US (about £15 inc. postage) and successfully fixed the motors. Squealing bearings can often be revived by running the motor on the bench at full speed for a while to get the bearing warm and then soaking in ATF. I've fixed motors like this and they are still going strong 2-3 years later.
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Thu 30 Sep 2004 12:26
VAG Parts Prices - Stuartli
Not sure if you meant this outlet in your thread but they stock OEM spares as used by VAG etc at very much lower prices:

www.gsfcarparts.com/
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