Just over a year ago I bought an approved Used VW golf from a franchised dealer, the car came with 12months Warranty and 12 months MOT.
When I returned for the MOT a few weeks before both it and the warranty expired, the VW dealer "found" over £ 400 worth of work than was needed in order to obtain a further 12 months MOT,
You should have seen the look on the guy's face when I told him that was his problem as the car is covered by VWs warranty.
The car had only covered 30 000 miles yet I was told I needed loads of work on the front suspension, bushes etc.
Eventually the garage agreed to carry out the work at no cost to myself, however I would hate to think that they would have overlooked this had they known they would be covering the cost............
|
|
The VW dealer that I bought my used Golf from in West Yorkshire did little to it in the way of servicing- except to conceal the rust on the wheels, that was about it. There was a hose that was snapped in two that I had to replace and they either damaged the thread on the sump plug and decided not to replace it or didn't notice it was damaged (did they forget to change the oil?!) When I took my car to be serviced at my VW dealer in North Yorkshire they managed to overlook two broken bulbs despite ticking the boxes to say they had checked them and they were working. £206 all in all, not very impressive
|
What about a good dealer story in the same circumstances ?
I bought my Vectra (exactly 4 years today as it happens) from a garage some
45 miles distance. Best deal....free cd player etc etc
Last two services and other work done a another (vauxhall owned) garage some 6 miles distant. Anyway the original garage offer a free MoT for life scheme. The car was booked into the original garage for its MoT and duely passed, however the Service chap pointed out that the rear suspension bushes were "showing signs of wear - but are not an MoT faliure" In the light of above it seems very fair to me. I suppose he could have blagged me for the bushes there and then.
Vauxhall now have an MoT insurance scheme for £40.00 paid when you have 3 months to run before the next test and seems to cover the majority of expensive items exhaust emmisions/cat etc.... worth considering if I have the motor this time next year.
|
|
|
|
|
If you want a job done properly you have to do it yourself!
|
I agree with this sentiment, but for most of us without car-hoists and other expensive tools this is only an option for the simpler tasks. I'm not sure whether it is worse for a garage to say it has done something but hasn't (just charged for it) or to do something which they claim is necessary but you feel probably isn't. My 306 DT had its first MoT at 25K and the Peugeot dealer reported worn suspension-arm bushes - which are an integral part of the arm, £75 each to pass the MoT. I doubted this as the car had had one lady owner before me and no signs of any driving abuse. I suspected an 'earner of the week' as we all know that franchises make good money on parts, but didn't argue as the worn arms were presented [of course those could have come off anyone's 306].
My preferred answer to these doubts is to use a small local garage - they are often unavailable on Fridays as they may be a support team at Oulton Park or Donington or somewhere. The rest of the week they fix Porsches or do a few MoTs on the side - don't like diesels, though, let someone else get their hands dirty!
|
|
|
I agree with this sentiment, but for most of us without car-hoists and other expensive tools this is only an option for the simpler tasks. I'm not sure whether it is worse for a garage to say it has done something but hasn't (just charged for it) or to do something which they claim is necessary but you feel probably isn't. My 306 DT had its first MoT at 25K and the Peugeot dealer reported worn suspension-arm bushes - which are an integral part of the arm, £75 each to pass the MoT. I doubted this as the car had had one lady owner before me and no signs of any driving abuse. I suspected an 'earner of the week' as we all know that franchises make good money on parts, but didn't argue as the worn arms were presented [of course those could have come off anyone's 306].
My preferred answer to these doubts is to use a small local garage - they are often unavailable on Fridays as they may be a support team at Oulton Park or Donington or somewhere. The rest of the week they fix Porsches or do a few MoTs on the side - don't like diesels, though, let someone else get their hands dirty!
|
|
|
|
I have signed up for the Peugeot MOT failure scheme which at just £15 seems TOO cheap.
The MOT is due in August, I await the result with interest.
|
|
|
Cor blimey! Exactly the same happened to my brother about 8 months ago at at the main vw dealer in south yorkshire. He bought a 93 golf 1.8 with 12 months mot and warranty etc. About a week before they ran out he sent it to the dealer for the mot, who said it needed new bushes on front and rear suspension to pass costing over 300 quid. When he pointed out they were covered by the warranty, they thought it had already ran out (admin error had put the wrong expiry date!), then had to stump the bill themselves! Whether or not they did replace the bushes or if they needed replacing is another question. Perhaps this is a common trick to rake in a few more quid??
Is main dealer service history etc really worth it ??
|
|
|
