stealership rant
 

anyone want to share their stealership stories?

my friend's audi a4 is broken (again). it needed to be towed so he went back to his stealership and they told him that 3 of his coil packs are shot. $54 each + labor. he feels he's getting shafted so asks me what i thought.

well i go online and got the part number from a vw message board and go looking. my vw dealer helps me out and discovers that the part number matches up with the touraeg SUV (same v6 engine i think) as being the same part, and they sell it for $25 each...

WTF? :confused:

i call another audi dealership and they can't match the price. i even call friend's stealership and tell them, and all they say is that i'm wrong and they are right, and that these VW parts are not interchangeable with audi, and demanded to know where i got these prices from.... whatever.

depends where you go, places need to mark up prices to make some money. but 25 -> 54 is way too much

If the part # is the same then it will work. Just go buy it from VW.

Its probably the same parts but since VWG decide to charge a higher price because its wrap in an audi box then nothing the dealership can really do.

are you saying you called a different Audi dealership and they charge the same as the first Audi dealership?

try all the dealerships...some set the price way higher

LOL that's like ranting about how Lexus sport pedals are 3x more expensive than the sport pedals found on a Celica GT

you aren't just paying for the parts, you are paying for the expensive dealership's expensive people as well.

haha thats like saying that buying an oil filter at lexus is more expensive than buying the same oil filter at toyota.

haha thats like you want to buy audi but cant afford their services . Just buy VW parts and get a private mechanic to install it.

The MAF for my car was $750 CND at the dealership.
It was $315 USD through an OEM supplier.

My dealership actually recommended I buy it online, cause they do not control the mark-up yet know many of these prices are just silly.

Buy the coilpacks from VW and install them yourself.

Problem solved.

ah, the good ol' coil packs. They all go bad at one time or another, but 3 at a time wow..

My gf's car had one go bad too, she paid quite a bit for them.. She ended up buying 4 brand new ones and keeping the good ones in the trunk for emergency purposes.

Local dealerships and online prices vary drastically.. local dealerships have no control over it, as many of you guys have said.

And why is your friend even complaining.. he chose to drive an Audi... I mean, and AUDI. GERMAN = $$

bought 5 Plastic Rivets at Auto West BMW....$17 + tax

at home depot, similar rivets sell for $0.16 ea

I find it pretty pathetic. Shallow people who buy premium labels to show off to other shallow people then complain about marked up prices on parts/maintenance.

And don't even bother making the excuse of "they buy these brands for performance/quality" LOL

With your logic, people should pay the full retail price on parts to retain their ego of owning a 'premium' car? :rolleyes:

If you can't afford the "premium price" of owning a "premium car" then buy a Toyota and stop the bitching.

Its like losers who spend every last penny to buy a BMW then penny-pinch for everything else LOL. Pathetic.

or like the people that buy the lowest class benz,audi,bmw

with fabric seats, base model etc

In the dealership's defence.. they only have Audi product and prices on their computer.

Where the market the car is has no bearing in this argument.. because it is the dealership sells that brand only..

Audi and VW belongs to the same group, on the manufacturing level. However on their service / pricing, it is each on their own.

I would balk if your friend went into a 3rd party shop and people insist on charging Audi prices.

Some people might have sensitive skin, and cannot tolerate leather.. The A6/5series in the UK can be opted with premium cloth if I'm not mistaken..

I have a bigger pet peave with people driving 323i/C230/A4/IS250 barebones, and then dumping money on aftermarket HIDs and then blinding the crap out of people. They couldn't spend that extra $ on factory HIDs instead..

lol, BMW wanna charge $25/spark plug, $7 online

Well, most dealerships make their money on services. The mark-up on the cars they sell alone are not enough for the dealership to survive. That's why manufacturers r making their cars harder to service by independent shops so people will have no choice but to go back to dealership & swallow their over-inflated rates

It is just like running into Market order a glass of pop and complain Safeway is selling it for $2 a bottle down the street.

It is up to the owner to discern pricing before they go to any shop / business establishment.

I dont really understand the attraction on base model bmw , benz, and A4. Why would people want to buy them in the first place? Its lacking luxury, lacking performance (generally speaking the weak sauce engine, and no sports suspension etc).

You are basically paying for the brand image, which isnt working, because I am suppose to be "wow, nice car", but i am not, I would laugh at you trying hard looking good while being cheap .

The parts dept has some leeway in pricing of the parts, but for the most part, they don't dictate the MSRP of things.....that's why it's called MSRP, Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price.

indeed they do, hell when my friend ordered some parts at Toyota for his MR2 the young guy at the parts/service counter gave him the seniors discount :lol

I just got a recall letter this month from Audi regarding the coil packs. I used to have to keep one extra in my trunk just in case one blew. Audi is giving us new coil packs for free that are more durable and reimbursing us for any we bought.