Non VW Service

ballooba

I am sending my car in for a service and am trying to decide whether to send it to local mechanic or JetStar (Independent VW Agent) in Dun Laoghaire.

JetStar quoted €300 for a full service. Local mechanic is looking for €130 for changing the oil and all the various bits and bobs.

I know there is a few things wrong with the car:
1) Clicking noise from the front right sometimes when I brake from reverse
2) Creaking noise from suspension in back
3) Timing belt probably needs to be changed?

The car is a 2002 VW Passat Petrol with 55,000 miles.

Should the local guy be able for this or should I go for the VW Expert.

Local guy is working on my sisters BMW320d at the moment, he was recommended by my uncle.

Enygma

AFAIK there aren't many local guys that will do the timing belt. It's usually a main dealer job. Unless you find a guy that specialises in VW. Definetely shop around though, I saved over €600 (yes, €600!) by going to a VW dealer around 40 odd miles away (Newmarket Motors) instead of the local one (Turners Cross) when getting my timing belt done.

Not sure about the other jobs.

Enygma

Enygma wrote:

AFAIK there aren't many local guys that will do the timing belt.

I would have thought that jobs like this are the little guys bread and butter.

ballooba

Foster Motor Co quoted €440.

They're my local decent VW Dealer. Never going near MSL again.

$Leon$

ballooba wrote:

Foster Motor Co quoted €440.

They're my local decent VW Dealer. Never going near MSL again.

The timing belt isn't included in that price. Thats probably just the service. You can at least double that for service and timing belt.

TheWaterboy

from personal experience it is pointless in sending the car to a specific VW mechanic. Your car only has a 2 year warranty and thats when you need to make sure that VW parts are on it and it has been serviced by a VW garage. This is to keep them happy should a warranty covered problem

After your warranty is up it makes very little difference who services your car.

ballooba

$Leon$ wrote:

The timing belt isn't included in that price. Thats probably just the service. You can at least double that for service and timing belt.

Brady's just quoted me €375 for service plus €650 for timing belt.

Main dealer idea has just gone out the window. Might give it to the local mechanic and spend (a small part of) the balance on a rental car.

Still considering JetStar though.

crosstownk

ronoc wrote:

I would have thought that jobs like this are the little guys bread and butter.

Correct. Changing the t/belt on a Passat is not simple though. The front bumper needs to come off. I'd have no problem sending my VW to a 'non' dealer, and I used to work in a VW service dept.

Jetstar used to be VW agents a few years back so they should know what they are at.

If you want a great garage in the North Dublin city area, just PM me. Many others on here have gone there and were quite satisfied.

rebel.ranter

The reason most people go to the main dealer is because they think that the dealer is the expert with all the experience, tools & knowledge. Also so that the service book looks good at re-sale (it's a big thing in the UK).

However, when you go to the dealer it's usually an apprentice doing the more basic jobs (an ex main dealer may jump in and correct/disagree with me). So there goes the experience bit.

A lot of independents especially specialists (like I presume JetStar is) have all the necessary equipment to do these jobs. So that's the tool angle covered.

Most independent mechanics serve their time in a Main Dealers at some point so they will have picked up a lot of experience & the practices along the way. so that's the knowledge taken care of.

I know the Passat Diesel timing belt is a nightmare job but I have heard of independents successfully carrying out this work. I thought the pertol one was more straight forward.

My final point on this would be the fact that at an independent garage the owner is normally a mechanic in the garage so I would expect there is more incentive to give that the attention to detail. Not saying that main dealer mechanics don't take pride in their work. When it's your own business you're bound to be more enthusiastic.

Also the strange rattle & the creak & the the timing belt are not included in the service. Just remember a service is a service with fixed checks & work. Anything uusual is not included & you will specifically have to ask to get these checked/done. Some faults/problems may not be immediately apparent during the normal checks.

bazz26

Timing belt on the 1997 - 2005 Passat is a pain to change. The engine is mounted lenght ways rather than the standard transverse way on most other cars. This makes getting at the timing belt more difficult and so it takes longer. This is where the money is made - labour costs. Some VW garages have been known to charge anything up to €1,000 for a timing belt change on the old Passat which is daylight robbery imo.

Since the car is 5 years old and well outside the manufacturer's warranty I would go down the route of a good recommended independant mechanic. Main dealer servicing doesn't always mean a better quality of work.

BostonB

bazz26 wrote:

...Main dealer servicing doesn't always mean a better quality of work.

It usually doesn't in my experience.