Stories of VW Dealers

I won’t taint the waters with my experiences just yet, but I’d like to hear what others have encountered when doing business with dealers, both good and bad. It’s been a mixed bag for me.

I took mine in for a routine oil change and tire rotation. They didn’t have 4 of the wheel bolt covers lined up right, so they were about to fall off. I popped the hood and the engine cover was askew. Upon closer inspection I realized that they didn’t return the hose that runs over the oil filter to its proper location, making the engine cover unable to seat fully. They were undeterred and tried to force it, breaking the pieces that hold the grommets on the engine cover.

I decided that they were not touching my car again, and that I would change my own oil next time. It was as if they installed the oil filter with an impact wrench. It actually came apart while I was trying to remove it. The threaded part stayed in the block!

Done! Never again!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Phur said:

I took mine in for a routine oil change and tire rotation. They didn’t have 4 of the wheel bolt covers lined up right, so they were about to fall off. I popped the hood and the engine cover was askew. Upon closer inspection I realized that they didn’t return the hose that runs over the oil filter to its proper location, making the engine cover unable to seat fully. They were undeterred and tried to force it, breaking the pieces that hold the grommets on the engine cover.

I decided that they were not touching my car again, and that I would change my own oil next time. It was as if they installed the oil filter with an impact wrench. It actually came apart while I was trying to remove it. The threaded part stayed in the block!

Done! Never again!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

That’s unbelievable. Is that seriously the service you got at a VW dealer?

I don't really have any crazy stories. I never take my car to the dealer for service work. When I bought my car the closest dealer to me lied about having 3 manuals in stock and when I got there they had a dsg ready for me to test drive, so I went to a different dealership where they had what I wanted and my experience there didn't begin with a lie.

I took my car in for a faulty pressure plate. My car was lightly modded at the time. No tune, fortunately. Upon getting to the service dept., I was greeted by the rotund service manager. He was being very pessimistic about the whole thing. Pretty much selling me on the idea I'd be paying for a clutch job out of pocket.

Fast forward a little, a younger, friendlier guy (who I assume was the assistant service manager) comes to talk to me about my car. Turns out he's a car guy too. Compliments my car, and he feels confident the issue with my car will be covered.

A bit later, he comes and tells me the car triggered soft codes which indicated a faulty pressure plate. CPO warranty covered the job. Got my car back and they didn't reconnect my MAF, was missing a clamp for the intake, and one of the clips for my engine cover was broken. Needless to say I was pretty mad, but at the same time I saved $1000+. I won't take it to them ever again.

Ive always had average service at the dealers. Nothing amazing and nothing bad.
The only downside to the dealer which is why i dont go anymore is they cost a lot more than doing it myself.

The 60k service i was quoted like $350 i did it myself for $165 in parts. (I did r8 coils, new plugs, fuel filter, and oil change)

After a VW dealer curbed my wheel during a free 10k service and they refused to fix it, I never went to a dealer again unless it was warranty related work.

The VW community is so large that any maintenance or repair job can be performed by your local shop if you provide them tips/tricks from users on the forum. Examples being, a DSG service, a HPFP install, Strut/Spring install etc.

I think dealer service depends a lot on what employee you are dealing with. I took my car in for warranty work a couple times to the same dealer (water pump, fuel injector, intake manifold) and an alignment. Basically the things I'm unable to do myself, or I know will be covered under warranty.

I received substantially better service after chatting with a service adviser who was a car/motorcycle guy (I came to pick up my car riding my motorcycle). He told me to always ask for him in the future when coming to the dealership and he would make sure everything went well. If anyone lives in Southeast VA and uses Southern Volkswagen Greenbrier ask for Andrew!

Also, I'll never have anyone other than myself do routine maintenance on my car. Heard too many horror stories and recently had to help a friend remove an oil drain plug bolt that required a torch and breaker bar.

There's a reason many refer to them as "stealerships."

I've not had any issues with my local dealers service dept. The SA I use is a car guy who drives a modded GTI. He seems to understand things & makes sure the job is done right. My GTI has only been in their shop three times & I'll use them again for any warranty work.

I had electrical issues: replaced my battery then alternator myself ( Bosch, not VW brand ) and that worked for a bit, then the car died out after a 90 mile drive. Took it to the dealership. They said my battery was completely dead, forever ( less than a week old ) and needed to replace it to do their fancy electrical test. I said okay, I wanted peace of mind. After the test, the service dude told me the alternator needed to be replaced ( 3 days old ). Wanted to charge for the alternator, the alt pulley and some other bit. Total bill was like $1400 plus a "that might not be the final fix". I changed the original alternator to avoid that kind of cost and decided I wasn't having it. So, I returned my previously installed alternator for a new one ( The Bosch is ~$250 instead of the ~$600 they wanted ). The pulley comes preinstalled ( like every other alternator ) so axe another ~$110 and I forget the last bit they wanted to charge.

So new battery, new alternator and it was still acting up. Took it to a euro shop around here that has electrical work listed as one of their specialties. They came back and told me the alt was fine, battery was fine, but the FACTORY grounding wiring was in the WRONG PLACE. So the dealership, with their expensive fancy vw test didn't know their factory shizz was wrong?! Got the work and test done for less than $200 and was 100% solid afterwords. I decided to charge my now 2 week old battery and get it tested at autozone, came back perfectly fine. Now I have a vw battery I didn't need and paid for a test that didn't work. They also charged a little bit of labor for topping off my windshield fluid ( was listed on my receipt as misc or something, the service dude mentioned they topped it off )

On a previous visit for a busted fuel injector, the same service person noticed my airbag light was on. I had taken my passenger seat out at one point. He said he'd take care of it for me for $50 dollars. No thanks.

I will never go there for any service again. I've gotten really good at working on my own car thanks to them, for that I'm thankful. Special thanks to this forum for all the DIYs and tips. Plus you can get parts for dramatically less online.

I... hate them.

Brought my car to the dealer for the wastegate rattle (known issue) and told them that I have a faint rattling sound at partial throttle that sounds similar to detonation. I mentioned to them that it could be the wastegate rattle but I want them to drive it just to verify. The dealer called me back an hour later stating that they couldn't hear anything but that a full BG fuel injection service will take care of the issue for the low price of $350. I told him not to proceed and picked up my car. I ordered the clip, installed it myself and wouldn't you know it....the noise was gone. I went back to the dealer and told the service manager about it, he just laughed and walked away. So now I'm completely done with North Park VW in San Antonio.

MKVInnie said:

...Wanted to charge for the alternator, the alt pulley and some other bit...

Click to expand...

Oh, I the other thing was I had an oil leak from the top timing chain cover. The service dude told me it was because I had an aftermarket PCV Valve Diaphragm, the part that usually breaks on the PCV. Dorman makes a replacement, $20 fix for the trouble spot vs ~$130 full replacement. They didn't even check if that was the cause ( it wasn't ), just saw the non-vdub part and told me I needed the entire thing replaced. *eyeroll*

This thing
https://europortparts.com/catalog/product/view/id/394794

1ashchuckton said:

I've not had any issues with my local dealers service dept. The SA I use is a car guy who drives a modded GTI. He seems to understand things & makes sure the job is done right. My GTI has only been in their shop three times & I'll use them again for any warranty work.

Click to expand...

Do you get charged by your dealer just to look at the car? If it’s covered by the warranty, you don’t pay it. However, if it’s not, you pay about 100 plus tax even if you don’t want to pay them to fix it. They will subtract that amount if you opt for a repair that is over that amount, but still, what happened to free estimates?

Opening up this question to others as well.

3 days before buying my GTI (that I will legally own until Wednesday), I went to another VW dealership to check out their car, a GTI like mine but in the gunmetal color. Loved the car I test drove and was hoping to get a deal done. Let's just say....the salesman acted like I couldn't afford their car. He didn't want to work with me at all even though I had great credit. Straight up D!CKHEAD....