VW dealerships offering to undercut their rivals? Impressive stuff...
I'd have been even more impressed if they hadn't charged my old man for about 10 years to "service" the Passat he bought new from them. Ten years during which, despite only needing to flip two clips to replace the distributor cover and rotor arm, they simply couldn't be bothered. Repeatedly, year after year after year...
A tribute indeed to the quality of Bosch parts.
Out of curiosity I used to mark up the bits as the years went by and the car always came back with the same worn out old bits. In fact, for the several hundred pounds a time service, twice a year, the only thing the main dealer appeared to be doing was servicing the customers' wallets. With the exception of plugs, filter (hopefully new and not just wiped, and an airfilter)(Oh yeahh - and a plastic bag on the seat to give y'all that feelin' of confidence!!!) nuthin' much actually appeared to get serviced at all.
Finally the old man buys a new one and gives me the Passat - nice low mileage with only 150,000. Despite the hefty and relentless 'servicings' by 'main dealer' and various other scamsters it, for want of a better description, drove like a piece of sh*****tttt.... Shuddering, juddering, pulling, sluggish, fuel gulping, wandering, lousy brakes, cutting out, noises, creaks, that was broke, this didn't work etcetera etcetera etcetera.....
The car, however, is superbly engineered like most german stuff. The real problem's lack of quality control by VW of it's UK dealerships, and the poor knowledge and expertise of most fast-fit 'we'll MOT it for yaa.." outfits etc..
It must have taken me a couple of hundred hours hard work to overhaul all the calipers, overhaul the suspension including Audi TT solid control arm bushes, overhaul the starter, sort wheel bearings, replace one hub carrier, fit new discs, fix the cutting out problem, sort the glitchy gear selector, replace engine mounts, correctly fit the exhaust (with A2 stainless nuts/bolts)(available from any good marine chandlers, y'all..!!), swop the steering wheel, diagnose a duff Hall Effect sensor, replace split vacuum sensing pipes, service all the electrical plugs and earth connections, change all drive belts, fit new Macpherson Struts, tie rod ends, bellows, balljoints etc etc....
Anyhow, the car's all sorted. Mega reliable, slick, fast, superb handling and economical..
But it's gotta beg the question.. If I've managed to do all the above for less than £300 what the hell exactly are most people paying for when they get stung by the motor industry for 'servicing'.....!!!
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etc used including their price?
Even at minimum wage that wouldve been £1100 in labour, nevermind at proper labour rates (most indies charge around £40 an hour plus vat.......lets not even start quoting the figures for THAT one!)