Audi service price Q

kristmace

kristmace

kristmace

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Hi,

New to motors section, quick Q:

I have a 2009 A3 that has only just passed 14,000 miles. Light has come on for first service (interim service). The local dealer has quoted me £267. Seems a little steep to me (even for Audi). Their website quotes a fixed price of £149 for an interim service but T+C states only on cars over 3 years old. Surely mine should be less since it's newer and a very low mileage car.

Am I being done? Should I go independent? Will it affect resale value?

Cheers in advance.
 
Depends what the service entails - phone them up and ask?

There will be different opinions on servicing at an independant affecting resale value. Perhaps not on an A3, but I guess it also depends on the Independant.

If you are keeping the car until it dies, it doesn't really matter. If you are looking to sell soon, well it's something to think about.
 
£267 isn't bad for a long life service.

And yes it will adversely affect the value of your car or at least the saleability.

If you go to PX it you will be offered less, and me personally if I was looking to buy a car for myself I wouldn't want to buy something that hasn't been to the dealer for at least it's first 3 years.

Oh and warranty, you will have issues with your warranty.
 
That's a total rip off for a first service. Phone other dealers and either get them to price match or go elsewhere. Its only an oil change (possibly a pollen filter too at two years old) and I had it done for £170 odd on our 2.0TFSI while others were paying up to £300 for the same oil/filter change.
 
Maz said:
And yes it will adversely affect the value of your car or at least the saleability.

If you go to PX it you will be offered less, and me personally if I was looking to buy a car for myself I wouldn't want to buy something that hasn't been to the dealer for at least it's first 3 years.

Oh and warranty, you will have issues with your warranty.
Click to expand...

There's a couple of points here I don't agree with:

PX - Makes little difference to a dealer unless it's a specific model of car that requires specifc types of servicing - M/RS cars are complex and have important services that must be carried out. I doubt an A3 comes into the category.

Private sale - this may be affected, but then you are likely to get more for your money than you would from a dealer giving you a PX price.

Warranty - again this depends. Missing an Oil service is unlikely to affect your warranty as long as you still service the car at another garage. And then the garage would have to prove that servicing the car at an Independant caused an issue.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

additional info from the net:

Servicing restrictions were lifted in May 2004 by the Office of Fair Trading meaning that by law;

* any repair carried out by trained personnel,
* using equipment fit for the task,
* following the manufacturer’s recommended repair procedures, cannot affect the warranty of your vehicle.

In a nutshell, this means you are free to take your car to any independent garage to have it serviced or repaired and that providing these are carried out in line with the manufacturer’s guidelines, then your warranty remains unaffected.
 
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Thanks for the advice fellas. Its just an oil change, pollen filter and software update i think so it does seem a bit pricey. I'm also concerned that according to the on board comp it'll need a full service in 5000miles. I don't really want to be shelling £267 out now then another £300+ at Christmas. Will this interim service adjust the due date of the full service since I'm on a variable schedule?
 
There are certain things that arent variable like the brake fluid and pollen filters that are every two years. Get the oil change done now like I said you should get it for well under £200 if you shop around with different Audi dealers. The major service in 5000 miles wont be another oil change.
 
[TW]Fox;19309975 said:
You try taking a 3 year old Audi A3 for part ex without full Audi history.
Click to expand...

Mate of mine has his own garage, has part ex'd his wifes last two 3 series at the main dealers...was told as long as its got all the stamps from a vat registered garage they are happy. Same story with his L200 which is going to a Ford dealer...
:)
 
Ask them for a price if you supply the fluids. Then go to Opie oils and buy oil for half what the stealer would charge.
 
No dealer is going to tell you how much more they'd give you if it had main dealer history, but they definitely will pay more money for a car with main dealer history.

If you take your A3 somewhere other than Audi for it's recommended service then Audi are no longer able to sell this vehicle under their equivalent to most manufacturers approved used car programmes, and also the manufacturer warranty can no longer be extended.
 
Thanks again for the replies.

I'm pretty settled on taking it to a main dealer as I plan to PX in about 2 years time. Gonna try another dealer to get a rival quote, but all the local ones are the same franchise!
 
An official dealer will happily charge you 200 pounds plus for an oil change. Weather you take them up on the offer, is pretty much your choice!
 
Just phone up the nearest 5 ones (even if they are too far for you to actually drive to) and do the whole "X, Y and Z have quoted me £250 for my first oil change, what's your best price." Take a quote, and phone the next garage. Watch as each one knocks off £20 a time till you've saved yourself a fair amount.

Then take it to the cheapest nearest Audi garage that you're happy with.
 
That's eye wateringly expensive. Might be worth just going onto a fixed 10k/1 year servicing schedule, I'm sure it's better for the engine having more frequent oil changes and you can plan out the cost better.

My A3 has a service indicator, but it doesn't distinguish between major and minor services, basically just tells you when you need an oil change and the dealer figures out the other bits. You shouldn't need a major service 5k after a minor service, what will probably happen is the dealer will reset the AVS indicator at your service.

If they do want you back in another 5K find out why, if it's just pollen filter/air filter then get them to do them now and save the time.

First thing to do is try calling them up and see if they'll match the fixed price service for >3 year old cars, can't hurt to try that approach. Another way to save money is to buy the parts and take them with you for the service. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy the parts from the parts department at the dealer than what they charge you for the same parts during the service. You can certainly pick up the oil and filters much cheaper online, leave them in the boot and they'll use them if you nag them.

My experience of Audi is they're usually very snotty and pretty useless. I take mine to a specialist now which is much cheaper and far less annoying. I know this doesn't help you, but just so you're warned.
 
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Thanks Minstadave.

The Driver Info System on my A3 allows you to check when an interim or full service is due, suffice to say I am a little concerned that its calculated them to be so close. Hopefully it'll re-adjust after as you said.
 
Ring the local Skoda and Seat dealers. They'll almost certainly be cheaper, and use the same genuine parts.

In Liverpool the Audi and Skoda dealers are 20 yards across the road from each other. The first variable service on a diesel Octavia is around £150 from the Skoda dealer. Audi want nearly £100 more. The Skoda dealer still give you coffee, cakes, Wifi and a TV to watch too.
 
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