VW Dealer @ Servicing: "Your Anti Roll Bushes are worn..." £££ please

Heofz

Heofz

Heofz

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Joined
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Hey everyone, was wondering if I could pick any of your brains when it comes to dealerships and their possible tendencies to ripping off customers.

I drive a '53 plate Golf 1.6 (Mk 4) with 25,000 on the clock, bought new from the Drift Bridge VW dealership in Epsom, Surrey.

Took it in for my 3rd servicing yesterday morning. Later on at lunchtime they rang and said my anti roll bushes are worn, recommending they replace it for an extra £170 on top of my servicing bill (presumably mostly labour costs as from reading a bit on the web it's not a simple task). Admittedly I didn't take much convincing and said "alright then, please fix it".

When driving around, going over speedbumps, etc, I haven't heard any knocking noises, though sometimes I've heard the occasional "creaking" noise as I'm parking, so I'm tentative whether this is a real issue or not or if my dealership is talking BS to get more money off me.

I'm no expert on suspension/anti roll bars/bushes/etc so was wondering if this is an extortional amount or is this pretty normal?

The plot thickens:
Yesterday evening on the train back home the guy at the dealership services rang me and told me the anti roll bar I have has since been changed on Golfs and the bushes they use do not fit.

They offered to replace my entire anti roll bar and fit the new bush for ( :eek: ) £450 on top of my service cost. Needless to say I declined... they said they'll look into it and try to find the right bush, in the meantime they have put my old one back on and won't charge me for their troubles. It just seems rather odd though how a VW Dealership can't seem to find a spare part for one of the most common models of car on the roads today. :confused:

My total servicing bill before any of the anti roll bush business is approx £750, including changing my cam belt, brake fluid, air filter, and something else I can't remember, as well as a "general service" whatever that is.

Seems a bit on the high side, no? Especially as this already supposedly includes a 30% discount. :o I know taking it to a private place will be cheaper, but I guess what I'm wondering is: should a VW dealership be charging this much? Or do I smell a possible rat?
 
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Yup, that is extortionate, time to look for a new garage. VW have to make parts for the car for at least 10 years, so they should be able to get the bushes, personally I would be saying thanks but no thanks.

Cambelt and pump is a pain, but £750 for a service with a 30% discount? Must have been £1k+ prior to discount!
 
Umm, its a half decent amount of work, at a VW main dealer.
Of course its going to be expensive.

On something like a golf, I wouldnt take it within spitting distance of a main dealer.
 
In my mind that is a massive amount for a service, brake fluid and a cambelt change.

A brake fluid change = £50 roughly?

A full service = under £200?

A cambelt change = £300?
 
VW dealers are notorious for ripping customers off.

Let me give u a few examples:

1. Sister's MK5 Golf GT TDI goes in for 25k service, they call her and tell her front/rear pads & discs need changing = kaching £400

2. My MK5 Golf Gti goes in at 30k, they want £400 for split bushes, I tell them to get lost!

3. They forget to change the spark plugs on my car at 40k, at 50k they accuse me of declining to have them changed and want £85, I get the job done for £45 myself!

4. Jabba carry out my 50k servicing and show me the air filter which 'looks like it has never been changed' - although since I got the car brand new VW have charged me £27 on each service (4 times!!) for an air filter. Get this, if I go to VW parts they will sell me the air filter for £15, yet when it goes for a service, £27 gets added to my bill just for the part!!

Rip off merchants! Take your Golf to an independent, Jabba were awesome, Ive used autovolks before they are pretty good too!
 
I was raped by the dealership for the replacing the antiroll bar mounts and bar on the Polo. Was close to £200 though managed to get a discount after complaining. After that I have never been back to the dealership.
 
Cambelt will include tensioners as well and maybe a waterpump if it uses a similar unit to the 1.8. I'd hazzard a guess at £350 for that alone. That leaves a £400 bill for a full service which is way too much IMO.

It isn't just main dealers. There is a garage local to me that quoted £290 IIRC for a "full service" then they went on to say "obviously if the plugs need to be changed then that will be extra" This same garage had previously told me that they won't let a car go to the 40k between sparkplug changes that Skoda recommend and say that they do them every 20k... so why the hell don't they include it in the quote? Because like you they told me a price, I gulped then said "Ok" or as they probably heard "Yes, I am infact a mug" :o When pressed on what the full service offered over an intermediate (at about half the cost) they said "an air filter and a general higher level of service" or after going through my BS detector "an air filter and a bigger bill". The garage in question has a very good reputation too.

Luckily for me the car I was meant to be using for work wasn't available at the last minute and I had to cancel.
 
ive been playing around with old vw for a while now. on mk3s you dont get worn arb bushes, same as on mk2s. the mk4 arb bush setup is no different so i personally think its a scam

my mk3 is on the original arb bushes, theyre absolutely fine... its not like arbs actually move a lot
 
Impossible for the bushes to be worn, its a low mileage car. Low mileage cars just dont do this, thats why they are better than high mileage cars. Take it somewhere else.
 
Volvo gave me a long list of things that were 'wrong' with my car. Took it to a local independent, and they couldn't see anything wrong.
 
[TW]Fox;15504578 said:
Impossible for the bushes to be worn, its a low mileage car. Low mileage cars just dont do this, thats why they are better than high mileage cars. Take it somewhere else.
Click to expand...

theres that too :eek:
 
Matt82 said:
ive been playing around with old vw for a while now. on mk3s you dont get worn arb bushes, same as on mk2s. the mk4 arb bush setup is no different so i personally think its a scam

my mk3 is on the original arb bushes, theyre absolutely fine... its not like arbs actually move a lot
Click to expand...

The mk4 does seem to eat through ARB bushes. No idea why :confused:
 
i fitted a set of eibach arbs on an a3 a couple years back, so the same platform, and the original bushes were fine, that was after 130k miles

ive done wishbones on mk4s (mostly various gtis) and never noticed arb bush issues

mk4 1.6 golf should be burnt anyway, theyre devil spawn
 
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