VW Assist - sharing the love

[Small Car]

I know generally people have bad stories as a reason for posting, but I thought I would share some love.

I've got a 15 GTD and it is used to cane the miles and is abused. Ten days ago I got home on fumes and parked it up until today, when I found some old diesel in the shed and limped to the garage. Pulling out of the drive the dashboard lit up. And the car went in to limp mode. I got to the garage 15 mins away and filled up, hoping the quality of diesel might reset the ecu and revert to normal. Alas no, and we limped home at 40 mph.

Called VW Assist and could not have been more helpful. In an hour a smiley guy arrives at our place in the middle of nowhere and hooks up the computer. I told him the story. It was not fuel related and he got to work on the engine.

Turns out in the 10 days parked up the mice had started to munch on the engine and inhaled some pipes - vacuum pipes in particular.

I didn't expect him to carry spares but he did. And with 15 mins we were all sorted, codes cleared and working. No cost, no hassle and no stress.

I've not had reason to call out these guys before but I was very impressed and give them top marks! Any other good (or bad) stories of them out there?

[cuprabob]

As far as I'm aware they are just AA patrolmen in VAG branded vans. Glad to hear they did a good job.

[Sheepshanks]

Good to hear.

I have to say I was pretty dismayed to find the wife's Tiguan only came with one year cover - is there any other new car that only has 1 yr assistance? I paid the £150 for years 2 & 3 through gritted teeth.

[Glosphil]

Small Car said:

Turns out in the 10 days parked up the mice had started to munch on the engine and inhaled some pipes - vacuum pipes in particular.

I had similar with a anti-British weasel in eastern France who lunched on a vacuum pipe and an electrical cable. Took a short drive before the cable parted and the dash lit up. Cost me 80 euros for the repair. At least the inside and outside of the car were thoroughly cleaned which it needed after 10 days touring around France with heavy rain on some days.

[anonymous-user]

Better than Porsche Assist who did a full recovery of over 100 miles for a frigging duff battery.

[Small Car]

cuprabob said:

As far as I'm aware they are just AA patrolmen in VAG branded vans. Glad to hear they did a good job.

Spot on but given pretty much everything they see is new or maybe max two years old, it mostly has a the same engine (or variations of). I reckon he could have identified and sorted my problem in 5 mins if I hadn't been asking questions.

My roadside is covered a second year under a VW Finance lease. That and getting the road tax sorted is a pretty attractive benefit.

[RDBx]

cuprabob said:

As far as I'm aware they are just AA patrolmen in VAG branded vans. Glad to hear they did a good job.

From someone i know who does this, they may start off that way but they all undergo specific and ongoing VAG training and many are ex VAG tech people.

The vans and kit are specific for VAG vehicles and carry full diagnostics.

They only do the day shift thought, overnight calls are passed to the AA. Also if your car is to old for the initial cover period you can get a breakdown plan from them which is pretty comparable.

[Sheepshanks]

Used to see the specifically VW branded vans around but can't recall seeing one for years.

[Small Car]

Sheepshanks said:

Used to see the specifically VW branded vans around but can't recall seeing one for years.

Yep mine was - Audi Skoda VW and VW Commercial. Transporter that had done 130k miles. He used to do Bentley and Lambo but now there is a prestige service combined with McLaren. We did a lot of talking!