Audi A6 Main Dealer Servicing
Discussion
Hi all, just a quickie, take a guess at how much an Audi main dealer charge for a 3yr old 50,000mi Audi A6 Saloon 2.4's 3rd 'longlife' service where the oil was changed, 6 spark plugs a sump plug and some filters?
Edited by Waugh-terfall on Thursday 16th October 21:57
Edited by Waugh-terfall on Thursday 16th October 23:23
Big Bob said:
2 hours of a technicians time - £95 p/h
"technicians", they're mechanics FFS. Although, many aren't, many are just glorified parts fitters who can't diagnose a problem without using a tick sheet.I know a proper mechanic and he serviced my A6 (2.4 as it happens) and checked absolutely EVERYTHING, even down to diff oil, gbox oil and so on. Replaced all oils, filters, sparks and so on.
£450.
He said the air filter looks like it's never been changed in the cars life. This is on a 60,000 mile, 6 year old model that's got a full Audi SH.
Edited by Dracoro on Friday 17th October 18:58
Fred in his shed does indeed set the car back to fixed when it was on variable, every time he puts that light out for you. Air filters often look like they have never been changed, even after 20-30k miles. Given that the recommended change is 60k miles, that might explain why it hadn't been changed before.
Technician is the name now given to us by the industry, when people ask me what i do i say mechanic. When i right my C.V I say 10 years a main dealer technician.
I diagnose complicated faults on a daily basis,(without the aid of a tick sheet) we are forever getting cars in the so call specialist have already looked at and then said, you had better take it to audi.
I try to advise people here from an insiders perspective, and yet there is always some one who insist all main dealers dont know what there doing, charging to much money etc.
You can ask how much it will cost before you have it done you know.
Labour rate makes a big difference too. We are £88+vat per hour. London or near it can be £120+vat, make quite a diffrence on a 2.2 hour service with a 3.0 hour cam belt.
How much was the A6 service, Parts labour and oil?????
Technician is the name now given to us by the industry, when people ask me what i do i say mechanic. When i right my C.V I say 10 years a main dealer technician.
I diagnose complicated faults on a daily basis,(without the aid of a tick sheet) we are forever getting cars in the so call specialist have already looked at and then said, you had better take it to audi.
I try to advise people here from an insiders perspective, and yet there is always some one who insist all main dealers dont know what there doing, charging to much money etc.
You can ask how much it will cost before you have it done you know.
Labour rate makes a big difference too. We are £88+vat per hour. London or near it can be £120+vat, make quite a diffrence on a 2.2 hour service with a 3.0 hour cam belt.
How much was the A6 service, Parts labour and oil?????
Tame Technician said:
Fred in his shed does indeed set the car back to fixed when it was on variable, every time he puts that light out for you. Air filters often look like they have never been changed, even after 20-30k miles. Given that the recommended change is 60k miles, that might explain why it hadn't been changed before.
It shouldn't matter what the "schedule" is. You check it anyway, if it needs replacing, do it. If it doesn't you can leave it alone until next service.Is the air filter check on a MY00 A6 really 60k miles???? I would have thought that "may" be the likely change time (given that different areas/driving have more/less pollutants etc. int he air than others) but you should still check it.
I understand that a lot of things might not get checked on a minor or interim oil service but a major servive should be that, "major", clearly they aren't.
I suspect a lot of manufacturers are checking less things as it may reduce fleet running costs (which don't care for what happens when a car is aged 3/4 years +. )
No idea what is being talked about "variable" servicing, there was a miles to next service "counter" on dash which certainly behaved "variably". Personally, I get all my cars serviced every year (whether they "need" it or not, they ALWAYS do btw) and they all last and handle miles etc no problem.
Cambelts should always be replaced (esp on VAGs) but the prohibitive costs on A6s (due to needing to remove front end of car to do the job properly) mean that a lot of people won't do it, esp as the cars get older.
As for diagnosing problems, the guy I know charges ONLY if he can find the problem. If he can't find the problem, for whatever reason even if intermittent making it harder to figure out, he does not charge. Then you can take it to main dealer (who'll do the same but charge 1 hours labour for 10 minutes looking at a computer.
I also had problem with ABS light, turned out to be the computer. Audi wanted nigh on £1k for the part (god knows what they'd charge for fitting), had the part opened up and fixed + long term bench test after fix before putting back on car. Never had a problem since and the job was under £500 all in, including diagnosis, labour etc. Audi just said "nah, need to replace it, we can't open them up and fix it. Well, clearly you CAN.
Anyway, not on a s
g off of main dealers, it's all about trust though. I know someone I can trust to do a proper job, many independants I wouldn't trust and many main dealers too. It's down to the individual franchise or even the actual dealership, often to the very mechanic who actually works on your car.Edited by Dracoro on Sunday 19th October 23:28
I purchased a similar A6 2.4 V6 in the spring to replace a company car. I decided to give it a full service without using a main dealer (having owned an A4 TQ for 8 years!).
I had the oil changed using longlife Castrol Edge 5/30 for £60.00 by a main indy chain (can't go wrong with an oil change so long as you spec the oil first), plus Brake fluid change £30.00 & service stamp in the book.
I changed all 6 plugs in about half an hour <£30.00, O/E Air filter <20.00, O/E Air Con Filter <£25.00 both in about 20 mins. Gave it a full once over incl fuel filter etc. Easy access to all service items and I was unfamiliar with the car.
Full Service <£160.00 for a V6 using o/e materials . No specialist knowledge needed and gives you a good idea when it was last serviced and what quality/type of parts were used. Needn't be costly to maintain & enjoyable.
I had the oil changed using longlife Castrol Edge 5/30 for £60.00 by a main indy chain (can't go wrong with an oil change so long as you spec the oil first), plus Brake fluid change £30.00 & service stamp in the book.
I changed all 6 plugs in about half an hour <£30.00, O/E Air filter <20.00, O/E Air Con Filter <£25.00 both in about 20 mins. Gave it a full once over incl fuel filter etc. Easy access to all service items and I was unfamiliar with the car.
Full Service <£160.00 for a V6 using o/e materials . No specialist knowledge needed and gives you a good idea when it was last serviced and what quality/type of parts were used. Needn't be costly to maintain & enjoyable.
It really goes to show how shopping around works.
Just this morning I've booked my 3.2 A6 in for 40K service. By shopping around I managed to get £100 off. Now quoted as 40K service with Transmission fluid change @ £470, I guess I still have the actual fluids cost on top of that but the cost of 2 phone calls saved me lots.
from now on I will ALWAYS shop around for quotes.
J.
Just this morning I've booked my 3.2 A6 in for 40K service. By shopping around I managed to get £100 off. Now quoted as 40K service with Transmission fluid change @ £470, I guess I still have the actual fluids cost on top of that but the cost of 2 phone calls saved me lots.
from now on I will ALWAYS shop around for quotes.
J.
Dad usually does that, but we just take it to where the car came from for some reason, the old '99 A6 used to go to a local independant until they screwed up my Mazda, he thinks next time he might take it to the local Audi dealer. Still looking for the cost breakdown, will post when found
Dracoro said:
It shouldn't matter what the "schedule" is. You check it anyway, if it needs replacing, do it. If it doesn't you can leave it alone until next service.
Is the air filter check on a MY00 A6 really 60k miles???? I would have thought that "may" be the likely change time (given that different areas/driving have more/less pollutants etc. int he air than others) but you should still check it.
I understand that a lot of things might not get checked on a minor or interim oil service but a major servive should be that, "major", clearly they aren't.
I suspect a lot of manufacturers are checking less things as it may reduce fleet running costs (which don't care for what happens when a car is aged 3/4 years +. )
No idea what is being talked about "variable" servicing, there was a miles to next service "counter" on dash which certainly behaved "variably". Personally, I get all my cars serviced every year (whether they "need" it or not, they ALWAYS do btw) and they all last and handle miles etc no problem.
Cambelts should always be replaced (esp on VAGs) but the prohibitive costs on A6s (due to needing to remove front end of car to do the job properly) mean that a lot of people won't do it, esp as the cars get older.
As for diagnosing problems, the guy I know charges ONLY if he can find the problem. If he can't find the problem, for whatever reason even if intermittent making it harder to figure out, he does not charge. Then you can take it to main dealer (who'll do the same but charge 1 hours labour for 10 minutes looking at a computer.
I also had problem with ABS light, turned out to be the computer. Audi wanted nigh on £1k for the part (god knows what they'd charge for fitting), had the part opened up and fixed + long term bench test after fix before putting back on car. Never had a problem since and the job was under £500 all in, including diagnosis, labour etc. Audi just said "nah, need to replace it, we can't open them up and fix it. Well, clearly you CAN.
Anyway, not on a sg off of main dealers, it's all about trust though. I know someone I can trust to do a proper job, many independants I wouldn't trust and many main dealers too. It's down to the individual franchise or even the actual dealership, often to the very mechanic who actually works on your car.
I'm sorry but i'm going to have to agree with Tame Technician. Is the air filter check on a MY00 A6 really 60k miles???? I would have thought that "may" be the likely change time (given that different areas/driving have more/less pollutants etc. int he air than others) but you should still check it.
I understand that a lot of things might not get checked on a minor or interim oil service but a major servive should be that, "major", clearly they aren't.
I suspect a lot of manufacturers are checking less things as it may reduce fleet running costs (which don't care for what happens when a car is aged 3/4 years +. )
No idea what is being talked about "variable" servicing, there was a miles to next service "counter" on dash which certainly behaved "variably". Personally, I get all my cars serviced every year (whether they "need" it or not, they ALWAYS do btw) and they all last and handle miles etc no problem.
Cambelts should always be replaced (esp on VAGs) but the prohibitive costs on A6s (due to needing to remove front end of car to do the job properly) mean that a lot of people won't do it, esp as the cars get older.
As for diagnosing problems, the guy I know charges ONLY if he can find the problem. If he can't find the problem, for whatever reason even if intermittent making it harder to figure out, he does not charge. Then you can take it to main dealer (who'll do the same but charge 1 hours labour for 10 minutes looking at a computer.
I also had problem with ABS light, turned out to be the computer. Audi wanted nigh on £1k for the part (god knows what they'd charge for fitting), had the part opened up and fixed + long term bench test after fix before putting back on car. Never had a problem since and the job was under £500 all in, including diagnosis, labour etc. Audi just said "nah, need to replace it, we can't open them up and fix it. Well, clearly you CAN.
Anyway, not on a s
g off of main dealers, it's all about trust though. I know someone I can trust to do a proper job, many independants I wouldn't trust and many main dealers too. It's down to the individual franchise or even the actual dealership, often to the very mechanic who actually works on your car.Edited by Dracoro on Sunday 19th October 23:28
Why should the air filter be checked before manufacturers specified time? Does anyone know better than Audi how/when their cars should be serviced? No. Stick to the specified time/milage.
Manufacturers aren't checking less things to cut running costs - they're simply better and more reliable! Engines/gearboxs/filters etc are built to a higher standard that last longer.
All the variable service does is constantly check the viscosity of the oil (only models from year 2000 have the option). When it needs changing it indicates that by letting you know on the drivers information display(DIS). There are many factors that affect the milage for a vairiable service - how regularly the engine is used, how long for, driving style etc. Then, when the car comes in for the service, depending on milage and how old the car is, the technician will then note what is due and what will be due before the next service - it then leaves the customer with the decision.
The only disadvantage with variable servicing is it may need more work when it's due as the intervals are further apart.
When a job is brought in to a dealership, unless the technician has done the job before, he needs to look it up on the Audi 'workshop manual'. This simply describes how things come apart - trim, engines etc, all the informantion the technician needs. The issue with the ABS sounds great from your perpective but keep in mind that Audi *never* allow any of their control units to be taken apart and refit - not even by their master technicians. Do you realise how complex these control units are? Not only does it control the ABS but it also relays information to the engine, steering, suspension etc! If you took apart and refit such a complex system and there was an accident soon after with the car, where would the fingers be pointed? There are some things that should be left alone and simply replaced if they go wrong - especially brakes.
Edited by Mr V on Thursday 30th October 22:57
Edited by Mr V on Thursday 30th October 22:58
Dracoro said:
As for diagnosing problems, the guy I know charges ONLY if he can find the problem. If he can't find the problem, for whatever reason even if intermittent making it harder to figure out, he does not charge. Then you can take it to main dealer (who'll do the same but charge 1 hours labour for 10 minutes looking at a computer.
Comments like this wind me up a lot. Don't plumbers charge for call out? Don't dentists ask for consultation fees? Why shouldn't dealers do the same? Why shouldn't you pay for an Audi qualified technician to spend their time to diagnose your fault? Who's to say after they've diagnosed the car for free, you won't take it elsewhere - which a customer would have the right to do?Edited by Mr V on Thursday 30th October 22:59
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