Whats rustling your jimmies?

RobXIII · Jul 12, 2016

Hoss_sl said:
We have a VW in the shop now. If it's waiting on parts, I haven't been told, but it's been in for a long time. But hey, the VW is a jimmy rustle anyway, so here goes.

Car died on my wife right before vacation. I told her to get it to the dealership so they can look at it. Turns out its a clogged Diesel Particulate Filter ... basically their version of a catalytic converter from what I can tell. 3 grand to fix it because it wasn't designed to be replaced, so you have to do the entire exhaust system. The service tech is telling us it's a known VW issue that they will probably be issuing a recall for some time this year. But we have to pay the bill now unless we want to park it until they get around to the recall. He also can't even guess whether we will be reimbursed if and when the recall finally comes. Such bullshit. This is a TDI "cheater diesel", so they already have a rash of shit coming over that. We actually don't give a fuck about it cheating on emissions testing, but now the fucking thing can't be driven reliably and that pisses me off.

I don't really blame the dealership though. The absolute best you could hope for from them is to not make us pay until the recall is issued, then collect it from VW. But if there are a lot to do, that wouldn't be a smart way to run a business.

This thing is a fucking money pit. I'll ignore that the service costs so much from the dealership, because I knew I signed up for that. But everything that breaks (and there has been a lot of shit break) costs an arm and a leg. The cheapest thing so far was rear view mirror, it only cost 4 fingers at a measley $400

Avoid dealerships like the plague, unless it's a recall (freee!). Took the wifes car to the dealership for a recall, the 18 year old punk called us at dinner to say we really need to do the 90,000 mile maintenance, the fluids 'look really brown'. Uh the car has like 14,000 miles, she doesn't go far. Oops, the kid misread the trip meter somehow (900.00 miles), then they didn't even have the recall part in, so we had to come back. ON TOP OF THIS, the manager was begging us to please give them all 5s on the Honda survey, they need to raise their ratings. Maybe if your kid didn't straight up lie to me, but newp!

Also for my old as shit car, for these fixes I did myself, dealership wanted:
Broken back window? $1500. Bought a whole new back hatch for a few hundred, 2 bolts and it was swapped out.
Hybrid battery pack finally died? $5500! Did it myself, with an 1800MH battery pack instead of lowly 1400MH, for only 1400. Dealerships are just a big scam.

Siliconemelons · Jul 12, 2016

RobXIII_sl said:
Avoid dealerships like the plague, unless it's a recall (freee!). Took the wifes car to the dealership for a recall, the 18 year old punk called us at dinner to say we really need to do the 90,000 mile maintenance, the fluids 'look really brown'. Uh the car has like 14,000 miles, she doesn't go far. Oops, the kid misread the trip meter somehow (900.00 miles), then they didn't even have the recall part in, so we had to come back. ON TOP OF THIS, the manager was begging us to please give them all 5s on the Honda survey, they need to raise their ratings. Maybe if your kid didn't straight up lie to me, but newp!

Also for my old as shit car, for these fixes I did myself, dealership wanted:
Broken back window? $1500. Bought a whole new back hatch for a few hundred, 2 bolts and it was swapped out.
Hybrid battery pack finally died? $5500! Did it myself, with an 1800MH battery pack instead of lowly 1400MH, for only 1400. Dealerships are just a big scam.

Whenever anyone says anything about fluids being a certain color or "burned" - good bye. That's friggen jiffy lube kinda service center talk, from a dealer... shame.

Fadaar · Jul 12, 2016

I only take cars to the dealership when I'm leasing because it costs me nothing and if they fuck anything up going up the corporate foodchain will work things out for me.

Fifey · Jul 12, 2016

Fadaar_sl said:
I only take cars to the dealership when I'm leasing because it costs me nothing and if they fuck anything up going up the corporate foodchain will work things out for me.

Dealerships are only for people who have warranties or leases, you are a big dummy when you take your 1980 Toyota Tercel to a dealerahip.

The only nice thing is the long time mechanics are pretty much experts at your car so can diagnose all the weird issues that pop up.

Hoss · Jul 13, 2016

RobXIII_sl said:
Avoid dealerships like the plague, unless it's a recall (freee!). Took the wifes car to the dealership for a recall, the 18 year old punk called us at dinner to say we really need to do the 90,000 mile maintenance, the fluids 'look really brown'. Uh the car has like 14,000 miles, she doesn't go far. Oops, the kid misread the trip meter somehow (900.00 miles), then they didn't even have the recall part in, so we had to come back. ON TOP OF THIS, the manager was begging us to please give them all 5s on the Honda survey, they need to raise their ratings. Maybe if your kid didn't straight up lie to me, but newp!

Also for my old as shit car, for these fixes I did myself, dealership wanted:
Broken back window? $1500. Bought a whole new back hatch for a few hundred, 2 bolts and it was swapped out.
Hybrid battery pack finally died? $5500! Did it myself, with an 1800MH battery pack instead of lowly 1400MH, for only 1400. Dealerships are just a big scam.

I see you are unfamiliar with the realities of owning a german car. By and large, no one can get parts for them except the dealerships, and because of that normal mechanics don't like to work on them. Non dealership shops who specialize in them are actually more expensive. Some parts have aftermarket alternatives but they're hard to find and often require extra effort to fit them.

Jim Russel · Jul 13, 2016

Hoss_sl said:
I see you are unfamiliar with the realities of owning a german car. By and large, no one can get parts for them except the dealerships, and because of that normal mechanics don't like to work on them. Non dealership shops who specialize in them are actually more expensive. Some parts have aftermarket alternatives but they're hard to find and often require extra effort to fit them.

That may be true, but "I'm an idiot and bought a german car" is not a compelling endorsement of to going to a dealership.

Eomer · Jul 13, 2016

Hoss_sl said:
I see you are unfamiliar with the realities of owning a german car. By and large, no one can get parts for them except the dealerships, and because of that normal mechanics don't like to work on them. Non dealership shops who specialize in them are actually more expensive. Some parts have aftermarket alternatives but they're hard to find and often require extra effort to fit them.

This shit be totally false. Maybe there's no good German car shop in your area, but my dad and bro own numerous older BMWs and Porsches and have had zero problems getting them serviced at a local independent shop for half the price of what the dealer charges. The best example to blow your idiotic post out of the water is my bro's M1. Go ahead and look up what an M1 is and how rare they are. My bro took it to the independent shop and they spent a few hours going through parts catalogs to decide what he should order for spare parts etc, and to basically rebuild half the car (it had been sitting in some guy's collection for a couple decades, un-maintained). Apparently BMW had thought they were going to make two or three times as many of them as they eventually did (all to do with homologation requirements for the racing series they were targeting with the car which they eventually abandoned), so there was literally a warehouse full of parts somewhere in Germany.

Long story short, if my bro can easily access parts for one of the rarest cars produced in the late 70's and early 80's, you can get parts for your 5 year old 3 series or Jetta or what the fuck ever that they made a few hundred thousand of, if not millions.

Cad · Jul 13, 2016

Eomer_sl said:
This shit be totally false. Maybe there's no good German car shop in your area, but my dad and bro own numerous older BMWs and Porsches and have had zero problems getting them serviced at a local independent shop for half the price of what the dealer charges. The best example to blow your idiotic post out of the water is my bro's M1. Go ahead and look up what an M1 is and how rare they are. My bro took it to the independent shop and they spent a few hours going through parts catalogs to decide what he should order for spare parts etc, and to basically rebuild half the car (it had been sitting in some guy's collection for a couple decades, un-maintained). Apparently BMW had thought they were going to make two or three times as many of them as they eventually did (all to do with homologation requirements for the racing series they were targeting with the car which they eventually abandoned), so there was literally a warehouse full of parts somewhere in Germany.

Long story short, if my bro can easily access parts for one of the rarest cars produced in the late 70's and early 80's, you can get parts for your 5 year old 3 series or Jetta or what the fuck ever that they made a few hundred thousand of, if not millions.

The true part is that german cars are generally much more expensive to maintain due to weird ass complicated engineering and expensive parts. The whole thing about the dealer being the only way to get parts is false. But you're going to pay more to maintain your 4 year old just out of warranty 3 series than for your 4 year old just out of warranty lexus IS. Thats just how it is.

Eomer · Jul 13, 2016

No denying that, although I do think the difference is generally quite overstated. People gasp when I tell me an oil change on my car is $200-300, for example. Then I tell them my car only needs one every 2-3 years, they do the math, and they realize that's actually not half bad.

Cad · Jul 13, 2016

Eomer_sl said:
No denying that, although I do think the difference is generally quite overstated. People gasp when I tell me an oil change on my car is $200-300, for example. Then I tell them my car only needs one every 2-3 years, they do the math, and they realize that's actually not half bad.

I don't know what oil change interval you're using to get 3 years, but regardless of the interval it will be cheaper with a non-german car. $200-300 every 3 years doesn't sound bad, but why pay $200-300 every 3 years when you can pay $70 every 3 years? It's not like Germans patented quality synthetic oil. They just fucking rape you on routine service charges.

Don't get me started on what I went through with my X5, BMW dealer couldn't figure out what was wrong with it at all. I ended up getting rid of it after it's 6th trip to the dealer (in 9 months) with engine malfunctions and limp modes after they did $25k worth of work to it in the previous trip. Under warranty of course, but jesus christ could you imagine if it were out of warranty?

Famm · Jul 13, 2016

There's an import specific shop near me that specializes in like VW/BMW/Mercedes, so yeah, they can get parts somehow without being a dealership.

Fifey · Jul 13, 2016

You can get parts as a third party company but you have to be BMW certified to be able to get into ISTA which is their service manuals/recalls/procedures.

With how smart cars are getting, it's almost required due to everything being linked and causing codes if anything changes and it's proprietary software to reset it.

Take for example the new refrigerant they are using, it plugs into the ODB just to recharge it so it can save the service record.

Picasso3 · Jul 13, 2016

I'm pretty terrified of new cars electronic horseshit. Half the problem they had with my cadillacs transmission was the digital setup. I'm not sure if the guy was trying to scare me or what but he also said if the transmission control module was fucked up itd burn up the whole thing in no time. Seems dumb.

Famm · Jul 13, 2016

Picasso_sl said:
I'm pretty terrified of new cars electronic horseshit. Half the problem they had with my cadillacs transmission was the digital setup. I'm not sure if the guy was trying to scare me or what but he also said if the transmission control module was fucked up itd burn up the whole thing in no time. Seems dumb.

Yeah, I don't trust that shit either.

Cad · Jul 13, 2016

Picasso_sl said:
I'm pretty terrified of new cars electronic horseshit. Half the problem they had with my cadillacs transmission was the digital setup. I'm not sure if the guy was trying to scare me or what but he also said if the transmission control module was fucked up itd burn up the whole thing in no time. Seems dumb.

And go check the price of the dual-clutch transmission in all the new fancy sports cars. The one in the GT-R is over $20k, the porsche and BMW ones are like $16k. Don't know about Audi/etc but probably similar.

They don't sell parts for them either so if a $10 sensor goes out inside, you are fucked and have no choice but to replace the transmission.

*Eyes the PDK in his 911

Fuck

Frenzied Wombat · Jul 13, 2016

The only reason to keep an out of warranty German car is if you have a quality mechanic in your area that specializes in your make. For instance, there's some mechanic shop locally called "Lord of the Rings" that just does Audis at a fraction of the dealership repair cost, and they supposedly know their shit inside out. If you don't have one of these places around you, trade your car in when the warranty is up, especially if it's a Turbo.

Hoss · Jul 13, 2016

Famm_sl said:
There's an import specific shop near me that specializes in like VW/BMW/Mercedes, so yeah, they can get parts somehow without being a dealership.

They either get it through a dealership, or they have whatever agreement they need with VW to be treated like a dealership. Yes, the shops that specialize in imports can get that stuff too. The difference is, they won't sell the part to another mechanic, the dealership will.

Eomer_sl said:
This shit be totally false. Maybe there's no good German car shop in your area, but my dad and bro own numerous older BMWs and Porsches and have had zero problems getting them serviced at a local independent shop for half the price of what the dealer charges. The best example to blow your idiotic post out of the water is my bro's M1. Go ahead and look up what an M1 is and how rare they are. My bro took it to the independent shop and they spent a few hours going through parts catalogs to decide what he should order for spare parts etc, and to basically rebuild half the car (it had been sitting in some guy's collection for a couple decades, un-maintained). Apparently BMW had thought they were going to make two or three times as many of them as they eventually did (all to do with homologation requirements for the racing series they were targeting with the car which they eventually abandoned), so there was literally a warehouse full of parts somewhere in Germany.

Long story short, if my bro can easily access parts for one of the rarest cars produced in the late 70's and early 80's, you can get parts for your 5 year old 3 series or Jetta or what the fuck ever that they made a few hundred thousand of, if not millions.

You even admit that car is a special case because they over produced. How does that disprove what I said? How about this, why don't you find me an DPF for a 2012 VW jetta TDI that's not coming from a dealership. That would disprove what I said.

And before you say it, no you won't be doing my work for me because the car is already repaired. I'll look at the bill tonight and see how much the parts were and we can compare that with whatever you find.

Eomer · Jul 13, 2016

Bro, if you honestly think that parts availability for a model that was produced in the hundreds of thousands is a problem, you're a fucking moron. I don't know what else to tell you.

Mures · Jul 14, 2016

RobXIII_sl said:
Avoid dealerships like the plague, unless it's a recall (freee!). Took the wifes car to the dealership for a recall, the 18 year old punk called us at dinner to say we really need to do the 90,000 mile maintenance, the fluids 'look really brown'. Uh the car has like 14,000 miles, she doesn't go far. Oops, the kid misread the trip meter somehow (900.00 miles), then they didn't even have the recall part in, so we had to come back. ON TOP OF THIS, the manager was begging us to please give them all 5s on the Honda survey, they need to raise their ratings. Maybe if your kid didn't straight up lie to me, but newp!

Also for my old as shit car, for these fixes I did myself, dealership wanted:
Broken back window? $1500. Bought a whole new back hatch for a few hundred, 2 bolts and it was swapped out.
Hybrid battery pack finally died? $5500! Did it myself, with an 1800MH battery pack instead of lowly 1400MH, for only 1400. Dealerships are just a big scam.

You can say the same about any automotive(it doesn't just have to be a dealer) or specialty repair business. It doesn't really matter how much a place charges so long as you can trust them.

An automotive glass shop is going to be way cheaper than the dealer 98% of the time, but recently on a lot of newer models we're noticing the glass is actually cheaper from a dealer than it is aftermarket. Door glasses are usually cheaper from a dealer than aftermarket, but front and back windshields are normally way cheaper aftermarket.

Hoss · Jul 14, 2016

Eomer_sl said:
Bro, if you honestly think that parts availability for a model that was produced in the hundreds of thousands is a problem, you're a fucking moron. I don't know what else to tell you.

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