An Honest Response - From A Dealer!!!!!

Fiona

Fiona

Member
United-Kingdom
No, really, I'm not lying!

I phoned around for costs for my 2nd service and Guildford Audi have always been pretty good in the past so I called them. They quoted £425 for the full monty, no hidden extras (I know I quizzed them!) and I said that this was a bit of a difference to other dealers, about £40 more.

So I asked why and the lady said "Well, the parts are standard, they all come from Audi UK so will be the same for any dealer, really it is our labour rates, we charge £99 per hour and I know that Camberley are £95. That's why we are more expensive. Our dealership costs us more money for being in the heart of Guildford, so we have to charge more"

There, a real honest answer, no faffing with "well its a difficult car to work on" or "it's really rather specialist" or "the parts are so expensive".

So I respect them for that an they said that they may be able to do something with the labour anyway. I've had the car for 3 years and 8 months and only needed 2 services, by the time I've paid for this it works out to be about £15.50 a month for servicing, really excellent value.

So, I'm going to take my car to Guildford because of the staff, their usual good competence and honesty. And an honest dealer is worth their weight in gold!
 
The cost of the 2nd service sounds very costly. My 2nd service was £292 approx and that was from a VW garage Didnt have the first one as I bought the car second hand. I have had the car nearly 26months and in that time thats all it has cost me in servicing. Bought two new tryes and one wiper blade and a few litres of oil now thats what I call cheap running costs
 
Heart of Guildford?!? They're bang next door to one of the biggest abattoirs in the UK. A premium site indeed!

Well, I found the staff at Guildford Audi to be very average.
The girls on the desk make good coffee and coo enthusiastically over my baby..........I just hope you don't get lumped with James in Service. He appears pleasant enough but is absolutely hopeless at communication - I didn't get one phonecall from him over a 3 week period when persuing a warranty issue with my A2. When eventually it was booked in, James failed to telephone me to say that the car could not be completed in a day as initially intended and left me belting back from London for nothing - muppet.

The car was lovely and clean though.

I can heartily recommend the lovely people at Dorking VW Audi - an independent garage who know German mechanics inside out and are genuinely interested in their customers - not just their wallets. Well done Arthur, Sue and Team! Their telephone number is 01306 880176.

I can also still sing the praises of Northfield Audi in Tetbury (not exactly local I know) - a very professional Audi main dealer.
 
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Good to know that there is a dealer that is open and honest about their charges. Camberley Audi are my local dealer but Guildford is not far for me.

I still find it difficult though to see how they justify the rates they charge. I work for a technology company in the same area and one of our technical guys with similar training and experiance as an Audi technician would be charged at around £50/hr, and I'm sure our overhead costs are higher.

As for being "in the heart of Guildford" I think they are stretching a point there ! they are about as far out of town as you can go on an industrial estate with all the other main dealers.

Still with the long service intervals the overall cost of ownership of an Audi is probably no more than a Ford. I'll no doubt be putting some business the way of Guildford or Camberley when my service is due in around 18 months. Still feel as if I'm been "had" at those rates !

Cheers

Simon
 
PLEEEEEEASE! Go to Guildford, and not Camberley. They really are muppets of the highest order, they are often rude and patronising (Keith takes the award for this), I have diagnosed several problems for them myself (I thought you took it to the dealer for this?) and after about a dozen visits they STILL find the fact that I have the same name as a girl in the office amusing. Didn't say Guildford were perfect! Just maybe the best in my area?

Guildford did the service, spent extra time sorting a few extra bits and did the 2 yearly brake fluid change and it still came in at the same price they quoted. Plus they had a new shiny Q7 that they had round the back that they let me have a play in! It is HUGE!

Heard lots of bad things about Martins of Basingstoke, so beware.

Also, best to check what a non Audi dealer actually does, get it listed on the invoice. There seemed to be loads of filters that were changed and other odds and sods.

Oh my god, just realised that I seem to be almost defending a dealer. I'm just going to lie down in a darkened room........
 
Crawley Audi charged me £375 for my 2nd service and that included a replcement puncture kit which retails at £25+vat I think you'll be paying over the odds at Guildford
 
2nd service

Mine was £342 from Swindon Audi, without brake fluid change. And it's the last time it will go to an Audi dealer for a service. Nothing wrong with what I received from them, but costs-wise, it will go to an independent Audi specialist next time. I believe there's one not too far from me off the M4.
 
Martins of Basingstoke have given up/lost the Audi franchise. There is now a new dealer, Basingstoke Audi which is linked to Camberley. Sales staff were really "unhelpful" when I went in to discuss a possible purchase!
I've no knowledge about their service ~ I understand that many/all the staff from Martins moved over. To be fair I always had excellent service from Martins with my FSI.
 
Crawley Audi get my top marks for customer service. Went to pick up my parts I ordered which they had in stock and was offered a coffee while they went to get the parts from the parts dept would have taken longer to drink the coffee than to get the parts well done Crawley Audi for customer service.
 
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