Last August, Audi issued a free inspection of timing belts for my model (03 A4 1.8T Quattro). My car was at 95,xxx at the time, and had not had the timing belt repaired. They inspected it and indicated that it was cracked from dry-rot. They quoted me $1400 to fix it, along with the other maitenance repair that goes along with it. I declined, and this weekend at 102,xxx miles, had a private mechanic do the work for me at the cost of $600, parts and labor. He also threw in brakes (pads + rotors, a $600 value according to the same stealership) for free (not including parts).

Results: Belt looks fine. Mechanic said it probably could have gone another 30,000 miles before needing repair. I'm thinking about writing a letter to audi american and the better business bureau, but wondering if I should just consider it a neccessary repair and just never do business with the dealership again?

 

im not exactly sure wht the interval for your year is, but if its aroudn 100k approx and you were at 95k on the car, they were probably looking out for themselves. who knows though

 

you really cant get pissed over a quote. thats why you get quotes in the first place. if they had actualy done something wrong you could write a letter, like if they said the belt was fine and it snapped the next day. or if they said the belt was about to break and once they got it off found out it was brand new.

 

I'd chalk it up to that. When i first bought mine back in May of last year, I took it straight from the used car lot where i bought it to an Audi dealer up the street to have them check it over. They recommended that i replace 3 control arms, the TB, waterpump, tensioner, pullies, coolant temp sensor, both combi switches, and an oil change. Unfortunately i don't have $100 flying out of my a$$ so i opted to have them change the worse of the the CA's and the coolant temp sensor so the CEL would go away, then did the rest of the stuff myself (except the timing belt, i'm collecting the parts now, gonna DIY it in a coupla weeks)

Ultimately the dealer is just tryin to make a buck. I don't think it warrants a letter to the BBB or AudiAmerica.

On the upside you seem to have gotten out with no damage to the car and a considerably smaller bill than you were originally lookin at, so i'd consider it a WIN

 

Thanks everyone, I'll just continue on and be happy I saved well over $1000 by having a private mechanic do all the repairs. My warranty is up (booo) so I won't be doing anymore business with the dealership anyways. Not that I didn't know, but I found out the easy way they just want to screw you.

 

The dealer has nothing to do with that, the tech makes quotes so he can make a living, the tech will rape you, not the dealer. Dealer techs are just the best at it.

 

I agree that certain techs may have their own agendas. My experience has been that they will recommend fixing the most expensive option first. Be sure to ask questions (note to self)!!!

 

the path of least resistance is just to be grateful that you got a lot of work done for a lower price. you live in a capitalist society, everyone wants to make a buck...

 

Your experience with the service department at the dealership is going to controlled mostly by the tech who works on the car himself. That's why when you find a good one, ask for him by name (ask to see who worked on it last) to work on your car.

Not all techs are dishonest, unfortunately the ones that are give the rest of us bad names.

My quotes come straight from Elsa (Aud's service info), in the event a time is not listed for an operation, I try to estimate it as close as possible. If I ever quote a "worse case scenario" and it turns out to be a simple quick repair, I have the service adviser notify the customer that there bill is LESS than originally quoted, and I suddenly have a customer for life.

Honest business can pay off too.