Dealership Costs....

[Fl_bug]

Why are Vw Stealerships so expensive?!?!?

I called a local dealership about a year ago for timing belt service and I was quoted $1,400.

Yesterday, I made that call to a local Volvo Dealership for a neighbor and they wanted $700 for the EXACT same thing..... It didn't hit me at first, but then I thought about it....

Technically speaking, Volvo are Swedish and are made in Sweden... Same for all of their parts and such too. Also a turbocharged vehicle... But the biggest difference is that Volvo is considered a premium brand, up there with Audi, Acura, and Mercedes!

You would think Volvo would charge MORE than Vw for service because all of their parts are assembled there whereas most Vw stuff we need is from Mexico. Then on top of that, Volvo is a MUCH smaller volume brand than Vw! I think Volvo sold as many cars here combined as total Vw Beetle sales...

Just my random way of thinking, but does anyone else know why a Volvo dealership would charge less for the exact same service than a Vw dealership? Are the Swedes' just cheap or are the Germans just greedy?

[macdave]

Don't know, most toyotas are $200 to $250 for timing belts at the dealer.

[agento2]

Originally Posted by Fl_bug

Just my random way of thinking, but does anyone else know why a Volvo dealership would charge less for the exact same service than a Vw dealership?

You're not comparing apples to apples though, timing belt service on one car will be vastly different than another car. (not that I don't think VW's price is high). Now if you got vastly different quotes for a VW and an audi say, that both have a 1.8t in them then you might have a point to argue.

[MichelleRoze]

Dealers here in Atlanta charge $100 per hour! And they are set so that it SAYS it'll take them an hour to do, but if they get it done in 20 mins, you still pay the HOUR rate! So, it just depends. I was quoted here in Atlanta for $1500 for a tb/wp service!

[Loosenutbehindthewheel]

Being a mechanic as a profession, I believe I can add something to this topic.

The dealer get's say $100.00 an hour to work on your vehicle. The first four hour's is their bufferzone. If the mechanic can not figure out what's wrong with it in that time frame, they call someone like me.

The four hour time frame works out like this, the mechanic get's -AVG- $22.50 a billable hour. So at the end of the four hour's the mechanic makes $90.00 off of you if he figures out or not.

If he don't find the problem, they call me. I charge $200.00 an hour, one hour is the least I charge. Now your bill (just to check it out) went from $100.00 to $300.00

Now if you bring it in say for a noise, it turns out to be something simple to diagnose, and the mechanic get's it within five minute's, you still will be charged the full $100.00.

Mechanic get's paid, stealership get's paid, you get screwed. You get screwed over something that a slack jaw'd yokel from autozone could have told you.

Now over my life have I seen only one instance where a dealership was actually worth the money you would spend with them. It's the local Mercedes dealer, they have nothing but crack shot Mercedes tech's. They even have older Mercedes brought from across the country to repair.

My best advice is that as long as your not causing damage to the car drive it to nationwide shop's like Midas, CarX, Tuffy and the like. Most of those place's will tell you what's wrong with it for free. If you take it a couple of places and the repair's match, then take it to the dealer and tell them what you want done.

Personally speaking, if you cought me on a good day you might get me to do a water pump and timing belt for around $150.00 labor.

[HudsonValleyVDub]

My dealership here charges $105 an hour. I just had the 6" long drivers airbag connector wire replaced....part was $66, the rest was labor to the tune of $380+! My problem with that was simple...you had to take this all apart to diagnose this...which I've already paid the diagnostic fee for. Putting that connector in and replacing the steering wheel (I know, I've done it) should take MAYBE 15 minutes. Not the 3 hrs they charged me for. I blame it on the fact hat VW is now owned by Porsche. I wonder if they have it bass-ackwards and Porsche owners are paying $65 an hour for their labor!
BTW, with those $1400 and $1500 timing belt quotes, did they (at the very least) include the water pump and tensioner pulleys? Maybe it's just me but I don't see how these dealerships don't understand that if they lower the costs owners pay, they can do more business because we'd go back to the dealers again. I go back ONLY for stuff like airbags etc, but nothing else. Who the hell can afford a VW oil change?! or tune up?

[Fl_bug]

Originally Posted by HudsonValleyVDub

My dealership here charges $105 an hour. I just had the 6" long drivers airbag connector wire replaced....part was $66, the rest was labor to the tune of $380+! My problem with that was simple...you had to take this all apart to diagnose this...which I've already paid the diagnostic fee for. Putting that connector in and replacing the steering wheel (I know, I've done it) should take MAYBE 15 minutes. Not the 3 hrs they charged me for. I blame it on the fact hat VW is now owned by Porsche. I wonder if they have it bass-ackwards and Porsche owners are paying $65 an hour for their labor!
BTW, with those $1400 and $1500 timing belt quotes, did they (at the very least) include the water pump and tensioner pulleys? Maybe it's just me but I don't see how these dealerships don't understand that if they lower the costs owners pay, they can do more business because we'd go back to the dealers again. I go back ONLY for stuff like airbags etc, but nothing else. Who the hell can afford a VW oil change?! or tune up?

Vw is not owned by Porsche. Porsche is owned by Vw. Porsche was buying out Vw, but in the middle of that fiasco, Vw ended up using all that money to buy Porsche. SOunds confusing, but its true. Porsche owns 51% of Vw, but Vw now owns 100% of Porsche lol. Happened a little over a year ago. Check it out here

Yes, those $1,400 did include the waterpump (although still plastic), tensioners, and pulleys. At the same time, the Volvo dealer included all of that same service too, plus a free car wash and an inspection and filling of all vital fluids!

[HudsonValleyVDub]

Originally Posted by Fl_bug

Vw is not owned by Porsche. Porsche is owned by Vw. Porsche was buying out Vw, but in the middle of that fiasco, Vw ended up using all that money to buy Porsche. SOunds confusing, but its true. Porsche owns 51% of Vw, but Vw now owns 100% of Porsche lol. Happened a little over a year ago. Check it out here

Yes, those $1,400 did include the waterpump (although still plastic), tensioners, and pulleys. At the same time, the Volvo dealer included all of that same service too, plus a free car wash and an inspection and filling of all vital fluids!

Whomever owns whom...lol...my point remains the same. My problem is finding a mechanic that I feel comfortable letting do such work on my car. I'm not paying that kind of $$$ for the dealer to screw me. How do I go about the search? Ideas??

[Fl_bug]

Originally Posted by HudsonValleyVDub

Whomever owns whom...lol...my point remains the same. My problem is finding a mechanic that I feel comfortable letting do such work on my car. I'm not paying that kind of $$$ for the dealer to screw me. How do I go about the search? Ideas??

Bottom link in my signature for starters

[macdave]

My vw guy charged me $630 for a timing belt done right. It took him under 2 hours to do the whole job. The $630 even included $330 for the best available parts. The dealer must be charging $600 or so for the inferior parts and then something like 7 or 8 hours. Also the dealer will most likely do something wrong like not replace all the parts or reuse bolts and that will cost a lot to fix in the future.

[MichelleRoze]

I have a TDIguru who's willing to do my tb/wp AND camshaft to the tune of $975...parts AND labor! And I know this guy, he's highly sought after to get work done. He knows his stuff...he's upfront and honest. And if he causes damage...even though he's not a licensed mechanic and does this more for a "hobby" He'll help pay to make it right if not pay for it to fix it! I love my Gurus! I wouldn't leave home without them lol

[Smileybug]

I have a great local shop. I had the timing belt/water pump done, along with an oil change and new air filter for $450. I hang out at the shop a lot and know the guys that own it/work there pretty well. I trust them with my car 100%. I feel so lucky that we have such a great VW community here in NC and have such wonderful locally owned shops around Raleigh-Durham.

[pencilneck]

Dealers have a MUCH higher overhead cost in running a business than an independent repair shop. Dealers have to purchase the parts directly from VWoA, and dealers are not getting some sort of big discount. Matter of fact, often times you can get the same item online for less than what the dealer pays. There isn't much the dealer can do about this.

Dealers are also paying a franchising fee just to be able to have that big VW logo out front. Then there is the required training techs have to go to. Required purchase of special tools that they may never use... a box shows up with some odd tool and a invoice saying, "congratulations, you just got billed $1200 for this hydraulic foot pump that can't be used".

As for paying for X amount of time and the tech finishing the job in Y amount of time, that is how the system works. When I was a dealer tech, I never felt guilty for being good at what I did for over 10 years and able to complete a task quickly and correctly. I also invested a crazy amount of money in tools so I could perform repairs quickly.

$1400 for a timing belt and water pump... er... at that price, there better be a "happy ending". I think gas engine timing belt and water pump jobs were around $800 total. TDIs were a little more expensive.

[Fl_bug]

Originally Posted by pencilneck

Dealers have a MUCH higher overhead cost in running a business than an independent repair shop. Dealers have to purchase the parts directly from VWoA, and dealers are not getting some sort of big discount. Matter of fact, often times you can get the same item online for less than what the dealer pays. There isn't much the dealer can do about this.

Dealers are also paying a franchising fee just to be able to have that big VW logo out front. Then there is the required training techs have to go to. Required purchase of special tools that they may never use... a box shows up with some odd tool and a invoice saying, "congratulations, you just got billed $1200 for this hydraulic foot pump that can't be used".

As for paying for X amount of time and the tech finishing the job in Y amount of time, that is how the system works. When I was a dealer tech, I never felt guilty for being good at what I did for over 10 years and able to complete a task quickly and correctly. I also invested a crazy amount of money in tools so I could perform repairs quickly.

$1400 for a timing belt and water pump... er... at that price, there better be a "happy ending". I think gas engine timing belt and water pump jobs were around $800 total. TDIs were a little more expensive.

But i have a gas engine 1.8T and I was quoted $1,400 at 3 of the local vw dealerships!

But this page was just me wondering why a Volvo dealership was charging less than a Vw dealer. Especially since Volvo is a premium brand with much lower volume.

[MichelleRoze]

Yeah $1,500 for a tb/wp bought threw me for a loop! Then I asked about the 80K service.....another $800 on top of that and all they do is change fluids and such. :rollseyes:

Sadly, the techs do the job fast...but not well. I've heard WAY too many horror stories at the VW dealer. They will fix every little problem prior to the real problem needing fixed, plus, I've heard of them creating problems to try and drive more money out of the customer. It's really sad and honestly I think VW is one of the worst! But that's why it pays to know your car and how to fix it or know someone who does. Cause, the parts alone for my car to do a tb/wp is $300-$350. So you're telling me that they are charging $1,200 in LABOR alone?! Not including tax.....so yeah. No. I like my Guru's.

Volvo probably charges less per hour to repair and they probably have their parts sourced from an area that makes it cheaper. Also, I've seen that, atleast on my mom's Chrysler, there aren't as many parts needed for a tb/wp. They dont' have stretch bolts, and rollers that need replaced like VW does. Different car...apples and oranges I guess

[HudsonValleyVDub]

I'm not buying the "expensive overhead" crap either. It stands to reason that if you do GOOD work at REASONABLE prices, you'll get MORE work thus covering your overhead. The same way some dealers sell cars at lower prices yet do more business because of it.