Volkswagen - Air con service

Victors_Bruvver

Has anyone had their air con serviced by a main dealership?
I have a diesel Passat that was bought new in January 2004 and has just under 20,000 miles on the clock. Doesn't really go anyway now as I am living in town but I still sent it to my local VW dealer last week for its 20K long life service. Cost me £395 and the dealer also suggested that I get them to do a service on the air con for a further £99.
Being a bit of an old miser, I declined but now wondering if I should have told them to go ahead with it should I?

pioneer

Mine just cost me £750 would have been £1400 at VW (for Compressor Replacement).

See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=519794

davetrousers

What work is involved in an air con service? Just a refill of the gas?

Does/did the air con work ok before the service?

In my old car I had a guy come out to me at work to refill the gas and it was £60.

Gas will, over time, seep out of the system, it doesn't necessarily mean there is a fault

Victors_Bruvver

I have read the postings with interest, and excuse me if I am being naive, but is the air con unit not an integral part of the car and should be checked and serviced alongside all the other bits & bobs?

mr_accountant

No, the air con can be checked independently from the rest if the service (although a service is little more than oil and filter plus maybe sparks and air filter) and therefore a good independent air con specialist will be better than the main dealer, not to mention charge half the price whilst offering better service.:money:

VW dealers are rip off merchants- i would stay away from them.

mr_accountant

I should mention if the air con works perfectly well just leave it alone- when u notice a decrease in its performance than have it checked up and regressed. As the saying goes if its not broken don’t fix it.

iluvmylexus

it is advisable to use the aircon for at least 15 minutes per week to keep the pump lubricated and stop the seals from drying out
use an independant a/c specialist to service your unit costing about £50
even halfrauds are cheaper than your main dealer (not that i would ever reccomend them)
your air con unit will lose about 10% of its gas each year so it is advised to keep it serviced

Victors_Bruvver

mr_accountant wrote: »

No, the air con can be checked independently from the rest if the service (although a service is little more than oil and filter plus maybe sparks and air filter) and therefore a good independent air con specialist will be better than the main dealer, not to mention charge half the price whilst offering better service.:money:

VW dealers are rip off merchants- i would stay away from them.

Too true, what a rip off! The recent service cost me £398 and before I let them have it I topped up my windscreen wash with screenwash. No harm in that I hear you say, but tucked away in the bill for parts used was £1.96 + vat for screenwash and in the back of the car was bottle of screenwash with just a capful missing. Rang the VW dealer to express my disappointment but all I got was I can only describe as a smug reply.

Not the first time I have been let down by VW. The last time was when I had to get it to them for its first MOT. Drove all the way to the dealer which is miles away, waited around for what felt like ages, and when the keys are handed back to me along with the bill I am told that the brakes may want some attention because they were wearing a little faster on one side. I asked for a little more information and possible explanation as to why, and then when they said they would telephone to the mechanic who carried out the test, the penny dropped. The car was taken from their dealership to a MOT testing garage (not VW) just across the road. Now tell me what was the point in me driving all that way to a VW dealership and they do not even carry out the inspection and test?

Victors_Bruvver

On the £398 bill for this service (mileage 20,556) there is a charge of £36 to carry out brake fluid service plus parts plus vat. I thought it strange as the brake fluid was only changed in January when I had the brake pads replaced. That cost me £37 plus parts and vat and the mileage then was 19,781. Fishy? And whatever you do; don't mention the !!!! up with VW changing the VW Assistance. I renewed my membership the month or so before VW change the contract from the AA to the RAC. Not a cheap option, there are cheaper ones around but I thought stick with the brand, safe hands etc., wrong! Because it is not included in the ‘AA’ contract I bought the European Assistance option that came with the extended warranty package that I bought from VW. Is there a picture appearing hear? Dingbat do I hear you say? Needless to say, I got it all wrong again as the RAC who took over the VW Assistance included Europe as part of the package at no extra cost!

bunter

ok as a vw enthusiast on a great deal of vw forums i find what you lot have paid to be very very awful. i presonally would check out www.golfgti.co.uk for some serious info on various issues, the forums are a gold mine and could save you £££`s.

i am a member of that site, nothing more. i just want to help people cut down on unecessary spending

edit: have you guys thought of downloading vag-com the official vw diagnostic software. a shareware version can be found at www.ross-tech.com and all you need do is purchase a cable off of ebay etc etc and you can then hook your laptop/pc up to your car and diagnose faults vw would charge you £75 per hour to find out

FlameCloud

mr_accountant wrote: »

No, the air con can be checked independently from the rest if the service (although a service is little more than oil and filter plus maybe sparks and air filter) and therefore a good independent air con specialist will be better than the main dealer, not to mention charge half the price whilst offering better service.:money:

VW dealers are rip off merchants- i would stay away from them.

Thats very harsh and something I disagree with completly.

When my Seat Leon engine warning light came on, both the Seat garages in Nottingham couldnt look at it, and both wanted to charge around £200 to look at.

I then went to the VW garage next to my local asda on the off chance (The Leon being indentical to the Golf) and they had it fixed, for £45 within 30 minutes.

I then took it for its next service there. It was great- dropped it off, they gave me a lift to work and picked me up again. Only cost £260 and that included a complete oil change with fully synthetic oil, two new front brake pads and a rear wiper. And it was spotlessly cleaned when I got it back. Can't recomend them highly enough.