2 year service on 2017 A4 B9
06-20-2018, 09:27 PM
#11
I agree on finding a new dealership if you can. Mine doesn’t try to push anything on me. In fact, when I jumped a curb and put a gash in my sidewalk at 2k miles, they flat out told me Audi would want me to tell you that any kind of tire damage warrants a new tire. He said it wasn’t deep enough to warrant a change and the inner wall is still plenty protected. Asked for a second opinion and the service manager agreed with the other guy so off I went. Could have easily forced me to pay for a new tire. 8k miles later no issues with the tire yet.
06-21-2018, 03:59 AM
#12
It sounds like you're thinking about this correctly, and I agree it feels like a shakedown. Might be time to take your service business elsewhere. They probably closed the dealership for financial reasons and it sounds like they might be struggling to pay rent on the service location because too many customers left it when they did, so they're trying very hard to up-sell unneeded services.
Good call on the rotation and on declining an alignment. Do you have a FWD A4? I'm curious because I've been reading lots of stories recently about dealers telling people that quattro cars don't need rotations, which is of course bull**** considering how 100% of steering forces and 80% of braking forces are delivered via the front tires no matter what your drivetrain is. And the left tires will always wear ever so slightly more quickly than the rights, because we statistically make more right turns and the left tires are on the outside doing the work when you're turning that direction. That last part said, I run directional winters on a dedicated set of wheels on my B9 S4 and after 1 very lengthy 7,000 mile winter drive season (I'm a skier and drive to the mountains A LOT) the left/wear difference was small enough that I feel comfortable only rotating front to back. About 8/32nd on the left vs 9/32nd tread remaining over that time period once I finally pulled them off and put summers back on 2 months ago. I believe new was 12/32nd or something.
Good call on the rotation and on declining an alignment. Do you have a FWD A4? I'm curious because I've been reading lots of stories recently about dealers telling people that quattro cars don't need rotations, which is of course bull**** considering how 100% of steering forces and 80% of braking forces are delivered via the front tires no matter what your drivetrain is. And the left tires will always wear ever so slightly more quickly than the rights, because we statistically make more right turns and the left tires are on the outside doing the work when you're turning that direction. That last part said, I run directional winters on a dedicated set of wheels on my B9 S4 and after 1 very lengthy 7,000 mile winter drive season (I'm a skier and drive to the mountains A LOT) the left/wear difference was small enough that I feel comfortable only rotating front to back. About 8/32nd on the left vs 9/32nd tread remaining over that time period once I finally pulled them off and put summers back on 2 months ago. I believe new was 12/32nd or something.
And yes, I do have AWD Quattro.
Even with declining some of the pushed offerings, the bill is always going to be steep when an oil change is 189.95. I am somewhat limited in my dealer choices, and I was thoroughly unimpressed with a few of them when I was shopping two years ago. Although I have found the service departments to sometimes be different animals from the sales.
06-21-2018, 04:41 AM
#13
AudiWorld Member
When I bought my car a couple of years ago, even thought I wrote a check for the entire amount, I had to see the finance guy. He gave me a super-hard sell on AudiCare and seemed absolutely astounded that I didn't bite. According to him, "everybody" buys it because it's a "no-brainer".
After having the car for about a year and getting a good feel for my mileage, I ended up purchasing, without prompting, at the time of my first service.
After having the car for about a year and getting a good feel for my mileage, I ended up purchasing, without prompting, at the time of my first service.
06-21-2018, 06:13 AM
#14
AudiWorld Member
When I bought my car a couple of years ago, even thought I wrote a check for the entire amount, I had to see the finance guy. He gave me a super-hard sell on AudiCare and seemed absolutely astounded that I didn't bite. According to him, "everybody" buys it because it's a "no-brainer".
After having the car for about a year and getting a good feel for my mileage, I ended up purchasing, without prompting, at the time of my first service.
After having the car for about a year and getting a good feel for my mileage, I ended up purchasing, without prompting, at the time of my first service.
06-21-2018, 06:21 AM
#15
AudiWorld Member
Right! But I did get the satisfaction of watching his head explode at the fact I didn't purchase it, or any other add-ons, at the time of purchase. I got the feeling he doesn't like people coming through his office without buying anything extra. After researching it more, and seeing it made sense for the amount of miles I was expecting to drive, I gave the AudiCare purchase to a different dealer who didn't pressure me at all.
06-21-2018, 12:04 PM
#16
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Right! But I did get the satisfaction of watching his head explode at the fact I didn't purchase it, or any other add-ons, at the time of purchase. I got the feeling he doesn't like people coming through his office without buying anything extra. After researching it more, and seeing it made sense for the amount of miles I was expecting to drive, I gave the AudiCare purchase to a different dealer who didn't pressure me at all.
VM: Loaners might be a thing that varies by dealer. I know that here in Ottawa, the dealer has told me that if I take Audi Care, that entitles me to a loaner whenever I bring my car in, as long as I book in advance so they can make sure a loaner is available. Since Audi Care itself doesn't include this perk, presumably it's something this dealer is doing to encourage uptake.
Since we're talking about various kinds of maintenance, what's the story with (Quattro) Audis and alignments? As a life-long FWD driver, I've always had my alignment checked every ~2 years, and typically adjustments have been indicated every 2-4; longer for the highway queen, shorter for the barn car. Is there something about AWD cars that makes an alignment less likely to be needed? Otherwise, the idea of a $600+ alignment/recalibration on a car with ADAP is a bit concerning to a chap who's accustomed to $10 checks and $100 full alignments.
06-22-2018, 08:36 AM
#17
AudiWorld Senior Member
His pay structure likely depends pretty significantly on add-on uptake, so I don't doubt that his head was exploding, just perhaps not for the reason he claimed
VM: Loaners might be a thing that varies by dealer. I know that here in Ottawa, the dealer has told me that if I take Audi Care, that entitles me to a loaner whenever I bring my car in, as long as I book in advance so they can make sure a loaner is available. Since Audi Care itself doesn't include this perk, presumably it's something this dealer is doing to encourage uptake.
Since we're talking about various kinds of maintenance, what's the story with (Quattro) Audis and alignments? As a life-long FWD driver, I've always had my alignment checked every ~2 years, and typically adjustments have been indicated every 2-4; longer for the highway queen, shorter for the barn car. Is there something about AWD cars that makes an alignment less likely to be needed? Otherwise, the idea of a $600+ alignment/recalibration on a car with ADAP is a bit concerning to a chap who's accustomed to $10 checks and $100 full alignments.
VM: Loaners might be a thing that varies by dealer. I know that here in Ottawa, the dealer has told me that if I take Audi Care, that entitles me to a loaner whenever I bring my car in, as long as I book in advance so they can make sure a loaner is available. Since Audi Care itself doesn't include this perk, presumably it's something this dealer is doing to encourage uptake.
Since we're talking about various kinds of maintenance, what's the story with (Quattro) Audis and alignments? As a life-long FWD driver, I've always had my alignment checked every ~2 years, and typically adjustments have been indicated every 2-4; longer for the highway queen, shorter for the barn car. Is there something about AWD cars that makes an alignment less likely to be needed? Otherwise, the idea of a $600+ alignment/recalibration on a car with ADAP is a bit concerning to a chap who's accustomed to $10 checks and $100 full alignments.
06-24-2018, 06:06 AM
#18
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When I bought my car a couple of years ago, even thought I wrote a check for the entire amount, I had to see the finance guy. He gave me a super-hard sell on AudiCare and seemed absolutely astounded that I didn't bite. According to him, "everybody" buys it because it's a "no-brainer".
After having the car for about a year and getting a good feel for my mileage, I ended up purchasing, without prompting, at the time of my first service.
After having the car for about a year and getting a good feel for my mileage, I ended up purchasing, without prompting, at the time of my first service.
06-24-2018, 09:20 PM
#19
AudiWorld Senior Member
Interesting, I never had to talk to the finance guy. Maybe it was because of European delivery but I didn’t even pay a deposit when I ordered the car. Just paid in full shortly before I left for Europe, about three months after ordering.
06-26-2018, 03:32 AM
#20
Well, my service center was nice enough to automatically schedule me for my next annual appointment next year , without even asking...
I got the standard survey sent to me to boot. I could speak my mind there, but in my experience that either goes nowhere, or leads to further contacts/hassles, and then leads nowhere. And I could just get audi lecturing.
I got the standard survey sent to me to boot. I could speak my mind there, but in my experience that either goes nowhere, or leads to further contacts/hassles, and then leads nowhere. And I could just get audi lecturing.
