Jason1st

They are included at 5000 miles!!

hemant

rotate the tires whether the auto manufacturers includes them in their service or not. It doesn't cost them a penny more to rotate the tires. They remove the wheels to inspect the brakes and suspension anyway - then it is a simple matter to pay attention and rotate them when re-mounting them to the car. No extra time, not extra cost, but a lot of extra customer goodwill.

I have always made this point to my service advisors over the years and never got any argument out of them - they always rotated the tires at no cost when I requested it.

geordie

22k my rears had half the tread of the fronts - reminds me I should really have the alignment checked!
Anyway, I think that rotation would be a wise precaution with tires running at $300 a shot.

drgolfnut

At rotation my rears with 20k miles are much more worn than the front. Atlas helped me acquire a set of those fabulous 20s so that might make the wear be more pronounced I would imagine.

Der Kimbo

and you should have the wheels by the end of the week.

Davey

Seems to me that there must be a bias towards the front tires wearing faster.

wilfred2k5

We have in-room Internet. $14/day.

This floor has free continental breakfast...unless you want something to drink or something warm.

We'll come in and turn your bed down for you. But housekeeping gets ticked unless you give them a 5'er.

The nickel-and-dime thing destroys any and all goodwill. I'm pretty happy about A-B here in the South Bay. I have my complaints, but that's not one of 'em.

qfrog Ti20

I've been on both sides of the fence in this business... I know loaners suck, I used to get a buick which is the anti-christ of cars in my world. Let me share some info about what you are working with when you visit the dealership for service.

At a service department time is money, if a technician isnt working on something billable to audi or to a customer then time is lost. Neither the tech or the service dept wants that. The opportunity of the tech working on something billable for that period of his day has been lost. So service departments like to keep their techs working on things that are completeable and are billable to somebody.

Techs are paid per hour of completed work... if they do 2hrs of work in 40hrs... they get paid for 2hrs. Its sink or swim, some dealers have a gaurantee of however many hours, which takes off some of the edge. If a tech gets hung up on an A8 (and this does happen) its the tech that ends up taking the hit. If the solution only pays 4hrs and the diagnosis, test-procedure, ordering of parts, moving of car in/out of bays and repair takes 8hrs... the tech has lost 4hrs and wont be paid for that time ever. The dealership has also lost 4 man hours. Technicians are always focused on "making time" which means exceeding 100% efficiency. 100% = 1hr of work done for 1hr of pay. Excessive efficiency can be cause for concern as is excessive and frequent inefficiency.

In the case of a 5k service the free tire rotation is free to the customer, but not free to audi as that is included in the time paid by audi to perform the service. Audi pays the dealership for teh tech's time and for the parts used. The dealer pays the tech on a flat rate system 99% of the time.

Lets say that the dealer gives you a free tire roatation with every service... that costs you and audi nothing, but it costs the dealership $15 for the tech's time and if you multiply that by the number of services performed annually thats a lot of money. Lets say 12 services a day by $15... thats $180 a day $900 a week... or about $45K a year which otherwise would go elsewhere. This figure varies by volume of services performed.

Technicians arent motivated by "can you do me a favor" but rather by dollars. They have bills to pay too, its employment not charity work for them. Some do well others are poor bastards. Its a crazy business, technicians are sometimes forced to be like gypsies with 500lb tool chests. The pay system is a modified form of piecework, and the conditons sometimes are sub par. I for one could never be a technician for numerous reasons.

qfrog Ti20

is that from there on out its your expense. At that 5k audi wont even pay for wheel paste to prevent the aluminum wheels from reacting with the iron brake discs and developing some kinky adhesion. This is all background noise till you get a flat tire and have to change it on your own with the wicked little jack that is provided. Just you try and get that wheel off. In the past I've had to use a 2x4 and a hammer to remove a wheel. I see techs using soft face mallots on the sidewall of tires regularly. I for one dont fancy having a 2 ton steel/aluminum sled tipping over on me while trying everything in my power to remove a wheel so I can just get home have dinner and go to bed.

qfrog Ti20

The salesperson painted an illusion which you bought into with a check. Unfortunately that illusion is just that, an illusion. When you get right down to it a salesperson paid on commission is interested in getting you into the a car that you will like and hopefully return to buy again from them.

Given how frequently the services change from 5k to a 10k or a 40k becomes a 35k and what is included changes too. Salespeople arent always up to date and may be inaccurate, they may also exaggerate things to present a better value proposition.

I personally would ask to see what is and or isnt covered in writing. The old addage "get it in writing" is still true. Have a look at the service booklet... spend a few moments talking to the service manager about what is done at what service and what is/isnt included. Be a well informed customer, it will end up benefitting you in the end.

I personally would also be pissed if I felt misled by a salesperson.