VW servicing in Canberra

Owned 4 Volkswagens and had them serviced by the VW dealers in Canberra. All of them have been great cars – not major problems and I highly recomend Volkswagens to any wanting a well built, comfortable and ecomincal (generally anyway) vehicle. Maybe I was lucky but I would still buy another VW.

I coud tell you about the lemon Nissans, Holdens and Fords I have owned or have been owned by family members.

That said the VW dealers can be a little on the exxy side when it comes to servicing and I always ask for a quote before they go in and ask to be advised an quoted for any additional work that needs to be done (one notable recent request was changing the windscreen wipers for $100. I responded with ‘you have to be f*&%$g joking – NO’).

Anyway for older VWs the Canberra VW centre is good value for servicing.

Madam Cholet said :

So at the time of servicing we do not have to find extra dollars as we would with an unleashed car. I find this arrangement blissful. And because we do have credit, we are able to deal with hiccups such as this.

Fair enough, though when your car goes “off-leash” you can achieve the same thing by putting away $200 from every pay. We find that’s enough over the course of a year to cover fuel, servicing, rego, road service, insurance and emergency repairs, with some left over to start saving towards our next car.

I note the neighbours across the road have put their VW Jetta in for major repairs once again. 12 months after purchase the engine grenade itself, having already had several major repairs in that time. On one occasion they completely replaced the turbo. The only reason they got their engine replacement was through taking legal action against the car dealer.

The car is now just over 3 years old now and is in at the dealership at this very moment having more repairs made. Said neighbours are driving around in a very beaten up courtesy car, so the repairs are obviously very significant.

* I am the very happy owner of a second hand Ford Falcon ute (not white).

Madam Cholet said :

2604 said :

Madam Cholet said :

Booked it in with local auto electrician. Back in two days – $2000 worth of work and parts, but a good job done. We have this covered under the lease so it’s not as bad as it sounds – apart from the compressor and condenser failing that is.

Our car is a lease vehicle so we don’t have to find the money for servicing out of our pockets. We therefore have never really questioned much until now as it’s been convenient.

Uh, you do know how a novated lease works in relation to servicing and (non-warranty) repairs, right? Those costs aren’t borne by the leasing company. You make a fixed payment each fortnight into a fund from which fuel, servicing and repair costs are deducted. At the end of the lease you get a refund of whatever’s left in that fund. Accordingly, the costs of repairs do indeed come out of your pocket, albeit in a bit of a roundabout way. For this reason, it pays to minimize the amount you’re paying for repairs as much as possible.

Um, yes, I do know how a lease works as I set it up, but thanks for your explanation. To be clear, what I meant was, we pay our lease which covers the servicing, and the lease company pays Lennock. So at the time of servicing we do not have to find extra dollars as we would with an unleashed car. I find this arrangement blissful. And because we do have credit, we are able to deal with hiccups such as this.

Happy?

Sorry to hear of all the problems people are having with their VWs. I think the auto journalists need to give Audi group vehicles a harder time for this as in most reviews/group tests they tend to run away with awards.

For what it’s worth, we had a huge amount of faults with our 2009 mini cooper s and had very mixed assistance from Rolfe BMW. In the end it came down to finding one helpful person at the dealership and sticking with them each time (for continuity). They ended up being helpful but huuugely expensive for servicing so whatch out. Knowing what I know now I would have got it serviced elsewhere or at least bargained down the price of servicing.

Despite all the faults we had I wouldn’t be put off buying euro cars. If you’re into cars then buy the car that gives you the fizz if you want a whitegoods style car that will get you from a to b like clockwork go Toyota/Hyundai/Mazda.

2604 said :

Madam Cholet said :

Booked it in with local auto electrician. Back in two days – $2000 worth of work and parts, but a good job done. We have this covered under the lease so it’s not as bad as it sounds – apart from the compressor and condenser failing that is.

Our car is a lease vehicle so we don’t have to find the money for servicing out of our pockets. We therefore have never really questioned much until now as it’s been convenient.

Uh, you do know how a novated lease works in relation to servicing and (non-warranty) repairs, right? Those costs aren’t borne by the leasing company. You make a fixed payment each fortnight into a fund from which fuel, servicing and repair costs are deducted. At the end of the lease you get a refund of whatever’s left in that fund. Accordingly, the costs of repairs do indeed come out of your pocket, albeit in a bit of a roundabout way. For this reason, it pays to minimize the amount you’re paying for repairs as much as possible.

Um, yes, I do know how a lease works as I set it up, but thanks for your explanation. To be clear, what I meant was, we pay our lease which covers the servicing, and the lease company pays Lennock. So at the time of servicing we do not have to find extra dollars as we would with an unleashed car. I find this arrangement blissful. And because we do have credit, we are able to deal with hiccups such as this.

Happy?

Madam Cholet said :

Booked it in with local auto electrician. Back in two days – $2000 worth of work and parts, but a good job done. We have this covered under the lease so it’s not as bad as it sounds – apart from the compressor and condenser failing that is.

Our car is a lease vehicle so we don’t have to find the money for servicing out of our pockets. We therefore have never really questioned much until now as it’s been convenient.

Uh, you do know how a novated lease works in relation to servicing and (non-warranty) repairs, right? Those costs aren’t borne by the leasing company. You make a fixed payment each fortnight into a fund from which fuel, servicing and repair costs are deducted. At the end of the lease you get a refund of whatever’s left in that fund. Accordingly, the costs of repairs do indeed come out of your pocket, albeit in a bit of a roundabout way. For this reason, it pays to minimize the amount you’re paying for repairs as much as possible.

Madam Cholet said :

Have now sworn off dealership servicing. Have a VW Golf – 4 years old – air con just started failing at the beginning of the year.

Having the same issue with our 4 year old Tiguan. Took it to the auto elec recommended by CVWC and they said it was a buggered compressor and that they have seen a bunch of them that have failed. After waiting 6 weeks for the booking, Lennock (after berating us for not getting the car serviced by them and bringing it to them as soon as the aircon stopped working) did a software upgrade and a re-gas and told us it was fixed but to come back if it stopped working again. Lasted all of 3 weeks before it stopped working again.

Took it to Gerald Slavin (who booked it in within 3 days of calling) who said that the compressor is shot and will need to be replaced. Couldn’t believe Lennock just did a software upgrade when it clearly was a stuffed compressor. Now they are putting in an application to VWA for a good will repair as the air-con on a 4 year old car shouldn’t have such a catastrophic failure unless it was faulty right from the start. Fingers crossed VWA approve it as spending a few thousand to get it fixed doesn’t really appeal to us.

Madam Cholet said :

Have now sworn off dealership servicing. Have a VW Golf – 4 years old – air con just started failing at the beginning of the year. Told the dealer – Lennock Philip – in Jan and they re-gassed it, told us it worked ok and returned it. We never thought it did really work as well but didn’t do anything about it….probably a bad move as just as the hot weather kicks in it started to really not work properly.

Called Lennock on Dec 31. Told at 4pm that everyone had left for the day so could not discuss the issue at that time. On calling again on another working day, told that they could not look at the problem until March. MARCH!!!! Funnily enough we were able to book in the service for February.

Booked it in with local auto electrician. Back in two days – $2000 worth of work and parts, but a good job done. We have this covered under the lease so it’s not as bad as it sounds – apart from the compressor and condenser failing that is.

In addition to the arsing about and not having the car ready for pick up at the end of a service these days, we have had enough. Our car is a lease vehicle so we don’t have to find the money for servicing out of our pockets. We therefore have never really questioned much until now as it’s been convenient.

Sayonara Lennock.

Agree.

Ended up having my car towed to them. They had it for THREE WEEKS and could not locate a fault, despite running through a tank of petrol. But they kindly said “Bring it straight back if the problem happens again.”

Have now sworn off dealership servicing. Have a VW Golf – 4 years old – air con just started failing at the beginning of the year. Told the dealer – Lennock Philip – in Jan and they re-gassed it, told us it worked ok and returned it. We never thought it did really work as well but didn’t do anything about it….probably a bad move as just as the hot weather kicks in it started to really not work properly.

Called Lennock on Dec 31. Told at 4pm that everyone had left for the day so could not discuss the issue at that time. On calling again on another working day, told that they could not look at the problem until March. MARCH!!!! Funnily enough we were able to book in the service for February.

Booked it in with local auto electrician. Back in two days – $2000 worth of work and parts, but a good job done. We have this covered under the lease so it’s not as bad as it sounds – apart from the compressor and condenser failing that is.

In addition to the arsing about and not having the car ready for pick up at the end of a service these days, we have had enough. Our car is a lease vehicle so we don’t have to find the money for servicing out of our pockets. We therefore have never really questioned much until now as it’s been convenient.

Sayonara Lennock.

2604 said :

Mazda 3MPS or Focus ST are probably safer bets.

Haters gonna hate.

Here’s a run down since 2010 of my cars, i’ll place an * besides which car had a problem. Most of the cars had dealer servicing

2010 – 2007 VW Passat 4mo V6 – 1st owner had warranty issues, all got fixed. when I had it and the subsequent owner bought it we never had issues
2011 – 2011 Holden SV6 – sold after 6mths. ABS failed, AC failed, Carpet looked like a bunched up rug, steering wheel controls failed etc
2012 – 2009 Passat CC – Only serviced at Gerald. two warranty issues , perished seals on rear door (standard problem) and seat was wobbly. Sold as coudn’t fit the kids
2013 – 2013 Mazda 6 (Atenza) – Failed stop start, smoking stop start, regen braking failure. sold after 3mths.
2013- 2012 VW Amarok. Brakes needed bleeding. fixed under warranty by Slaven.
2013 – 2009 R36. Previous owner had failed DSG transmission, replaced wholly under warranty (despite being out of warranty). At total cost to Lennock and VWA.

I think the non-VW’s had the most serious issues don’t you? I.e they were on-sold (well traded) with ongoing issues. Moral of my story, I wont buy a new car again as I seem to attract the lemon coloured ones.

AmarooStu said :

Owner of a Mk6 Golf GTI, I have found both the car and Gerald Slaven VW to be brilliant. Servicing cheap and parts readily available – I get parts for trade price as I bought the car at the dealership. The only issue I have had is a front left speaker failing in the car – replaced under warranty.

And no, I do not work for VWA, Gerald Slaven or Lennock!

460cixy said :

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and it’s interesting that no-one has recommended the dealer I’ve been using!

I will take it to lennocks

I wouldn’t they skip bits on a service and there the ones who wanted to almost charge double for a minor service.

$400 vs $250

Owner of a Mk6 Golf GTI, I have found both the car and Gerald Slaven VW to be brilliant. Servicing cheap and parts readily available – I get parts for trade price as I bought the car at the dealership. The only issue I have had is a front left speaker failing in the car – replaced under warranty.

And no, I do not work for VWA, Gerald Slaven or Lennock!

Volkswagen make good cars, but badly. I won’t go near them, too many horror stories.

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

460cixy said :

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and it’s interesting that no-one has recommended the dealer I’ve been using!

I will take it to lennocks

Hoho only good thing I can say about them is that at least the courtesy bus driver has stopped asking lady customers if they are Miss or Mrs….

The good people that let me come to work each day provide me with a VW Caddy, and it’s a great little tractor.
The only problem with it is that they insist that it gets serviced at the dealership in Phillip.

They have no idea about customer service and, for fleet vehicles at least, they go through the motions and that’s all. (If you’re lucky)

460cixy said :

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and it’s interesting that no-one has recommended the dealer I’ve been using!

I will take it to lennocks

Hoho only good thing I can say about them is that at least the courtesy bus driver has stopped asking lady customers if they are Miss or Mrs….

I hear your pain…CVWC in Belco or Tuggers is your answer…have been to both for servicing and not due to the price but the actual quality of service, what makes matter worse is that I actually purchased the car new from this dealer. The problem with the dealers (north of the lake here) is that they don’t have much product knowledge even if they state they do and are only interested in getting you in and out the door asap with some spiel about what they did and attempt to wash your car – never again! I had initial problems (only minor) and what an effort that was to get things fixed even though I did remind them that I purchased the car from them – they do not even return phone calls infact in the end I got VWA involved and to their credit most things were fixed but it should not be like this…more here:

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f97/lack-dealer-service-64411.html

So 3 years on I have had no issues + it’s always good to talk to people who actually know something about the brand 🙂

cranky said :

Seriously looked at a Golf GTI/R a couple of years ago. Put off by a relly in the motor trade service area who strongly advised that if we bought one, make damn sure it was sold before the warranty had expired.

Backed up by a friend with an R32 which carked it on Sydney Harbour Bridge with wife driving and a car full of kids. Apparently a sensor fault, but shut down the entire system.

Walked away from VW, and I suspect I’m the better for it.

Mazda 3MPS or Focus ST are probably safer bets.

Queen_of_the_Bun said :

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and it’s interesting that no-one has recommended the dealer I’ve been using!

I will take it to lennocks

Seriously looked at a Golf GTI/R a couple of years ago. Put off by a relly in the motor trade service area who strongly advised that if we bought one, make damn sure it was sold before the warranty had expired.

Backed up by a friend with an R32 which carked it on Sydney Harbour Bridge with wife driving and a car full of kids. Apparently a sensor fault, but shut down the entire system.

Walked away from VW, and I suspect I’m the better for it.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and it’s interesting that no-one has recommended the dealer I’ve been using!

LSWCHP said :

I have a large number of friends and colleagues who have purchased various VWs over the last 6 years or so and all of them…and this would be…lemme see…8 people…. have had difficulties with them. And generally inconvenient and expensive difficulties like unexplained loss of power, diff failure, intermittent failure to start etc. Several of these people swore they’d never buy another, and one bloke sold his brand new vehicle at considerable loss after owning it for about 6 months. I don’t know of any other high end manufacturer with this record.

I’ve heard no end of horror stories about VWs. Usually the failures are very expensive ones and often with not too many km’s, just enough to be sufficiently out of warranty. Auto gearbox on Transporter, Failure of Fourmotion on a Bora, All sorts of problems with a Tiguan. Funniest thing was a friend who had always had jap cars and had a 250,000km trouble free camry. Bought a Polo and nothing but trouble and then at 60,000 he was told it needed new discs. Why are the discs so crap…oh, it’s European was the explanation. FFS, they aren’t carbon fibre, they are for a runaround Polo. So my advice is sell your VW quickly, cut your losses now.

Sandman said :

Do you mean you bought it new in 2004? Was there 300km on the clock when you got it or is there now 300k (300,000km) on the clock.

I didn’t make much sense last night, did I? Must have been drinking the sump oil…
Bought it new in 2004, it had 300km on the clock.

DUB said :

…I bought new from an unnamed VW outlet in January 2014 …

My advice is, since you can see far into the future, do not go there in January, you have some months to decide on another car.

Hahah yes well said. Dang typo! 2004.

I have a large number of friends and colleagues who have purchased various VWs over the last 6 years or so and all of them…and this would be…lemme see…8 people…. have had difficulties with them. And generally inconvenient and expensive difficulties like unexplained loss of power, diff failure, intermittent failure to start etc. Several of these people swore they’d never buy another, and one bloke sold his brand new vehicle at considerable loss after owning it for about 6 months. I don’t know of any other high end manufacturer with this record.

cleansing the throttle body = undo screw , remove air ducting and spray 1/8 of a can of carby cleaner in the throttle body, replace ducting, do up screw.

Most of the dealers get apprentice Jack to service cars ,

There’s a Nissan dealer in town that will screw up your tappet adjustments snap off your radiator inlet glue it back on and say nothing then want to charge 16K for new injectors and head work . 2 weeks later the glue lets go and your misses is ringing saying there’s water everywhere under the car and we need a new radiator.

Um, just like a number of other brands I’ve had over the years… Holden, Mazda etc.

its muchness for muchness, every brand has a lemon.. just look at that Jeep driver.

Back OT.. I’ve used all of the specialised mechanics for VW’s (except Northside) and was always happy with CVWC Belconnen. My last lease VW got serviced at Gerald and was quite happy with them but in saying that it was at a reduced cost. I now have a bought Amarok and a Passat and they will be getting and mixture of dealer and specialist servicing.

thebrownstreak69 said :

460cixy said :

My advice to everyone is to avoid vw full stop

+1. Once they start breaking, they don’t stop. And they cost heaps to repair and maintain.

jase! said :

canberra vw centre is great but 4-5 weeks lead time on bookings at belco last time i checked. if you are heading north to sydney then camden GTi (now in campbelltown) is a good option too.

first i have heard of northsideeuros but Gareth was a good operator so would be happy to give them a shot

I’ve known him for years haven’t worked with him as I can’t stand vw junk but his gone out on his own with northside so I think he will do well

canberra vw centre is great but 4-5 weeks lead time on bookings at belco last time i checked. if you are heading north to sydney then camden GTi (now in campbelltown) is a good option too.

first i have heard of northsideeuros but Gareth was a good operator so would be happy to give them a shot

Do you mean you bought it new in 2004? Was there 300km on the clock when you got it or is there now 300k (300,000km) on the clock.

thebrownstreak69 said :

460cixy said :

My advice to everyone is to avoid vw full stop

+1. Once they start breaking, they don’t stop. And they cost heaps to repair and maintain.

Exactly great when there flash and new. And super complicated with typical European electronics

460cixy said :

My advice to everyone is to avoid vw full stop

+1. Once they start breaking, they don’t stop. And they cost heaps to repair and maintain.

Holden Caulfield said :

In future…

http://the-riotact.com/servicing-a-volkswagen-in-canberra/58634#comment

You can now also try http://www.northsideeuros.com.au/ in Mitchell, run by Gareth who used to be at CVWC Belconnen.

+ 1. If you don’t heed my advice and Insist on going down the euro trash road Gareth is a top bloke

My advice to everyone is to avoid vw full stop

…I bought new from an unnamed VW outlet in January 2014 …

My advice is, since you can see far into the future, do not go there in January, you have some months to decide on another car.

Throttles used to be run with a pedal, a Bowden cable and a spring. They could be maintained with pliers and some squirty-juice. Now they need voltage.
My Holden’s air bag alarm flashes and beeps on winter mornings. They don’t know why – it’s possibly something to do with the Jesus box which, naturally, is very expensive.

I really hate hi-tech motoring.

In future…

http://the-riotact.com/servicing-a-volkswagen-in-canberra/58634#comment

You can now also try http://www.northsideeuros.com.au/ in Mitchell, run by Gareth who used to be at CVWC Belconnen.

Hi I Feel your pain, My first service with the dealership was double what it should have been. After i searched around for a bit I found these guys http://www.cvwct.com.au/. I have been taking it there ever since.

Dealerships are a major rip off