Jet Jockey/A4 Pilot

from today's "Automotive News"

Audi drops free maintenance

Diana T. Kurylko
Audi of America will end its free maintenance program beginning with
the 2007 model year, much to the distress of
dealers.
Called the Audi Advantage, the four-year/50,000-mile program was
established in the late 1980s as a way to restore
consumer confidence and jump-start the brand in the United States.
Only a few auto companies offer free maintenance -
but they include a chief Audi rival, BMW.
"They are getting rid of it because of costs. Dealers feel it is a
large advantage," said Tom Harper, incoming chairman
of the dealer council, Sunday after the make meeting. Harper owns
Harper's Porsche-Audi-Jaguar-Volkswagen-
Infiniti-Acura in Knoxville, Tenn.
Audi will provide some free service during the first year of
ownership.
Dealers want Audi to consider a modified program for repeat customers.
"It is important to those who have second
or third car," said Harper.
There's no doubt some loyal customers may be disappointed, said Johan
de Nysschen, executive vice president in
charge of the Audi brand.
"There is that danger, I have to acknowledge it," said Audi's U.S.
chief.
De Nysschen said Audi needs money to fund a proposed increase in the
dealer margin.

In The News Monday, February 13, 2006

EBG 18T [Eric]

Well BMW is looking better and better. :-(

Mateoloco

that's the last strike for audi in my book, my next car will be a bmw

bauhaus312

2nd.

Delphingrau3003_Rich

There's no doubt some loyal customers may be disappointed, said Johan
de Nysschen, executive vice president in
charge of the Audi brand.

Geez, Johan, do you really think so?

Tool.

tuneda4

i cant see them doing that for 2 long

mkaresh

Audi was first in and might be the last out. Mercedes ended this program last year, and I think BMW is also ending their similar program.

PuRe

That's a damn shame.

JeffPGH

Dealers bill Audi for all of these "free" services and I think it was really getting abused. Long term, I don't think it's too bad of an idea - Give the dealers more margin on the cars they sell and let them discount services to good customers. I, personally, don't need free wiper blades and have no problem paying for reasonably priced oil changes. Maybe they can go back to suggesting realistic service intervals for things like fuel filters and 6-month or 5,000 mile oil changes so that the "Program" costs don't dictate what services are performed and when.

A4_Jax

Supposedly that's why MB got rid of it -- people were assuming certain things were being covered (i.e. tires, rotation, etc) and got upset when they found out it wasn't. Well those are prob the DUMB consumers that didn't RTFM. Although, those of us who did RTFM still got shafted when we went in and complained about issues that should've been covered (i.e. peeling switches, brakes, etc).