markcincinnati

We can complain and cry foul all we want . . . but this is an argument to go ahead and get the prepaid mntce from day one.

These are wonderful vehicles, but they REQUIRE a breathtakingly expensive amount of routine maintenance. And, it is certainly not impossible for you to service your car, I have watched what happens during these "oil changes." I can't really justify why the cost is north of $300, but, if it is any comfort, all the German makes and as far as I know all of the Euro cars, too, run through these kind of "inspections."

I still think Audi should do what BMW STILL does, and that is bury the mntce fee in the price and don't **** off customers (at least for the first 50,000 miles.)

Didn't they offer you the prepaid mntce option? Even if it is a break even (and I don't think it is, I think it is better), I really like always having my service ticket come back saying $0.00 due.

ThePiombino

The Audi Care becomes attached to the car, not the owner. So if you were to trade-in, privately sell, etc. the Audi Care would remain w/the car it was purchased for.

(I paid almost $600 for my 35K maintenance, so I definitely feel your pains, esp since Audi Care was offered to me for $600 at the time of purchase...)

Gunnerbuck

I am also approaching 15k on my '09. I am going to request an itemized estimate from my dealer before scheduling anything. When I get information, I will pass it on to those who care. And tire rotation is not even included in the 15k package. I did those myself last weekend. Results to follow soon.

ThePiombino

I would also recommend keeping very accurate and detailed documentation as to where/when you had your service done. Should any warranty issues arise and the dealership can possibly claim that it was due to owner negligence due to lack of maintenance they will! So make sure to keep receipts and itemized lists of what was done and try to stick as close to Audi's schedule as possible just to CYA.

av_audi

I hope you are being sarcastic. These vehicles require almost NO maintenance other than oil changes, plug replacement every 40K, and cabin/engine air filter replacement. Almost all fluids are synth or long life (they call them lifetime, which is a misnomer) and they don't need to be touched until 100K, or 60K of you are incredibly ****. Older cars required carb adjustments, valve adjustments, idle adjustment, tranny fluid change every 30K, distributor cap & rotor replacements, plug wires, etc.

It is not just the Euro brands. Lexus and Infiniti do the same. Honda and Toyota aren't that far behind. They charge these prices because they can, because people don't know better, because they assume dealers know best. Dealers know so well that it took them years to figure out that the 1.8T in the Passat took one quart less than the 1.8T in the Jetta. They always overfilled my car by more than 1 inch on the dipstick. I once made a service manager look up the specs on their service CDROM, and finding that the car needed a little less than 4qt instead of 5qt was "news to her." Guess what, that means they never bother checking the dipstick after pouring oil in the engine. Do you think they even bother with power steering fluid? At least some of the containers are transparent, so you hope they might glance at them. A "reputable" award-winning Toyota dealer replaced the coolant in my car with green coolant instead of with 4-time more expensive pink coolant. The same dealer left a filter wrench in the engine bay of another person (imagine if it had gotten caught in one of the belts).

ThePiombino

That pretty much sums it up. The parts might cost a little bit more than non-luxory vehicles but the labor should be about congruent, and it's clearly not...at least not once you get the bill =0/

They have the majority of us by the short and curlies. The best thing any of us can do is learn to do most of this stuff on our own. Pony up for a VAG-Com/VCDS cable up front and do all the oil changes, filter swaps, liquid top-offs, etc. on our own. Will save ourselves THOUSANDS over the lifetime of a vehicle- THOUSANDS that can go to the car itself, a down payment on another car or whatever the hell you want, lol- you get the point.

markcincinnati

No I am not being sarcastic, and I do agree, these cars require little (quantity) routine maintenance; but, even these relatively infrequent intervals end up being very expensive if you follow, chapter and verse (which I do) without the Audi Advantage or BMW's no charge deal.

When my wife got her first BMW, in 1988, we used to say, "time to start saving up for that $100 oil change." The readers and posters here, today, on AW are lamenting what we are only slightly exaggerating that the new normal for these cars is $300 oil changes.

The Audi mntce plan or the BMW baked in plan: don't leave home wiithout them!

takethetest

So when I was deciding where to go for this oil change I called my dealer and a german car place that is a little closer than my dealer. They both told me $79 but the Audi dealer is gonna wash my car so I went with the dealer. I found it amazing that a local german car shop has the same price as the dealer...are they trying not to get my business?! For the same price I'm goin to the dealer, not to mention the free wash...

ThePiombino

DIY for 1/2ish?

matthewsjl

The fact that AudiCare can be had for $700ish for the first 50k puts a real value on the services and demonstrates how little the job(s) can be done for.

I don't think that Audi would be selling the servicing up-front for a loss.

John.