More stealer woes...

[Neimad]

A few days ago the bonnet release on my car failed (I was trying to refill my screenwash tank at the time), unfortunately leaving my bonnet stuck open and even worse still, whilst I was at work, which is 40 miles from where I live.

I went to the local VW dealer and to cut a very long story short they wanted to charge me over £150 to fix it when the parts themselves cost less than £35!  In the end I bought the parts and a couple of friends and I (all of us are computer programmers for what it's worth) fixed it ourselves in the same amount of time that the VW dealer said it would take them... which given that they have a step-by-step guide and none of us had ever taken that part of a Golf apart before is somewhat ridiculous.

If only I could find a decent garage that I could trust with my car...

[stealthwolf]

Stealers vary widely in their customer service.

If a car is in warranty, then get it done under warranty. But if, like here, the fault appears when the car is out of warranty, it's better to use an independent. Finding a good one is immensely difficult.

[AlanD]

I found my local indy via recommendation from a forum. Been using him for 2 years now and he also has a MK5 GTI :)

Where are you based?

[blackmagic]

My car is out of VW warranty but I always use a specialist / independent if I can. If you live anywhere near Milton Keynes / Bedford way then I can thoroughly recommend Vagtech / TT Shop. I flick between the two depending on who's open at the time, price etc. Both offer very good personal advice and info regarding either standard servicing or mods.