VW Warranty work

[Aparoon]

Taking the car to vw in the morning to have the cambelt sorted, is there any reason they would have to drive it? I am really ott and dont want anyone driving it for fun  

Anyone else like this and what do you say when you leave your car with them?

Cheers  

[edd666999]

im a little ott, i get a daily paper and take a picture with the date and the mileage. i reset the mpg on the trip just before dropping it off then drive carefully and note the avg mpg, and the time that it took to achive the miles from mine to the garage hahah, with all that data i can work out of its been taken care of.

But with vw they always have gti's in so they see it as another car.

My mate who used to work for merc, was servicing a TVR and took it out and got flashed doing 145mph bout 30miles from the garage in it. the owner was non too pleased 

[RedRobin]

....

You'll find that a good and responsible VW dealer won't take your car out for a drive after a workshop session unless it's needed to check as all safe etc before handing back to you. So it depends on the nature of the work done.

You can't expect any dealer to hand back your keys without first being satisfied that all is well. It may even be a legal 'duty of care' and certainly a legally binding responsibility.

I'm glad to say I'm not like you in this respect because I don't want the worry. If you don't feel you can trust your dealer then it would be advisable to find one you can.

I'd be more worried if someone who has been working on my car didn't rag it a bit so as to test and make sure all is well. These cars don't break so easily. All I say is let her warm up a bit first.

If the car gets clocked speeding the ticket goes to the person who was driving at the time.

[animal]

I've also heard of an RS4 owner who used his Tracker to proove the oiks at Audi had used it for their 60 mile McDonalds run as well, complete with GPS verified speed!

Make a note of the mileage and the fuel. Little else you can do, other than service it yourself or by someone you know and trust. We entrust our cars to the dealerships and there is an element of blind faith involved with that. It shouldn't have to but there will always be a minority that exploit their postion. Did someone mention Politians?

If you have a Revo plug in thing (I forget the name) I believe you can set B,T and F to zero to kill the performance? Bluefin also has a valet mode, or used to, which pretty much kills the turbo. Extreme measures though, I'm sure it'll be fine.

[Aparoon]

Its having the cambelt done, i dont mind them being thorough and even test driving if necessary but dont want some clown ragging my car, im going to write the mileage on the service sheet and also no permission to drive... ill meet and go with if they have to  

[TomB]

I work at a dealer and I can completely understand why cars need to be test driven.

At every dealer I've worked at, the techs work 8-5.  Most of the cars are collected between 5 and 6.  If the owner drives out and finds there's a fault, there's no techs to help, so they have to ensure the car is driveable before they hand it back.  If they didn't road test a car, they wouldn't know if it was a tooth out on the cam timing or if they left a headlight connector off, for example.

As RedRobin said, they also have a legal "duty of care" to ensure your car is safe.  All manufacturers make their dealers perform a 50 point check before working on your car, the last thing they want is to injure an employee or customer with a dangerous car.

Shame VW didn't test a Civic Type R when developing the Golf, those things are rev limited to 4 or 5k until the oil's warm!

[TomB]

If you have a Revo plug in thing (I forget the name) I believe you can set B,T and F to zero to kill the performance? Bluefin also has a valet mode, or used to, which pretty much kills the turbo. Extreme measures though, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Only do this if you're out of warranty, the tech will plug it in and find your remapped if they find it has no boost!  There's an 07 GTI competitor (I won't name it) at work with a blown engine and no warranty as we found his map.  He made it obvious by having the tuner sticker in the window but the manufacturer diagnostic system realised the values were out very quickly.

[Poverty]

Ye I heard VAG headoffices interrogate the ecu now to see if the car is mapped or not. The stealers might not know its mapped, but the head office sure will.

Gonna have to go ba ck to the old school, and get the map taken off completly by your tuner instead of just turning it off.

[RedRobin]

....

I actually asked my VW dealer (Loders Dorchester) what his attitude would be if I remapped before I did so - I was still under warranty at the time. He asked me which tuner and when I said Revo he said no problem. They usually tell me if the ECU is going to be updated and I then switch my Revo Stage2 to what Revo call "Stock". All above board and no problems.

Subsequently I introduced the VW mechanic who PID'd my car to Revo and he recently left the dealer (amicably) and is now an approved Revo agent. He's a genuine Dubber with a Mk1 he's fitting a 1.8 turbo engine in. I always trusted him to drive my car and still do.

The bottom line is Trust and it's so important in all aspects of life. < now I do sound like your dad!

[RedRobin]

Ye I heard VAG headoffices interrogate the ecu now to see if the car is mapped or not. The stealers might not know its mapped, but the head office sure will.

Gonna have to go ba ck to the old school, and get the map taken off completly by your tuner instead of just turning it off.

....But why the secrecy? Why hide it?

[QD MBE]

The bottom line is Trust and it's so important in all aspects of life. < now I do sound like your dad!

i agree, however in this day and age, that is a hard thing to do.  We have all seen poor service by some of the best garages, however they usually pay peanuts etc etc.

I have a friend whose left their 2 month old Top of the range Mitsu Shogun, best part of 35k worth with their dealer for a warranty claim.  They went shopping and just happened to see it parked in the store car park.  The mechanic was getting tea bags........

Bottom line in my eyes, is that you worked hard to get your pride and joy, safeguard it.

[NB07]

agreed robin but when i took mine in recently for the oil change i didnt feel necessary to tell them it was mapped, they didnt ask, i just reverted it to stock. if they cared whether it was modified it wouldnt bother me ive got a VWR filter in there and its on H&R springs so ive not gone mad but they must think its modified when they see them day in day out. i felt comfortable in the fact that they were doing a good job, i had other stuff done aswell cant remember now but it was near to £300 so why would i hand over that sort of money if i dont trust them ? i happened to be stood out side looking on the forecourt when a young lad about 18 or 19 cruised past in my car i nodded and gave a friendly wave knowing he wont damage my car and every one was happy. no point being paranoid with a good dealer, theyre insured up to the eyeballs anyway  

[TomB]

When I had my Ibizas, the dealers knew and weren't bothered, in fact Listers group of dealers sell Revo and Wayside group sell their own maps.  They shouldn't care either way as they're getting paid for warranty work.  The problem with the maps lies with the manufacturer.  These new diagnostic systems do a file by file scan to see if there are any changes in value, if the values are off boost, timing etc, they'll fire the warranty void message back.

These days I can only afford cars over 3 years old and my VW specialist has VCDS.  That said, I haven't even got a remap yet so I have nothing to worry about.  I just think turning on valet mode or turning your SPS down to 0 will be admission that you're mapped.

[NB07]

agreed tom that would be a bad idea they would test drive it to check everythings ok then realise something is seriously wrong. only time i use valet is if my GF needs to borrow the car! i tell her park as far away from curbs as possible and watch out for trees and parked cars, bless her she doesnt even realise when i change the settings! she doesnt want to go fast and i dont see why a mechanic at VW would either when they drive them all the time. its about trust. i trust my dealer, just not my girlfriend!!  


edit - i need to read a dictionary my spelling is atrocious 

[RedRobin]

The bottom line is Trust and it's so important in all aspects of life. < now I do sound like your dad!

i agree, however in this day and age, that is a hard thing to do.  We have all seen poor service by some of the best garages, however they usually pay peanuts etc etc.

I have a friend whose left their 2 month old Top of the range Mitsu Shogun, best part of 35k worth with their dealer for a warranty claim.  They went shopping and just happened to see it parked in the store car park.  The mechanic was getting tea bags........

Bottom line in my eyes, is that you worked hard to get your pride and joy, safeguard it.

....It can be a hard thing to trust. I always start off trusting until I see reason not to. I also follow my gut feeling.

I've worked quite a bit with horses and learnt that, like most animals, they rely on and react to how you are with them. By being willing to trust and even put yourself at their mercy without fear, they sense how you are and even the difficult ones will accept you (though it can take patience and time). If however, you approach them with fear or mistrust, you had better watch out! What I'm burbling on about is that mistrust breeds mistrust among people as well and it can become a vicious circle.