90 Day Check Up: skip it?

OILPowered · Sep 1, 2011

I just received an e-mail from my dealer telling me I'm due to get the car in for the 90 day complimentary check up.

I don't really see the point, since I check all my own fluids and tire pressure and don't have any issues with the car. The only thing I could see that might be worth the visit is if there is a software upgrade available.

I think I am going to take the car to a local TDI mechanic for maintenance items and skip the dealer all together (except for any warranty issues) so creating a relationship with the dealer really isn't a priority.

I know there are other threads on the subject, but I was wondering how many skipped this visit.

Fordcougar · Sep 1, 2011

LOL I haven't heard a peep from my dealer since the day I handed them money for the car. 90days has come and gone.. Although I did get about $100 in checks from them because the $$ department messed up some calculations.

OILPowered · Sep 1, 2011

Fordcougar said:
LOL I haven't heard a peep from my dealer since the day I handed them money for the car. 90days has come and gone.. Although I did get about $100 in checks from them because the $$ department messed up some calculations.

Yeah, reading the stories with all the $hitty dealer experiences, I have to say my purchase experience was pleasant, and my salesperson has been diligent in following up.

740GLE · Sep 2, 2011

demand they give you an alginment if your steering wheel is off center. After 90 days, 6K they will charge you.

Brianjed_TDi · Sep 2, 2011

My dealership here in savannah does a decent job. I got the 90 day email and I did stop in for it. They were very nice about it. My salesperson called after a couple weeks to make sure I am happy with the car. Send me an email wish me a happy birthday back in august and a free car wash (used it when I was just happen to be in the area).

Like I said, I haven't had an issue with my car so I cannot tell you much on the service side. But the sales side has me sold on buying another VW

CryoTech · Sep 2, 2011

check oil with dipstick. Ok? Great. good to 10k.

dmarsingill · Sep 2, 2011

Really it's just to get you familiar with the service dept. If you have any questions about the use of the car that came up in the 3 mo, they can answer them. Like someone else said, sometimes the allignment may be off, or you can't figure out how to sinc your phone, they will help you.

If you have no worries or ??, skip it. If you want to start a relationship with your service dept., take it in.

Donald

enki · Sep 2, 2011

The dealer told me they do a courtesy check at 6-months/6k miles. I'll be hitting 6-months tomorrow and am almost at 6k miles. The funny thing is, about a week ago I received an email from my dealer saying I was due for my one year/10k mile service. ***?

TDiSkater · Sep 2, 2011

You can check with vw site or email customer care to see if any open items on your vin. Other than checking my oil, tire pressure and adding wiper fluid. It was nothing. If they hadn't installed my skid plate it would have been a total waste ( not for free in case curious )

IMAAaron · Sep 2, 2011

My dealer told me to come back for the checkup and they'd give it a once-over and address any concerns. My concern was my DRL's - They weren't as concerned. I vote skip it.

ZiggyTheHamster · Sep 2, 2011

740GLE said:
demand they give you an alginment if your steering wheel is off center. After 90 days, 6K they will charge you.

^^^ This.

I spent $125 I wasn't expecting because I waited to get this fixed. Apparently a lot of cars ended up with an off-center steering wheel, but nobody thought to say anything until it was too late.

dbwill · Sep 3, 2011

I used it as a way to gauge the service of my local dealer (I bought from a different dealer 2 hours away). After the local dealer turned down my request for straightening the steering wheel "because I did not buy the car there" and telling me that the loose rear bumper cover was "normal" I decided I did not need anyone at that dealer touching my car ever again, and my wife's golf in a couple of years will come from somewhere else.

So I took it as a valuable, cheap exercise in feeling out my local dealer's service department. Happy I do not have to figure this out on an expensive repair.

stump · Sep 4, 2011

740GLE said:
demand they give you an alginment if your steering wheel is off center. After 90 days, 6K they will charge you.

Demanding this is not going to get you a free alignment. The aligments are not covered under warranty at all. If you do happen to get one it will paid for by the dealer....

CryoTech · Sep 4, 2011

dbwill said:
I used it as a way to gauge the service of my local dealer (I bought from a different dealer 2 hours away). After the local dealer turned down my request for straightening the steering wheel "because I did not buy the car there" and telling me that the loose rear bumper cover was "normal" I decided I did not need anyone at that dealer touching my car ever again, and my wife's golf in a couple of years will come from somewhere else.

So I took it as a valuable, cheap exercise in feeling out my local dealer's service department. Happy I do not have to figure this out on an expensive repair.

This sort of "punishment" has always amused me. I will in turn punish the dealer by not doing business with them at all, and recommending others do the same

PlaneCrazy · Sep 4, 2011

Skipped it. Car was running fine, oil level OK, my 5th VW so I know how they "work" as it were, and well, time is life, and who wants to pi$$ away life at a car dealership unless absolutely necessary.

m_skena · Sep 4, 2011

Wow, I had a laundry list of little things I wanted done, so I took it in. They took care of everything, no questions asked. Even the scratch I put in the drivers door. I guess if I hadn't had any cosmetic issues I may have skipped it, though.

Seacoaster · Sep 4, 2011

740GLE said:
demand they give you an alginment if your steering wheel is off center. After 90 days, 6K they will charge you.

I bought at Miller in West Lebanon, my 90day and 10k service coincide, I had them fix the steering wheel which resulted in an alignment, they no charged me. The funny thing was the service manager made a big deal of how they took care of it but only this once and how they did me a favor..... I chuckled and said if the did a thorough PDI, then they would have caught it, and that I actually did them a favor buy not making a stink of it on my dealer survey, lol..

donz26 · Sep 4, 2011

My dealer scheduled my courtesy check for 60 days. I went just to check out the service dept., although the car has been fine. I usually do my own oil changes, and have read about VW's spotty service, so I was contemplating doing them myself. But they seem to be on the ball, so I'll give them a chance.

HotRodYogi · Sep 4, 2011

dbwill said:
I used it as a way to gauge the service of my local dealer... So I took it as a valuable, cheap exercise in feeling out my local dealer's service department.

This is what I used the "free" 90-day inspection for. What did I get out of it? Lower tire pressure and some oil off the dipstick smeared on my engine cover.

Time to find another dealer. Or do the maintenance myself.

ZiggyTheHamster · Sep 6, 2011

stump said:
Demanding this is not going to get you a free alignment. The aligments are not covered under warranty at all. If you do happen to get one it will paid for by the dealer....

They're covered for 6000mi/90 days.

stump · Sep 6, 2011

ZiggyTheHamster said:
They're covered for 6000mi/90 days.

I don't want to turn this into an arguement but they are NOT covered under warranty. This does not mean that it wasn't done for you for free but I promise you that it was not paid for through a warranty claim.

ZiggyTheHamster · Sep 6, 2011

stump said:
I don't want to turn this into an arguement but they are NOT covered under warranty. This does not mean that it wasn't done for you for free but I promise you that it was not paid for through a warranty claim.

Mine wasn't covered (7000mi vs. 6000mi) and when I called Customer Care, they told me the warranty only covered 6000mi/90 days for alignment, tires, wipers, etc.

If you're saying that this type of warranty doesn't exist, that's fine, but Customer Care and the dealer both made it seem like it did. Though the dealer is kind of incompetent.

stump · Sep 7, 2011

ZiggyTheHamster said:
Mine wasn't covered (7000mi vs. 6000mi) and when I called Customer Care, they told me the warranty only covered 6000mi/90 days for alignment, tires, wipers, etc.

If you're saying that this type of warranty doesn't exist, that's fine, but Customer Care and the dealer both made it seem like it did. Though the dealer is kind of incompetent.

From 2007-2011 the wipers are covered for the first 6 months/6,000 miles. The tires are covered by the manufactuer of the tire and have to be handled still through the dealer and are done on a case to case situation. Very rarely do we see any of those. As for the alignment they are not at all covered even if it has 20 miles on it. The dealership would have to cover the repair as they should have caught it on the pdi. VW thinking is that if the car left correct and the customer hit a pothole then it would not be covered..

veedubfreak · Sep 8, 2011

ZiggyTheHamster said:
Mine wasn't covered (7000mi vs. 6000mi) and when I called Customer Care, they told me the warranty only covered 6000mi/90 days for alignment, tires, wipers, etc.

If you're saying that this type of warranty doesn't exist, that's fine, but Customer Care and the dealer both made it seem like it did. Though the dealer is kind of incompetent.

Wait, so tires are covered for the first 90 days? I got a damn nail in one of my tires yesterday and Discount said it was too far into the sidewall to repair. Will the dealer replace it? (I'm guessing no).

Ninjawagon · Sep 8, 2011

I might have missed some one saying this but a 90 day service is at fallow's
check tire pressure, check oil level, check coolant level, top off washer fluid

Volkswagen recommend it mainly to answer some of you questions that the salesmen might have not answered when delivering the car or if something not working right like they use this to bring you in the door so you can be like my blue tooth does not work or something is broke really you don't need to come in your dealer should want you to come in because they get payed from vw for them to do that check up for you

stump · Sep 8, 2011

veedubfreak said:
Wait, so tires are covered for the first 90 days? I got a damn nail in one of my tires yesterday and Discount said it was too far into the sidewall to repair. Will the dealer replace it? (I'm guessing no).

The tires are covered for defects..not objects in the tire..

ZiggyTheHamster · Sep 8, 2011

stump said:
The tires are covered for defects..not objects in the tire..

Right. So if your tire suddenly developed cracks in the sidewall after 90 days and there's no indication of abuse, they'd replace it free of charge. At least that's what I was told.

You're right about the PDI - which makes me a bit angry that I didn't bring that up when they fixed it. I even mentioned in the test drive that the wheel is off slightly

.

No matter. That was 70,000 miles ago

sway162 · Sep 8, 2011

I also have the steering wheel being slightly off issue. Weird that I didn't noticed this during the test drive.....but then realized it the following day! lol

Anyways, I brought it up in the survey and right away got calls from the dealership and that they will fix it when I bring it in for the 60 day check up. So....I am definitely not skipping it.

90 Day Check Up: skip it?

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