I received a coupon book for my local VW dealer and one of the items is a free battery install. VW has competitive pricing on batteries so why not. I called the dealer to make sure the correct battery was in stock and to schedule an appointment for this afternoon. Here are the prices and how involved the procedure was (VCDS coding, battery serial number, etc).
This turned out to be an interesting afternoon and went as I thought it would.
I present myself and the VW coupon brochure at the service writers station at the appointment time. The service writer gives the coupon brochure a strange look as he reads the one about the free battery installation. He looks at the cover to make sure it's the correct dealership listed, it is. First he has heard of this. He tears the coupon out and staples it to the work order. No problem, I'm good to go. I mention that I'd prefer if they used a data saver so my settings will be saved. He nods his head in agreement. We'll see where this goes.
I go over to the parts dept and talk to the parts manager who I've known for years and is a good friend. Back when I used to own my B4s I used to print off ETKA with my parts highlighted and my VIN written on the paper. This would take a 15 minute part look up down to at most 5 minutes. They loved me for this. The parts manager back then told me if everyone did this, he estimated they could sell 20% more parts per day. He entered me into their customer database for the wholesale price, automatic 20% discount. This is a H6/Group 48 size battery. Dealer list is $147, my price with discount? $117.60! As an aside, my wife's 2.5L Passat came with a smaller H5/Group 47 size battery.
Here is the old battery, different part number than the new one and says it's made by Enertec.
New battery part number #000-915-105-DG-DSP. No Enertec logo but it's the same manufacturer and same ratings as the old battery.
I go wait in the lounge and surf the internet and play Freecell. Eventually my car is ready and I pay my bill. I get into my car and I notice the trip odometer is at 0. My clock is reset but is a few minutes off. I reset my clock every time I notice it's off so it's always within a minute of being correct. The tech just disconnected the old battery and dropped in the new one. This is pretty much what I expected.
Bottom line, I got a good battery at a great price. I can live with a lead-acid battery for $117.60 and a free installation. At Autozone, its H6 Duralast Gold lead-acid battery is $178, $160 with a core. The H6 Duralast AGM is $218, $200 with a core.
Drive more and worry less.
This turned out to be an interesting afternoon and went as I thought it would.
I present myself and the VW coupon brochure at the service writers station at the appointment time. The service writer gives the coupon brochure a strange look as he reads the one about the free battery installation. He looks at the cover to make sure it's the correct dealership listed, it is. First he has heard of this. He tears the coupon out and staples it to the work order. No problem, I'm good to go. I mention that I'd prefer if they used a data saver so my settings will be saved. He nods his head in agreement. We'll see where this goes.
I go over to the parts dept and talk to the parts manager who I've known for years and is a good friend. Back when I used to own my B4s I used to print off ETKA with my parts highlighted and my VIN written on the paper. This would take a 15 minute part look up down to at most 5 minutes. They loved me for this. The parts manager back then told me if everyone did this, he estimated they could sell 20% more parts per day. He entered me into their customer database for the wholesale price, automatic 20% discount. This is a H6/Group 48 size battery. Dealer list is $147, my price with discount? $117.60! As an aside, my wife's 2.5L Passat came with a smaller H5/Group 47 size battery.
Here is the old battery, different part number than the new one and says it's made by Enertec.
New battery part number #000-915-105-DG-DSP. No Enertec logo but it's the same manufacturer and same ratings as the old battery.
I go wait in the lounge and surf the internet and play Freecell. Eventually my car is ready and I pay my bill. I get into my car and I notice the trip odometer is at 0. My clock is reset but is a few minutes off. I reset my clock every time I notice it's off so it's always within a minute of being correct. The tech just disconnected the old battery and dropped in the new one. This is pretty much what I expected.
Bottom line, I got a good battery at a great price. I can live with a lead-acid battery for $117.60 and a free installation. At Autozone, its H6 Duralast Gold lead-acid battery is $178, $160 with a core. The H6 Duralast AGM is $218, $200 with a core.
Drive more and worry less.
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