!st Service Costs

[Daz]

So save the cost of the dealer oil - supply your own.

I got 12L of Castrol from Opie Oil at a vastly cheaper price than the dealer. http://www.opieoils.co.uk/performance_l ... strol.aspx

And if you quote RS246.com you should get an additional discount as an affiliated member.

[RS4-RAG]

Checked a few dealers in the North and they seem to be charging around £350 - £390 for the 1st Service - replacing oil and filter - the rest they say is for checking the whole car out.

The brakes I am told are 95% gone, the light comes on around 98% - the discs had marks on so they decided they should be replaced under warranty.
Got the car at 6.5k so not sure if it had any previous track days, mainly drive it on short runs so I was told this will be a factor for them going so quickly. In the brochures it talks about how they hardly fade!

[BlingBling]

mainly drive it on short runs so I was told this will be a factor for them going so quickly.

B0ll0cks. Stealers will tell you anything to justify prising money out of your pocket. You just have to assume that the wear oocurred before you bought the car. However, you should not be paying for labour if they are replacing the discs under warranty.

[alex_123_fra]

£350-400 is a ludicrous price for essentially an oil service. I echo the above comments about oilman at opie oils. First class service and much cheaper prices than stealers. I always get my oil from him and prefer to be watching the mechanic putting it in!

£355 for front pads sounds like a similar p.i.s.s-take. The pad warning sensors do not tend to come on until the pads are almost to the backing plate. If the light comes on, that generally means you need new sensors too (at least it does on BMW cars I've had with brake pad sensors) so it is a good idea to get pads checked and replaced prior to the sensor light coming on.

Sykotoy I'm not sure what after-market pads are available for the RS4 calipers although there must be some uprated ones. They may potentially be harsher on the discs depending on the compound. I'm sure they will also be cheaper than standard audi ones!

[Adam]

This is a standard main dealer scam for various marques - "yes sir we checked the brakes and the discs and pads need replacing, don;t want to take a chance with brakes, think of the children etc"

If it was my own money, I would get a second opinion and if they really did need doing, get them done at a local indie - £355 for pads is a rip

Are Audi not on fixed service pricing for their cars or does it vary regionally?

As it is I hope I got told I need an annual disc/pad replacement (BS or not) as I am on Audi FCM costing me a whole £18pcm, that's £216 a year so less than the average service - that includes all consumables (clutch/discs/pads/oil) AND tyres!!!

I will be sure NOT to mention I am on FCM if they do not ask when I drop the car off. I presume however the the dealer claims costs back from Audi UK who receive the FCM payments so perhaps the dealer will take the same fleece-the-customer approach as if I was paying with cash?

[rs4-sson]

Sykotoy I'm not sure what after-market pads are available for the RS4 calipers although there must be some uprated ones. They may potentially be harsher on the discs depending on the compound. I'm sure they will also be cheaper than standard audi ones!

EBC do Red Stuff (street racing) pads for the B7 RS4 & RS6 (same pad IIRC). They are of course cheaper than OEM pads.

[Mikeyboy]

German Marques are particularly bad for the discs and pads scam. I guess its because so little else needs doing over the life of the car.
I really can't see how driving it over short distances affects the brake wear more than long distances unless he means Motorway driving by that?
Short driving in town will obviously wear them down but it really is the hard stopping and only hard stopping that will wear them down that quick.

[RS4-RAG]

Picked the car up this afternoon - and was it a relief after dring an A6 Avant. Saw the pads and they were almost reaching the warning light triger.

Used 10 litres of oil and replaced the filter along with doing the Software Update which is FOC.

Was about to get stinged with the cost per litre for oil until I told them its cheaper to buy from their parts counter! so made a £40 saving there. Got the labour costs down and the Service came in at £308 Inc Vat

Got the labour down on the pads and total bill was £275 rather than £355.

So made some saving if not loads!!

And I love it when they put the Cash wash and Vac down - FOC and don't do anything!!

Now need to sort some tyres out.