All Pro Imports

Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of All Pro Imports:
THE PROBLEMS: When i bought my 2004 Golf R32, it had a locking problem with the driver's side right door. it would occasionally lock with the remote or with the button inside on the door panel, but that was like on a blue moon. maybe once every 3 months it would work. it would unlock perfectly with the remote and the button inside but wouldnt lock. so all i had to do was lock the driver door by pushing down the lock thing that moves up and down to show if its locked or unlocked or lock it manually with the key from the outside. BIG DEAL! Now, my car has a room mounted antenna on it. it has been there since factory installed it. it is a black rubber antenna with a black plastic base that has a black rubber sealant ring around the base to keep foreign objects from getting in through the antenna. but due to daily driving in florida, the black rubber parts of the antenna and base have sun-dried, cracked, and fallen off. so i have now sealant ring around the base and very little rubber around the actual antenna. i was having to put towels around the antenna to keep moisture and other things from getting in the roof of my car. the third problem is that there was a small rattling going on near the rear right of the car. i looked thoroughly myself and did not notice anything. it wouldnt rattle when i was stopped but when i was driving around and went over a small bump in your average weather beaten road, it would rattle. so i bought an OEM replacement antenna online for $15 and it included a new base and wiring.

THE MEET: i went to All Pro Imports with an appointment. when i got there they were very kind and polite. they took my car in with no trouble at all. i told them that i needed the antenna that i had purchased to be put on the car. they at first didnt understand whether or not i wanted just the antenna or the entire thing, since the antenna i had bought included the base and wiring. i clarified that i wanted everything put on, not just the stem of the antenna. then i told them about the locking problem with the driver door. i told them not to fix anything but just see what the issue was. (because i know that if you buy your own parts then take them in, you dont get killed with part purchases through a dealer and their greed). i also brought up the rattle. i told them not to fix it, just look and see what was causing the rattle. they said ok to all of this and took it in. they said that they would need to keep my car there overnight. so they gave me a ride home FOR FREE!!! i thought that was nice of them.

WHAT THEY SAID: the next day i got a call from All Pro Imports saying that the antenna would have been $500 in labor to put a new antenna on, so they said that they didnt do that, all they did was screw on a new antenna which they charged me $40 for. $40 !!!! thats twist off an old antenna and twist on a new one. they didnt charge me for parts, they charged me for labor. $40 for less than a minute of their time. and it gets worse. as for the locking thing, without my permission, they went ahead and fixed it. (the lock actuator was supposably bad). they charged me $610.13 to do that. then they charged me $100 to just look and see if something was rattling. (KEEP IN MIND I CLEARLY STATED TO THEM THAT I DID NOT WANT THEM TO FIX THE LOCKING PROBLEM NOR THE RATTLING, JUST THE ANTENNA) well guess what, they DID NOT fix what i asked and DID fix what i told them not to fix. they said they cant take them off cause they will charge me labor to remove them. so i was stuck in a ^#*& hole.

WARNING: if you need your VW or BMW fixed, try to stay away from All Pro Imports. to me, they are all just snake oil salesmen looking for every damned opportunity to make a buck. and they're good at it too. its like Hotel California, you can check in, but you can never check out. well same here. you can get yourself in, but you cant leave without emptying your entire bank account.

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Reason for Visit: Service

I recommend this dealer: No

My Review of All Pro Imports:
On Saturday, May 6, 2006 I took my Passat to the closest VW dealership in Gainesville, FL, All Pro Imports. My mileage was at 99,938 and my extended warranty expired at 100,000 miles (and at six years on May 29, 2006). I requested that they perform the 100,000-mile service and to thoroughly check the car for any repairs that may be required since it would soon be out-of-warranty. Four hours later when the shop was closing, I picked up my car. Upon checkout, the service rep stated that they did not find any problems, but that the service technician and Volkswagen recommend changing the timing belt, tensioner, and water pump at 105,000 miles. I thanked him and went home not realizing the importance of his comment.

Three weeks later on June 2, 2006 at 102,088 miles (and 3 days past the six-year point), my tensioner broke which caused my timing belt to slip and strip the teeth intermittently off the belt. Since I was not aware that my timing belt was slipping (except for an increase in noise when I accelerated), the valves were bent during the event. I had my car towed the following morning to a local VW service shop in Gainesville, Hugo and Sons, and they notified me that my timing belt was broken and that machining of the cylinder block was necessary since the valves were bent. The repair to my engine, including a water pump and faulty plastic hose, cost $2,342. In addition, I had to rent a car for one week for the duration of the repair ($225) and tow the car to the service shop ($28). I did not tow the car to All Pro Imports since they could not guarantee that they could look at my car due to their backlog of work.

Imagine my surprise when I looked on the Internet and found that it is extremely common for timing belts and tensioners to fail prematurely on B5 Passats!! And, at how surprised I was to find out the similar Audi model had a successful class-action lawsuit pertaining to their timing belt!! I was thoroughly disgusted at both All Pro Imports and Volkswagen for allowing this timing belt failure and subsequent damage and expense to occur! All it would have taken to prevent this failure would have been for the All Pro service technician to state that timing belts fail prematurely and that I should fix it now! If this notification had occurred, I would have left my car at the dealership to be repaired. As this did not occur, however, I had to spend one week without my car and spend a total of $2,600 for the repair, towing, and rental car. I am sure that if my car was repaired at the dealer the total cost would have been double what I paid.

I am a very conscientious Volkswagen owner. I perform the required service at every recommended interval and I have the documentation saved for all my Passat’s service. When I was told I needed to have my timing belt replaced at 105,000 miles, I was planning to bring my car in for the oil change and timing belt service in 5,000 miles per the recommendation.

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