My Review Of AutoNation Volkswagen Park Cities:
We've been coming to this dealership for service on our 2002 Jetta since 2005. My experience has always been customer centered. Over the years, we've found the service advisors helpful above and beyond. In some cases, the advisor was able to fix a minor problem (replacing a bulb or resetting a radio fuse) without making out a service ticket or charging. When major repairs were needed, the service advisors worked with the extended warranty as far as possible. Now that we are out of warranty, we're directly impacted by the price of service.
We had a recent episode, in which a check engine light required replacing our thermostat. Initially, I thought the price was high. I'd called another VW dealer to compare and felt that we'd been charged for 2-3 hours labor beyond what the job called for. When i fussed, the service manager, Bob Stickles, got involved. He carefully reviewed our service records and found that the temperature sending unit had also been replaced. While the TSU was on the invoice, this detail had not been initially discussed. We'd had the temp sending unit replaced 23 months earlier at the dealership, without replacing the thermostat (warranty would only fix what was broken). The price for doing both the thermostat & the TSU together was appropriate; however, Bob offered a $300 store credit! This was more than fair and kept me as a grateful customer. I am still not sure that the TSU was broken, but with the generous store credit, that issue was moot.
Dealer service is generally about 20% higher than generic national franchises; however, price is only one component of value. Their knowing the car, recalls,etc. have over the years proven invaluable. A few years ago, the dealer replaced the catalytic converter, a $1300 service free of charge. The dealer knew that VW had some early failures and had extended their factory warranty on the catalytic converter. I am not sure that a muffler shop would have known that.
Our 120,000 mile, 11 year old car this year wound up costing more to maintain than its $3750 book value. Nevertheless, having Park Cities' crew looking after it will keep it running like new. While our new location is 40 miles away, I still value having much of our routine service performed, simply because their thorough check of the cars systems makes us aware of upcoming repairs if needed.
Over the years, we've had a few major repairs done elsewhere with mixed reviews. There has never been an issue of quality for nearly a decade at Park Cities.
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Response From: AutoNation Volkswagen Park Cities
Added: 3/12/2013 11:21:40 AM
Thank you for trusting AutoNation Volkswagen Park Cities with your Jetta over the past 8 years. Please let Myron Marcyniak, Jorge Field and Robert Stickles know anytime that we can be of further service to you. We appreciate your business and recommendation.