RE: Sparkies

[Marc Gallagher <mgallagher@Langan.com>]

Agreed.  Not sure who ever said not to perform maintenance.  But, in my
experience dealer service department are generally NOT to be trusted.  They
chime in about being "trained experts" on specific cars with "factory
training" yet cannot diagnose a cracked coil pack without a hours labor
charge.  Find a local shop (preferable with a dirty floor, a couple old
timers sitting in the corner offering free advice on life, parts stocked in
every nook, and an owner with a name like Zygmunt, Jocko, or Werner) to do
the work you can't or don't want to.  Just my $0.02 (which is $0.02 more
than the dealer service department will get).

cheers,
marc
97 GLX-z


-----Original Message-----
From: James Bratek [mailto:james_bratek@mac.com]
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 2:55 PM
To: jettaglx@igtc.com
Subject: Re: Sparkies


I'm not defending dealer service department's padded prices, but neglecting
proper service is a lose-lose situation. Your car will be less reliable in
the long run and therefore less valuable on resale, and the next owner
suffers from your neglect, and even the model line's reputation can suffer
(ever wonder why used Porsche 928s and BMW 850s aren't well recommended?
because owners tended to neglect proper service ... so that $9,000 928 is
really a sink hole for money.)

Anyway, I sincerely hope you all who decide to short-cut the dealer service
program will perform the additional service items yourself or via friend or
mechanic.

Ideally, a trusted professional mechanic who is familiar with your model car
is the ideal situation for regular maintenance.


Jim