RE: Sparkies

["Simpson, Chuck" <chuck.simpson@zeltech.com>]

Who here is neglecting proper service or "short-cutting" it?

Most of us are trying to establish a close relationship with our cars by
becoming Do-It-Yourselfers, rather than give all of our hard earn cash to
the stealership for high labor fees and rediculously marked-up prices for
parts.

I absolutely recommend most of you guys/girls purchase a Bentley manual and
try to do some of the work yourself.  You would be surprised how easy it is
to do most of the service work found on the maintenance schedule.

Since we are talking about spark plugs... why does that require the
expertise of a skilled mechanic or dealership technician?  It takes just a
couple of minutes per plug.  My local dealership charges $18 per spark plug,
which doesn't include labor.  :thumbdown:


-Chuck



-----Original Message-----
From: James Bratek
To: jettaglx@igtc.com
Sent: 4/12/02 2:55 PM
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