Problem with your VW or Audi? Repairs? Or you just need some service? Read these simple three tips to help us better us understand why you are bringing your car to us. Remember, we are here to serve you and your happiness is equal to our happiness. Being clear in your communication and expectations on work will help avoid any unpleasant misunderstandings as well as wasted time on both our parts. Thanks for helping to improve our service!
1. Define the Problem CLEARLY
If Volkswagen or Audi stalls, don't just say "it isn't running right." Tell the mechanic it stalls. If there is a vibration coming through the steering wheel, but you only feel it at highway speeds, do not neglect to tell him that critical fact. Otherwise, we may drive it around the block a few times and, finding no vibration, wonder why you brought the car in. He's a mechanic, not a medicine man. Don't leave him to guess and assume!
2. Give Your Mechanic EVERY Detail and Circumstance
Under what conditions does your VW or Audi tend to stall? In the morning when it's cold? Or only when you're stuck idling in traffic? Does the overheating problem happen on the highway - or only when you're in the bump and grind? If the problem only seemed to start just after that really big rain storm, tell him that, too.
If one of those little "check engine" lights has an aggravating habit of randomly coming on, try and keep a record of exactly when it comes on and for how long, etc. This will help the mechanic isolate the trouble when you bring the car in - and the less time he has to spend scratching his head, rooting around under the hood, the less money you'll have to pay in labor fees.
3. Communicate YOUR Expectations on Work to be Done
If all you want is a basic tune-up/tire rotation/transmission flush, etc. for your VW or Audi, be sure it's understood that before any additional work is done you expect to be consulted. Frequently, a secondary problem or service issue is discovered in the course of dealing with the problem you brought the car in for. Most shops will go no further without receiving specific authorization from you, but it's in your interests to make it clear from the get-go that you want to be asked about it before anything beyond the work you originally okayed is done. If you want to see or have the old/broken parts, make sure you make that clear as well right at the beginning.