Non Prius VW Dealer Maintenance Rip Off!

[SparrowHawk60]

Non Prius VW Dealer Maintenance Rip Off!

I took my VW Eurovan in for some servicing the other day. Oil Change, (real pain to do myself) and a 50,000 check over. I asked for the transmission fluid to be changed as well. Service person said she would get me an estimate for the fluid change.(?) So I sat and waited for my Van.
I could not believe my ears when the service person came back with the estimate! $445.00 plus tax! Holy kick in the hind quarters! I was expecting a $100 or maybe close to $150! Why so much? I didn't get a good answer, so I passed on having VW do the work.
Here's some other items they quoted me on:
Serpentine Belt replacement: $205 + tax!
Belt Price $100.25
Fuel Filter replacement: $75 + tax!
Filter Price $25
Brake Fluid Flush: $119.95 + tax!
$110 for the Tranny Fluid.
$127.13 for the Tranny Filter stuff.
Now I've been out of the loop on doing most of the servicing on my cars, they've been taken to the dealerships. But I'm not that feeble that I can't do most of this work myself. Figured I'd save myself the $100 an hour VW gets for labor and buy what I need on line.
Here's how my parts I'm buying break down:
Transmission filter kit with all gaskets: $29.50
Serpentine Belt: $31.88
Synthetic Transmission Fluid 5 lt's $69.85
Fuel Filter $12.95
$144.18 total
That's a savings with all the work done by myself of $774.75!
I'm even going to add a European Transmission Dip Stick Kit as the US version doesn't have one nor any easy way to check the fluid level. All other types of VW's have a sealed unit.
A $152 kit that knocks my savings down to $622.70.

Needless to say I'm quite unhappy with VW, and if I didn't need a Van to haul my dogs around, it be traded in for another Pruis!

[nosliw]

that's how dealerships are.

you either do the work yourself or bend over. hard to find an honest independent shop anymore.