[Biturbos4] HELP! 2000 S4 Timing Belt Slipped

[Sherowsky Family]

Keman,

I don't mean to flame or trash all Audi dealer service departments and I
have no personal experience with Audi service departments in Michigan, but
everything you state about independent shops in your area would directly
apply to the Audi dealer service departments I have used in the
Virginia/North Carolina region.  Just going on face value, it would appear
the two dealerships Jeff is dealing with are closer to the ones I have
known.  One gives him an exorbitant quote and the other where he is a
regular customer  tells him they cannot work him in for 3 weeks.  I am
sorry, but neither sounds very promising.

I agree that going to an independent shop can be risky and with other makes
of cars I own or have owned, I usually do use dealer service.  I am
certainly not alone, however, in having had less than reliable work done by
Audi dealers.   You can check into an independent shop (or dealer for that
matter) by posting on forums to find out if anyone has had experience with a
shop, or ask the shop if they have any regular Audi customers for
references.  Around here, I must admit most independent shops will not touch
Audi/VW products.  They consider them too hard to work on and too few around
to make it profitable to learn how to work on them.  For me it is a 6 hour
drive to the independent shop I have found, but less risky than the closer
dealer service departments (although the closest Audi dealer is still a 2
hour drive away).

Ron
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Keman" <keman at interwolf.net>
To: "Sherowsky Family" <SHEROWSKY at NETVA.COM>; "Jeff Bettencourt"
<jeffreybettencourt at yahoo.com>; <biturbos4 at www.audifans.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2004 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Biturbos4] HELP! 2000 S4 Timing Belt Slipped


> I fear independant shops getting their hands into this. They don't want to
> underquote, some are greedy, some won't know what they are getting into,
> some fear getting into it too much, some see this situation as drama they
> don't want, some fear legal liability, and some are just ignorant. It's
> going to take an honest mechanic experienced with audi's to give you a
good
> idea of what's going on with this repair.
>
> - Keman
>