Hey,

Quick question everyone..have any of you ever taken your Audi to a place besides the delearship? Such as Midas, or Goodyear or one of those places. Recently my dad's Audi has started stalling abit so we took it to Goodyear because it was saturday, and our Audi delearship is about 30 min drive from home, a little too far for us right now. So we dropped it off and they said they would look at it, they also said they're certified enough to deal with all cars so they're just as good as people at the Audi delearship. I don't know if thats true or not..but anywayz anyone ever take their car to anyone else besides the delear? Thanks

anyone who tells you that since they are certified mechanics that means that they are as good as any mechanic at Audi dealership is BS-ing you. I'm not saying that mechnincs at Audi dealerships are Gods and they know what they are doing, but at least they have some/a lot of experinece with Audi cars. And they have the OEM parts.
Also, think about it...older Audis are not the most popular cars in the US, so imagine on how many of them these guys in Good Year have worked on? I would say none to 1-2 per year.
It's one thing to replace oil, filter, spark plugs and tires on any car and it is another thing to diagnose engine/ignition/fuel problem on older Audi and fix it.
An what about the quality of the parts that these guys may put in your car if needed? Don't expect German/OEM parts.

I may seem a little negative about Good Year, but i have a reason. I took my Audi 100 there once, only weeks after i got the car (i didn't know anything about Audi). I needed oil change and front alignement. Nothing else - two simple procedures.
Well, it took them a whole day to do the job, they charged me $130 and see the consequences - oil pan was leaking(i don't know why but it didn't when i gave them the car) and my car was pulling to the other side. I had to take the car back so they could redo the allignemet and the oil leak...well, they refused to take responsibility.
I don't know what else to tell you but that was enough for me to understand that i would never ever again take my Audi to a shop other than independent Audi mechanic(or German car expert) or dealer.

For the last 4 years, i've been using the services of a very good and reasonably priced independent Audi shop. Never had a problem with the people there and their work is excellent 99% of the time. I've never been to the dealer for repairs simply because they don't seem to be friendly enough and they charge a LOT for labor and parts.

My advice to you - try, try really hard to find a good German car, preferably Audi, expert in your area and use his services ONLY. Dealer should be your second option.
All other shops - if cannot be avoided, use them for minor repairs if needed ONLY and do not trust them too much if they want to replace a bunch of parts all together.

My 2 cents.

I think i trust these guys if you remember I had that car dieing problem and you said to check the spark plugs. Well before I took it to the Audi delear or even posted I took it to the goodyear place and they said it was bad spark blugs like you said. So I don't know..I have some confidence in these guys for minor stuff, but major stuff I'll take it to an independant or Audi delearship.

I just tend not to trust "no-name" big chain mechanics. But there are always exceptions!

. . . except that I would hesitate to have a Goodyear / Midas even change the oil.

Audis are unique & should only be worked on by those who know their idiosyncrasies . . .

And when you find a good mechanic or shop, stay with him or them!