I did two things that I almost never do this morning. Had my oil changed at a dealer, and I waited for it.
I had two separate service advisers tell me that I did not need an oil change. However my owners manual and screen on my car tell me that its every 1 year or 10,000 miles. The dealer got the car in January, I bought it in early August so my guess is that it has been a year since the first oil was added. On top of that the car popped up with a message saying that it was due for an oil change so....
Finally I change the oil in every piece of equipment that requires it after the break in period is over.
So $80 and 40/minutes later I got my car back.
My dealer service experience gauge is a 5 point scale where 1 (the lowest score) is Subaru and 5 is Audi. I’ll put this particular VW dealer at a 4. They were quick and efficient. They had decent coffee and a nice enough waiting area. There was some fiddling around with paperwork and payment, but it went mostly smooth.
They only reason they can’t get a 5 is because Audi dealers are amazing. You’re in and out with a cup of coffee and your loaner in 2 minutes.
Hoping to satisfy my internal struggle, I asked the tech about what he thought of the wheel spacers and if he thought the tires were wearing unevenly. He said the tires look fine and that lots of cars that come in are running spacers. He said that the only time he minds them are when they fuse to the hub usually on poorly maintained older cars. Then I told him I only installed them to see what I would need to get out of an aftermarket set to get flush with the arches. He said “oh yea definitely a proper set of wheels over the spacers.”
It’s like spacers are these things that no one really trusts, but no one can really say why. Just about everyone I have ever talked to about spacers (tech, enthusiast, or other) says the same sort of things about them “I don’t like using them, but there is nothing wrong with them...Which is exactly how I feel. I was almost hoping he would be like, “hey yea that looks good, but you should take those off.”
Anyway
Dealers that Tripper has visited ranked:
1. Audi
2. Porsche
3. VW
4. Ford
5. Any trash used car lot
6. BMW
7. Subaru