teutonic haggis

The ONLY place to have your Audi cared for is Continental Auto. Southside Edmonton, check the phone book.

Oiler Country

Hi Teutonic thanks for the info. Have you had good luck with them? And how are there prices and honesty?

Cheers

Oil Counrty

teutonic haggis

Only August at Continental Auto, no one else.

Southside of Edmonton, just off Argyll Road on 97 st.

mrcandido

I've had mixed experiences with Autobahn but overall good. They're usually happy to tell you what you definitely need and what you probably don't need. I don't know how accurate they are because even on these forums, you get a lot of conflicting responses anywhere from what's wrong based on specific symptoms to simple things like how to disconnect the battery from the car. I mean it's especially confusing when you get two veterans arguing about how something has to be done and they both sound like they know what they're talking about. lol. One thing's for sure, don't bring it to a chain. I've been paying so much to those crooks in the past I could've owned 2 of my car by now.

teutonic haggis

Beyond reproach, August is completely honest, and his prices are reasonable, less than the dealer for sure, and worth every penny, given the honesty.

Oiler Country

Thanks for the advice mrcandido. Just curious what is a chain?

Also ended up going to Autobahn for some work recently. You described them perfectly. Like to tell you what you need and what you do not need for sure. And it does make me laugh to hear them discuss problems. But they both seem quite honest to me so far. And willing to help out with small things without charging you.

My only complaint is the dreaded shop supplies!!! What gives here why does every Mechanic charge this. But funny thing at Autobahn they told me this in my quote which was a first

I may try August at Continental Auto and compare service and prices for my next work and decide who will be shop. That being said still had a good expericence with Autobahn.


Cheers

Oiler Country

mrcandido

Hey Oiler Country,

A chain, basically any large franchise company like Midas. They usually have no experience dealing with speciality cars like BMWs, Audis and Benzes and will likely gauge you on labour and parts. I brought my car there a handful of times because they're really close by and it was convenient but each time, they give it to you in the butt by way of outrageous labour and cost of parts. One ploy is that their labour rates appear cheaper than most, but they bill you for like way more hours than say Autobahn or Continental.

The first time I ever had an issue with my car, it was the Alternator and they charged me like $900 for the alternator and they kept saying stuff to me to make me feel worried and uncomfortable. Infact, when I first drove my car in, the guy was like "You're the guy with the $5000 alternator, right?" And I was like "WHAT?!?!" and he was like "YUP, it's an Audi! You wanted to drive one, expect to pay a premium for parts!" They consistently made me feel bad for driving that car throughout the process. I found some Alternators online for around $100-$150 and they kept telling me that "We can't guarantee it'll work. It probably won't. Blah blah." so I folded and bought their stinking alternator. Then with my car ripped apart, they ordered the wrong part and told me it would cost me even more and the alternator I needed was $1100.

Then they said I might as well get the timing belt replaced while it was ripped apart and charged me $1200 for that ordeal and in total, I paid around $3000 for that repair. My second experience with them, I needed transmission cooling lines which they said would cost me $900 and that it was $400 for one and $350 for the other and that the labour wasn't that intensive. It was just the parts, so I went and found some online for around $180 including shipping. I let them install it and guess what! They charged me $400 for labour after all was said and done! I thought labour was only going to be 150??

Hmmm, sounds fishy to me. By far, the last and final transaction I had with them was the worst. My car was making squeaky noises (Which I had complained to them in the past and said that when I turn, my car shook and vibrated and felt like it was going to flip over), they told me it was fine and they saw no problems in my shocks, struts or springs. Well guess what! The springs had snapped in the rear! So they said they had to replace the struts and springs in the back and the just the struts in the front. Total cost?? $2800!!! Thanks for detecting it the first time and preventing me all this grief, you jerks. The real kicker was after I paid my horrendous bill and went to start my car, the check engine light came on. According to them, a cylinder misfired.

I decided not to look into it any further at Midas and brought it into Autobahn who scanned and said it was free of problems. Cost to make sure it doesn't happen again by replacing ignition coils and some spark plugs? Around $280. I can live with THAT. Another positive experience I had with Autobahn was when I had a battery issue and the car wouldn't start in December (remember the -50 cold snap??) Anyway, my battery wasn't able to start my car so we jumped it and the next day, check engine light came on. Brought it into Autobahn, they scanned it, turns out to be an intermittent problem with the oxygen sensor, they said it was not a big deal, cleared it and sent me on my way at no charge!

Don't expect it always to be free, sometimes they will charge you $25 for the scan, but sometimes they don't. It's discretionary. Depends on the day and how much of a cocky rich brat you look like, I guess. LOL. I honestly don't have much money myself, but I truly refuse to believe that you have to have deep pockets to own one of these cars. You just have to be smart about it and I have definitely learned from these experiences. I think you should try Continental as well, my friend has brought his A6 in for August to look at and said he had great experiences there. Best idea is when you have an issue, have it checked out at both and get a quote or estimate and compare the two and take it to the cheapest and probably the most realistic diagnosis. Like I said, it could be totally different.

I think I like Autobahn because of how laid back they are about everything. Nothing is a big deal. Oh, that's just this. This is just that. Not a big deal. They've dealt with so many of these vehicles that they probably know that a lot of people just blow it out of proportion how serious some things are. Even on these forums some people are just insane and just want you to fear the Audi boogeyman. LOL. "Uh oh, you had a what's it in a who's it?? YOUR ENGINE WILL EXPLODE AND THE WHEELS WILL DETACH FROM YOUR CAR!!!" August I hear is also very knowledgable but he's more the paranoid variety of "Uh oh, could be this, could be that. Might cost a little, might cost a lot and I can't even guarantee it'll work! AHHH!!! But don't worry, we'll get through this one step at a time.", he does take care of you. As I said, mixed experiences with both but they seem to be the two that everyone recommends.

Oiler Country

Mrcandido thanks so much for the detailed explanation of what a chain is. I too had a similar experience with my other car Volvo XC 70. I took it to Midas on the west end to do a brake check. I paid for this too. To make a long story short I used there recommendations on what size rotors the car needed. Needless to say they told me the wrong size after I ordered high performance Brembo rotors from States. Any money I thought I might have saved, I lost twice over and what a hassle had to pay other brake shop twice to do same work because had to put car back together and wait for new rotors to come in.

Also had bad luck at Mr. Lube on West End too, with Volvo oily hand prints over plastic around hood. I must say never had this kind of luck at higher end shops.

I guess you get what you pay for sometimes?

Cheers

Oiler Country

mrcandido

Hey OC,

Actually, from what we said, it almost seems like we DON'T get what we pay for because we end up paying more in the end than we would've had we brought it to the so-called "high-end" autoshops. The irony is that Midas charged me more for both parts and labour for my springs and struts. I heard a loud cracking noise yesterday while driving and suddenly started to hear some squeaking noise again (Similar symptoms to when I needed to have my struts and springs done a couple of weeks ago), if my springs or struts have come unbolted or snapped yet again, I'm going to freak! Here's hoping it was just a rock and that my breaks are just on their way out. There's a great DIY on breaks on this site that I might try to do on my own.

Bitskyline

Autobahn for sure. been in and talked to them a few times. just got the APR 91 tune done and asked a bunch of questions about other things on the car and they were very helpful, lots of knowledge.