Alignment: Quoted $195 but charged $289 and told "That's cheap, I've billed $489"

[ndabunka]

I had my annual service about a month ago at which point Audi dealership #1 (closest to me about 5 miles) pointed out that the tires would need to be replaced before too long. They were not, at that time, "worn out" but were getting close (fronts were 5/32nds, rears were 3/32nds). The dealership emailed me a quote of $1,500 for OE tires and $195 for an alignment. I declined that recommendation at the time and decided to pick up some new Michelins about 2 weeks ago. Dealership #1 was not able to get me in until after labor day (about 3 weeks at the time if attempted booking) and that was for WAITING in the dealership. Not even needing a loaner car or anything. So, I called the other Audi dealership (#2) which is about 30 minutes away but still in this city. They stated that "someone had just cancelled and they could get me in about 2 weeks which was TODAY @ 8am (also a wait) so I took that slot.

Here is the concern. They charged me $289 for a basic alignment stating that "it is thei rack rate for an alignment with lane assist" Went through the normal "it takes our tech THREE HOURS to perform the alignment but we eat part of that cost off our normal hourly rack rate so your getting a deal! Heck, I charged a guy $489 for an alignment so yours is cheap in comparison".

QUESTION: If my car required a "special" costs to service, should Dealer #1 have quoted that price as their quote CLEARLY had my VIN # on it and they did see it in person when they provided me the quote after they had done the oil change and such as part of the CPO so they would have KNOWN for a fact that this vehicle has lane & driver assist.

Has anyone else had a similar switch and bait?

PS - I know it's not technically a bait and switch as I DID have to use a different Audi dealership for the service rather than the one that had originally quoted the work.

PPS - They did honor a 10% your next service discount that the SA at dealership mentioned "the only discounts we give are if you received an offer in the mail or email" so I actually paid $260+taxes so $271 for my "alignment with lane assist".

PPPS - It just so happened that the $195 quote also had a 10% off coupon on the bottom of that quote so he honored the 10% off but not $195 as it was "only if you bought tires at the same time" which isn't true as it was a separate line item and I confirmed that the price would be the same regardless if I had bought the tires from them or not when I spoke with dealership #1 about the alignment

[jcoleman_11]

I fail to see how an alignment (a manual adjustment of tie rods and control arms) has anything to do with lane assist (literally just sensors). Sounds like a bunch of BS to me unless I’m missing something here.


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[dmroberson]

I paid for lifetime alignment at Firestone... $180 and I never have to pay again. They can align my car just fine and I have lane assist and all of that.

I generally only deal with the dealership for warranty work only and have found a shop that specializes in Euro cars.

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[ericw.]

They didn't need to align your lane assistance sensors but they did anyway and charged you for it.

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[gk1]

It's sad, but it happens I guess.
I've even had the dealer do a $180 mechanical alignment without hesitation and I have all the assistance gizmos.
But I have heard of $800+ alignments before...some potentially true because the sensors were moved and other BS just because they said "that's what it cost" kind of thing.

Question for you is, did you get an official quote for just the alignment from dealer #2 before they did the work? or were you working off the assumption it would be the same rate your were quoted from the other dealership if also buying tires from themat the same time?

[TheBlackMarvel]

Ya you don’t need to recalibrate lane keep assist or ACC to do a mechanical steering alignment. That’s BD.


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[ndabunka]

It's sad, but it happens I guess.
I've even had the dealer do a $180 mechanical alignment without hesitation and I have all the assistance gizmos.
But I have heard of $800+ alignments before...some potentially true because the sensors were moved and other BS just because they said "that's what it cost" kind of thing.

Question for you is, did you get an official quote for just the alignment from dealer #2 before they did the work? or were you working off the assumption it would be the same rate your were quoted from the other dealership if also buying tires from them at the same time?

At $195 it was already THE most I have ever paid for an alignment and my prior cars were BMW 740iL, Mercedes CLK55, BMW 760iL, BMW 2012 X5, Jaguar F-Type R so have basically been driving higher-end cars for the past 20+ years. I did NOT get a separate quote from dealer #2 prior as

1. I needed the service to be performed before departing town for a week-long golf tournament 200 miles away
2. I had expected that one Audi dealership would honor the prior Audi dealership's number.

Perhaps this particular dealer is struggling to stay in business. Seeing as how most have perceived this as un-necessary I will share that the dealership who charged $289 for the alignment of my 2016 S7 was/is Audi of Charlotte.

PS - I am thinking about calling another Audi dealership in another city cold to have them give me a quote to see if they try anything similar

[Burkeomatic]

I can vouch for the lifetime alignment at firestone. I used the hell out of it on all my vehicles. Whenever you decide to change suspension components out. Take it there, and free alignment! They will also do custom specs, don't know how custom you can get on these cars though.

[19birel]

Firestone actually refused to align two of my family's Audis, my parent's former 2012 B8 A4 and my previous 1999.5 B5 A4 stating that they couldn't make any adjustments to the camber as it requires shifting the subframe which they weren't equipped to do. They said this before the cars ever went in and said that if the camber is good it's not an issue but they'd feel bad if we paid for an alignment with them and then had to go to the dealership anyways to have it done again. Since then I have taken my Audis to the dealership for alignments and my parents have done the same with theirs

$195 sounds higher but not abnormal depending on the dealership's labor rate, but the lane assist did not need aligned and as others said it appears they charged you for it anyways. A basic alignment shouldn't be $289

[JWebb_C7_Comp]

Firestone actually refused to align two of my family's Audis, my parent's former 2012 B8 A4 and my previous 1999.5 B5 A4 stating that they couldn't make any adjustments to the camber as it requires shifting the subframe which they weren't equipped to do. They said this before the cars ever went in and said that if the camber is good it's not an issue but they'd feel bad if we paid for an alignment with them and then had to go to the dealership anyways to have it done again. Since then I have taken my Audis to the dealership for alignments and my parents have done the same with theirs

$195 sounds higher but not abnormal depending on the dealership's labor rate, but the lane assist did not need aligned and as others said it appears they charged you for it anyways. A basic alignment shouldn't be $289

Even $195 seems high. We replaces
Tires on my wife’s Q7!this spring and had a dealer performed alignment through a promo at about $129.

I was quoted $99 at a local Indy for my A6 when buying new tires from discount tire,
But my old Tires were worn so consistently (a little negative camber in the rear) and nothing special
Up front, didn’t bother with alignment.

I will check wear at end of summer season and skiing after winter ONLY of summers are showing uneven wear.





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[core5]

I paid $159 for a “4 wheel alignment” at an Audi dealer here. They never commented on any computer calibrations. Is there is a calibration for the Electronic steering, but i don’t no ow if they did that or not.


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[WatchMeSpend]

Partially why I take my car to an indie mechanic and avoid dealerships. I have yet to get a story out of him. sometimes I get free diagnosis (swapped cam sensors for free to see if problem returned, turn off CEL), I get better maintenance planning (it's got a small leak that doesn't affect much but we will replace it if we are fixing this other part because the bumper has to come off). He asks how I use the car and how long I plan to keep it to determine what to fix.

Even though I have had warranty at the dealerships, they don't care about you and will find some way to charge you for blinker fluid and special air for your tires on a warranty repair. Then they wash the car. I told them not to touch the car exterior...ever...and they still do and brag that they cleaned my car for free and it was spotless when I brought it in.

Going to the dealership is like a box of chocolates...

[bahula03]

I don't mean to be unkind or rude, but this thread mostly seems like whining about what you feel was a poor dealership experience, which is fine and we've pretty much all been there to some degree, but call it what it is.

QUESTION: If my car required a "special" costs to service, should Dealer #1 have quoted that price as their quote CLEARLY had my VIN # on it and they did see it in person when they provided me the quote after they had done the oil change and such as part of the CPO so they would have KNOWN for a fact that this vehicle has lane & driver assist.

Has anyone else had a similar switch and bait?

I feel like you understand that dealerships are franchises owned independently of Audi, and that two dealerships with different ownership have no obligation to match prices or business practices. There isn't really enough information to say if the first deanship was """trying anything""" absent any history of bad behavior, knowing if they misquoted you out of neglect, or if they simply recommended just a basic mechanical alignment, like a lot of dealerships. Other dealerships will recommend every possible service they can, in this case a mechanical alignment plus an electronic alignment. You chose the latter, seemingly for expediency and without looking at the work authorization...like you chose to decline the recommendation for new tires from the first dealership, to save money, and got them from a third party. That's your agency as a consumer.

[bozack]

Partially why I take my car to an indie mechanic and avoid dealerships. I have yet to get a story out of him. sometimes I get free diagnosis (swapped cam sensors for free to see if problem returned, turn off CEL), I get better maintenance planning (it's got a small leak that doesn't affect much but we will replace it if we are fixing this other part because the bumper has to come off). He asks how I use the car and how long I plan to keep it to determine what to fix.

Even though I have had warranty at the dealerships, they don't care about you and will find some way to charge you for blinker fluid and special air for your tires on a warranty repair. Then they wash the car. I told them not to touch the car exterior...ever...and they still do and brag that they cleaned my car for free and it was spotless when I brought it in.

Going to the dealership is like a box of chocolates...

funny you mentioned a charge for special air as I looked at a new A5 the other day and the dealer had an extra charge of $199 for Nitrogen.............

[himself]

Fwiw - I literally just got my rs7 out of the shop today. Alignment (warranty covered) was part of the repair and it was $489 on the invoice.

-td

[jeff351]

funny you mentioned a charge for special air as I looked at a new A5 the other day and the dealer had an extra charge of $199 for Nitrogen.............

i work at a dealership and we only charge $99 for nitrogen for life... i wonder if their nitrogen is twice as nitrogeny

[nick1980]

Firestone and big name shops usually can do alignments on a normal car ,Honda Toyota etc
They have no clue how to align all wheel drive
Like stated before they won't loosen and shift subframe
And they barely ever touch rear arms and adjustments.
Which on these cars can seize up and need to be heated or hardware cut out and replaced to do a proper alignment

[Sima-Koya]

To be honest,it is recommended to do Windshield Multifunction camera calibration also when doing alignment of the car so don't be surprised.
They were just following the service procedure.

Car has to be mounted on ADAS calibration stand and then the MFC is calibrated after wheel alignment.

[gk1]

i work at a dealership and we only charge $99 for nitrogen for life... i wonder if their nitrogen is twice as nitrogeny

And both are the same as throwing you money out the window since air is already 78% nitrogen and there are tons of tests showing that unless you have an airplane or an F1 car Nitrogen in passenger car tires is utterly useless.
Add to that the chances of their Nitrogen generation machine producing 100% nitrogen and them pulling a properly vacuum on the tires prior to filling being slim and again...waste.

https://www.lesschwab.com/article/ar...%20tire%20life.

[jeff351]

And both are the same as throwing you money out the window since air is already 78% nitrogen and there are tons of tests showing that unless you have an airplane or an F1 car Nitrogen in passenger car tires is utterly useless.
Add to that the chances of their Nitrogen generation machine producing 100% nitrogen and them pulling a properly vacuum on the tires prior to filling being slim and again...waste.

https://www.lesschwab.com/article/ar...%20tire%20life.

And I totally agree with you but if I sell it, that’s extra gross for me and and I get to spend it on upgrades


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[gk1]

And I totally agree with you but if I sell it, that’s extra gross for me and and I get to spend it on upgrades


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ah, duping the unknowing consumer. No wonder salesmen get such a bad wrap.

[Valpo A7]

Asking dealer 2 to honor a price given by dealer 1 is absurd.

[Alabama]

To be honest,it is recommended to do Windshield Multifunction camera calibration also when doing alignment of the car so don't be surprised. Car has to be mounted on ADAS calibration stand and then the MFC is calibrated after wheel alignment.

Out of curiosity, why? A change in alignment may change the way the car tracks or drifts to the right or left and so activate the lane assistance warning feature, but wouldn't the camera work the same regardless? Is it just a precaution to check the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS)?

[Alabama]

Asking dealer 2 to honor a price given by dealer 1 is absurd.

To ask is fair, to expect is not.

[Valpo A7]

^^ Very true.


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[core5]

Out of curiosity, why? A change in alignment may change the way the car tracks or drifts to the right or left and so activate the lane assistance warning feature, but wouldn't the camera work the same regardless? Is it just a precaution to check the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS)?

The steering wheel and EPS unit is linked into the driver assist functions, so it needs to be calibrated correctly. However, unless the car was in a wreck and parts were replaced, it should not be necessary to recalibrate.


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[Alabama]

The steering wheel and EPS unit is linked into the driver assist functions, so it needs to be calibrated correctly. However, unless the car was in a wreck and parts were replaced, it should not be necessary to recalibrate.

Thanks for correcting my misunderstanding. The camera is only one part of the ADAS being possibly recalibrated. I imagine if the alignment required minimal changes a mechanic/dealer might skip the calibration check, whereas an alignment after replacing links for example may need a calibration check.