I normally do my own wrenching, but am limited on what I can do with AC without the expensive gear shops have. My wife has a '13 Audi S4 where the AC stopped working. Doing some research, the High Pressure AC switch is a typical culprit. I should have just swapped it then as a guess, but after scanning the AC via VCDS, it wasn't showing any codes on the pressure switch (which they normally do), so I took it into Oxford based on recommendations from others on Next Door. They diagnosed my problem as being the G395 AC pressure switch. $127 for the diagnosis, took pictures, found codes from it. That's fine, I'm totally good with this. They even did some other inspections - I'll get to that in a bit. They wanted $260 (parts and labor, they didn't show how much for each) to replace this high pressure G395 switch. Now, the switch is $111.67 at the dealer. You can buy an OEM switch for under $60 online new, as anyone who works on German cars knows you don't buy your factory parts from dealers. I knew this price was high, paid my diagnostic fee and took the car unrepaired. So you go - well, they charge full retail on parts, so it's really $149 to install it. I decided to try my hand as a DIY YouTube video. I've never done it before, I have no professional training other than wrenching on my own cars for years. It took me a total of 5 minutes to replace this switch. Let's call it 10 as I didn't film testing the AC after, grabbing the couple very basic tools needed, open/closing the hood, or putting the radiator cover on (which is max 30 seconds to do). 10 minutes is being very generous. So this shop wanted to charge me $150 in LABOR to do a job that would have taken them under 10 minutes. 15 dollars a minute. It was a super easy job, even for someone with little to no DIY experience. But wait, it gets worse. They also recommended a new air filter. Service interval is 55k miles. I changed it 14k miles ago. They didn't even pull it out, just saw the front edge with their camera with a little dirt on it. It was the typical quick-lube filter scam. They also recommended the cabin filter - that they didn't check - though that actually was due. They wanted $163 to replace both. Dealer price is $41 for the cabin filter and $35 for the air filter - again, dealer prices. $87 labor to replace a couple filters if you are a sucker enough to pay full dealer prices for filters. Cabin filter, I timed me from door open until car locked - 3 minutes, 5 seconds. First time ever doing it; I could do it in probably 2 minutes a 2nd time. I didn't do the engine air filter, as it wasn't needed, but its only a few minute job as I've done that before. I paid $14 for a Mann filter, as their stuff is really good. Online price for the engine filter, a factory one, is $22 from ECS Tuning. For what this place charges, why not just go to the dealer? Actually, you would probably spend less there. Service: Air conditioning
As the owner of Oxford Automotive I am always concerned if I hear that a customer didn't find value in our services. I am sorry that you didn't find value in the information that we gave you but, I have read your detailed description and don't see anything wrong in what we did. As a DIY guy you can always save money on the easy work. At Oxford we work with DIY guys all the time. Sometimes these customers find, as you did here, that they can do some of the work themselves and save money. There is nothing wrong with that. We also help out guys who have tried to service their vehicle and messed some things up and we have had to spend quite a bit of time to figure out what they broke and how to get it right. The dealer won't usually touch these type of customers. I guarantee that our service will always be better than the dealer. We offer a 3 year triple warranty, loaner cars, great photo inspections, friendly staff, fast service, and the most skilled techs in Central Ohio!
- Oxford Automotive - Powell