£130 to swap alloys (not tyres....just the wheels)

[mariamartinez]

Hi, I am buying a new golf from VW in UK. as per previous threads I prefer a certain upgrade of alloys......vw own brand...the nogaro actually..... genuine product etc not a rip off. I had already bought the wheels and tyres (although not from the my dealer) and had the tyres fitted and balanced so it a case of swapping the wheels on the ramp. As I am buying new I want this to be done at the time of purchase (and preserve the stock wheels and tyres). I had foolishly thought the dealer would do this as a courtesy. However they "kindly" offered to do it for £130 quoting 1 hour of ramp time on top of the total purchase cost of the vehicle which is about £25k. Any comments?

[Guzzle]

I suppose it depends on what sort of discount you are getting for them to have any margin left in the car for courtesies. However i'd say £130 is very steep to swap 4 wheels over.

I have a trolley jack that cost me £50, now i've used it a few times and got used to it swapping wheels over isn't really that difficult. But if you don't feel confident enough to do it yourself i'm sure most tyre fitters or independent garages would charge far less than that.

[Gnasher]

I'll do it for £125 if you want!

Seriously though, how far would you need to drive it before you would get the chance to change them yourself?

If it's less than 50ish miles then for that same £130 you could buy yourself a trolley jack (with a decent rubber lifting pad), a set of wheel chocks, one of those extendable wheel wrenches and a torque wrench and I guarantee that after a good clean, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a new wheel and tyre and yours apart from a slightly rougher looking tread - they'll still have been driven a certain distance (probably less than 10 miles) when you pick it up. It'll probably still have the bobbles on the tyres too.

If you've already got the stuff listed above to do it, it's a no brainer - I am assuming here you are fit and well enough to do it yourself obviously!

[TwoSheds]

If they won't play ball for whatever reason and you don't want to do it yourself why not go back to the tyre depot that supplied, fitted & balanced the new tyres to your Nogaros.

They shouldn't charge much to swop the wheels over certainly no way £130 !

My tyre dealer who I use & trust doesn't charge me to swop on/off my winters wheels which saves me time & effort even though I have the equipment. Good old fashion customer service to get repeat business.

[Jim_mk7.5]

£130 to swap wheels over... 

Borrow or buy a trolley jack and do it yourself!

[I wanted a GTi]

Not sure which I'm more surprised about, the cost for the dealer to do it or you wanting to risk the dealer damaging either or both sets of of wheels.

[mariamartinez]

Not sure which I'm more surprised about, the cost for the dealer to do it or you wanting to risk the dealer damaging either or both sets of of wheels.

are you seriously suggesting changing the wheels at a main dealer risks damaging the wheels???

[mariamartinez]

The problem I have is that the dealer is not close to my home address, and its much simpler to change the alloys on the ramp with the pneumatic drill than by hand in the forecourt on the day of collection. Also having upgraded the alloys its much nicer to have a handover of the car with the better alloys and the inferior ones (in my eyes) and then messing about either in the forecourt or driving to a unknown tyre garage. I am just shocked that they are 1. claiming it takes 1hour in the workshop and 2. don't consider this a courtesy as ill be handing over 25k at the same time.

[I wanted a GTi]

Not sure which I'm more surprised about, the cost for the dealer to do it or you wanting to risk the dealer damaging either or both sets of of wheels.

are you seriously suggesting changing the wheels at a main dealer risks damaging the wheels???

What I'm saying is that even having your car in a VW dealers is dangerous for it. Where are you collecting the car from?

[mariamartinez]

Literally just phoned a local garage for a price comparison. £8.50 per wheel fitting. Assuming the true labour cost is say £5 per wheel that means the real cost is £20......ignoring the unbelievable mark up by VW, it means that they are quite happy to irritate the hell out of customers for £20 (cost price ) buying a brand new car.