Business ProfileforThe Sportscar Clinic

I brought my VW Jetta TDI diesel to this shop. I usually work on my own vehicle but I had a problem with my acceleration that is most likely related to boost or fuel. I was stumped. I brought it here for a diagnosis. Matt the manager called me after they had spent 1.5 hours looking at the vehicle to tell me that my air filter had become dislodged. They replaced it, but the problem with acceleration persisted. He went on to tell me that they basically couldn't figure out the problem without "tearing the engine apart" and warned me of the high cost of doing so. He put an abnormal amount of emphasis on the cost to the point where it felt rhetorical, almost as if they didn't want to mess with my car anymore. I was also confused because I've had some issues with fuel and boost in the past and I've taken my car to European car shops in **************** ******** *** ********* and all of them figured out my problem within an hour. When I went on to ask Matt if they had used VCDS to check the values of the car's boost pressure, the N75 duty cycle or fuel flow values, he told me "no." He went on to say "diesels are not our forte" and "I'm not a TDI guy." It would have been nice of them to tell me this BEFORE they started work on my vehicle so I could have taken it to another shop that is more versed in TDI's, but apparently that was too much of a moral thing to do. When I confronted Matt about this he said they "can" fix diesels but continued to emphasized that TDI's are not their strong point. He went on to note the high mileage of my vehicle (370,000 miles) and made a comment about how my engine is "probably just tired." That statement is ridiculous and confirms his ignorance with TDI's considering there are TDI's still on the road with 400,000-500,000 miles. This whole situation felt very careless and underhanded. A $200 bill later and I have more questions than answers. Avoid this shop and take your vehicle elsewhere, especially if it's a diesel.

Having serviced imported automobiles for nearly 50 years, we at The Sportscar Clinic recognize the care and attention aging cars require. While many automotive problems can be solved in one hour or less, some problems require a better understanding and additional diagnosis. In this case (370,000 miles) we chose to start with a basic/general understanding of the engine’s overall health and a possible exhaust obstruction before following a customer led diagnosis. We contacted the customer at roughly two hours of diagnostic time (Our hourly rate is $150/hr.) to advise on our initial findings. When the customer asked about specific testing (per his research), we offered that further diagnosis is possible but may become costly. It was at this time that the customer stated “Sportscar Clinic should have informed him that we were not TDI (Volkswagen-Turbo Diesel) specialists prior to working on the car” and verbalized that he did not agree with our approach to the problem. We then finalized a bill for a portion of our actual time invested and an air filter that was replaced because of improper fitment. We feel the situation was thoroughly explained, further diagnosis was offered, and that the discounted charge of $200 was appropriate for the labor and parts invested to this point. We hope Jacob is able to resolve this issue and support his decision to find a TDI specialist to work with.