Volkswagen Agent in Sri Lanka

Crossword · January 4, 2020

Dear Experts,

Recently I saw a very nice looking VW Polo ad published by a certain popular car dealership in Duplication road and started doing some research on the vehicle. It looked like a really good vehicle(to me), but the only problem is that it is not a Japanese vehicle. My knowledge about vehicles is not that great, but as I understand, there are certain disadvantages/hardships in owning a non-Japanese vehicle in Sri Lanka. I have a few questions that I would like to pick your brains on.

1. One of my main concerns is that there does not seem to be a VW agent in Sri Lanka. Is that correct? I know Drive One is now the sole agent for Audi, but do they also do VW?

There is a facebook page with a shocking 34 million+ likes(even lot more than the population in Sri Lanka ? ) and the website URL as www.volkswagensl.com, but the last post on the page is in 2016 December and the website is dead.

2. How difficult would it be to maintain a VW in Sri Lanka? Are there any reliable places for maintenance and repairs?

3. Is it total stupidity to even consider buying a VW, given all of the above I have mentioned?

Thank you very much in advance for your valuable input!

Crishan · January 4, 2020

On 1/4/2020 at 12:17 PM, Crossword said:

Dear Experts,

Recently I saw a very nice looking VW Polo ad published by a certain popular car dealership in Duplication road and started doing some research on the vehicle. It looked like a really good vehicle(to me), but the only problem is that it is not a Japanese vehicle. My knowledge about vehicles is not that great, but as I understand, there are certain disadvantages/hardships in owning a non-Japanese vehicle in Sri Lanka. I have a few questions that I would like to pick your brains on.

1. One of my main concerns is that there does not seem to be a VW agent in Sri Lanka. Is that correct? I know Drive One is now the sole agent for Audi, but do they also do VW?

There is a facebook page with a shocking 34 million+ likes(even lot more than the population in Sri Lanka ? ) and the website URL as www.volkswagensl.com, but the last post on the page is in 2016 December and the website is dead.

2. How difficult would it be to maintain a VW in Sri Lanka? Are there any reliable places for maintenance and repairs?

3. Is it total stupidity to even consider buying a VW, given all of the above I have mentioned?

Thank you very much in advance for your valuable input!

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VW agency was with Senok. Now they accommodate routine VW maintenance in the Subaru workshop at Grandpass. You don’t have to worry about this agent. But better if you speak to them about availability of spares,maintenance of the model you intend to purchase.

AVANTE · January 5, 2020

Wouldn't the VW Polo (R-Line?) Be treated as a grey import? You know what happened with Audi A1s, most of them were grey import so the agent wouldn't service them, and if a recall for a certain fault were to occur and was meant to be fixed for free, grey cars would be charged a certain amount for the repair.

Edited January 5, 2020 by □AVANTE□

Devinda_Z · January 6, 2020

There was some snafu surrounding the car assembly plant in Kuliyapitiya which led to Senok losing the VW franchise and needing to establish a separate business unit as DriveOne to handle Audi exclusively.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2017/02/08/business/107022/volkswagen-plant-sri-lanka-setting-record-straight

The good news as @Crishan mentioned was that the Senok Subaru division at Grandpass now handles VW repairs - the facility was recently upgraded.

In addition there are dedicated VW/Audi/Seat group specialists in the form of Vishwa Motors in Boralesgamuwa and Safe Drive in Kurunegala

john cooper · January 6, 2020

Hi all,

I should be able to add something about the reliability, we had 2 of the VW's as our company fleet, both TDI 6 speed DSG's.

DSG issue was a common issue but got it replaced for free under goodwill on 2006 Jetta, other than that only issue was the idler pulley replacement and when we sell them it has done about 150k KM

2010 Tiguan was the other, it had done close to 200k KM when we flick that about a month back only repair was the AC compressure and the turbo replacement but other than that nothing else.

in my opinion, they are Super reliable if you look after them. I have heard the Vishwa motors were good and import parts from Dubai or SNG (Ex tech from Vishwa work in a workshop here)

They are comfortable compared to the same level Japanese brands and advanced in technology. So I don't think it's a stupid idea to buy one of them if you do have the correct support.

Good luck buying a one.

regards,

JC

kush · January 7, 2020

On 1/6/2020 at 9:12 PM, john cooper said:

Hi all,

I should be able to add something about the reliability, we had 2 of the VW's as our company fleet, both TDI 6 speed DSG's.

DSG issue was a common issue but got it replaced for free under goodwill on 2006 Jetta, other than that only issue was the idler pulley replacement and when we sell them it has done about 150k KM

2010 Tiguan was the other, it had done close to 200k KM when we flick that about a month back only repair was the AC compressure and the turbo replacement but other than that nothing else.

in my opinion, they are Super reliable if you look after them. I have heard the Vishwa motors were good and import parts from Dubai or SNG (Ex tech from Vishwa work in a workshop here)

They are comfortable compared to the same level Japanese brands and advanced in technology. So I don't think it's a stupid idea to buy one of them if you do have the correct support.

Good luck buying a one.

regards,

JC

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VW very reliable in UK, USA, NZ, even in Australia

When it comes to SL it is full of horror stories, may be they get escalated out of proportions as bad news travel fast.

But i guess issues are mostly due to ignorant owners / poor maintenance/ crappy agents

Crossword · January 16, 2020

On 1/5/2020 at 2:44 AM, □AVANTE□ said:

Wouldn't the VW Polo (R-Line?) Be treated as a grey import? You know what happened with Audi A1s, most of them were grey import so the agent wouldn't service them, and if a recall for a certain fault were to occur and was meant to be fixed for free, grey cars would be charged a certain amount for the repair.

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Thank you very much for your input! Did not know about this.

Crossword · January 16, 2020

On 1/6/2020 at 9:12 PM, john cooper said:

Hi all,

I should be able to add something about the reliability, we had 2 of the VW's as our company fleet, both TDI 6 speed DSG's.

DSG issue was a common issue but got it replaced for free under goodwill on 2006 Jetta, other than that only issue was the idler pulley replacement and when we sell them it has done about 150k KM

2010 Tiguan was the other, it had done close to 200k KM when we flick that about a month back only repair was the AC compressure and the turbo replacement but other than that nothing else.

in my opinion, they are Super reliable if you look after them. I have heard the Vishwa motors were good and import parts from Dubai or SNG (Ex tech from Vishwa work in a workshop here)

They are comfortable compared to the same level Japanese brands and advanced in technology. So I don't think it's a stupid idea to buy one of them if you do have the correct support.

Good luck buying a one.

regards,

JC

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Thank you very much for sharing your experience! I guess getting the correct support is bit of a problem when there's only a handful or reliable places for service and maintenance. I have heard good things about Vishwa Motors prior to this as well.

ramishkad · January 16, 2020

On 1/5/2020 at 2:44 AM, □AVANTE□ said:

Wouldn't the VW Polo (R-Line?) Be treated as a grey import? You know what happened with Audi A1s, most of them were grey import so the agent wouldn't service them, and if a recall for a certain fault were to occur and was meant to be fixed for free, grey cars would be charged a certain amount for the repair.

Expand

In the case of Audi and DriveOne, they would service grey imports. But they do charge a hefty initial service fee - 58k for 1000cc or below models and 70k for 1400cc or below. IMO worth the premium.

But as you said they would likely not honor recalls or warranty for grey imports.

kush · January 17, 2020

On 1/16/2020 at 12:34 PM, ramishkad said:

In the case of Audi and DriveOne, they would service grey imports. But they do charge a hefty initial service fee - 58k for 1000cc or below models and 70k for 1400cc or below. IMO worth the premium.

But as you said they would likely not honor recalls or warranty for grey imports.

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Better than what Merc or BMW would charge