Sonnen – Service

I’ve owned an Audi for 15 year now. I’m so moved by my positive experience with the service department at Sonnen San Rafael that I had to write this review.
Working in the service department must be a demanding job. All these Audi folks coming in with car issues, or challenges. Joe Furlich is hands down the most amazing Audi employee I’ve ever encountered. He is both kind and down-​to-​earth. Every time i have come in to receive a service I feel like he is looking out for me. I hope Audi sees his quality and gives this man a raise or bonus he deserves. As a business owner, I know you have to keep the good ones.
Thanks Joe

Outstanding, 5-​star Customer Service! And huge thanks to Daniel McNamee for saving the day! I was out driving with my family when my VW started making a horrendous grinding noise and luckily I wasn’t too far from Sonnen so I decided to drive it there and leave it to be worked on. When I drove into the Service Area, Daniel greeted me and listened to my description of the problem. He immediately had an idea what the problem could be and said they would take a look right away. I was amazed since I didn’t have an appointment and it was a busy Saturday! A very short while later they figured it out (pebble caught near disc brake) and had me back on the road, charge! Amazing customer service! I will definitely do business with Sonnen again!

I brought my Audi A4 Avant to Audi Marin for routine service on February 5^th. Gene Frank (my service advisor) discovered that another Bay Area dealership had inadvertantly made an error in my service record. He and Dan McNamee (the Audi service manager) worked behind the scenes to resolve the error. They were not responsible for the error, but they realized the right thing to do was to correct the issue with the other dealership and to ensure that my car got the maintenance for which I had paid. They were directly responsible for saving me the time and effort to correct the issue with the other dealership and potentially saved me more than $ 650. I believe this is an example of the «above and beyond» attitude of Audi generally, but also of Audi Marin specifically.
Gene Frank has a passion for ensuring that his customers’ cars are optimally maintained. His extensive knowledge about the Audi maintenance system and his tireless enthusiasm allow him to routinely exceed his customers’ expectations. If you are looking for a service advisor who will pay as much attention to your car as you do, Gene is your man.
Unlike some service department managers I have known, Dan McNamee is completely personable and understands that each service interaction is a touch-​point to establish and develop a long-​term relationship with his customers. His oversight of the department and his approach to customer satisfaction contributes to my fantastic overall experience with Audi.
I can’t end this review without mentioning the service coordinator, Christi Robbins. You might ask, «How can a service coordinator rate mention in a car dealership review?» It just serves to underscore how well trained the entire staff is and how every employee is committed to customer excellence and satisfaction. She was friendly, energetic, professional, and ensured that every detail for my pending appointment was covered.
Most other dealerships fall way short of the experience I had last week. Thank goodness though, Audi Marin keeps alive and delivers on the notion that customers deserve to be treated fairly, professionally, and respectfully. If Unilocal had 6-​star ratings, I’d give this dealership one.

Thank You, Jason in the service department for taking care of all my car issues. Also, Thanks to Rod and Micheal in the sales department for always being ready to handle any concern I may have regarding my newly bought VW sports wagon. You all have maintained a high level of integrity that is refreshing! Thanks again!
P.S I love your espresso machine.

Service was fine while my Audi was under warranty, but as soon as it went off warranty, the estimates went through the roof. I got the feeling the «service techs» were actually salesmen trying to get as much commission as possible. After a huge estimate, I followed my brother’s advice and took my car to a local BMW/​VW guy. Same work for less than ¼ price and he was honest and happy to let me know what work needed to be done and what could wait.

I brought in my car to have Sonnen run a few tests before I sell it. The trunk was having issues, sometimes it would open and other times it wouldn’t. When I dropped it off I was on time and of course they were behind and were too busy to talk with me. I left the car there and got a phone call with an estimate of $ 680 dollars for them to just look at my car… NOT to do a single repair. After arguing with them we got them to lower the price to $ 175 to look at the car. I never heard from them the rest of the day. After several messages and finally demanding the receptionist to put someone on the phone they still hadn’t done anything. I headed over there to pick up my car frustrated and angry. When I got there I met with the mechanic that gave me a very good overview of what was wrong with my car. But after I left and got home my trunk doesn’t work at all. It turns out they cut my wires and told me my trunk needs to be rewired for over $ 500.00. It worked before I brought it and now it doesn’t even work at all. Be careful with bringing your car there. I think they are trying to pay off that expensive new building they just built by over charging their customers. I will never go back there and I will never purchase a vw because of my experience with them. I have never given a bad review before but this one is well deserved.

I brought my car here when I had a coolant leak. I didn’t know it was a coolant leak since I had a faulty alarm that had to be repaired 3 times by another dealer. Anyway, I brought my Audi here to get some coolant to replace the low level. The service person that originally helped me topped off my coolant for free which was awesome and told me I could leave it if I wanted to. I decided to keep driving it and see what happened. And lo and behold my level went way down again.
I came in without an appointment because I didn’t want to drive with no coolant. They were super accommodating and took me right in and got me a loaner car. Turns out they dealt with the faulty coolant alarm and it didn’t have anything to do with what the previous dealer thought it was.
So it looks like they fixed both my leak and faulty alarm and the car was done within a day. I will definitely coming back here for my service needs and maybe to get my new Audi.

Gene is a tried and true service driven person. That sums it up, but…
I have been bring my car across the bridge because I enjoy not only the professionalism, but the over the top little services that Gene will take care of. Hes never trying to suck me dry, or sell me something I don’t need. That’s huge for me.
There are times when Ill come in, and he’ll change a fuse no cost, and not make me wait in line, if its just a quick look at the car.
He always calls me back with a status update, and again I live in San Francisco, so I could take my All road to the dealer in SF. Pass. Been there.
I’m writing this review, because today I came in with a leak, and he actually did some quick tests in the parking lot to rule out a few things. We could not find the problem, and so he set me up with an Audi loaner for Next Tuesday.
The other thing about Audi of Marin (Sonnen) is that if Gene is out, any one of the other guys will step up, and provide the same level of service.
There a solid team, and if you think you’re going to save a few bucks (tried that in SF with a «German independent mechanic», going to an outside dealer, I doubt they would do half of things that Gene has done over the years, that have saved me money, and made me a very LOYAL customer.
I think this is only my 10^th Unilocal review, and I don’t have the time, but This was worth it.

Cheers. Ryan lugbauer (full name)

I can highly recommend their service department. The representative Donna Westlake who handled my car made sure that I’m getting the best experience possible. She checked all the warranties that might apply and got me a loaner car while my vehicle was taken the best possible care of.
Donna is very knowledgeable. Based on the symptoms I described she immediately had a good guess about the root cause of the problem which later proved to be spot on.
Before I left, she also gave me an overview of the future scheduled maintenance dates and estimated costs so that nothing catches me by surprise.
She was professional and friendly, I felt appreciated as a customer and perfectly taken care of.
After some so-​so and some «ok» experiences with other VW services, I can say that I’ll use Sonnen Volkswagen Service for all future issues with my car.

I’m not impressed with the amount of leverage the service team has with Volkswagen to protect the safety of their customers.
A month ago my fuel injector on my 2010 Passat failed while my wife was on the freeway, the car stalled and started shacking while going 70 mph. A month later another fuel injector failed while I was driving on the freeway. My car stalled and I was forced to pull over on the freeway. Apparently this is a known issue with my car and I learned that my car has two other fuel injectors that potentially could fail.
For my wife and my safety I requested that the remaining two fuel injectors be replaced to prevent another near fatal incident on the freeway. My service advisor said they couldn’t be replaced despite the safety risk. I was told they have to fail to be replaced under warranty. To help address the issue VW has held onto my car for a week so they could drive my car to induce failure on the remaining two fuel injectors. I requested to speak to a supervisor or someone with more leverage to help do the right thing, which would be to replace the faulty fuel injectors. The service advisor agreed that I’m in a bad situation and that he couldn’t do anything beyond emailing me the number to VW, he never sent the email as promised. He also hung up on me after telling me that they no longer wanted my business. I apologize, I lost my temper in the first place, but my safety is at risk.
I did buy a new Passat from Sonnen just a month again, the experience I had with the sales team was fantastic. I will update this post with the outcome of my sour service experience. Hopefully it won’t be a tragic story of a fatal crash that could have been prevented.

My parents and I have been going to Sonnen to service our Audi and VW needs for quite some time so they are part of our «automotive family». We are currently in the process of considering buying a VW and outright love the Sonnen experience. My parents have come twice to consider the Tiguan — each time they were greeted by the same friendly sales person — Corey. Right off the bat I liked this guy since he drove an 80s Golf and almost knew as much as I about V-​Dubs. My point is the guy felt passion for the cars he was selling. I’m pretty sure he could name the engine codes off first gen R32s if you quizzed him.
At any rate, we are debating between a Tdi Touareg (impossible to find BTW) and a Tiguan. So far, we have really enjoyed the non pressure atmosphere of being able to inspect each car without being hounded by some by some guy desperate for a commission.
Being in the accounting profession, I have to limit my review to ⁴⁄₅ stars because I have gripes with the sophisticated appearance of this dealership. It’s so super modern you kinda of wonder if you’re maybe paying for the dealership upkeep in your service charges. I don’t even know if that’s true, but we love this place.

I took my A6 into the service center at Sonnen Audi yesterday and was assisted by Joe Furlich. Joe is patient and professional and was wonderful. I was just having an oil change done, but rather than have me wait they gave me a (brand new) loaner to drive. I was in and out of the service department within minutes. Since I live in Sonoma, they told me I could keep the car overnight if that was more convenient for me.
When I came back today, my car was waiting for me out front. I had asked Joe to have touch up paint for me, which had been set aside for me in the parts department. A service technician came to help me with problems I was having with playing music through my iPhone, but it turned out I had a faulty Lightning adapter. I bought a new one at Best Buy on my way back to Sonoma and it is working great now.
Friendly, prompt and efficient service, plus going the extra mile — Sonnen Motorcars gets five stars without hesitation from me!

The Service Department deserves more than 5 stars! You’ll experience first class customer service at every point of your visit.

These guys have great customer service! Go see Gene!
I am a bit of a nut when it comes to my car. I came in with a squeaking noise coming from my 2012 Audi S4’s steering wheel. I was expecting them to tell me that I’m crazy and that they wouldn’t fix it because it was a nonessential problem. But Gene welcomed me and made sure that the problem would be fixed, no matter how big or small.
The staff at the front desk were also very friendly and helpful. They gave me a 2013 Audi A4 as a loaner, which was really nice too. I’ve been to a lot of dealerships and this has been the best customer service at any of them!

Sonnen should basically be ashamed of them selves. Sadly they are the only game in town if you own a VW or an Audi, and don’t they know it.
Over the past few years, especially their service has just gone down hill. Sure the place is lovely when you walk in, but that is where «service» stops. They do not seem to care about their customers at all. It just seems they try to rip you off at any opportunity.
We had a big part replaced in our VW, it was pricey, but we had to. 14 months later, the car started doing weird things… turns out it was the same part. But it was over a year old and not under warranty anymore, Sonnen expected us to replace the part all over again. We went some where else and after a bunch of hoops, found out the replaced part was put in wrong! All Sonnen’s fault… did they help us, of course not. So if you have a choice, try not to use them!

I just had another fantastic experience with Sonnen VW/Audi’s service department. I now purchase my VW’s through Cartelligent, so I can’t comment on any recent sales interaction, but for service Sonnen has never done me wrong.
I was in a bit of a pinch, as both of my headlight bulbs had decided to burn out at the same time… hey, they had a great 5 year run, so no complaints. Since driving at night without headlights is a bad idea, I needed some help ASAP. And since my headlight bulbs are difficult to access, I knew I needed this help to come from a professional. On what seemed like a pretty busy Saturday, I worked with reception, who put me in touch with a tech named JP, and he had me in and out in about 15 minutes.
What great service… thanks again Sonnen VW/​Audi Service Department!!!

Very organized for servicing, loaner A3 ready-​to-​go, quick in/​out, efficient and friendly coffee n cocoa in spacious living room atmosphere. Very busy dealership.
Expanding exponentially — in another half year, the space here will have easily doubled as they continue building what is ostensibly a new showroom. Thorough – no complaints. Service with a smile.

I’ve been trying to schedule a service appointment for the past two days and these guys don’t even return my phone calls — how lousy is that?
My experience with their sales department wasn’t any better.

I have had a VW Tiguan since 2010 and had it served at Sonnen the entire time. I have been very disappointed by their level of customer service. It seems to take three weeks to get a service appointment. I have called three or more times to just try to get someone to call me back.
My issues began with a leak, somewhere, and I had to bring the car in three times for them to figure it out. They repaired it and replaced the carpet. The service work was excellent, but the service people seem like they would prefer to be elsewhere and their internal system of routing messages and answering phones needs improvement. Then my front light went out. Turns out I had several lights out and a blown fuse box. Again another two week wait for an appointment.
Then a few weeks later the gas cap wouldn’t open and I couldn’t put gas in my car. Then it was another three week wait. I was so mad this morning that the «trick» they showed me open the gas lid wouldn’t work that I drove over there and demanded they service my car now. I also asked asked the service person to have finance call me to renew my warranty and personally left two messages for finance — with never a call back.
I also asked for the GM to call me. The only person who was pleasant and offered good customer service was the receptionist and the shuttle car driver, Roberto. Not only am I disappointed in the quality of the car, I would never want to be serviced by Sonnen again.

This is a review of Gene Frank at Sonnen Service Dept. He is so awesome. I call and bug him about random stuff all the time (e.g. sitting at the gas station at 7AM going «what was the grade of oil I’m supposed to be putting in the car again?») and he always calls me back same day and doesn’t make me feel stupid. He listens to me carefully when I come in for service and lets me know what is a real issue and what I’m imagining (though he would never use that word). He’s proactive about processing Audi-​authorized updates. He recommends a loaner car when a service will take all day and basically goes the extra mile for service. More than anything, I just always get the feeling he is talking straight with me and never pulling one over.
Re: Sonnen as a whole, I’m deducting one star because they have the most annoying policy of calling you 50 million times after a service with recorded, peppy calls saying they hope you had a great service and won’t you take the survey and how about now have you taken the survey yet here’s one more reminder… it gets pretty annoying. This is probably coming from Audi corporate, but they need to push back and cut it out.
Also, I happen to have an extended service contract with Audi, so I typicaly am not paying for much, but I do remember having a Jetta serviced at Sonnen some years ago and it was not cheap by any means. But if money is no object or you are covered by a warranty, I would use Sonnen no question. And see Gene.