ETKA / VagCat

[Nate]

I've always found my local dealership happy to help, ..... That said, one can sometimes come across the 'yoof' behind the counter who knows diddly-squat about the cars made before they were born and doesn't really want to give someone the time of day who needs them to go through ETKA to identify all the parts and numbers needed

Before the new Scirocco came out I went into the dealership and asked for some parts. The spotty Yoof working on parts said "what car", when I said a Scirocco he said "Is that a Volkswagen?"

i had the same problem at bradford vw years ago. to be fair, the 1 helpful guy at northfield vw by me is a yoof. he has also got a nice flet of classic dubs :D

only ever used tps a few times. for small odds and ends, they're not that helpful in my local one. only seem interested if it is a decent sized order. when i gave them a decent sized order though, they managed to give me a load of the wrong bits. full service kit including timing belt and tensioners, and a full set of brakes. they gave me bits for the new shape caddy, despite being given reg and chassis number

inceidentally, i did discover last week that gsf have a copy of etka, and if you're buying the bits they'll print off the page for you

[Bonusrocco]

VAGCAT also has another good use. When I'm been having work done, I buy all of the parts myself, then bag them up with a printout of the exploded diagram for that assembly in ETKA. I then number the individual parts bags with the corresponding number in the ETKA diagram - just like a big Airfix kit! This makes mechanics lives so much easier and saves money in labour time too, as they don't have to spend time figuring out what goes which fixings go where out of a large bag of anonymous parts.

wow, your mechanic must love you! v good idea though.

I've saved a few diagrams to memory stick but i never took the part numbers list. If it ever comes back online i'll probably go mad and copy the lot. Surely its better in safe hands, hosted on a site like the SR

[Nate]

Surely its better in safe hands, hosted on a site like the SR

i'm guessing that might leave the register vulnerable from a legal point - it will all be under copyright. probably the reason these sites keep disappearing. same as autodata getting upset about hooky copies floating round the place

[Mr Funk]

That's pretty much it Nate, hence why Dozzum's post was edited.

Unfortunately VW get incredibly militant about stuff like that, personally I'm surprised that Vagcat is still going. When I get five minutes I shall be making sure I don't have the problem of it disappearing, if you get my drift.

[Nate]

although for the time it would take, might be worth firing off an email to vw and asking if we could have a copy to use for paid up members? worst they could do is say no

[Bonusrocco]

although for the time it would take, might be worth firing off an email to vw and asking if we could have a copy to use for paid up members? worst they could do is say no

I cant see them putting the effort in for that. Classic car owners are a drain on their 'business plan'. Feeling rather wound up, just trying to re-arrange insurance at the mo...say no more.

[hiltow]

Perhaps a delegation of 'classic' VW clubs could approach VW with a request to access ETKA?

Whilst I agree that VW can get uppity about things like that, I really don't see what their problem is. What are they frightened of, people copying the diagrams to fix their cars or get part numbers to stamp on copy parts? What's wrong with people fixing their cars and the copy parts market is already out there.

In my opinion, I don't think VW and GSF are easy bedfellows, but they appear to let GSF have a copy of it. By this, I mean that the majority of stuff GSF sell is either OEM or copy parts i.e. non-genuine VW parts. It's in VW's interests to sell as many genuine parts as possible, not let the likes of GSF and Eurocarparts sell the same parts, but non-genuine VW at cheaper prices to steal their custom. Knowing this, if they let outside companies have a copy, then maybe recognised clubs could have access too.

Letting enthusiasts have access to ETKA to make buying parts and restoring / maintaining older cars easier might not be part of VW UK's 'corporate' business plan - after all, their business is based on flogging new cars and maintaining today's brand, not that of the 1970s / 80s.

That said, VW themselves appear to be taking the classic parts market very seriously indeed. The Classic Parts division they have set up is thriving, carries a vast array of parts, and is getting into parts remanufacture. They also have an online shop. It appears that VW themselves are recognising that selling genuine parts to restorers and enthusiasts is a lucrative business. If it wasn't, they wouldn't be doing it.

[Tempest]

but they appear to let GSF have a copy of it.

Not quite, GSF will have had to pay for Etka. I once heard in Germany that a license (single seat) costs in the region of 5000 Euros.

VW themselves appear to be taking the classic parts market very seriously indeed. The Classic Parts division they have set up is thriving

As long as they are self-sufficient, as I was told by my visit back in September 2011. That´s why so many parts us enthusiasts would like them to produce (and indeed they themselves would love to produce) don´t get manufactured, because at the end of the day some bean counter high up the VW hierarchy will have found out that a specific part is not profitable, and hence the go-ahead for production is not given. VW do not want to financially support Classic Parts, they do, however, want to cream off Classic Parts´ profits. The chaps at Classic Parts are, of course, not very happy about this arrangement, pretty much all of them classic car enthusiasts themselves. They even have their own Classic Parts Mk2 Rocco, which they use to attend Rocco shows/events with

Tempest

[Bonusrocco]

Interesting stuff! SO Classic Parts would be quite keen on 'encouraging' enthusiasts to reference the diagrams etc would they not... thats if they have a copy to lend...

[lewp91]

you can torrent etka 7.3 online... i've got it, im at collge though so i can't post links as it's a banned link here.

[Mr Funk]

Please don't post it here either.

[GTXTRA]

Reinforcing Mr Funks comment.

[hiltow]

Interesting insight, Tempest.

Also, £3000 for a licence to use ETKA is, well, ridiculous. I could write on all night about how silly VW's likely stance on not allowing the likes of us reasonable access, but I won't!

Perhaps, as VW appears to be driven on making as much money as possible, the only basis for allowing wider access would be on the grounds that it will make it easier for more people to buy more parts that they will make more money on!

[Tempest]

The issue with Etka and VW is that VW do not actually own the software either. It´s owned by the developers: Lexcom. So all VW have is similar to what a typical Windows-User has: Nothing bar a license. To clarify: Windows users do not actually own the software! Just the license, which acts as a right to the use of the software.

Tempest

[Bonusrocco]

Yes! Its back up!