Long life servicing and prices

[Vyncenze]

Hi all

Bought a '18 plate 1.4 150 earlier this year. It had 13k on it and is on long life servicing. I should probably have got the oil changed when I bought it, but didn't so now looking to get it booked in for what will be its first service. Bit confused about the pricing...

My local dealer is quoting £209 for the first service, which they said is a 'minor' one (so basically oil and filter change as far as I can see). On the Seat website though, minor services are priced at £175, but they do say long life service costs vary - I don't see why as presumably an oil change is an oil change? So should I be arguing this should be at the website price? I'm going to ask them to move it onto fixed (yearly) intervals now anyway, so can't see that they will do anything different to a fixed interval service?

Hope that makes sense. I don't mind paying dealer prices in general as I think it's worth it for the future value, but I do want to pay the right price for what I'm getting...

Cheers

Joe

 

[mdaw1985]

I have just bought a 17 plate a few months back on the long life service. It only had 9k on the clock but they did service it before I bought it. I just wonder how many stick to the long life service plan and how it might effect trade in value in the future with other brands or independent trade in like webuyanycar etc?

 

[Maypack]

Seat UK hold all servicing records online now as well so selling to another brand and proving Service history is not easy. You could keep all receipts (as most do) but that wouldn’t cover things like recall work like I’ve just had on my CUPRA LED headlights.




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[BoomerBoom]

Your car missed the 10,000 mile minor service, so requires a tiny bit more attention and hence costs more.

It might only be an additional level check, or tick box on the list - but they will charge you for everything they can.

The service costs are not representative of what they actually do, you are paying a large profit margin for something an independent would charge you half that figure. If oil change is important to you then you can maintain the warranty by doing this and getting an invoice showing genuine filter & oil were used.

Flexible service regime is only slightly better value but you need to factor in all the things that require intermittent replacement: spark plugs, fuel filters, etc. These get added to the £295 biannual charge, hence why the charge varies.

I've got an '18 Leon on a lease and it's going to wait until 18,000 miles for it's first flexible service, as the servicing is such poor value.

 

[Mr Pig]

Servicing is where dealers make money. They do very little and charge as much as possible. The only reason to get your car dealer serviced is to keep future buyers happy.

I know a guy who was Vauxhall Master Mechanic and he says they best place to get your car serviced is a specialist independent. He said that the time constraints on dealer mechanics are ridiculous and there is no way the job can be done as well as it should be. It's all about money.

 

[hilly81]

I have just bought an 18 plate 1.4 150 ACT. It is on longlife and was serviced at 19k this year. Now on 26k. I'll be getting a full service at a local indy (Unit20, Wirral) done after the winter and every year after regardless of the schedule.

 

[RUM4MO]

The oil used "might" be different if the car is on variable/flexible servicing, what I do know is, if you buy a servicing package with the car when new, at least VW workshops use the most basic VW spec of oil they can and the most basic pollen filter - every penny counts! For instance my wife's Polo 1.2TSI 16V is allowed to use 502 spec oil but would have left the factory with 504 which is a variable/flexible servicing schedule approved oil for that engine and set on longlife/variable/flexible servicing, but altered at PDI time to suit the individual customer's annual mileage - well that is the VW intention.

 

[Mr Pig]

The oil used "might" be different if the car is on variable/flexible servicing..

I buy my stuff from a VW-group supplier and no matter what Seat or VW car I buy oil for, it's always the same oil. Besides, why would you want to long life service you car anyway?

 

[RUM4MO]

I buy my stuff from a VW-group supplier and no matter what Seat or VW car I buy oil for, it's always the same oil. Besides, why would you want to long life service you car anyway?

I don't leave any of my cars on long life servicing, well maybe my Audi S4 that was bought slightly used and still set on long life servicing and with extended Audi warranty, I just changed the oil and filter with Mobil 1 ESP 5W-30 myself at the "inbetween" years and changed the service warnings settings after it was out of warranty.

Since VW UK stopped selling Quantum Gold, I moved to Fuchs Super Synth, then maybe 8 years ago moved to Mobil 1 ESP 5W-30 and just use that in all the VW Group cars I need to service to date. I like the intended reduction in engine wear that came as part of the 504 spec so using that suits me, maybe slightly over the top but - each to their own I'd reckon.

 

[Mr Pig]

II like the intended reduction in engine wear that came as part of the 504 spec..

If you buy VW-spec oil that's pretty much all you'll get.

 

[Carbonara]

My 1st service was charged at £209 and they wouldn't budge on it. No problem this time for me since they were really good accommodating me before handover last year.

What annoyed me was the disguising of £16.67+VAT for "Service care & Tyre" which the person on service said was "free" when questioned. No it's not as you apply VAT to it, but maybe because it's part of the £209 total you have persuaded yourself it's free and you're comfortable with borderline fraud.

Maybe it's for the pack of sprays (waterless car wash, microfibre towels etc.) that I would never want as I asked you not to wwash the car for me. I do these things myself. Plus, if it's for tyres - I used to buy them for a national fast fit group!

Anyway, SEAT came to the rescue allowing me to buy a service pack which was unavailable at the handover of the car. Strangely our other SEAT has this and never gets any extras.

Please treat me and my wife with respect and with the knowledge that we do check tyres, oil levels etc. and are not company car drivers some of whom don't have any mechanical sympathy and need spoon feeding.

£414 or less for 2 services is the way to go, but it's not in the dealers' interests to highlight this.

 

[Vyncenze]

Thanks all

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being ripped off more than anyone else by the dealer price of £209 - sounds like that's a standard price so that's fine.

Just need to decide whether to move it to fixed intervals now or leave it on long life and do an oil change myself midway through. So left on the long life/flexible plan when would the 'major' service be - in another 19k or in a year?

 

[BoomerBoom]

It's 2 years or 18,000 miles between major services, there is no interval service on flexible.

So if yours has done 13k then you've got another 5k or so before you need the £295 service. Don't mix the two up, otherwise you'll void the warranty.

 

[Vyncenze]

Ok, but mine is on 18k now (I didn't make that clear in my OP - bought it at 13k miles but it's now at 18k), so it's asking for both an oil service (in about 500miles) and an inspection service (in about 1200). So should I be getting both done at once - in which case it's presumably a bigger service and higher cost? I did explain this on the phone but the service guy still said £209...

It's 2 years or 18,000 miles between major services, there is no interval service on flexible.

So if yours has done 13k then you've got another 5k or so before you need the £295 service. Don't mix the two up, otherwise you'll void the warranty.

 

[BoomerBoom]

Provided you've requested an inspection service for a car on the flexible regime then that's what they've quoted you for. Once they've got you committed they will find many other things that 'must' be done - but you can challenge these.

The first inspection service isn't much more than an oil & filter change, as you won't need any other filters or plugs yet, so is still poor value.

 

[RUM4MO]

I think that the way all VW Group marques deal with servicing can lead to confusion, maybe even worse if you buy a slightly used VW Group car with extended warranty that regardless of how the servicing is set up will always get a "before sale oil change", I used to get fed up with Audi pestering me for service one month and expecting me to book it in again a couple of months later for inspection work!

 

[KXL]

Back in the day when we bought the Leon on PCP, it would include 2 free services!