Question about servicing a new car
Mr Whippy - 17/1/19 at 08:10 AM
If you buy a car from a dealer and it is under warranty and as part of the 5 year finance plan (no final payment to keep the car), they say you must
take it to the dealer for the regular services. All just fine by me and I’ll get them to do the MOT’s too as they cost the same as the local
garage.
However, me being me and wanting to keep this car for a very long time I would like to do extra servicing and my own maintenance on top of what the
service schedule requires. Supposing I only use genuine VW parts I buy from their parts department and the exact oil, fluids they sell etc then there
should be no issues with the warranty etc? As the car is a blank slate I’d like to keep it in top condition from the start… plus save on their labour
rates since I notice that almost all of their maintenance checks are just that, checks...
If it I could get my way I'd actually fully underseal the car too with Raptor bedliner but don't think I will get away with that 
What do you think?
joneh - 17/1/19 at 08:19 AM
I thought you could get your servicing done wherever you wanted and can keep the warranty. One of the gifts from the EU.
It sounds like they've circumnavigated this by including it in the Financial T&C's. I'd check these. I guess the worse that can
happen is your finance deal gets cancelled and they demand full payment.
cliftyhanger - 17/1/19 at 08:49 AM
In reality you are talking extra oil changes (no bad thing given some of the intervals)
So use a quality correct spec oil and genuine VW filter and they simply won't know.
No need for any other fluid changes, except brake fluid. And that is often £25 for a garage to do it. Coolant good for at least 5 years (toyota say
10)
No need for bedliner underneath, but you could use some dinitrol hard wax. Looks like underseal, but is a wax so juts a protection that can be removed
easily if needed.. That is very tough (forget waxoil)
gaz_gaz - 17/1/19 at 09:31 AM
My 2016 BMW 335d has 18k mile service intervals.. I think this is inadequate anyway but I also take the car on the odd track day and it's been to
Nurburgring a couple of times. I do an oil and filter change every 6k using the recommended oil bought from whoever is selling it cheapest and a
genuine BMW filter. I leave everything else for BMW to do. With the service plan offered when I bought the car it's not much cheaper having at
serviced at an independent.
After 40k miles it still looks new underneath so I wouldn't worry about undersealing your VW
nick205 - 17/1/19 at 09:51 AM
quote:
Originally posted by joneh
I thought you could get your servicing done wherever you wanted and can keep the warranty. One of the gifts from the EU.
It sounds like they've circumnavigated this by including it in the Financial T&C's. I'd check these. I guess the worse that can
happen is your finance deal gets cancelled and they demand full payment.
^^^ These are my thoughts as well ^^^
That said I had a 2007 VW Passat 2.0 TDI some years ago. It was on VW Long Life Oil which equeated to oil changes every 18-20k miles - I shudder at
the thought - 10k miles top for me. Ultimately it was a company car and all servicing was included and done by the local VW main dealer.
A few years later I bought my own 2007 VW Passat 2.0 TDI. I chose to service this myself and the oil and filter were changed every 7-8k miles using
VW spec oil. I felt far more comfortable doing this and avoided the garage costs. A local independant VW specialist changed the cam belt and
MoT'd it for me, but the rest I did myself.
In your case I can see you'd like to increase the oil change frequency. Provided you stick to VW supplied filters and oil I really can't
see that VW would ever be aware. Longer term you're only only protecting the vehicle (engine particularly) by doing this.
*** I would check all agreements you have with the dealer carefully though and make certain you're tied to having servicing done by them. I
really thought EU law allowed for car owners to choose their garage and the vehicle warranty to remain unaffected ***
Mr Whippy - 17/1/19 at 11:59 AM
Well I've been trawling through all their fine print and contract stuff... so this is what I have found -
1) Nothing in the VW finance agreement says I have to take it to a dealer or maintain the service history, all it does say is -
- keep the Vehicle in good repair and condition , commensurate with its age and mileage.
3.2 You will be responsible for any damage to or deterioration of the Vehicle which is in excess of fair wear and tear commensurate with the age and
mileage of the Vehicle.
2) The service plan I took out, hmmmm not very happy with that, it does say I have to take it to the dealer for the next 2 services, basically their
warranty period on the car however I payed £49 to set it up (BS cost for nothing really) and they say I'm due them nothing if I cancel and if I
do I can just service and maintain it as I see fit, i.e. do a better job than them...
Their "warranty" excludes pretty much everything from snapped belts to blown gearbox, next to worthless really and you can tell everything
else will just be "oh but that is just normal wear"...
Was also thinking that since I intend to keep the car for the next 10, 15 or more years really there is no real benefit to having a full service
history and if you look at their "major" service they replace - oil, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs. Everything else is just a check
and for that they want £349 really...
I would be far better just servicing it far better myself and cancelling their service plan and going ahead and undersealing the car now
nick205 - 17/1/19 at 12:14 PM
An item I replace annually on diesel vehicles is the fuel filter. OEM filters are not expensive and on VAG group cars it's a 10-15 minute job to
do (it's very similar to the cartridge oil filters). After a year of use the filters come out filthy and for the ease and low cost of replacing
them I just do it. When you take your car to most garages (certainly main dealers) for a service you have to actually state that you want this job
doing otherwise they simply don't touch it.
Mr Whippy - 17/1/19 at 12:56 PM
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
An item I replace annually on diesel vehicles is the fuel filter. OEM filters are not expensive and on VAG group cars it's a 10-15 minute job to
do (it's very similar to the cartridge oil filters). After a year of use the filters come out filthy and for the ease and low cost of replacing
them I just do it. When you take your car to most garages (certainly main dealers) for a service you have to actually state that you want this job
doing otherwise they simply don't touch it.
followed by a normal wear and tear on the injectors....
Just looked it all up, so sticking with Bosch OEM parts and the exact oil VW recommend it all comes to £62.61 parts for their £349 service!
nick205 - 17/1/19 at 02:55 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
An item I replace annually on diesel vehicles is the fuel filter. OEM filters are not expensive and on VAG group cars it's a 10-15 minute job to
do (it's very similar to the cartridge oil filters). After a year of use the filters come out filthy and for the ease and low cost of replacing
them I just do it. When you take your car to most garages (certainly main dealers) for a service you have to actually state that you want this job
doing otherwise they simply don't touch it.
followed by a normal wear and tear on the injectors....
Just looked it all up, so sticking with Bosch OEM parts and the exact oil VW recommend it all comes to £62.61 parts for their £349 service!
They like a good hourly rate on labour that's for sure!
Like you I much prefer to do the work myself and pay a little more atention to what I'm doing on the vehicle.
steve m - 17/1/19 at 05:59 PM
Ive never taken any of my cars to a main stealer, and NEVER will,
When my Father was still driving, he did with his cars, and the problems that came about afterwards were awful
He even got a 6 month old car given to him, to stop the court proceedings, back in the mid 70's
I could list them, but havnt got that much time in my life to do so,