Can I ask what everyone's opinion is on Variable Servicing; is it better for the vehicle, to save money or in what respect is it superior to the normal service regime of say every year or 10k miles?

I ask this as my car is on Variable, but I have just received an email from the dealer requesting I book in for a service as my time is up so to speak.

It matters not, to me, whether I get it done anually or or variable as I have the free servicing offer from last year when you bought with some finance, but I have always believed in very regular oil changes, and leaving the car till 19K miles to do this just does not seem right.

Has anyone who has the free 3yr service arrangement (or paid for it) always stuck to what the car tells you or do you service anually, and do the dealers try to stick to variable or do they actually care.

I cover 1000 plus miles a month so I will hit the service milage around July time( at 16 months old)

Im not on any service agreement The car is on variable but I have oil & filter done at approx mid way, dealer terms it a "lube service" I feel that with oil beiong the life blood of a turbo the variable period is just to long

The variable/set servicing debate will depend on how many miles that you do (and the type) per year. I would suggest that at 12k per annum you would be better going for the fixed servicing rather than the variable - especially if you are on the free service plan - that is what mine is set to. At 1k per month you are likely to be 18 months or so between services. I prefer the oil to be changed more regularly than that.

A couple of thoughts on this:

Fresh oil is better than old oil (to the same spec)

The more chance a fitter has to get his hands on your car the greater the chance of him screwing something up.

As soon as my car is out of warranty then it will be serviced by someone who will do it

1/ properly

2/ with care and attention to detail

3/ will not ‘just do it by the book’ - air filters will be done at every variable service etc

4/ the car will be treated as if it were there own.

Yep, I will be doing it

If you are someone that likes to just drive the car and only check things when a warning light comes on then yearly 10K mile services are a good thing, if however you check the car regularly yourself, do a decent mileage without loads of cold running (or stop start all the time) then IMO variable servicing is the way forward.

To all the proper mechanics, please not if you can diagnose a problem without a computer and repair it rather than just change the part then you would be glad to hear that you are NOT a fitter.

BTW I am on variable servicing (and so were my previous 2 Škodas)

I ran three Skodas solely on variable servicing, covering 200K miles across all three. Never once had any issues with the engine or otherwise. The MK2 Octavia covered 99K miles with just 4 services, and it was still faultless and did not use any oil between services, and breezed through MOTs. I was however doing 24K miles per year, so it was in reality going into the dealer once a year.

I do a similar mileage so the car gets serviced every 9-10 months (it's one year or 9500 miles [15k Kms]). I go to an independent since a minor services with him is £80 Vs £200 at a franchise plus he does it properly.

I can only say that the engine in mine runs like it did when new.

I read here once upon a time - If you are only going to keep your car new-3yr variable is fine if you've an older car or you plan to keep hold of it a long while go fixed.

First thing I did on mine was switch it to fixed service. I do about 9K per year, and would prefer it serviced once a year.

It's worth pointing out what the two different service regimes entail.

Fixed is an oil change and very little else (read the codes and check tread depth on tyres and meat on the break pads) Once a year or 15000 km.

Every two years do the same plus a very good inspection.

Variable is just the normal two year inspection service, but carried out when the car says it needs it.

In the past a variable service required a long life oil but now most cars on fixed would require the same oil anyway so there is no justification for charging more for a variable service than the inspection service.

For someone on average mileage, a variable schedule is effectively a skipping of the oil service every other year. If you are having a variable service every two years and you change the oil in between, then there is no logical difference between what you are doing and fixed servicing?

There are very definite recommendations from VAG on their website regarding which is best for you. According to them it is not simply preference - some people should be on fixed whether they like it or not. For example, stop start driving patterns or a lot of towing.

Changing of air filters, fuel filters, spark plugs, timing belts etc are separate issues and have their own schedules.

Personally, I now change oil, air, fuel and pollen filters myself once a year. I inspect the car best I can and the very strict NCT/MOT we have in Ireland means I don't have to worry about missing anything or trust a dealer to do an inspection I know from experience they rush and skip anyway.

I don't see doing this will save me any money by the way since I'm changing filters more often than recommended, but you should see the colour of a fuel filter on Irish diesel after a year never mind the four VAG recommends.

Edit for spelling.

Edited 23 January, 201313 yr by FriendlyFire

I was told that cars on Skoda finance have to be serviced as per the fixed schedule. The service paperwork confirmed this too.

No way would I let a TDI go up to 30,000 miles without an oil change. This obivously might be ok for people doing a lot of miles a year where you might actually reach 20,000+ miles in a year anyway.

Always best, IMO to stick with yearly services or regular 10,000 mile ones to keep new oil going round the turbo etc.

Phil

If variable servicing were an issue - Skoda wouldn't offer it

Car components are made to such higher quality than the "good old days". Oil technology has also improved, so the stuff you put in will remain as good as it was throughout the time it spends in your engine.

My first service was at 19k miles and looking at the car itself the second will be at around 37k

I'm happy for the car to tell me when it wants servicing.

On the three years/30k miles free servicing deal it makes sense for the dealer to do it three times (they get paid). After that go variable and maybe get additional oil changes in-between.

If variable servicing were an issue - Skoda wouldn't offer it

Or !

Skoda need to keep servicing costs low to sell cars, especially to fleets, any damage that might occur due to less frequent servicing & oil changes probably wont show until the car is on its second or more owner, & certainly out of warranty. just another way of looking at it

Edited 23 January, 201313 yr by Stuart_J

I think we have a cynic in our midst!

Both my cars are serviced yearly, I've never been a fan of long life. Renault and pug/Citroen have recently announced that services will revert to yearly or a set mileage.

No way would I let a TDI go up to 30,000 miles without an oil change. This obivously might be ok for people doing a lot of miles a year where you might actually reach 20,000+ miles in a year anyway.

Always best, IMO to stick with yearly services or regular 10,000 mile ones to keep new oil going round the turbo etc.

Phil

There isn't a variable option for 30000 miles, it's around 18500 max which is 30k km

As above if you have the dealers service plan, or do less than 10k/year you must stick to fixed servicing.

Otherwise variable is fine. My 07 octavia is fine on it (had since new) and the works car is due its 3rd service on variable in 6k . It was picked up December 2011

Or !

Skoda need to keep servicing costs low to sell cars, especially to fleets, any damage that might occur due to less frequent servicing & oil changes probably wont show until the car is on its second or more owner, & certainly out of warranty. just another way of looking at it

Also bare in mind the expected life span of a car is circa 100k miles so any failure after this due to lack of servicing is by the by because the lifespan the vehicle has been designed for has been surpassed.

I wouldn't be surprised in a few years to see service free vehicles, I.e. doesn't need servicing within the 100k expected lifespan.

our 1.4 Elegance is on variable. at about 20 months it pinged requesting a service- they changed the oil and did little else. 2 months later we got a letter from the same garage "don't forget that a brake fluid change should be done before the car is 2 years old."

I think we have a cynic in our midst!

That'll be two then.

The financial reward of fleet sales (where offering variable servicing is essential) will always out weigh private sales from the likes of you and me.

Any failures as a result of degraded oil/filters won't surface until after the three year warranty, by wich time most fleets will have moved the vehicles on as well as the car being out of warranty and therefore out of Skoda UK's responsibility.

I'm a believer of fresh oil around every 12 months.

The wife does 8,000 miles/year so her Octavia is set to fixed so it gets fresh oil once a year.

I do 30,000 miles/year and am on variable so my Octavia gets fresh oil every 8 months or so.

As friendly fire says depends on how you drive. you're also assuming it will go to 20K before it wants a service? If you are you might be in for a surprise as the onboard engine management system determines when it needs doing depending on how you've driven and what types of journeys you've done. the cost of 2 variable services is not much less than 2 minors and 1 major you'd have on a fixed so you get an extra oil change if you opt for fixed.

I've read on other posts the variable service plan may be as a result of pressure bought to bear by fleet service managers wanting to keep downtime and costs to a minimum though can't say whether this is true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was.

My preference would be to go for fixed if you don't mind the inconvieinece of the extra service

Anyone who pays the recommended £249 for a major / variable service is mad.

The only difference between the minor/fixed service and the major/variable service is the air and fuel filter (and spark plugs on petrol engines).

A genuine air filter is £15 delivered off eBay, 30 seconds to fit. A genuine fuel filter is £10 off eBay, 10 minutes to fit.

£129 (fixed) to £249 (variable) is a difference of £120 for £25's worth of parts and an extra 30 minutes labour.

I pay £129 for the oil and filter and pollen filter, an extra £50 for the fuel filter and fit the air filter myself, so £180 max for what they call a major service...

http://www.skoda.co.uk/gbr/owners/national-pricing/pages/servicing.aspx

So the major service £249 lists check/replenish gear oil. Woud this include the DSG gear change or is that an extra?

I'm tempted to do some the servicing myself but at the same time I would like to keep the fully stamped up service book so I'm torn!

The next service it's due is just a minor (I think).

Phil

Also bare in mind the expected life span of a car is circa 100k miles so any failure after this due to lack of servicing is by the by because the lifespan the vehicle has been designed for has been surpassed.

I wouldn't be surprised in a few years to see service free vehicles, I.e. doesn't need servicing within the 100k expected lifespan.

Its here

From another Forum :- I know the North Star engine as used in many Cadillacs had a 100,000 mile interval for first service (they also claimed you could drive a fair distance with no water in the system and some distance with no oil!). The North Star V8 is otherwise quite unsophisticated

Thanks for everyones input. Previously with my other cars, I would get the annual services done when the car was in Warranty, then revert to either do it myself, or my local indy garage who always uses dealer filters etc if I didnt have the time. I also sometimes used to do an oil change every 6 months depending on where I was working,( 2miles to work and back).

For the last couple of years, I have been doing 50 miles daily(motorway/ 'A' roads) average speed 50mph with very few stop start driving. so this I think would suit the variable it appears. I said 1000 miles a month but it will be probably 14 to 15k mile per year with holidays etc.

Historically, I would prefer the fixed service, but I was given no option, the sticker in the car and the service book states variable as per display, but the car is on PCP hire so someone states above that it must be on the fixed service regime.

The car is now overdue a fixed service (12.5k miles currently). I usually think the dealer service costs are expensive for basically an oil/ filter change and a quick look around the brakes, and a top up of the washer fluid.

Best ring the dealer to see what they suggest.

Cheers

Edited 24 January, 201313 yr by ianbenny