Servicing

[HillWalker]

I'm sure its been covered on here before but as a newish owner of a 1.4 petrol I can't get my head around this fixed or variable servicing regime, I purchased the car from a main dealer in November 2013 with a mileage of 21,000 looking in the handbook I noted that the vehicle had been serviced the previous March at a mileage of 18500 when it was exactly 2yrs old.  My problem is that the vehicle as now only done 23,000 miles and its telling me it needs a service in 17 days, as I only do about 6,000 miles a year I didn't expect it to need a service after only doing 4500 miles since the last service, when it went 2yrs and 18000 miles before its first service.   

 

Many Thanks       Hillwalker

[Ootohere]

Could it be that last March it was changed on the Service Indicator to 'Fixed Servicing'  possibly Wrongly, but you need to check.

372 Days,  (1 year & 1 week)

[Ryeman]

I'm sure its been covered on here before but as a newish owner of a 1.4 petrol I can't get my head around this fixed or variable servicing regime, I purchased the car from a main dealer in November 2013 with a mileage of 21,000 looking in the handbook I noted that the vehicle had been serviced the previous March at a mileage of 18500 when it was exactly 2yrs old.  My problem is that the vehicle as now only done 23,000 miles and its telling me it needs a service in 17 days, as I only do about 6,000 miles a year I didn't expect it to need a service after only doing 4500 miles since the last service, when it went 2yrs and 18000 miles before its first service.   

 

Many Thanks       Hillwalker

My attitude would be that if I was doing mostly short trips in a fairly cold climate I'd be doing an intermediate oil/ filter change ie 6 months after each annual service.

If, on the other hand, it was garaged and only used occasionally on longer trips, annual would be ok.

Most manufacturers tend to class short cold trips, dusty roads or heavy towing as 'severe' requiring intermediate servicing.

[FlintstoneR1]

My attitude would be that if I was doing mostly short trips in a fairly cold climate I'd be doing an intermediate oil/ filter change ie 6 months after each annual service.

If, on the other hand, it was garaged and only used occasionally on longer trips, annual would be ok.

Most manufacturers tend to class short cold trips, dusty roads or heavy towing as 'severe' requiring intermediate servicing.

Bang on!  Although a petrol will stand for more abuse of the short trips combined with long oil change intervals variety than a diesel. Due to putting slightly less contamination into the oil in those circumstances and journey pattern. Plus you don't have a DPF to worry about.

Most importantly from the OP's point of view though, the frequency of oil changes would be what a buyer like myself would be looking for when it comes to selling on the car. Low annual mileage plus long (>8-10,000) oil changes = abused motor and "walk away" for an increasing number of discerning 2nd hand buyers. Whereas high mileage + regular changes = lots of easy motorway miles, so safe buy.

[gadgetman]

10k is a long interval? Wow.

There is no need to do intermediate services. If you do less than 10k/year or mostly short trips then you should be on fixed.

Oil on a diesel will look like crap after restarting with new oil. So not always a good indication as it is on a petrol

[JCP]

It all depends on whether you have engineers or accountants setting your service regime. If you aim for the fleet market model you write down the cost of the vehicle and off it goes to auction every penny spent on maintenance is money down the drain as the benefit goes to the later owner. If you intend to change at 3 years just legal tyres and stale oil are your goal.

[awfabia]

We have an R reg 1.0 Polo in our family from new with 100,000 trouble free miles on the clock. Basic rule ' oil and filter change every year or 12,000 miles'. If you aren't doing the Skoda 10,000 miles, I'd still change oil and filter - not an expensive job and gets rid of any contaminants in the oil e.g. water.

Not to worry you but something to consider......

[gadgetman]

We have an R reg 1.0 Polo in our family from new with 100,000 trouble free miles on the clock. Basic rule ' oil and filter change every year or 12,000 miles'. If you aren't doing the Skoda 10,000 miles, I'd still change oil and filter - not an expensive job and gets rid of any contaminants in the oil e.g. water.

Not to worry you but something to consider......

My works car has just had a long life service at 88k (24 months) without issues. Other cars in the fleet are upto 200k,all long life service and none have exploded or died with major failures.

Modern oils can more than cope with 10k or even 20k+ between services.

[littleade]

I'm sure its been covered on here before but as a newish owner of a 1.4 petrol I can't get my head around this fixed or variable servicing regime, I purchased the car from a main dealer in November 2013 with a mileage of 21,000 looking in the handbook I noted that the vehicle had been serviced the previous March at a mileage of 18500 when it was exactly 2yrs old.  My problem is that the vehicle as now only done 23,000 miles and its telling me it needs a service in 17 days, as I only do about 6,000 miles a year I didn't expect it to need a service after only doing 4500 miles since the last service, when it went 2yrs and 18000 miles before its first service.   

 

Many Thanks       Hillwalker

Was it's 2nd service or it's 1st. At under 10, 000 a year it would probably be on the fixed 12 months/10, 000 miles which ever came first, if so that should have been it's second if its on the fixed service regime. Variable is aimed at high milage cars that spend most of their time on the motorway, but isn't really suitable for low milage cars that do a lot of short journeys. At 6k a year fixed would appear to be the correct regime for your car now, irrespective of what it was on previously.

[JCP]

My works car has just had a long life service at 88k (24 months) without issues. Other cars in the fleet are upto 200k,all long life service and none have exploded or died with major failures.

Modern oils can more than cope with 10k or even 20k+ between services.

"My great uncle smoked 60 full strength Capstan every day and lived to 99". 

More seriously a mate ran a Renault 4 more than 100k with no maintenance other than replacing things which broke or fell off-in the end everything was worn out but with a car which represents my own money I prefer to maintain it on engineering principles-I change tyres before they are worn to the legal limit and change the   oil before contamination can compromise it's efficiency-never had a company car so never tried neglecting one. How were your brake pads at 88k?

[Llanigraham]

What have the brakes got to do with it? GM doesn't say that the first service was at 88k.

 

My Yeti has done nearly 80k miles in 3 years and has been serviced roughly every 18k miles as it is on the variable system. I am perfectly happy with that as I realise that modern engine construction and oil technology has move on a long way since the days of BMC A series engines and oil changes at 3k miles. Modern oils are far better than the old Castrol GTX and are far more resilient to contamination and wear, as are modern filters.

 

If people wish to spend lots of extra money on wasteful servicing then carry on, but don't criticise us that accept that the world has moved on 

[Austin 7]

Hello Hillwalker

 

It does seem likely that the regime was changed at the last service from Variable (Max 2 years / 20000 miles) to Fixed (Max 1 year regardless), so it's simply calling for service on the basis of time regardless of mileage.  Look in the Handbook to see how to check the service regime code from the multi-function display, or get a dealer to show you.  My 1.4 petrol does about 9000 miles a year with short to medium journeys and the odd longer trip.  I'm happy with longlife servicing from the Main Dealer, which will be due soon, combined with regular visual checks and an intermediate oil and filter change which I do myself. The latter may be unnecessary but it's my car and I intend to keep it so err on the side of caution.

 

One thing that impresses me with this engine is that cold weather and short journeys don't seem to degrade fuel consumption much at all.  i wonder if the direct injection means that cold start enrichment can be kept to a minimum.  My 6 mile journey (from cold) to work results in 42 mpg going, and 45 mpg coming back (it's more downhill). This is with super unleaded and 16 inch winter tyres, I have found each to be consistently worth around 5% on mpg. Overall average for the whole of last year was 41 mpg, checked from the pump quantities though the maxidot agrees with this.

[gadgetman]

"My great uncle smoked 60 full strength Capstan every day and lived to 99".

More seriously a mate ran a Renault 4 more than 100k with no maintenance other than replacing things which broke or fell off-in the end everything was worn out but with a car which represents my own money I prefer to maintain it on engineering principles-I change tyres before they are worn to the legal limit and change the oil before contamination can compromise it's efficiency-never had a company car so never tried neglecting one. How were your brake pads at 88k?

Front brake pads were changed (they were original) and were 70% worn. Just in amber, were green at last service.

Not sure what rears are, but were green on the health check form. I'm assuming they'll need doing next service, but because of the Electronic brake and hill hold the pads when new are bigger than normal I'm lead to believe.

[HillWalker]

Hi Austin 7  Thanks for the reply, I did wonder if the schedule had been changed at the previous service because the code in the front of the service book is QG1 which means it was originally set for variable servicing. Do you know if its possible for me to set it back to the variable setting ,and if so how,   Thanks

[littleade]

If its the same as the mk2 octy it would have been set on variable at the factory and depending on what milage the original owner did they should have either changed it to fixed as part of the pdi or left it on variable. In general if you've got maxidot you can change from variable to fixed but you'll probably have to get the dealer to set it back to variable when you get it serviced next. Alternatively someone with vcds would probably be able to do it too.

[MajorTom]

I don't believe in the extended service intervals at 2 years/30,000km etc.: an old friend of mine is regional head of a major motor manufacturer, and he said that they were introduced only in response to demand from the fleet and lease markets, and that the engineers said, "well it will probably be OK for 3-4 years". Modern oils may be better but there are no free lunches.

 

I've had my daily driver serviced annually (it does 12000 hard km/year) but my wife's Subaru has been on a fixed 15,000km regime. The Skoda will likely be serviced annually, and it'll be in the shop for upgrades to brakes, suspension etc. in between times, so there are plenty of opportunities to keep an eye on it. I also have a ScanguageII to monitor the engine and see what codes get thrown up - useful nowadays since a Check Engine Light is an MOT fail and you can use the Scanguage to clear the irrelevant ones. 

[docc]

Isn't it also a nice little trick played by motor manufacturers (like Skoda) to make 3 year 'free' servicing deals seem like more of a bargain than they actually are?

[weasley]

If you are only doing 6,000 miles a year then the advice will be to stay on fixed servicing. Low annual mileage tends to suggest short journeys, which are not great for the oil.

[gadgetman]

Isn't it also a nice little trick played by motor manufacturers (like Skoda) to make 3 year 'free' servicing deals seem like more of a bargain than they actually are?

The idea is that the car when traded back in for your next one will have full manufacturers service history, and can be sold as approved and thus generate more profit for the dealers

[Ydnaroo]

Hi

 

I assume that there's a little leeway on the mileage/time that cars have to be serviced to maintain the Skoda 3 year warranty cover. Can anyone tell me what the leeway is?

 

I might be looking at a used Yeti that is outside the dealer network over the weekend. The car is on about 10K and is 2 years and 2 weeks old. I assume it is on variable servicing and should be serviced at 20K/2years. If the car has not already been serviced, (I'm guessing it won't have been), how long would I have to get it serviced by Skoda to maintain the warranty cover?

 

Also (probably a question for a dealer rep) could I go to a Skoda agent and take up the 'Used Car Service plan' offer or can it only be bought with a car through a dealer?

 

Cheers - Andy

[Llanigraham]

If it is on "fixed" servicing then it should have been serviced at 10k or 12 months. If on "variable" you can't actually quote a mileage as that is obviously variable, but certainly within 12 months of the last service.

 

As I understand it the "Used Skoda Service Plan" is only available from a dealer.

[Ydnaroo]

Hi Llanigraham

 

Thanks for the reply. I understood from a post further up that variable limit was 20K/2years max (it/I might be wrong) so there's a possibility that the vehicle have only just come due for it's first service (it's actually 2 years and 1 week old, not as I posted above). I'll need to look at the service booklet and indicator if/when I view the car.

 

Also, on the service plan query, I understand that you can only get the offer through a Skoda dealer but I was wondering can you get it for a car you already own (i.e. purchased elsewhere), or, can you only buy the plan along with an approved used car purchased from a Skoda agent.

 

I posted my initial post above thinking that I wouldn't be able to get any info from Skoda until Monday but I've just noticed that my local agent (Mitchells - E-Port) have their service department open AM tomorrow so I can ring them in the morning and ask these questions. Nonetheless, I still appreciate the info given and any more that might come. It's all food for thought!

 

Thanks again.

 

Cheers - Andy

Edited 28 March, 2014 by Ydnaroo

[gadgetman]

They usually allow a week or 10000 miles.

If it's only done 10k it should be on fixed intervals

[Llanigraham]

Mines on variable and I have always been told the max is 20k or 12 months, and mine has always worked out at about every 18k, but then I normally do 2.5k a month. I would say it was extremely unlikely that a car with that few miles was on variable, therefore it should be done at 10k or at 12 months.

 

That car should have had at least 2 services, which ever regime it was on.

 

I would agree that there seems to be a 1k leeway for the service, in either direction, but I was told 2 weeks by the dealer I use.

 

If you are buying a car from out of the dealer network then the only way you will get a warranty will be to buy an external one. Skoda will only give their official warranty for a vehicle sold under the Skoda Approved Used Car scheme. Is that what you mean when you say "service plan"? Or are you thinking of the service offers that are only available to NEW cars?

[Ydnaroo]

Hi again.

 

If I were buying a car where the servicing regime has been followed correctly I would expect it to have the balance of the Skoda 3 year warranty left regardless of where I bought it. Maybe not.

 

This is the service plan I'm referring to: http://www.skoda.co.uk/owners/service-and-maintenance/service-plans , half way down the page 'Used Car Service plan'.

 

Cheers - Andy