The Octy has been in for its 3rd Variable/Longlife Service this week; however, upon collecting it from the dealer, the inspection service was set to 18700 miles (30000 km) / 365 days, whereas the oil change service was set to 18700 miles / 730 days. 

 

Initially I believed that this was an error by the dealer (as my 2 previous services and the 3 previous on the Leon had not been like this), but after challenging them, I was informed the following from the master tech and service manager:

 

'for vehicles MY2013 (sic MQB platform) onwards the first Longlife service is 18700 miles / 730 days; however, after the first service it reverts to 18700 miles / 365 days for inspection service and 18700 miles / 730 days for the oil change service.'

 

The reason for this was the fact that after the first 2 years, Skoda want to see the vehicle every year for a £45.00 inspection service.

 

This is is utterly ludicrous in my opinion and totally undermines the whole 'condition based maintenance' Longlife rationale - You pay more for the Longlife Service in the first place, and then have to pay extra for the inspection service out of phase, and have the inconvenience of having to still go to the dealer annually. 

 

Furthermore, this differs from the rest of VAG. A screen shot from Audi.co.uk is below:

 

Come on Skoda - surely this is a backward step?  

 

Fortunately I have VCDS and in 2 mins everything will be set properly (and in line with the remainder of VAG).

 

Edited 8 June, 20179 yr by Black_Sheep

That does seem silly, I also thought the inspection intervals were every 2 years or 18.7k. How/Where in VCDS can it be changed?

Select Control Module >> 17 Instruments >> Adaptations >> Select Channel >> IDE03350-Fix: Maximum time until next time-dependant inspection

 

Change value from 365 to 730 >> Do It

 

The ESI / Fix channels are for the Longlife Service.

 

The SIA channels are for fixed servicing. 

This is perhaps a agreement with the dealer network rather than a technical choice.

Obviously, garages are losing money as more & more engines are using extended service intervals.

An inspection service is perhaps a way to provide an additional throughput for the franchises.

My car had a service yesterday at 13k and it said there was 2700 until an oil/filter change was due but due to my ocd I like to service before its due. Now the service has been done I was expecting it to say another wasn't due for another 12k or so but now it says its due in 4700 miles.

 

This is why I stick with fixed servicing. It's clear what and when it happens. 

Thing is I always get oil/filter changes done every 8000 miles even if the interval is 12000. Now it looks like I'll need another after 4700 instead of 8000 just because the car tells me to, what a joke.

This is an error from the dealer.

After an oïl change the service counter should be reset to 12k miles.

 

First check that they have actually changed the oïl...

Then take it back & ask them to correctly reset the inspection & oïl service intervals.

25 minutes ago, Gabbo said:

This is an error from the dealer.

After an oïl change the service counter should be reset to 12k miles.

 

First check that they have actually changed the oïl...

Then take it back & ask them to correctly reset the inspection & oïl service intervals.

Sod that, garage is 24 miles away, only used them as I couldn't get booked in at my usual garage whilst I had the week off work. I'll get my usual garage to sort it the next time I'm there.

22 hours ago, Black_Sheep said:

Select Control Module >> 17 Instruments >> Adaptations >> Select Channel >> IDE03350-Fix: Maximum time until next time-dependant inspection

 

Change value from 365 to 730 >> Do It

 

The ESI / Fix channels are for the Longlife Service.

 

The SIA channels are for fixed servicing. 

 

Thanks for that, handy to know!

7 hours ago, Superman001 said:

Sod that, garage is 24 miles away, only used them as I couldn't get booked in at my usual garage whilst I had the week off work. I'll get my usual garage to sort it the next time I'm there.

 

Ask Skoda UK directly here to understand if the dealer is correct or not...

 

http://www.skoda.co.uk/about-us/contact-us

Thanks for the link Silver...

 

...But I have direct dial to the executive team on my phone! Let's just say I'm becoming tired of going into battle with Skoda UK, and they are probably fed up of listening to me whinge.

I'm on a vendetta.

 

They refuse to respond to any of my communications (email, Facebook, Twitter etc.) on the UK-only cambelt time interval.

 

Smacks of guilt to me.

What's the cambelt interval everywhere else? The Mk I Focus cambelt was good for 10 years / 100000 miles, so VAG's seems pretty poor by comparison.

Interested to know the timing belt interval on the 2015 vRS tdi as all my other cars were timing chains.

 

James

Edited 10 June, 20179 yr by Superman001

5 years / 140000 miles for the 2.0 Ltr TDI EA288 engines. 

Skoda UK might show Variable / Flexible Servicing up to 20,000 miles, 

VW / VW Group get km to miles all lost in translation as they do in much from German to Spanish, CZ, English & American English.

http://volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/regimes 

Be aware of another little getting lost in translation.

ie Used to be 'Minor / Fixed Service',  them Major / Inspection Service.

 

& at Servicing 'Body Inspection' for the Paint / Corrosion Warranties,  so make sure if at Annual or Bi-annual that 'Body Inspection & report is done'.

 

Some getting Independents to Service are getting Paint or Panel Corrosion claims knocked back because no 'Annual Inspection' was carried out by a VW Official Dealership / Workshop.

 

Stealers wanting 1 hours Labour plus VAT to carry out the 'Body Inspection', which if you are getting servicing at a Main Stealer is in the Fixed or Variable Servicing.

 

If the car is on Variable servicing and only at a Main Dealers every 2 years do not allow the people saying 'Not Inspected every year' 

to get away with this tripe.

All sounds corrupt, all this variable service bull**** is just to confuse matters so things get missed out so that they don't have to pay out for any warranty work.

 

1 hour labour plus VAT for a bdy inspection which they will take all of 5-10 minutes to carry out. How many dealerships let you watch the mechanics work on your car so that you can see how long they actually spend on your car.

 

Think I'll get my car serviced at my usual garage where I can watch the car being worked on if I choose who only charge 1 hour labour even if its taken 1 hour 15 minutes to do a job. Most stealers would charge 2 hours labour for a job that took 1 hour 5 minutes.

 

James 

Remember that 'Free' Wash and Vacuum'.  

 

Odd thing is that when a customer delivers a vehicle for a Service & Maintenance & it is dirty, the Wash should be done before the Service & then body inspection, not after the Body Inspection.

 

An amazing amount of customer hand in a car with 'Do not wash' notes and the car is a bloody mess of swirls and little parking dings etc.

Maybe Dealership should be 'Simply Clever' and have 'Wash Bays' and say to a customer 'do you want to go do the car a favour and clean it before leaving it to get worked on',  & then the Service Desk staff as normal practice can check, rims, dings etc.

Smart Dealerships do check cars off with customers anyway before taking charge of them.

Edited 11 June, 20179 yr by Awayoffski

They should check them off so that they are accountable for any damage caused whilst they are in charge of it.

 

If dealerships don't do this you have no comeback unless you take 'before' pictures of the car at the dealership before handing the car over.

Superman001,

Exactly,  you or anyone as the customer paying the money needs to say if the person you are handing the keys to if they do not want to come check the car, please come check, and photograph the wheels etc as they check them.

& they should be checking the car is clean enough for the Full Body check and the check to be done underneath and advise if not clean enough.

If there are dings being pointed out at handover the customer show know at that point there will be mention when the Tech Checks that repairs are not done as required and that needs some discussion on having them done to the correct standard.

22 hours ago, Rodge said:

What's the cambelt interval everywhere else? The Mk I Focus cambelt was good for 10 years / 100000 miles, so VAG's seems pretty poor by comparison.

Funny you should mention that particular platform as it's one where the timing belt's actual lifespan fell dangerously short of ford's recommended change interval. 

I'm fairly certain that it was revised and dropped as low as 60k or 6 years on some models. 

On 11/06/2017 at 09:52, Awayoffski said:

Skoda UK might show Variable / Flexible Servicing up to 20,000 miles, 

VW / VW Group get km to miles all lost in translation as they do in much from German to Spanish, CZ, English & American English.

http://volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/regimes 

AFAIK, VW models all compute for 15,000 km oil change and 30,000 km inspection service - arithmetically that's electronically converted to 9,320 and 18,640 miles which is what's displayed on the MFD - but dealers, or my local VW dealer at least, are fine with 10,000 / 20,000 miles - however the 30,000 km / 18,640miles / 20,000 miles is a maximum which is can be reduced if the ECU algorithm determines from the usage pattern.

 

One thing I've noticed about VW and Skoda is that a 2-year service plan covering 1x Oil Change and 1x Inspection Service is the same price as an Inspection Service on it's own - ie the service plan give a free interim oil change - so a no-brainer to use for a "keeper".

Some Skoda ones show '9,400 miles / 372 days' which gets a sticker with 10,000 miles stuck on a car sometimes, 

or back when there were service books, 10,000 miles to next service.