Service options on Vrs

[moonwrasse]

After speccing a new Octavia vrs estate I have found a ex demo at the right spec that I have put a deposit on. 

  The car is on variable servicing ATM.  They have offered my a fixed service deal of £279 for 2 services the 2nd with an inspection. Is that the same as a minor and a major service? The service pack is for a 12 month servicing. So every 10k or 12 months. 

 

  Also what are the prices for servicing on a variable serving option? I can't seem to find the costs anywhere? 

  Seems confusing as they use the same oil and fluids for both options. 

 

  Not sure if it's best to leave it on variable servicing or fixed 12 month 10k miles.  

  I know oils have got a lot better now a days. 

 

 Confused.  

 

 Stuart. 

[Rsrob]

Servicing is difficult as it department on miles you do and if you got TSI of TDI if TDI I leave it on variable servicing as you are possible doing a lot of miles as you can do up to 18.200 miles or 2 years. If it's a TSI  I put it on fixed and have IT serviced very 12 months 

a minor service is about £149 and a major service is about £269 

[ahenners]

The whole variable thing is a bit of a minefield tbh. I had mine on variable as I do about 16k a year. Was due to go about 13k before needing an oil change service, but when I contacted a couple of dealers about a variable service the instant response was some ludicrous cost. Skoda only publish fixed prices for the fixed regime, so take that as dealers being free to make up their own prices for variable. It also officially needs an inspection once a year I think (as deemed by Skoda - think rest of vag group is 2 years).

 

Under the fixed regime, the price for a minor = £149 and a major is £269. The caveat is it only officially applies to vehicles over 3yr old but most on here have successfully had it applies to younger cars. I think they work on alternating between minor and major each year but most of the filters/plugs etc. Aren't changed until a few years in, so if you go fixed, watch they don't charge you for a major for what is effectively still a minor service.

 

I went fixed in the end purely because I was only getting an extra 3k on longlife and the pricing was silly. It's cheaper to take my car more often under the minor/major routine and less hassle arguing the toss with dealers over pricing. Skoda make it clear on their site so you can use that and if the dealer participates they can't charge more. I guess the other benefit is the oil is changed more frequently which can only be good for the car.

Edited 13 August, 2017 by ahenners

[moonwrasse]

Sorry, should have said it's a petrol. 

[glosrich]

What sort of annual mileage do you do.

 

Up to about 19k a year, keep it annual.

 

Over that, say if  you use the car for business travel, then go variable, which is approximately each 19k miles, stops you having to service more than once a year.

For example if you did 20k a year, you would have to service it twice, as its every 10k.

 

[SC03OTT]

I'll go against the grain here and say ignore the mileage. 

 

If you're keeping the car beyond 3 years and out of warranty (i.e. you've bought it) - fixed

 

If you're only keeping it for ~3 years (PCP/PCH) and couldn't give a monkeys what state it's in after that - variable

[juan27]

On 8/13/2017 at 21:29, SC03OTT said:

If you're keeping the car beyond 3 years and out of warranty (i.e. you've bought it) - fixed

 

If you're only keeping it for ~3 years (PCP/PCH) and couldn't give a monkeys what state it's in after that - variable

 

I've run my 2010 Petrol VRS on variable since new and (touch wood) its doing fine approaching 80K.  I'd guess its been serviced about every 15K roughly.  Difficult to say if long life oil every 15K  is really much worse than standard oil every 10K? 

 

I'm not saying fixed isn't the safer option for long term ownership, just that in my experience variable does not mean your car suffers any ill effects.

 

The fixed price deal on cars >3 years does mean variable can work out way more expensive for pretty much the same thing, but I found my local dealer was willing to negotiate on the variable price when I moaned a bit about it..  

 

For me the inconvenience of having to go to the dealers more often was the deciding factor, but as now they want you in for an annual inspection anyway that's a bit moot.

 

Edited 16 August, 2017 by juan27