Variable interval servicing problem/query

[GainfulShrimp]

My 16-reg Greenline 1.6 CR Estate is asking for an oil service in 100 miles time.

 

It's on the variable service interval scheme.  I quite like the idea of this, as I do relatively high mileage (about 30k per year), and taking it in 3 times a year seems a bit of a drag tbh.

 

Its last service (first since I owned it) was done - at a main dealer - in mid-April this year, when it had done 18.8k miles.  It's now done 28k miles, which means it's only covered 9.2k miles and five-ish months since the last service was done.  (The app tells me it had some sort of check at around 4k miles, i.e. shortly before I bought it.)

 

Anyway, I called the same dealer to book it in and the lady I spoke to said it should be done "every 10k miles or every year".  When I explained that it was on the variable scheme and thus that wasn't (necessarily) the case, she seemed confused and just repeated that Skodas should be serviced every 10k miles or every year, whichever is sooner.

I explained that even if that were the case for my car - which I don't believe is correct - then it's only done 9.2k miles, so shouldn't be prompting me to service it quite yet.

The lady said that was "probably because it wasn't reset properly when it was last serviced" and I should drop by the dealer for them to cancel the prompt.  She also asked if the last service was minor or major but I wasn't sure (the digital service record thingey doesn't say), and she wasn't sure either from what their records said.  Hmm...

 

I'm not convinced that cancelling the prompt is the right thing to do - the whole conversation didn't give much confidence tbh - but I plan to pop by the dealer in person and attempt to talk to someone who's a bit more knowledgeable before I either ask them to cancel the reminder or service it.

 

Could somebody with any experience of variable interval servicing on these cars please advise how I should proceed?  

 

Is it reasonable for the car to be asking to be serviced <10k miles (and < 5 months) since the previous service, and if not, should I trust the same dealer who "didn't reset it properly" to do the next service?

[Ootohere]

You proceed to talk to someone that has the gear and an idea, not the lady with a keyboard and phone answering training and not a clue.

 

Get your car Variable Serviced if you want and the Long Life Oil is in and used.

Doing 30,000 miles a year variable seems the way to go... IMO.

 

Just have the service as required and be sure to have them understand you want Variable Servicing from now on.

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

[GainfulShrimp]

Thanks @Awayoffski! That's helpful and the link you posted gives a bit more info on the differences.  I certainly tick the boxes/bullets it gave for variable servicing:

 

Quote

• Regular long distance driving
• Driving at a constant speed with minimum vehicle and engine loading, and minimal towing
• Economical driving

 

That's me lol!

[silver1011]

If the person on reception at a Skoda main dealer doesn't know:

 

1) the difference between a fixed/minor and variable/major service and...

2) what type of service was last carried out on your car...

 

...then you need to either ask them to ring you back when they know, ask to speak to someone who does or vote with your feet and use a different dealer.

 

Your car was set to fixed by mistake last time it was serviced. It can't now simply be reset again. If you specifically asked to be kept on variable then the dealer needs to be at the very least changing the oil for free (minor service) and resetting the service indicator correctly.

[Gabbo]

To me it sounds like it has been set to fixed service & not variable service.

As above, I would suggest discussing with a real technician at the dealer & perhaps coming to some agreement over an oïl change & reset to variable servicing.

 

Of course you could just get them to reset the service counter but if I understand correctly the oïl is different for standard & variable servicing.

If they configured the car for standard service intervals, how do you know they didnt fill it with the normal-life oïl spec as well.

I'm not sure its a great idea to run the engine on 10k service oïl for 30k.

[Ootohere]

The oil is different if someone never used long life oil.  But they come from the factory with long life oil.  And main dealers use long life oil unless you ask them not to.   Some will even tell you when you say you don't want long life oil,  from quantum or castrol you must use long life even with fixed servicing.    It is all good and well thinking,  but sometimes best checking and knowing.

[GainfulShrimp]

Thanks chaps.  I was a rather unimpressed with the cluelessness of the lass that I spoke to, but I think it was a central call centre type arrangement.  I *did* specifically ask that it remain on long life servicing when I first took it to them in April though, so will be reminding them of that.

Unfortunately though, there doesn't seem to be any way of me (as a regular owner/driver/customer with no special cables/software) determining whether they serviced and reset it properly: i.e. with long life oil and reset via the proper computer interface thingey rather than just via the dash.

 

I've booked it in, explaining strongly that it should be on long-life servicing and that it needs a long life service, which I think hope she added to the notes for the booking.

 

When I drop it off, I'll be sure to talk to a technician or manager from their service dept, explain the whole sorry tale and try to make sure that the message gets through!

[silver1011]

All diesel's use the same oil now, regardless of which service interval they are set to. All diesels are fitted with DPF's (Diesel Particulate Filter) so need the longlife oil (VW 507.00) due to its low ash content.

 

Unsurprisingly dealers still pedal the old 'longlife oil is more expensive' yarn when trying to justify their excessive servicing costs.

[retiredbri]

Haven't got a Diesel but at 29,000 miles and just 2 years old, I has the last of the three "dealer free services". Since I was now paying, I asked to go onto the Variable Service plan and they did it. They said the display will tell me if it needs a service earlier than the maximum 20,000 miles.

 

Last week, it was three years old and at 44,000 miles. Because I would be doing a lot of miles before Xmas, I had a Major Service for £269.

Before it went in, the oil on the dipstick still looked clean (petrol engine). It uses only 0.5 litres oil in 10,000 miles.