Servicing at big chain tyre place

[wyx087]

My Skoda is coming up to its first service under my ownership. It is under variable service schedule and had been 1.5 years since its last major service, about 1.2 of which is my ownership. Previous owner had been servicing with Skoda main dealer. When I was purchasing, Skoda UK confirmed the service logs. 100% main dealer service.

 

But now, with the car way out of warranty, I feel there's no value using main dealer to do the servicing. Am I wrong?

Only thing I may miss out on (according to Skoda website) is "Vehicle & software enhancements" (firmware updates?), but is the dealer really going to update my infotainment or ECU as part of servicing? They haven't done so during first 3 years at main dealer, I know because my infotainment firmware version is very very old.

 

In terms of cost, servicing at main dealer would cost £159 + £39 MOT, does this fixed price also apply for variable service schedule?

Minor service at my trusted big chain tyre place would cost £125 + £20 MOT when done together.

 

I've used that garage for years, always used them to service my previous car when it was 7-11 year old. MOT has never failed without good reason and they always show me exactly what's wrong.  Talk to real mechanic rather than an overpaid middleman. 

 

With variable service schedule, is the garage able to set it correctly? If not, is there any way I can set it back to variable service using OBD11? 

What are the differences in oil between long life and normal? How do I identify this? markings/number?  

 

With my car only being used for long distance driving (we have EV for day-to-day local trips), around 10k a year. Is it good idea to use fixed 10k service schedule if I were to service the car out of main dealers? Can I change back to variable later?  

 

This Skoda I want to keep for many years, as long as it takes to get my hands on a Tesla I can afford, which may be 5+ years. So I'll need the DPF to be still in good enough health by 150k miles (70k in 5 years). My research tells me engine oil quality is very important.

 

Thanks for your time

[KenONeill]

Firstly, "variable service" is intended for cars doing high annual mileage, not as a means of delaying (in time) service for a car doing a low annual mileage made of infrequent but mostly long (duration) trips.

[Ootohere]

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

 

The Fixed price is actually the 'Maximum Price' that 'Participating Dealers' should be charging.

There can be lower charges where they are not participating in pith taking.

http://skoda.co.uk/finance-and-offers/service-and-maintenance/simply-fixed 

 

Maybe go where they do menu servicing & charge for work done, parts supplied and VAT on that and not the same cost regardless of a Pollen, Air, Fuel filter fitted, 

or spark plugs. 

 

 Seeing as so little maybe gets done by 'participating dealers', and the parts are not always checked or replaced best use a good Independent VW Specialist with the Licensed Equipment, 

Software Updates, Service Campaign & TPI details etc & Techs with training,  & get actual Servicing & Maintenance.

 

As to Kwik Fit, Halfords Service Centres, Nationwide Servicing & repair centres etc,   Buyer Beware....

Edited 14 June, 2018 by Offski

[brettikivi]

I would personally consider using an accredited dealer for a couple of things; one is that the goodwill if something major goes wrong will be larger if the car is there from the beginning.

Second, there's no longer a service book so it would be difficult to prove a service history if / when you wanted to sell.

 

If it's a cost difference of £160 vs £125, I don't see the point of not using the main dealer, provided the service you get is acceptable. But I suspect that not to be the case... and I agree with OFfski that the specialists are generally a good shout, especially when they only charge for what is used.

 

Re longlife vs fixed: the oil is a different spec for longlife. IIRC, for petrols it's 502 for fixed and 504 for long life. At the store here, I pay €40 for 4l of the long life stuff, and €30 for fixed. Is it worth it? The car does 5k per year, maybe less, but it sits still a lot, so I run fixed. It's your call as to what makes the most sense for you. 

 

Changing fixed to variable and back is eminently possible in VCDS but it would be pointless to do that when the other oil's in place. As to making sense to go to fixed if using a specialist... err, no, not really. But I'd want to drop the car in once per year before MoT time to get it checked over anyway. At least then someone might be able to warn you before something goes wrong.

 

 - Bret

[Ootohere]

^^^ In the UK 'Goodwill'  is not worth a bag of magic beans with Skoda UK or Skoda Official Dealerships anymore,  they have a VW Scandal to pay for, and the last CEO and the new one has Communications Managers & Call Handlers that now knock back even Warranty Issues let alone 'Goodwill'.  

 

Main Dealershps use Long Life Oil even if doing Fixed or Variable Service Intervals, 

and some with TSI's might well be better going VW 502 5w 30 Full Synthetic,  considering the history of Long Life oil as VW recommendation and shortened life TSI's.

[wyx087]

I, too, had bad experience with Kwik fit and Halfords. But never had bad experience at this ATS garage.

 

Re indie specialist. That would involve going to an unknown garage for MOT. Though nothing is wrong with the car, I'm always weary of garages I've never been to. I've already crossed out 2 of my local garages due to previous experience (one must have spilled oil during servicing, because the engine bay stank of engine oil for months; the other charged for pollen filter but didn't change it, only discovered a year later).

 

I've had good experience with this ATS garage, so I'm inclined to go back there.

 

 

 

The car was not purchased at a main dealer. When I turned up at my local main dealer (different to where it was previously serviced) for well documented waterpump failure, no good will gesture was offered, and declined when I asked for contributions. Skoda UK didn't help either despite 100% main dealer service history. So my experience tells me main dealer service history means nothing for Skoda if something major does go wrong.

 

My '63 reg car does have a physical service book, and I have Skoda UK Email printed out to confirm previous owner servicing. So going forward any new services can go into the service book. All together will be no problem when selling the car later.

 

 

I do understand flexible is only meant for high mileage drivers. But my use-case is quite an easy life for the car: 60 miles mostly motorway return commute at least once every 2 weeks to keep the 12v battery charged. 300 miles trip almost every month, plus long holiday trips. Only thing it doesn't do is daily commute or local cold engine runs. So surely one service every 2 years is okay?

 

Isn't MOT every year already supposed to warn if anything goes wrong?

 

 

 

On engine oil. So where can I find the VW number for long life or regular oil? In the service book? I can then take this number to ATS and ask them what grade of oil they use.

 

The car is a 2.0 TDI by the way.

Edited 14 June, 2018 by wyx087

[brettikivi]

MoT is a test of roadworthiness, nothing less, nothing more. It will not warn you of incidental components, broken undertrays or such, or tell you how worn your tyres / pads / discs are. It will also not let you see a list of stored errors (though the car may fail because of them). That's why service and / or inspections are a good move.

One of the reasons I'm reasonably sure VAG went back to shorter service intervals  - apart from more money for dealers - was that too many cars have no attention paid to them apart from at MoT time and so massive issues can be quietly happening - uneven tyre wear, for example - and if the car is only visually checked over once per year, that's not a good thing.

 

The Longlife oil has a VW504 spec, I believe.

 

 - Bret

 

 

[gregoir]

A difficult decision sometimes. I'm sticking to the main dealer until the warranty and pre paid service plan runs out. If the Stop/Start gets sorted graciously, then that may sway my decision about further servicing.

[wyx087]

So it would be better to use cheapest reliable garage to service at set interval, compared to once every 1.5-2 years at main dealer. Over 4-5 years, both will work out to cost similar.

[Gabbo]

Does Skoda not offer free breakdown cover with its services in the UK?

Here I justify the additional cost of using the Skoda garage because I get another free 30k km of TotalMobile european breakdown cover. (plus the Skoda garage here is really proffesional & gives a great service).

 

In my view, if the car is a keeper, then at least an inspection once a year is advisable to check the important things like brakes, fuel lines, signs of potential problems etc.

I do high mileage in long journeys & I trust that VW & enough owners before me have tested the engine wear profile with the long life oïl so I am happy to stick to with an oïl change every 30k km

 

 

 

[Ootohere]

Using a VW or Audi Main dealership for servicing can be a good idea, and sometimes better value ie cheaper with more done.

Only issue is where a VW or Audi Dealership are owned by the same group and say they will not do your Skoda.

You just ask to talk to the Dealer Principal and ask if that is their Company / Group Policy and is that not anti-competitive, and you would rather use their technicians,  i find they assume the position, as not all publicity is good publicity.

[ahenners]

In your situation with mileage, I'd be getting it serviced every 10k/1 year. 1 service a year isn't so bad. I get mine serviced every 10k, though I cover about 16k a year.

 

Officially, the pricing mentioned above at £159 for a minor applies for the Fixed regime only, i.e. the above 10k/1 year intervals and is the maximum a participating Skoda dealer may charge for the service. It only applies to vehicles over 3 years old too. Dealers are free to charge more for Variable services (as my local charges significantly more). Equally, dealers can charge less than the pricing if they are friendly and actually care about repeat custom.

 

My car is coming up to 5 years old this year and I'm still using dealers for my services. At £159 I can't find any reputable local garage who can significantly undercut this whilst using OEM parts/VW spec oil to make it worthwhile. Most of the independent specialists are virtually the same price or more expensive, and it seems all you need these days to be a "specialist" is to have a VAG dealer on your CV and some signs with the 4 VAG manufacturer logos on. Some of them may do a better job than some dealers, but the Glass House facilities are much nicer, as are the courtesy cars, I like the Dealer stamp in the book, and I've had no issues with dealer servicing so far.

[Oldmansomerset]

This is one of those questions to which is, you pays your money you takes your choice.  Reading through the above, I think we all have our own preferences.  Prior to coming to Skoda I was using the dealership of my previous car because of the warranty.  I also belonged to the forum for that particular model, which, like this one was first rate.  After a year I found I knew more about some of my car than the dealership and I was telling them some of the answers to faults because, for whatever reasons, they were not keeping up with every single change or fault in the model.  

 

Under warranty, I will certainly use the dealership and if necessary, highlight to them any problems I learn about on this forum.  After warranty, I will use a small business where we know each other well.  He covers everything from vintage Rolls to moderns, doesn't charge a fortune but don't rush him! 

 

As to the service book, I also keep all my invoices on file with all details of what was done, when and how much.   In addition, there are a number of small independents around which you can check out.   

 

Hope this hasn't droned on too much

[wyx087]

I haven't seen anywhere to say they offer free breakdown service as part of servicing package. I think in UK it is only available as part of first 3 year of ownership.

 

VW and Audi are the same under the bonnet as Skoda, they charge more for servicing, I always assumed that is due to the badge. If they do more at each service, does that mean Skoda main dealers are skipping crucial work to provide the fixed price servicing?

 

At price difference of £53 (inc MOT £198 vs £145, possibly more as mentioned above), and the fact it doesn't matter if I get bumped to fixed servicing due to my mileage. I'm still not convinced I should go for main dealer servicing. Major service I may do for genuine fuel/air filters, but minor is just an inspection and oil change.

[brettikivi]

I'm of the opinion that a mechanic cost for Audi is similar to that as for VW or Skoda. So a certain amount of the cost increase is simply because they want to, and some is because the tech is slightly more complex on the Audis over the rest of the group products.

 

Breakdown cover is included here in servicing, too.

 

 - Bret

[SC03OTT]

6 minutes ago, brettikivi said:

I'm of the opinion that a mechanic cost for Audi is similar to that as for VW or Skoda. So a certain amount of the cost increase is simply because they want to, and some is because the tech is slightly more complex on the Audis over the rest of the group products.

 

Breakdown cover is included here in servicing, too.

 

 - Bret

 

Not sure I’d agree with the first part there. There will be different overheads for the brands (I’d wager being an Audi franchise costs more than Škoda). 

 

To take the company I work for as an example. I know that my colleagues down the other end of the country cost the company in the region of £15 per hour more than myself. Now that’s mainly due to location in this instance. My point it, without knowing the overheads it’s very difficult to just blankety say “they should be the same”. 

[Guest]

On 14/06/2018 at 09:28, wyx087 said:

In terms of cost, servicing at main dealer would cost £159 + £39 MOT, does this fixed price also apply for variable service schedule?

Minor service at my trusted big chain tyre place would cost £125 + £20 MOT when done together.

 

I've used that garage for years, always used them to service my previous car when it was 7-11 year old. MOT has never failed without good reason and they always show me exactly what's wrong.  Talk to real mechanic rather than an overpaid middleman. 

 

With variable service schedule, is the garage able to set it correctly? If not, is there any way I can set it back to variable service using OBD11? 

What are the differences in oil between long life and normal? How do I identify this? markings/number?  

 

With my car only being used for long distance driving (we have EV for day-to-day local trips), around 10k a year. Is it good idea to use fixed 10k service schedule if I were to service the car out of main dealers? Can I change back to variable later?  

 

I'll need the DPF to be still in good enough health by 150k miles.

 

I think you make some good points there:

 

If you're happy with whoever has maintained your cars in the past, then it would be a no brainer for me to continue using them. Any value using main dealer? Not really but if you purchased the car within the main dealer network then if something were to fail that isn't covered by warranty, there's more than a reasonable chance of that dealer or Skoda providing a goodwill gesture towards costs. But I agree with you, when a car is over 3yr old or not on the approved scheme then there is little benefit buying from a main dealer.

 

Regarding cost...  Look, everyone want your business. Fixed prices usually relate to cars under warranty - older cars are negotiable. It's normally the case of if you can find a similar quote withing 5 mile radius of the garage (which in itself is flexible), then the garage will price match. There's no harm in contacting a few of your nearest Skoda dealerships, and asking them if they'll match your quote.

 

Regarding the infotainment software, I'd ask the garage who previously serviced the car why the software wasn't updated.

 

If the car is currently on variable servicing then the garage don't need to do anything more than a normal reset. But you MUST use longlife spec oil. Some people will charge more for longlife oil but in reality it's the same price as std oil, often cheaper!  Your engine is already used to the stuff so I'd continue to use longlife even if my car were on an annual service regime. The longlife oil you need must confirm to VW507 specs.

 

Doesn't matter if you use your car for long distances or not, service regimes are determined by the type of driving.  If oil will be up to temp and the journey involves constant speed driving, the variable services perfectly OK. Troubles start when the journey involves stop/start driving i.e. engine oil never really reaches operating temp.

 

Change back to variable later? NO!  Car is set for variable at factory. The switch from variable to fixed is a once only action, you can't then revert back to variable.

 

DPF?  Having the car serviced every week won't guarantee a healthy DPF - it all depends on how the car has been driven. Even if you were the 1st owner then it's pot luck if your DPF will reach 150k miles but given that you don't know how the previous owner(s) drove the car...  If DPF is such a big concern, you should have bought a petrol. Given you only cover 10k miles per year, petrol would probably have been the better option unless of course you need the extra pulling power of a tdi.  (if you do then you can probably wave goodbye to seeing 150k from the DPF!)

Edited 15 June, 2018 by Guest

[wyx087]

Thank you so much for the detailed reply.

 

I'll give my Skoda dealer a call to see if they'll price match ATS servicing + MOT. But as I haven't bought the car through dealer network approved used, there will be little hope for good will gesture so unless they can price match, there's little added value for me.

 

Many thanks for the VW507 spec info. I'll need to make sure of this when I book my car at ATS.

 

DPF is currently at 37% used, ash residue at 30g (80k miles) and I have read maximum is 80g. So with warm engine constant speed driving and on-time servicing, I hope it'll be at around 60g at 160k miles, where it's time to sell it on. I bought diesel was because it was only one on the market with ACC, ACC equipped petrol second hand is like fairy dust. Especially back then when second hand market is awash with pre-dieselgate cars.

My family drives 18k per year, that was with my previous Mercedes diesel. But now we have 2 cars, now 80% of the time is spent in the EV.