I had the oil change warning come up last week so I searched for a dealer who could do it ASAP. The only one I could get an appointment with was the dealer in Derry (we’re in the ROI at the moment) which is some 80 mile round trip. 
I told them on three occasions to ensure that it was kept on variable servicing. 
When I checked it two days later, it showed oil change due in 18000 miles or 363 days; am I correct that they’ve changed it to fixed servicing? 

No that’s variable.  Fixed is circa 10,000 miles.

1 hour ago, numskull said:

it showed oil change due in 18000 miles or 363 days; am I correct that they’ve changed it to fixed servicing?

No; that's the initial values for variable; check it in a few weeks and one or both of them will have changed (and not necessarily lower in either case).

Whoops… OK, sorry I’ve mislead you. Inspection is shown as 18000 or 362 days.
Oil service is shown as 9600 or 362. I thought variable was 20,000 or 24 months whichever was sooner. 

IIRC, on our MKII it was shown as XX,000 to the next service after it’d been done. I really don’t want to fork out £200 every other year for an oil change; I can do that myself for £90. 
Is this correct? 
Cheers… Rob

17 minutes ago, numskull said:

Oil service is shown as 9600 or 362.

That looks more like a fixed interval.

Yep, which makes the inspection interval odd. Or do the EA888 engines have an oil change every 10k? Even if they do, why does the oil change say 9600 miles, as I’ve only covered 130 since Tuesday. I called and complained to the servicing dealer and rather than another 80 mile round trip, he arranged for the local dealer 15

miles away to reset it to variable. Unfortunately they were unable to change the settings which seems very odd. Spoken to original dealer again who said he’d speak to SUK technical. All-in-all it’s all very weird and annoying. 

Edited 23 July, 20214 yr by numskull

^^^ What should be done.  But when a customer wants the Service Interval Cleared Dealerships often say no.

It is kind of wrong to get the service history wrong, but no big deal.

The thing is Dealership service dozens or hundreds of cars a month so why are they so incompetent?

Because they are at it.

 

 

They cocked up changing the servicing regime is often the issue, or what they admit.  They actually are chancers.

 

Variable is 24 month / 18,000 - 20,000 miles.   The 'Inspection Service' should not be left on at 12 month periods. 

(Another member posted today they paid £60 for an inspection service.)

 

If at the PDI or at a Service Variable is changed to Fixed then that is at 372 days or 9,400 miles.(9,600 sometimes.)   372 days being a year and a week for holidays or time from PDI to collection.

 

More confusion from what was a Minor / Interim Service & a Major each year is the Services are Now call Oil & Inspection Services with 'Extended Scope' each 3 years.

 

If a Dealership left 'Inspection service' showing annually on a car on Variable Servicing then have them remove that, or pay to have a Service Done at their expense at their Dealership or at another.

They took the pith or tried to when doing the PDI or the Service. For taking the Pith it is down to them to clear the message on the screen.

Edited 23 July, 20214 yr by e-Roottoot

Right. So in a nutshell they’re at it, to get another service in 12 months? Hmmm, well there’s zero chance of that!
So what I don’t get is why the other dealer couldn’t change the service back to variable - stupidity? 

Edited 23 July, 20214 yr by numskull
Added pic

Oh I just noticed I lost another 200 miles on the oil change after a 28 mile round trip! 
 

Does anyone have a pic of what a variable service screen should look like - I did have it but of course it’s gone. All the three services it’s had are shown as Variable, including the last one. 

Edited 23 July, 20214 yr by numskull

@numskull  They do not want to change a Service Indicator / Record because really they are not supposed to and if the Local Dealership is not in the same Motor Group as the one with the incompetents then why should they.

They also know that Dealership are at it, or useless and might not even have serviced as per schedule.

 

That basically covers it.  Ask the Dealer Principal what they want to do.  Do they want to pay for the next service?   They should not be allowed to inconvenience you.

Your time is a valuable as the hourly rate they charge you for jobs.

At first glance, they appear to have reset your car to fixed service interval which is against your instructions. Problem is they might or probably have also used oil that is only suitable for fixed service intervals, is there any indication on the invoice or other documentation? So then it boils down to whether your instruction was verbal or written down somewhere. And whether you had a prepaid plan (or free servicing) that might stipulate fixed interval only on the small print.

In any case, good look with the showdown, but unless you have conclusive proof of 504/507 longlife iii oil being used, its not simply a case of resetting the service indicator/records.

 

1 hour ago, numskull said:

Oh I just noticed I lost another 200 miles on the oil change after a 28 mile round trip! 

 

 

That's symptomatic of a variable service regime in play. Which makes matters even more complicated. Someone has completely messed up the reset, there are many options available using dealer equipment.

 

Variable intervals should show 18700 miles or 730 days immediately after a variable interval service.

 

 

Yes, that also concerns me. I now wish I’d waited til I was back in England and booked it into the usual dealership, as I foresee a runaround progressing. It’s not on a service plan and I own the car. 
Yes, I stipulated it was on variable servicing with long life oil on the booking call, again to the service agent when I got there and even to the technician himself. And they’ve stated that it’s a variable service on the invoice. All it says on the parts list is Castoil5, nothing else. 
So yeah, I’ll have to speak to the DP and get it serviced again. I’ll try calling tomorrow; they were Skoda UK Dealer of the Year three years running so they have a lot of making up to do. In any event, it’ll obviously mean another bloody trip to the north next week. 🙄 Thanks for all your input and help guys - much appreciated.  Cheers… Rob

Even after all these years, I still feel variable servicing is BS and really just a money saving exercise for fleet managers who don’t give a **** afte let the car is 3-4 years old anyway. 
 

Nobody has a clue when their car is meant to be serviced and what needs to be done. I remained old school. 1 year or 10K. 

Well, I ran a fleet of 3,000 and I gave a **** because:-

A. it’d come back and bite you on the a**e if you didn’t, because 95% were leased or buy backs and 

B. professional pride - the manufactures would be less than pleased if you returned a pile of c**p and it would definitely be detrimental to the next deal; I’ve seen that happen to many so called Fleet/Transport Managers who get enormous EOL bills.
Variable servicing cuts both ways; the system is more intelligent than just running it out to 24m or 18k albeit that was certainly the case with our MKI when I was doing a 110 mile round trip a day on two Mways and fast A roads. However, we had company vehicles which demanded oil changes at 7k due to them being based in city centres and rarely, if ever went on long trips so am12m/10k WECF would be completely unsuitable in those cases. 

I’ve had all my Skodas on variable servicing and never had an issue… until last Tuesday when the dealer decided - deliberately or otherwise - to screw it up. 
I have a call booked with the DP to tomorrow so hopefully it’ll be sorted out. 

Edited 25 July, 20214 yr by numskull

Another commonly missed point is the latest brochures have a servicing section towards the end and it quite clearly says (although print is small) that variable servicing can be from 9000 miles.

 

So those that tell you variable will be 18000-20000 miles are misleading you by quoting the upper limit, not whole range.  It really depends on how the car is used.  Note the last statement on when variable should be selected (does anyone do 25 mile trips then drive like their granny, which means very few qualify for variable servicing)

 

Quote

 

Service intervals
When you order your SUPERB, you can choose whether your car is on a fixed or a flexible service regime. Your ŠKODA retailer will help you decide which regime suits how your car will be driven, enabling your car to stay in the best possible shape.

Fixed regime: service every 10,000 miles or one year (whichever comes first).
This is recommended if the vehicle is likely to be used in the following way:

> Driven fewer than 10,000 miles per annum.
> Mainly short journeys, driven mostly in towns or cities.
> High vehicle loading/towing and frequent hill climbs.
> Heavy accelerating and braking, using high revs.

Flexible regime: Sensors in the engine detect when a service is needed. A service light will show between 9,000 and 20,000 miles or up to 24 months (whichever comes first).
The flexible service regime is recommended for vehicles with a daily mileage of more than 25 miles where the vehicle is driven regularly and mainly at a constant speed with minimum vehicle and engine loading, minimal towing and driven in an economical manner

 

Unquote

Those with plug in hybrids need to be aware that Dealership staff are telling owners and also VW sites are showing their 1.4 TSI engine requires to be on Fixed Servicing for oil and filter changes and some VW stuff says at 8,000 miles and some at 9,000 miles.   Vorsprung Dutch Technik.   Never get any better at keeping customers informed and never sort typos or errors in translation. 

Edited 25 July, 20214 yr by e-Roottoot

PS.  Oil changed with oil and filter is just that, an oil and filter service.  Servicing and maintenance is so much more than oil changes. 

My Karoq is coming up to 2yrs old and has done 3,802mls. The service indicator is showing

Service

Vehicle identification number:

TMBKR7NU5P5*******

Inspection in 16100 mi or 383 days

Oil change service in 13200 mi or 317 days

Dealer can’t explain why it’s showing so many days remaining.

Because it’s calculated using a number of factors. So off the top of my head they include opacity of the oil, the mileage you’ve covered and the “determination” of your driving style. There are others. Putting all that aside, I’m on variable servicing, but I’ve only gone as far as 15m without an oil change; I get it bang-on or within a month either side of 12. Additionally, I get the other fluids / filters get changed / cleaned well in advance of the recommended periods.

Even after all these years, I still feel variable servicing is BS...

I second that, I remain old school and at regular intervals, time or km, depending on use.

I know - and work regularly - with at least a dozen independent workshop who hold up the BS sign at this, at least half of these rebuilt several engines an year ... I trust their judgment way more than a commercial gimmick - from the manufacturer, nonetheless!

The flexible service regime is recommended for vehicles with a daily mileage of more than 25 miles where the vehicle is driven regularly and mainly at a constant speed with minimum vehicle and engine loading, minimal towing and driven in an economical manner

Who drives like this? 🤣

This said, mine is on variable and the dealer won't change it, but still wants me to make an oil change at no more that 15k km/1 year ... I actually slipped through the cracks and made one interim change at 10k km ... I can't wait until is out of warranty and get rid of the official schedule ... and go stage 1 of course 😁

8 hours ago, Settlerman said:

My Karoq is coming up to 2yrs old and has done 3,802mls. The service indicator is showing

Service

Vehicle identification number:

TMBKR7NU5P5*******

Inspection in 16100 mi or 383 days

Oil change service in 13200 mi or 317 days

Dealer can’t explain why it’s showing so many days remaini

There's a manual process you can use to reset the oil service internal.

I'm not sure on the superb if it's similar but I triggered it by accident on my Octavia trying to reset the trip counter.

Holding the trip button down whilst turning on the ignition or something like that, it was a few years ago.

There can be a difference between the inspection date (which is always a fixed counter from 365 or 730 days) & oil service which changes based driving conditions, journey types, engine temperature etc

However the fact that after 2 years you still have more then 1 year left on the inspection interval is strange.

Had anyone used a diagnostic tool on your car or have you taken it to a garage or independent in that time?

It's quite common that the garage will make "a mistake" and reprogram incorrectly the days to next service when you visit but as far as I know they don't have to type the number of days, they just choose "reset to fixed service interval (365 days)" or "reset to variable interval (720 days).

Car has never been to a dealership or had any diagnostic work performed on it. Going to try another dealership for their opinion.

Is it a phev engine you have in the karoq?

I could understand that a new phev engine could go longer than 2 years for an oil change if it counts engine running time instead of just days.

However, it's still strange to me that the mechanical inspection would be longer than 2 years.

Maybe post the same question in the karoq forum??

Many new cars, driven by new EVs are moving from fixed service intervals to predictive diagnostics so you only need to visit the dealer when the oil quality sensor shows it is dirty or air quality sensor requests the filter is changed.

However I haven't heard of VAG doing this