My 2021 1,5 TS Estate is 2 years old next month. To that end the dealer has rung me and told me it's time for an "Air-Con Check". This is apparently outside the remit of the servicing package/first MOT that I paid for in advance when I bought it. They would like to relieve me of 139 quid. For what, exactly? Car's done 7700 miles (ex'demo'), I've had it since last November (at 3300 miles) and the air-con works flawlessly.
Questions are; what exactly are they going to do for that money and do I need this done, or are they just putting the "con" in air-con?


If I turn them down will they play the warranty card?

Also, I have no service history for my car, how can I get it as it may well be due a service after 24 months but I've no way of checking myself?

Cheers for any assistance.

Edited 27 July, 20232 yr by Tried5UserNames

I spoke to the dealer about this when my car got to the 2 year mark. Their advice was to leave it if I was happy with the performance which I was. I've also owned other brands of cars from new and never had issues with the air con despite not getting it serviced.

It’s easy enough to change the pollen filter yourself, and use an air con bomb to sanitise the system.

I've just seen the second part of this question, in relation to service history iirc it's stored on the infotainment in the vehicle section. You can also download a digital report if you log into skoda connect from a Web browser which shows any services and/or warranty repairs.

The car will tell you when it needs a service. Get the air con done when it's no longer cold.

 

£139 for something that doesn't need doing is typical dealer behaviour. Pretty sure my MkIII Octavia never had an aircon service in 10 years.

4 hours ago, GWoodhouse said:

Get the air con done when it's no longer cold.

At that point you've already damaged the compressor or at least caused it to wear prematurely.

Yep, it's money spinner, classic over-servicing. Your AC will tell you when it needs regassing, i.e. cooling will become less effective. Unless you have a leak in the condenser or other component, on average the gas should hold (full cooling) for around 5 years. Every car of mine has done, and I run the system on auto all year round. Pollen filters should be changed periodically, nothing to do with the AC. 

With my mk II  many years ago my dealer told me I needed a new AC pump because 'it was noisy' (£800+).  I went to an AC specialist who said 'rubbish'.  There is supposed to be a fraction of oil in the freon mix, they just did a recharge of the system (£60), putting in the due amount of oil and the problem was solved and for the following 10 years until I sold the car I never had a problem.

 

ignore the dealer, when you think the AC isn't working as well as it might go to an AC specialist and get it recharged.

 

P.S. when I moved and took the car to a new dealership for servicing they wanted to replace the torque convertor oil - the car is a manual !  In my experience the dealers are more interested in keeping their workshop full than in the interests of their customers.

 

P.P.S. When the dealer did clean the filters, I had to spend a day driving with the windows open to stop my eyes streaming due to the solvents they had used to clean the filters.

Edited 28 July, 20232 yr by avi4tor

12 hours ago, Jorgeminator said:

At that point you've already damaged the compressor or at least caused it to wear prematurely.

 

Not so, its the refrigerant gas (R123a not Freon) that gradually permeates through the flexible hoses dropping the system pressure not the PAG oil, its molecular size is too large, even when a system is degassed under vacuum only a tiny amount of PAG oil is removed as witnessed by the wildly differing volumes to be added for a recharge or for a compressor replacement.