Three year service plan

[Robtt]

My local Seat garage had offered me a three year service plan . It’s £821 inc vat to include three services, air con service and haldex service . Does not include brake service or mot. It’s basically 36 equal payments interest free .I am inclined to agree but will insist it includes brake service as it will be needed at year two in my opinion . It seemingly saves about £180 over retail prices. What do you think ?

 

[Alzak]

Seems not too great dealto be honest 3 years of servicing so two minor and one major service with haldex probably once in that time not sure on AirCon presumably 3 services included in this price (without top up)

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[BillyCool]

Depends if you want/need the dealer stamp.

My indy can do 2 minor and a major (inspection) service for about £350. Aircon regas can be had for c.£50 and Haldex isn't more than £100.

You'll always pay more at a dealer and get the stamp and `peace of mind` if that's what you want.

Define brake `service`. Does that mean they look at them FOC as part of the deal and then charge you £££'s to change pads and discs?

MOT is £35 so again not a big deal.

I'd say it's not a great deal but depends what you want to get out of it.

 

[Robtt]

The problem there are no Indy seat garages anywhere near where I live. Just sold my Golf Gti Mk7 and every garage asked about full dealer service history so o think it’s worth having .But will try to chip the price down. Agree air con not worth it . Brake service is though.

 

[Robtt]

Just had a look at Seat own pricing and you can get one minor and one a major service for @£397. That’s a lot better value as the third minor won’t make it up to what the garage is quoting . When is the haldex service due ?

 

[BillyCool]

Just had a look at Seat own pricing and you can get one minor and one a major service for @£397. That’s a lot better value as the third minor won’t make it up to what the garage is quoting . When is the haldex service due ?

That sounds better! Totally agree/understand about getting a dealer stamp.

Quick Google on Haldex service gives variable results. Some say 20,000 miles for oil and 40,000 for filter (if you have one). Others say it's time based, either 3 or 4 years. It also seems to depend on whether you have Gen 2, 3, 4 etc.

 

[BigJase88]

I got one of these amazing 3 year service plans

3 services just 15 a month or something

car turns up on variable servicing so only needs 1 service in 3 years. Been completely had haven’t i

 

[BillyCool]

I got one of these amazing 3 year service plans

3 services just 15 a month or something

car turns up on variable servicing so only needs 1 service in 3 years. Been completely had haven’t i

1 service in 3 years. How does that work??

 

[BigJase88]

1 service in 3 years. How does that work??

Longlife servicing, every 20k or 2 years whatever comes first. Got the car new on a 3 year lease so services will be year 2,4,6,8 and so on.

so im paying for the 20k year 2 service.

i have officially been conned. If i hadn’t opted for the service plan i bet on my life that car would of turned up on a fixed service plan of 12 months or 10k miles and needed 3 services before it went back.

 

[RUM4MO]

That 3 year service deal is just not good value for money, most VW Group dealerships offer to "price match" - but all that means nothing if you don't want to travel and suffer a slight inconvenience to keep costs down, so yes just throw your cash at that far too expensive deal, it does not sound like you can be bothered to work to improve on it - maybe harsh, but true.

 

[Robtt]

That 3 year service deal is just not good value for money, most VW Group dealerships offer to "price match" - but all that means nothing if you don't want to travel and suffer a slight inconvenience to keep costs down, so yes just throw your cash at that far too expensive deal, it does not sound like you can be bothered to work to improve on it - maybe harsh, but true.

Whoa ! I am a Yorkshireman so love a deal. But the fact is the Scarborough Seat dealer closed last week .So it is York dealer and that is a fair trek and then Leeds or Teeside as a further alternat.So the latter two make a full day expedition. I will try to get the York dealer to beat the Seat quote ,for two year servicing ,and see how I get on. I don’t hold out much hope as they are part of a regional group .

 

[RUM4MO]

What we bought from our local VW dealership, when my wife's new 2015 Polo arrived ended up being a non transferable dealership service plan, which ended up being a lot cheaper than the official VW "add on" at point of purchase. That suited us down to the ground even although I do lots of car maintenance on our cars - but only after the warranty has expired, so for us, it was win win and with no funny business except the cheaper pollen filter was fitted so that was not a "like for like" replacement and the oil was the cheaper 5W-40 as that car was set to fixed time/miles servicing - that was okay as I could change the pollen filter for the Frecious Plus version which VW Group don't seem to have moved on to yet, and I started using 5W-30 Mobil One ESP from the year 4 service onwards.

I also don't mind saving money coming from North of the Border - well more like using money wisely and not just getting caught up in the spiral of pumping out money and boasting about it, but with that does tend to come some more investment of time form the "saver", so maybe you need to consider "using a day" once a year for a visit "away" that includes getting that car service fitted in. Maybe more in the past, many people it seems got their cars serviced while going on holiday or while on holiday in mainland Europe and saved a lot of money - that is a step too far for me, I always need to have all that done before taking the car away from my home area.

In the past we have always travelled maybe 55 miles (each way) to get cambelts replaced - and used that trip as an excuse to take 2 cars and keep travelling further in that direction and enjoy a "day away" - luckily now I have found a more local source of these savings! Sometimes just paying up and paying more fits in better with your life style, annoying but such is life.

Edit:- I'm sure that the " 3 year service + first MOT" for a 2015 VW Polo 12.TSI 110PS was only £342 back in 2015 - and at that time, a minor service was roughly £135 and a major service £285 - so as it looked like I'd be paying £135 + £285 + £135 + £35 = £590 if service prices remained static, it made that service deal worthwhile buying for us. As for brake fluid and AC service, I can take care of that so that was okay. Also any other reported "brake work" will always be at extra cost, though for me that is not a problem as I service my brakes initially every 2nd year for the first 6 years of a car's life, then every year form then on.

 

[BillyCool]

Longlife servicing, every 20k or 2 years whatever comes first. Got the car new on a 3 year lease so services will be year 2,4,6,8 and so on.

so im paying for the 20k year 2 service.

i have officially been conned. If i hadn’t opted for the service plan i bet on my life that car would of turned up on a fixed service plan of 12 months or 10k miles and needed 3 services before it went back.

Thought you might say that. I depends who you ask, but a lot of people say that they wouldn't leave oil in a car for 20,000/2 years without a change. The whole LL service was aimed at lease/company car drivers/fleet managers to help reduce service costs. I've been told by a few people that it's not ideal and a bit of a swizz.

Admittedly, a petrol car might be less sensitive to it than a diesel. My TDI was on the LL plan when I bought it (ex-co. car) and it appealed to me that it `only` needed a service every 20,000 miles. After some advice, I changed it to 10,000 miles. My driving style didn't suit the LL anyway and I think the car would have changed it to 10,000 anyway (it's meant to work it out by monitoring your oil I think). I change mine every 5,000 miles as the car likes it that way and a lot of other (privately owned) TDI drivers do that.

It's far less of an issue with lease cars because you don't keep the car that long and won't see any detrimental effects during your ownership. You effectively pass any longer term issues on to the next owner. I'm not saying this is gospel but based on previous advice from those in the know.

Service packs can be good value, if you know what you're looking at.

 

[RUM4MO]

I was probably surprised that that 2015 VW Polo did not come set on flexible servicing so that that dealer would have scored on the "3 year service plan", but I was wrong, my mate bought a used VW T-Roc - it was a May 2018, he bought it in September 2019, it was bought new with a transferable "VW 3 year service plan", it has neither done the extra miles or the years to have used up more than "1" of its "3" paid for services, it is on fixed miles/time servicing, but he has been told that it has only got a single paid service left and that does not sound right - I've asked him to challenge that when he hands it in to the supplying dealership who were the original supplying dealership and the servicing dealership - I said that he should request a "service history" of that car. To me, it almost sounds like that maybe opportunistic/greedy dealership, used up the "year 2" VW paid service to cover the presale service, though maybe I'm wrong there!

 

[SRGTD]

I was probably surprised that that 2015 VW Polo did not come set on flexible servicing so that that dealer would have scored on the "3 year service plan", but I was wrong, my mate bought a used VW T-Roc - it was a May 2018, he bought it in September 2019, it was bought new with a transferable "VW 3 year service plan", it has neither done the extra miles or the years to have used up more than "1" of its "3" paid for services, it is on fixed miles/time servicing, but he has been told that it has only got a single paid service left and that does not sound right - I've asked him to challenge that when he hands it in to the supplying dealership who were the original supplying dealership and the servicing dealership - I said that he should request a "service history" of that car. To me, it almost sounds like that maybe opportunistic/greedy dealership, used up the "year 2" VW paid service to cover the presale service, though maybe I'm wrong there!

When I bought my VW new in 2016, VW had moved away from offering 3 year service plans to a two year plan, so it could be that the 3 year transferable service plan on your friend’s 2018 T-Roc was the dealership’s own, rather than an official VW plan.

Is it possible that the T-Roc had its second service in September 2019 as part of pre-sales prep when your friend bought the car, even though it wasn’t really due until May 2020 on a time and distance service regime? If so, then the dealership might be correct in saying that it only had one service left under the three year plan. Getting a copy of the service history should clarify this.

Apologies for going off topic............Back on topic; @Robtt; on the face of it, £821 does sound quite expensive. First brake fluid change is due at three years, and then every two years after that. I personally wouldn’t bother with the air con service if the air con is working OK (a/c service is a recommended service action, rather than a required service action). Also, consider how long you’re planning on keeping the car and check to see what’s in the service plan small print regarding cancelling the service plan monthly payments if you sell the car before it’s three years old.

If you’re definitely going to keep the car for three years or longer, it might be worth checking with a reputable independent garage what they would charge to carry out the work included in the three year service plan - chances are, it’ll be cheaper than £821.

 

[Blade]

Whoa ! I am a Yorkshireman so love a deal. But the fact is the Scarborough Seat dealer closed last week .So it is York dealer and that is a fair trek and then Leeds or Teeside as a further alternat.So the latter two make a full day expedition. I will try to get the York dealer to beat the Seat quote ,for two year servicing ,and see how I get on. I don’t hold out much hope as they are part of a regional group .

Funny you mention Scarborough Seat. I’m picking up my new car from there on Sunday. Such a shame they are closing.

On the service question I would set the car to 670 day service interval then worry about the following ones when they happen.


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[BigJase88]

Thought you might say that. I depends who you ask, but a lot of people say that they wouldn't leave oil in a car for 20,000/2 years without a change. The whole LL service was aimed at lease/company car drivers/fleet managers to help reduce service costs. I've been told by a few people that it's not ideal and a bit of a swizz.

Admittedly, a petrol car might be less sensitive to it than a diesel. My TDI was on the LL plan when I bought it (ex-co. car) and it appealed to me that it `only` needed a service every 20,000 miles. After some advice, I changed it to 10,000 miles. My driving style didn't suit the LL anyway and I think the car would have changed it to 10,000 anyway (it's meant to work it out by monitoring your oil I think). I change mine every 5,000 miles as the car likes it that way and a lot of other (privately owned) TDI drivers do that.

It's far less of an issue with lease cars because you don't keep the car that long and won't see any detrimental effects during your ownership. You effectively pass any longer term issues on to the next owner. I'm not saying this is gospel but based on previous advice from those in the know.

Service packs can be good value, if you know what you're looking at.

i also do not believe longlife servicing

who in their right mind thinks a brand new engine goes 20k miles or 2 years until its first service? Not me thats for sure.

the car is a lease so i guess i don’t really care, it’s seats car at the end of the day so if thats all they are willing to provide then their issue / next owners issue