Main Dealer "Major" Service work

Deev

Full Member
May 28, 2006
329
4
Croydon, South London
So, hypothetically, if you were to have a "Major" Seat Main Dealer service (the £300+ one) on your Leon, would you a) expect to have the spark plugs replaced (petrol obvs), and b) expect to have to pay extra for an air filter replacement...? :unsure:
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
You're about to tell us a story, aren't you? Perchance, not a happy one?
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
I've always thought that the deal was, if you had bought a car new from VW Group, year 1 service is a "minor" ie only oil and filter, year 2 is a "major" ie oil and filter plus some other inspection tasks, year 3 is a "minor" ie only oil and filter, and year 4 is again a "major" but in your case maybe also spark plugs and air filter.
As such I would expect year 2 and year 4 to be the same cost, but year 4 would have some extra items that you were charged for, like spark plugs and air filter.
 
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black_sheep

Active Member
Mar 10, 2013
1,256
585
And the service tables are in the ‘maintenance’ workshop manual here explaining what should be done when:


Aircon refresh is a bit of a shocker though...

£29 for them to run your car for 10 mins with the aircon on after popping a £7.50 quantum aircon cleaner canister is a bit steep!
 

Deev

Full Member
May 28, 2006
329
4
Croydon, South London
And the service tables are in the ‘maintenance’ workshop manual here explaining what should be done when:


Aircon refresh is a bit of a shocker though...

£29 for them to run your car for 10 mins with the aircon on after popping a £7.50 quantum aircon cleaner canister is a bit steep!

Okay so this one certainly confuses the issue....!!!
 

Deev

Full Member
May 28, 2006
329
4
Croydon, South London
Right - yeah - so looking at both of these things has definitely confused things... Okay - so, as Mr Pig wanted a story... :)

Yesterday I took my car (2014 Leon 1.4 TSI FR) to a main dealer for its first service under my ownership. The car is quite high mileage (86k) and I only bought it 5 months ago so I thought I'd treat it to - at least one - main dealer service (it also has MDFSH up to this point). The previous (at 82k - nobody has gone anywhere in the past year!) service was a "minor" so they booked me in for a major (along with an MoT). I was also upsold an enhanced service (where I was told they'd clean out the sump and oil channels and clean the injectors - although upon looking at the invoice it appears I've actually just paid an extra 50 quid or so for a can of oil flush and a shot of Redex-alike! But that's not particularly relevant to this!).

Anyway - the bottom line here is that as a "major" service, the Seat website (as linked by stu_m) suggests that this service should include an air filter and spark plugs... but is that only "if required"? The service table posted by black_sheep suggests the plugs are replaced every 60000km (so around 38000m). My service book shows mine were last changed at 53882 (I'm now 85976 so *slightly* short of the interval)... They DID however replace my air filter, but charged EXTRA for it (part only - "No Extra Labour For Fitting" - woop).

So the question here is, what the hell have I paid an extra 130 quid for when I've basically just had an oil change, plus an air filter that I've paid extra for anyway!?!?
 

Seriously?

Active Member
Apr 20, 2018
1,237
831
My local Indy carries out an engine flush as a matter of course on a major service on my Merc - £11.95 last time round (July last year)
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
Well leaving the flushing/cleaning bit out of things, you were charged exactly as I indicated, ie only for the extra "if required" parts, based on average user mileage, the spark plugs and air filter will get replaced at 4 years and again at 8 years.

There are many other items that get checked during an inspection, it takes a bit of time and effort to kick 4 tyres and re-inflate them up to randomly high pressures - all that has to be paid for!

Seriously, lots of areas will have been checked, but certainly no wheels off to check and clean out the brakes, so if you have DIY skills, I'd suggest that you carry out a full 4 wheels/brakes service and the brake fluid is due a change this year, and the plugs next year.

Maybe they found that the air filter looked a bit nasty - or they just chose to add checking its condition in as that is an easy job.
 

Deev

Full Member
May 28, 2006
329
4
Croydon, South London
I get what you're saying - but wouldn't the cost of the air filter be included in the service charge? Isn't that the point of the fixed price servicing?

So, assuming my next year's service is a "minor", but the plugs are due to be replaced - would that be done all-in or would they be charged extra too?

This whole fixed price servicing thing sounds like quite a scam to me.
 

martin j.

Active Member
Feb 11, 2007
1,996
889
Fife
Even in a minor service our techs would have the wheels of to at least to blow the brakes out and check pads and discs-very hard to check inner pads with the wheels on- how can a health check be done correctly? Some dealers are definitely taking the mick.
 

kimimaru

Active Member
Feb 15, 2010
336
29
West midlands
I get what you're saying - but wouldn't the cost of the air filter be included in the service charge? Isn't that the point of the fixed price servicing?

So, assuming my next year's service is a "minor", but the plugs are due to be replaced - would that be done all-in or would they be charged extra too?

This whole fixed price servicing thing sounds like quite a scam to me.

Last time i was there, they done nothing to the car, they don't replace air filter, only software upgrade and headlight adjustment.
 

Walone

Active Member
Feb 10, 2016
1,538
421
Near Heathrow
Right - yeah - so looking at both of these things has definitely confused things... Okay - so, as Mr Pig wanted a story... :)
Yesterday I took my car (2014 Leon 1.4 TSI FR) to a main dealer for its first service under my ownership. The car is quite high mileage (86k) and I only bought it 5 months ago so I thought I'd treat it to - at least one - main dealer service (it also has MDFSH up to this point). The previous (at 82k - nobody has gone anywhere in the past year!) service was a "minor" so they booked me in for a major (along with an MoT). I was also upsold an enhanced service (where I was told they'd clean out the sump and oil channels and clean the injectors - although upon looking at the invoice it appears I've actually just paid an extra 50 quid or so for a can of oil flush and a shot of Redex-alike! But that's not particularly relevant to this!).
Anyway - the bottom line here is that as a "major" service, the Seat website (as linked by stu_m) suggests that this service should include an air filter and spark plugs... but is that only "if required"? The service table posted by black_sheep suggests the plugs are replaced every 60000km (so around 38000m). My service book shows mine were last changed at 53882 (I'm now 85976 so *slightly* short of the interval)... They DID however replace my air filter, but charged EXTRA for it (part only - "No Extra Labour For Fitting" - woop).
So the question here is, what the hell have I paid an extra 130 quid for when I've basically just had an oil change, plus an air filter that I've paid extra for anyway!?!?
I recently had a Major service (part of my service plan) on my late 2015 1.4act FR, as I only had 21000 miles on the clock I asked for the spark plugs not to be changed and for them to be left in the car for future use. They changed the air filter and pollen filter as well, all included in the service plan price!
 

GlekkeMatrak

Active Member
Dec 22, 2020
60
45
Houtvenne, Belgium
Right now I'm at 86000km (= 53500m), and haven't had a dealer service the car since it had 45000km (=28000m). Car was 3 years old back then, and received its first major service. They charged me for an oil sump plug, only to find out about a week later that they didn't even replace it with a new one, because it was leaking oil onto the bottom cover plate. Something so stupidly small had such an impact on me that I decided never to let any dealer earn money on me ever again, at least not for services after warranty expiration. They're just too damn expensive for the quality of work they deliver. Go over the required points of maintenance in the manual available here, and if you daren't perform everything yourself, find a local small garage to perform only the tasks required. Will save you lots. I perform every bit of maintenance and repairs myself, allowing me to overhaul the brake system completely for under £250 back in December. That's about what a major dealer charges for front pads only.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
I get what you're saying - but wouldn't the cost of the air filter be included in the service charge? Isn't that the point of the fixed price servicing?

So, assuming my next year's service is a "minor", but the plugs are due to be replaced - would that be done all-in or would they be charged extra too?

This whole fixed price servicing thing sounds like quite a scam to me.

No that can't work, as the "major" service at 2 years basic quoted price will not include an air filter or spark plugs, but the "major" service at 4 years will but it will have a same base price - and then they add on any extra parts due to be replaced at 4, 8,12 etc years.

Edit:- spark plugs will be due next year, but I thought that you would be taking care of servicing from now on.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
Even in a minor service our techs would have the wheels of to at least to blow the brakes out and check pads and discs-very hard to check inner pads with the wheels on- how can a health check be done correctly? Some dealers are definitely taking the mick.

All that is expected is that the brakes will get a visual check with wheels on and and the car will get a short road test - any braking issues discovered normally result in either the customer being phoned or being told on collection to book it back in ASAP to get the brake servicing carried out.
 

BoomerBoom

Active Member
Jun 1, 2018
690
249
More normally the customer gets phoned and told all their tyres are dangerously worn and need to be urgently replaced at £150 each, even when there is over 4mm tread left and the exact same tyre can be had for £100.

Every time I take a lease car to the dealer it's the same, no wonder dealers are shunned by anyone who can avoid the con they are running.