1st Service Costs - Milton Keynes area results

[znww5]

As my 1.2TSi is coming up for it's first long-life service, I phoned around to get quotes - here is what I was given:

Independent Garage A £205

Independent Garage B £175

SEAT Main Dealer £169

I realise that the SEAT quote may be a special offer, but whatever happened to the idea that the independent garages are cheaper?

 

[m0rk]

They got greedy.

 

[adamb87]

Just had my third service on the cupra and was quite impressed with 150. I know its only oil and filters, but when I had vauxhalls it was in the 200's .....

 

[J400uk]

Yeah the servicing prices for year 1-3 are pretty reasonable. It's the 40k/ 4 year service which hurts as that costs £249

 

[306Chris]

What is the 'long life' service interval?

Dealt with MK Seat today and had massive problems even over the phone with them, gave up on them and booked in with Aylesbury now! (Warranty Work)

 

[MisterW]

What is the 'long life' service interval?

Where the service interval is dependant not on a specific time/distance but is calculated by the ECU based on usage profile and an oil quality monitor and can be upto 2years or 20k miles. TBH the Seat dealers don't seem to understand the concept, we're seeing a fair amount of confusion over on the Exeo Forum. The Exeo is basically an Audi A4(B7) and so, of course, is setup like most Audi's have been for a while for longlife servicing.
As an aside, I've just had the first service done on my Exeo at 18k miles by an independent at a cost of £148 including replacing the pollen filter. I've used the same independent for the last few years both to service my previous A4 and now the Exeo, I wouldn't let mine anywhere near a main dealer for servicing.

 

[100andthirty]

Also had first service for £169 in MK, and they washed and vac'd it too ehich the independent I've used never does (not a complaint though as they're good too!)

However since last using Wayside SEAT's predecessor, MK SEAT, the standard of customer care - never bad - has improved. i was very impressed.

No defects in 12000 miles.

 

[znww5]

MK SEAT - they were able to sort out the 1.2TSi turbo fix easily enough - although the information was handed to them on a plate thanks to this forum. However moving the clicking relay seemed to be a big problem as they had never done it before and wanted the car for 1, no 2 or possibly 3 days - I decided to pass on that.

The standard of customer service was good enough, but they were baffled by the concept of a long-life service. In fact I had to go back as they had screwed up the entry in the service book, so that it looked as though the car had done 16,000 miles before it had a 10,000 mile oil change! So the same problem as MrW encountered, it seems a bit strange that the customer has to explain to service reception how to fill out their own service record !

 

[306Chris]

MK SEAT - they were able to sort out the 1.2TSi turbo fix easily enough - although the information was handed to them on a plate thanks to this forum. However moving the clicking relay seemed to be a big problem as they had never done it before and wanted the car for 1, no 2 or possibly 3 days - I decided to pass on that.

The standard of customer service was good enough, but they were baffled by the concept of a long-life service. In fact I had to go back as they had screwed up the entry in the service book, so that it looked as though the car had done 16,000 miles before it had a 10,000 mile oil change! So the same problem as MrW encountered, it seems a bit strange that the customer has to explain to service reception how to fill out their own service record !

Yep the guy told me my missus' car was 5k overdue and would not accept it is on longlife! funnily enough the spanner has come on today almost as if he flicked a switch

Even more worringly the guy i spoke to could not get his head around her private plate! It starts C10 on a 2011 Ibiza and the guy would not beleive there wasnt a letter missing!!!!!!!!!!! I gave up in the end, its just the mirror switch we need replacing as its broken, ive decided to just buy the part and do it myself!

 

[100andthirty]

Yep the guy told me my missus' car was 5k overdue and would not accept it is on longlife! funnily enough the spanner has come on today almost as if he flicked a switch

Strange...... I had booked the car in for a 10000 mile/annual service. They phoned a day or two before saying it was a long life service car and suggested waiting 'till the service light came on. However, thanks for the tip re checking the service book.

 

[MisterW]

In fact I had to go back as they had screwed up the entry in the service book, so that it looked as though the car had done 16,000 miles before it had a 10,000 mile oil change! So the same problem as MrW encountered, it seems a bit strange that the customer has to explain to service reception how to fill out their own service record !

That's exactly what happened to one of the guys with an Exeo. You may need to check that they've used the correct longlife oil though. It's the same oil for 10k/longlife on the diesels but I'm not sure about petrol?

and they washed and vac'd it too ehich the independent I've used never does

Mine does.

They phoned a day or two before saying it was a long life service car and suggested waiting 'till the service light came on.

On the Exeo you can press the spanner button at any time and the DIS will display the current calculated milage/time at which the service is expected to be due.

 

[NetworkMan]

On the Exeo you can press the spanner button at any time and the DIS will display the current calculated milage/time at which the service is expected to be due.

Yes, you can on the Ibiza too. In fact with the low, economical mileage I do it's looking at slightly more than two years from registration date. I'll call it a day at two.

True about the dealers not getting their heads around it. When new mine came with a windscreen sticker saying 1 year/12000 miles. However the book clearly says QG1 and the service indicator agrees. The section in the service book where the dealer is supposed to tick normal or longlife wasn't filled in at all! After discussing it with them they agreed it was on longlife. Then at one year old a letter arrived in the post saying a service was due - sigh.

However they are friendly and helpful.

It's the same oil for 10k/longlife on the diesels but I'm not sure about petrol?[\QUOTE]
Different for petrol and the 502.00 for 10k is usually cheaper and easier to find than the 504.00 longlife.

 

[NetworkMan]

However moving the clicking relay seemed to be a big problem as they had never done it before and wanted the car for 1, no 2 or possibly 3 days - I decided to pass on that.

I asked about this when I took it in for the turbo mod. Of the top of my head I couldn't quote a reference number at them but they said they hadn't heard about it. I've decided to leave it as it is:-

1. The noise is so quiet it's not really a bother.
2. It's reassuring to know that the cooling pump for the turbo and intercooler is working OK (or at least the controlling relay is).

 

[G.P]

oil quality monitor/QUOTE]

What/how does it monitor?

You may need to check that they've used the correct longlife oil though.

How do you check? Wait for the monitor to indicte early?

The two local dealers to me use longlife oil in all the cars they service.

Can't wait to get my Leon serviced as the oil's needed to be dropped since 7-8k. .

 

[NetworkMan]

How do you check? Wait for the monitor to indicte earl

No, the sensor in the sump is just measuring the oil temperature. I'm sure all you can do is ask.

The two local dealers to me use longlife oil in all the cars they service.

I'd guess they would do that. The latest Fuchs oil meets both the 507.00 diesel spec. and the 504.00 longlife petrol spec. I expect other makes are similar. Since 504.00 can also be used in petrol cars on short servicing they probably only need to stock one type of oil for all requirements with the possible exception of the 5 cylinder and V10 engines I remember reading. Even though it may be more expensive I expect the simplification is worth it.

 

[MisterW]

What/how does it monitor?

I suspect it measures the density/opaqueness and the thermal transmission qualitiy in some way since there are 2 values available from VCDS 'oil soot value' and 'oil thermal value'.

How do you check? Wait for the monitor to indicte early?

You ask them to confirm what spec oil they used, but it really should itemise it on the service invoice!. From NetworkMan's post its either 502.00 or 504.00 and they shoudl have used the latter if they did a proper longlife service.

Then at one year old a letter arrived in the post saying a service was due - sigh.

Yep, I got a phone call from the dealer telling me my service was due. I asked them how they knew since there was no way they could read the service indicator remotely!!
I got the reply that it was almost a year old, 'so what' I said , 'its on longlife servicing'. Stunned silence from the other end, In the end I gave up trying to explain longlife servicing and just told them it was going somewhere else for servicing!.

 

[NetworkMan]

I suspect it measures the density/opaqueness and the thermal transmission qualitiy in some way since there are 2 values available from VCDS 'oil soot value' and 'oil thermal value'.

I found a copy of VAG SSP224, "Service Interval Extension," on the Web. It's from 1999 but it's the best I could find.

The sensor in the sump measures oil level and temperature. Hot oil degrades faster than cool oil so that is a factor. For petrol cars, distance travelled and fuel consumption are also measured, presumably since cars with high consumption are also giving the oil a bad time - frequent cold starts etc.

Diesel cars determine an engine oil soot load based on engine load and speed. They also determine a thermal oil load based on engine speed and oil temperature. It looks as if diesel cars don't use fuel consumption as part of the calculation.

It therfore looks as if the VCDS values are calculated rather than measured directly.

 

[MisterW]

@NetworkMan, Thanks for that, its interesting information to know.

 

[znww5]

I had exactly the same issue with the service book not being marked up by the main dealer when we bought the car - after checking for the QG1 code on the service book sticker and the other sticker in the boot, I marked it up for them.

It has to be said that long life services aren't in the financial interest of the dealers, so it may be a case of selective amnesia croping up. If the punter clearly knows what they are talking about then they get what they want, but many drivers are really 'car users' these days and haven't a clue about the mechanical and servicing side of things. In my case I also double checked that the service sheet confirmed that long-life oil had been used.

As for how the oil quality sensor works, I'd like to know more about that - measuring the oil temperature and usage cycles would be quite easy, but I wonder how they get MrW's 'oil soot value'? I suppose you could do it optically and measure the transmissivity of the oil, or perhaps oil soot is related to the acidity of the oil, so you could measure the pH value.

As for the clicking relay fix, the dealer did show me the printout of the instructions, which basically requires the removal of a goodly portion of the dashboard of the car, some splicing into existing looms and so on. Having seen the level of dismantling needed for the mod, and given that they were proposing to experiment with my car, I decided to leave well alone!

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Cross posted, thanks for the info Networkman - very interesting.

 

[NetworkMan]

As for the clicking relay fix, the dealer did show me the printout of the instructions, which basically requires the removal of a goodly portion of the dashboard of the car, some splicing into existing looms and so on. Having seen the level of dismantling needed for the mod, and given that they were proposing to experiment with my car, I decided to leave well alone!

Thanks for the info. znww5. It looks as if I should add a third point to the two I mentioned above:-

3. The car might be returned in a worse state than when it went in!