PCP Servicing and Maintenance

BigO

Active Member
Mar 5, 2018
28
5
Hey guys,

I just had a quick question about PCP that I’m unsure about.

if you’re on a PCP deal: Do you need to get your car serviced at a SEAT dealership or it doesn’t matter where it’s serviced as long there is proof of service?

also, I was told my car will be needing new breaks in a few months and they cost about £139 for a pair. A friend of mine said I can get them done for a lot cheaper. But my question is, maintenance stuff like this can be done anywhere and not specifically the SEAT dealership right?


I hope you guys can help me!!


Thanks
 

tak-fr

Active Member
Dec 3, 2017
75
8
From my understanding you can get your car serviced at any SEAT dealership or any garage or even do it yourself.
But, the garage and self option may invalidate your warranty on a car which still has an active warranty.


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Yern

Active Member
Apr 25, 2019
625
311
Unless things have changed...any servicing would need to be carried out in accordance with the OEM schedule and using equivalent (to OEM spec) parts. As always in the event of something blowing up its on the owner to prove this. Have it service at a Seat dealership and no issues. I had a Fiat blow a timing belt and destroy the engine in warranty. Dealer serviced so new engine no quibbles. I'd heard of a manufacturer carrying out oil sampling for any turbo replacements serviced outside of the network.
 

BigO

Active Member
Mar 5, 2018
28
5
Unless things have changed...any servicing would need to be carried out in accordance with the OEM schedule and using equivalent (to OEM spec) parts. As always in the event of something blowing up its on the owner to prove this. Have it service at a Seat dealership and no issues. I had a Fiat blow a timing belt and destroy the engine in warranty. Dealer serviced so new engine no quibbles. I'd heard of a manufacturer carrying out oil sampling for any turbo replacements serviced outside of the network.
Yep I have been servicing it at the dealer as I remember hearing something like that but wasn’t really sure.

Are the breaks the same story or is that different?
 
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Yern

Active Member
Apr 25, 2019
625
311
Personally I've only ever fitted quality brand name brake pads/shoes (back in the day) but I suppose the same applies if you ever tried to claim warped discs for example and had non-gen fitted. For brakes I'd only go for genuine or equivalent brand...even if I fitted myself.
 

BigO

Active Member
Mar 5, 2018
28
5
Personally I've only ever fitted quality brand name brake pads/shoes (back in the day) but I suppose the same applies if you ever tried to claim warped discs for example and had non-gen fitted. For brakes I'd only go for genuine or equivalent brand...even if I fitted myself.

oh yea of course the breaks would be high quality brands. I wouldn’t cheap out on them. but at the end of PCP agreement, me getting them fitted myself won’t affect the agreement at all right? As I think the dealership prices are a bit higher than normal
 

Yern

Active Member
Apr 25, 2019
625
311
oh yea of course the breaks would be high quality brands. I wouldn’t cheap out on them. but at the end of PCP agreement, me getting them fitted myself won’t affect the agreement at all right? As I think the dealership prices are a bit higher than normal
Sorry, no experience of PCP or PCH agreements so perhaps someone else can comment?
 

tak-fr

Active Member
Dec 3, 2017
75
8
The best way to know is by reading your docs or calling and asking your PCP lender to see if there’s any issues.


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Jimbobcook

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Nov 24, 2012
6,149
2,531
Does this help? It's from leasing forms I have
Screenshot_20200621-092511.jpg

Screenshot_20200621-092610.jpg
 

Seriously?

Active Member
Apr 20, 2018
1,237
831
Best to check your contract terms carefully - on some PCP deals, the Guaranteed Future Value is subject to having the vehicle serviced within the dealership network.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
I suppose what it boils down to is whether you're a risk taker? I wouldn't do one of these contracts as I like to sort a car out and then keep it for many years but I still get the vehicle maintained by the dealer whilst under warranty. It's too easy to fall foul of some obscure requirement which will ruin everything. This was really brought home to me with the latest one (my '16 plate Ibiza) when the engine check light came on and she went into limp. I rang the SEAT Assist no. and a SEAT breakdown man was with me in under half an hour. He checked it all out and said I could drive to the dealership where a defect was found with the turbo. New turbo fitted (that would have been £1500 or more) I subsequently found there is a problem with the turbo wastegate (posted on the forum somewhere about it) on early models of this engine and they've fitted an upgraded component to mine. So, for me, I'd just get that dealer stamp in the book and a dealer receipt for every thing until my warranty is out. after that I'll do most things myself and get our excellent local indy to do the really complicated stuff.
 
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lntghll

Active Member
Aug 13, 2018
7
0
It doesn’t have to be a seat dealership. E.g. Halfords and kwikfit offer seat servicing which follows the original seat service schedule with genuine parts which will preserve your warranty. I believe it’s cheaper too, mines due soon and a quick search shows me £175 at a seat dealer, £150 at kwikfit, for 12months service.

advice needed though, it’s my second year service so what do i need? Another 12 month service right?
 

Jimbobcook

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Staff member
Moderator
Nov 24, 2012
6,149
2,531
It doesn’t have to be a seat dealership. E.g. Halfords and kwikfit offer seat servicing which follows the original seat service schedule with genuine parts which will preserve your warranty. I believe it’s cheaper too, mines due soon and a quick search shows me £175 at a seat dealer, £150 at kwikfit, for 12months service.

advice needed though, it’s my second year service so what do i need? Another 12 month service right?
I thought the 2nd service was the same as the 1st but with pollen filter if needed and transmission check but I may be wrong...
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
I thought the 2nd service was the same as the 1st but with pollen filter if needed and transmission check but I may be wrong...
I started doing my own services once my 2016 Ibiza Ecomotive was out of warranty. As I'm on a normal service regime (don't believe in long life) the service notification comes up annually as either "Oil Service" or "Inspection Service" which I tend to think of as a "small" or "big" service. Being now retired I'm typically doing around 6 to 8,000 miles annually. According to my Haynes manual 6451 the small service consists of an oil and filter change plus checking out the thickness of brake pads and resetting the service indicator. (typically I check out a lot more than this just for my peace of mind). The larger service includes the above with, as you say, a new pollen filter being fitted - by the way well done Seat, it's one of the easiest pollen filters to change that I've ever done! - However there is also a whole load of "stuff" (exhaust, hoses, oil leaks, aux belt, brake hydraulics for leaks, headlight beam setting, etc, etc, etc) which is visually checked. Probably the brake fluid should be changed at two years but I have a "proper" boiling point fluid checker so only change brake fluid when it no longer meets spec. Sounds and looks impressive on paper but probably takes an experienced Tech only minutes to do. Air filter and spark plugs get done at 4 years but I do the air filter at 2. The timing belt on mine (3 cylinder CHZB) is recommended for inspection at around 55,000 miles with further inspection at every additional 20,000 miles. In my experience timing belts generally either look absolutely fine or you're taking the covers off because it's gone Bang! so good luck with the 20,000 mile inspection interval. Mine will be renewed every 50,000 miles or 5 years whichever comes first. Interestingly perhaps? when I first serviced it, so it was four years old by then, although the front wheels came off relatively easily, I had the very devil of a job with the rears. The alloy had corroded to the hubs - I don't think the rear wheels had been off since she rolled out of the factory? All rubbed down and coated with anti seize now though!

I know I'm always interested in what brands other people are using so just for your interest I use Fuchs Titan GT1 Pro C-3 5w-30 engine oil - I've been using Fuchs in all the family cars for some years now with entirely satisfactory results - and I use either genuine filters or Mahle brand which I've used for over 20 years and never had a problem. I'm a great believer in buying a good quality oil - that doesn't mean necessarily the most expensive - and doing regular oil changes. I would be most reluctant to go over 12 months or 10, maybe at a pinch, 12,000 miles. One of the family vehicles is used for business and does around 15.000 miles a year. It gets it's oil changed every 6 months, is now well over 100,000 miles and running very well. (although it did need new VVT pulleys at around the 100,000 mile mark). Transmission oils are very specialist now a days so I tend to only uase the actual oil specified by the manufacturer. Can be a little expensive but you don't need much of it. By the way I don't believe in "sealed for life" All the "Family fleet" get gearbox oil changed at 50,000 miles - or thereabouts and I believe this policy really pays off as I can't tell you when we last had a transmission failure. If you have an automatic I would say this is even more important, especially with the semi automatic/manual (ie DSG type) boxes which are popular today.

I'm a bit "precious" about all the cars I look after - there are 6 in the family - and I do pretty much all the service work myself only employing an "outsider" if it's something too heavy for my creaky old body to cope with. I've built up a wee network of specialist independent workshops who do things like clutches and heavy work for me. All staffed by main dealer trained techies who have set up for themselves so have "the knowledge" There's a wee 2 man Honda specialist, a medium sized Vauxhall specialist, AVW for my VAG stuff, you get the idea. The Fast Fit type operations can be very useful for stuff like wheel alignment, replacement tyres, and especially for weekend emergencies - our local Halfords have got me out of trouble more than once - but they wouldn't be getting their mitts on any of the technical parts of any of "my" vehicles.
 
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