Service interval after a service

[Delanor]

After owning a 2 year old 190 bhp V2 Formentor which was on 2 year servicing I decided to change it for a 7 month old Mountain Green VZN on 5500 miles at a considerable saving on list price and as part of the deal it was serviced although the VZN won`t be 12 months old until June so I take it that would have been the first service but can anyone explain what does the service indicator mean now its confusing me as it says an oil change in 257 days!

 

[RUM4MO]

Logically, I don't think that you can work out why this frequently happens with VW Group approved used cars - other than adding in a "bonus" reason for luring you in to buying a used car.

Surely, when you buy a used car, you are buying it "as it is" and maybe even getting a couple of "correct" future services included in the package, servicing cars that have "service warnings" built in early can end up being a pain in the bottom!

I've had that when buying an approved used Audi S4, part of the "spec" for a used approved VW Group car seems to be that they MUST have been given a pre-sale oil change and a good "tyre kicking", later on my S4 officially required an oil change one month, and then an inspection a month later - my main dealer's service department were really confused when I demanded that both jobs get "aligned" to that car - they really did expect me to turn up a month later to get an inspection - dumb clowns!

Edit:- I know that that reply does not fully explain your OP, but I think that some of my reply points to why service or servicing times/miles can get misaligned.

 

[Cupra306Form]

When you reset the service and oil lights they match up, at some point somebody did one without the other and re-set it a month later.

Nice car BTW, enjoy the driving. Try and forget the road tax

 

[Delanor]

Isn`t the dealer supposed to reset the service detail to suit the date of the service.
I`m fairly immune to road tax the Cupra is cheap compared to my other trusty steed a 40th Anniversary RX-8 @ £695 pa shortly going up to £735.
To be honest I don`t drink, don`t smoke and never really got anywhere with wild, expensive young women so got to spend it somewhere!

 

[Wrighton]

It’ll be on the flexible service schedule like all new VAG cars.

I believe to have a fixed 12 month distance/time service it has to be specifically asked for and be set by the dealer.

I’m on the flexible schedule and my oil service is now due after 17 months from new. My inspection service says it’s due at the 24month mark, but the dealer says they’ll do both at the same time.

I was quoted approx. £295 for both, or approx. £165 for oil then £215 for the inspection later (price may have been the other way round).

Now it makes sense to have both done at the same time, my only concern is if inspection is reset to 12 months, then I’m not saving anything on a flexible service because the oil will last longer than 12 months and they’ll want to change both again.

 

[Andy.M]

I was told if the service light is reset from within the cars infotainment system then it defaults to 12 monthly servicing. Apparently it has to be plugged in to be reset by the dealer to get variable servicing schedule.

 

[Delanor]

Surely, when you buy a used car, you are buying it "as it is" and maybe even getting a couple of "correct" future services included in the package, servicing cars that have "service warnings" built in early can end up being a pain in the bottom!

It would appear according to the trade you do not buy "as it is" I agreed a trade in value on my Cupra but as the first service was due in 2 months they wanted to reduce the value by the cost of the service so I pointed out that the VZN service was due in 4 months so they agreed to service it and go with the agreed trade in value on my Cupra.

 

[Delanor]

I have contacted the Service Manager at the dealership where I bought the VZN to clarify what the service detail means in the Infotainment and he didn`t know he said he will get back to me which he hasn`t I`m begining to think it hasn`t been serviced at all - I know servicing is held digitally but should the owner get a print/receipt/invoice when a service is carried out?

 

[Seastormer]

I have contacted the Service Manager at the dealership where I bought the VZN to clarify what the service detail means in the Infotainment and he didn`t know he said he will get back to me which he hasn`t I`m begining to think it hasn`t been serviced at all - I know servicing is held digitally but should the owner get a print/receipt/invoice when a service is carried out?

My dealer always gives me printouts of all work carried out at all my services.

 

[Wyld Stallyn]

I always ask for printouts for any work carried out.

 

[GORDYDJ]

I always ask for printouts for any work carried out.

And do any of you check that the work has been done? Or do the newer cars have sensors that know if the oil or filter have been changed?

 

[RUM4MO]

There are no sensors that automatically monitor/record that work has actually been carried out as claimed, if you have this sort of concern about a dealership or workshop, then my suggestion is to find another one that gets good "ratings" - like in you know of friends/family that are satisfied with any work carried out.

For can type oil filters, you could always paint a dab of paint on the filter, but a bored garage worker might just find the need to paint a similar dab of paint on the nice new filter after they have fitted it.

Really some of this is down to trust, can you always be trusted to have done, in your workplace, what you have claimed to do?

 

[Delanor]

Can someone help me with this I have now spoken to 4 different Cupra dealers about servicing on my VZN and they all seem to be struggling with this, I explained the readings on the infotainment, one dealer told me the car is on a 2 year service schedule but it should be on a 12 month schedule, I had already questioned the service manager where I bought the Formentor as they were supposed to have serviced it as part of the deal but he hadn`t got a clue so it seems either it hasn`t been serviced or if it has been serviced the service counter was not reset, I tried another Cupra dealer that is part of the same motor group but they wouldn`t tell me anything about the cars service detail (Digitally held) but suggested I need to speak to their other dealer where I bought it from, another dealer in spite of having the registration number proceeded to give me more in depth detail which then appeared to be for my previous Formentor so how they arrived at that God only knows.

So just to shed some light on my confusion the readings were as below, does that mean an oil service is due in 257 days (8.5 months) or 8,500 miles whichever comes first but is that a further 8,500 miles or is it taking into account the existing reading of 5,500 miles meaning in only 3,000 miles added to it which will mean in both cases it needs servicing again this year if it has actually been serviced in February when I bought it or the reading should have been reset to show 365 days (12 months) with the next service mileage whatever that should be presumably something like 15,500 miles.

Just to explain the Cupra dealer I bought it from is not local so it is a lengthy trip back to have words with them face to face as it were!

 

[Wyld Stallyn]

Unfortunately it really does seem to be far too 'complicated' to be understood by any one person at CUPRA, SEAT, VW or anywhere.

I gave up and set my own schedule, I bought the car 2nd hand it was serviced before I picked it up, I paid for two years warranty and servicing and I got it serviced a year later.

I shall get it serviced a year after that and get my indy MOT station to do an MOT 29 days before it's due.

Unfortunately Anything else seems to be Asses and Elbows ?

 

[LetsForment]

It has been crazy for me as well, no one seems to know exactly what when where

 

[RUM4MO]

Any VW Group dealership that has the relevant marque business licences for their complete workshop system, can read all logged warranty repairs, servicing, workshop actions like updates and outside warranty repairs data - as can a proper VW Group Indie that has bought the same licences!

This "fixed miles/months" or "flexible" setting of the service warnings, is meant to according to the various marques, to set after having talked to the owner, ie how they will be using the car. High mileage users normally want the "flexible" service plan, low mileage user should be offered the fixed miles/months.

I've suggested above, I think, that all approved used cars get a quick oil and hopefully oil filter change before resell, and maybe that does not include resetting the service indicators if that would mean that that car would then overrun the miles/months that the remainder of the service tasks would be ignored before next worked on officially.

 

[Wrighton]

Got the car back from its service yesterday and as expected, there were issues when having the service interval reset…

I was sold a service plan a week before the appointment (it made sense being a bit cheaper with the spring sale) and I checked multiple times to make sure a flexible service schedule was still possible.

However, checking the cars screen, I could tell they had just reset the timer on the dash. The next oil and inspection service showed as 12 months in the service menu.

Went and collard a technician and explained I thought it should be a flexible service with up to 2 years for the next service. 30min later after being back in the garage, it was returned with 12 months until next inspection and 24 months until the oil next change.

Still not what I was expecting but I’d had enough.

Emailed the garage when I got home and the reply was, the vehicle has to be on fixed service intervals to be on a service plan (wtf!). Can’t find any evidence of this online, after being confirmed flexible was fine, so I’m awaiting a further reply…

 

[Wyld Stallyn]

? It seems that not even W.O.P.R. could tell you what's what when it comes to servicing intervals! ?

Open the pod bay doors HAL ?

 

[RUM4MO]

Not being involved with this in any way, ie I don't currently have any cars on flexible servicing or still on a prepaid "service plan", I knew that it was the "way things are done within VW Group world", when my wife bought a new Polo in 2015 and purchased a 3 year service plan - ie that the car would get handed over new with the servicing option being set at "fixed" - if we had confirmed that this car was going to be used in a way that involved high miles/year, then it would have been handed over left set as per the factory default at that time, ie "flexible servicing", and I'd doubt that they would have tried to sell us a "service plan" which I have always considered to be a "(fixed) service plan".

As to what the Audi garage were thinking about when they sold my "bought used" 2011 Audi S4 when new, it was still set as being "variable" when I bought it used at 2.5 years and 12,500 miles - using the established VW Group way of "talking to the customer at the point of sale" to work out if "variable" or "fixed" best suited their intended use of a purchase does that seem to have been done. That car, for its first 2.5 years did end up getting serviced when it had run out of time on the flexible service strategy.

It does seem to me, to make a lot of sense to have separate terms & conditions and maybe pricing for a fixed (time) term service plan covering "fixed" servicing and a fixed term (time) OR (miles) plan covering "flexible" servicing. Obviously too tricky for VW Group service points to work with.

One size fits all?

 

[Delanor]

Well I am still confused as my 12 month old VZN on 6700 miles has just had an oil service and now the dash service shows next oil service in 538 days/13800 miles, Inspection in 730 days /18700 miles which means next oil service in18 months and an Inspection in 2 years!
As I have the use of another car my annual mileage is low anyway.

Incidentally the service was £235 which included £4.95 for what I should imagine was for a teaspoonful of fluid to top up the already full reservoir!
As it was early morning I couldn`t be bothered to argue but for £235 I was was expecting a full English, tea or coffee, the Daily Express/Mail - I did get a cup of coffee!