Servicing via dealership

[Loftus]

Having recently purchased my TDI CR 170 its due for a minor service in June. Although I was thinking of having it put onto the longlife.

I have seen that SEAT offer fixed price servicing, so £150 minor £250 major.

The thing is, is it actually worth using the dealership, are you just paying for the official seat stamp? Or does anyone on here use local garages? Will it drastically affect my price when I come to sell it

I am not confident enough to carry out a full service on mine before anyone suggests that.

 

[Daniel M]

Most people service their own cars as I personally don't think the stamp is worth it. I keep all the receipts for the service parts etc to show they've been done. You can save an awful lot of money too.

You can use a VAG specialist to be cheaper and to get a stamp if that's better for you. Servicing is very simple.

 

[JMF894]

Service mine myself.

Constantly checking tyres, brakes etc but change all filters myself. Get the local garage to do oil change only.

Specialist stuff like cambelt the local will do.

 

[sharefe]

Having recently purchased my TDI CR 170 its due for a minor service in June. Although I was thinking of having it put onto the longlife.

I have seen that SEAT offer fixed price servicing, so £150 minor £250 major.

The thing is, is it actually worth using the dealership, are you just paying for the official seat stamp? Or does anyone on here use local garages? Will it drastically affect my price when I come to sell it

I am not confident enough to carry out a full service on mine before anyone suggests that.

I have bought my car 2nd hand with full service at the dealer.

When looking for service I found the best deal was with the dealer 19.99 per month for 18 months and you get breakdown cover if you book the service online. 360.00 for 2 years service works out at 180.00 a year

up side:
you are paying in installments
180.00 a year service
dealer stamp
breakdown cover
Seat check for recalls and error log clearance
pickup and drop service

Too much for me to turn down.

please someone let me know the down side.

 

[JMF894]

I have bought my car 2nd hand with full service at the dealer.

When looking for service I found the best deal was with the dealer 19.99 per month for 18 months and you get breakdown cover if you book the service online. 360.00 for 2 years service works out at 180.00 a year

up side:
you are paying in installments
180.00 a year service
dealer stamp
breakdown cover
Seat check for recalls and error log clearance
pickup and drop service

Too much for me to turn down.

please someone let me know the down side.

Sounds good tbf

Jimbo

 

[Loftus]

I asked about a servicing package but they didnt offer one.

I suppose it just boils down to how much cheaper the local garage is as they will still stamp the booklet.

 

[Speed-FReek]

TBH, the "fixed" service prices they charge for a major service seems a bit of a rip-off. All you usually get for that is:-

1. New Pollen Filter
2. New Fuel Filter
3. New Oil + Oil Filter
4. Top-Up of any fluids (9 time out of 10 only a screen wash top-up will be needed)

That has got to be an hour's labour at most.

They only replace the air filter every 40k miles and the coolant and brake fluid also only gets changed at certain milestones. So if you have a "major" service which doesn't include any of those you get short-changed IMO.

One other thing to keep in mind is that if your car is still within warranty then it needs to be serviced by a garage that uses genuine VAG parts.

 

[richicupra]

The fixed price services seem like a rip off, even buying "premium" parts such as uprated spark plugs, oil, etc, you can service it yourself for £60. Add an hours labour at your local garage and you're talking a maximum of £120 all in for what Seat would call a major £250 service.

 

[kevlaa]

Don't forget the free breakdown cover when getting the car serviced with seat.

 

[JMF894]

I replace fuel, air, and pollen filter every 10K at a cost of £25 or so then I get the local garage to do the oil and filter, fluid top up and hinge grease etc if necessary plus a quick check over which costs me £90.

So £115 ish all in with ALL filters changed. The only reason I don't do oil change myself is I don't have a garage or ramps atm and getting rid of the old oil can be grief.

Jimbo

 

[richicupra]

Don't forget the free breakdown cover when getting the car serviced with seat.

Oh yes, Green Flag for me this year was a whopping £23 lol

 

[Loftus]

Cheers for the advice guys. Mine is just under dealership 12 month used warranty. I'll just get the service done at my local garage, but ill get everything done

 

[locky]

I paid £49 for a 2 year / 20k fixed price service plan when I bought mine at the stealership.
Im guessing thats a minor and a major but it doesnt seem to mention on the paperwork

 

[JMF894]

£49?

 

[locky]

£49?

Yeah £49.

Looking on their site it says the price is £99 so I guess its gone up now.

If you buy a used SEAT between January 1st to March 31st 2015 through SEAT Finance, you can enjoy all the benefits of the 2 year service plan above for just £99. Ask your SEAT dealer for more details.

Source: http://www.seat.co.uk/content/uk/br...sories/service/fixed-price-service-plans.html

I basically took a small part of the car on seat finance specifically because it attracted this offer, not because I needed finance.
So unless I am missing something im covered for 2 services taken within 2 yrs or 20k. Hope im not missing somwthing anyway, it must have sounded good at the time

 

[Speed-FReek]

So unless I am missing something im covered for 2 services taken within 2 yrs or 20k.

Is your car on a long life service schedule or a standard schedule?

 

[locky]

Is your car on a long life service schedule or a standard schedule?

Standard stuff. Next service sticker says 05/15 or 54k which is 12 months / 10k on from when I got it.

 

[raylee25]

Is it possible to have 2 long life services after each other? As I do 20k miles a year, would this be a sensible choice?

 

[Speed-FReek]

Is it possible to have 2 long life services after each other? As I do 20k miles a year, would this be a sensible choice?

It will depend on the dealer but I believe long life services are the default unless otherwise requested (assuming the engine supports long life servicing by having a TOG sensor installed). My car went for it's first proper service in January at ~17k miles and the dealer automatically put it on another long life service again.

It's the oil that actually matters for standard and long life schedules. When the car is put on a long life (variable) service schedule, they use better oil that is specifically formulated for an extended life. The TOG sensor in the engine then constantly measures the oil quality and keeps dynamically adjusting the miles / days displayed in the MFD that indicates when the next service is actually due.

At the end of the day, even if a car is put on a long life (variable) service schedule, there is nothing to stop you still getting it serviced before that (i.e. after 10k miles / 12 months) should you choose to do so.

 

[sharefe]

Servicing at the dealer is more convenient for me having no time to do the servicing myself.

Saying that I am dubious at what actuate work they do or worse still what damage they cause.