Servicing via dealership

[chr1sd]

Each to their own and manufacturers wouldnt use longlife oils if they thought engine damage would occur, but on the other hand, they only have to warranty and engine and turbo for 3 years, after that they are not bothered and make money from fixing problems!! . So in the warranty period, your car may have only had 1 service.

Its been a while since i bought a brand new car, but if i did, or bought a used one from a dealers, i would ask for it to be put on fixed servicing. I wouldnt leave oil in my car for 20k miles regardless how good it is supposed to be. If it was purley down to having it on variable servicing because i couldnt afford the extra £150 a year for another service, id be asking myself if i could actually afford the car in the first place.

If its on Variable servicing, theres nothing stopping you removing the sump plug, drain the oil and put fresh in with the same filter every 5k miles. Most decent oils can be had for under £30 so why wouldnt you? And if your going to do that, why not bung a new filter in there for the sake of £5.

 

[sharefe]

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

From the SEAT website:

"Book a service online for your SEAT from 2 - 15 years old and you’ll receive FREE Roadside Assistance worth £245. This programme provides you with 12 months of 24/7 roadside cover across the UK and Europe in association with the AA, including:

Recovery to the SEAT dealer of your choice
Breakdown cover
Home Assistance
Onward Travel"

 

[Speed-FReek]

From the SEAT website:

"Book a service online for your SEAT from 2 - 15 years old and you’ll receive FREE Roadside Assistance worth £245. This programme provides you with 12 months of 24/7 roadside cover across the UK and Europe in association with the AA, including:

Recovery to the SEAT dealer of your choice
Breakdown cover
Home Assistance
Onward Travel"

Yes, I recently got an email stating I had been given a years free roadside assistance cover. Handy as my warranty that includes roadside assistance is just about to run out. The only difference is that I booked my service over the phone and not online so it's not an online booking specific promotion.

 

[sharefe]

I booked my service and asked them to collect the car from my work. They came took my car left a car in its place when it was done they came back (30 min late) but all service done with a wash too.

Paying 19.99 a month for 18 months and i get Roadside Assistance with the AA for 2 years services or 20,000 miles

the service center is West London SEAT in Brentford.

I like the experience of having a SEAT both with driving the car and the maintenance!

 

[m4rtin]

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.

They actually use the same oil longlife oil for standard (time/distance) and long life (variable) servicing schedules. A VW dealer told this to a friend of mine and recently when I had my car serviced I was chatting to the service manager and asked if it was true, he confirmed it.

 

[James_R]

2 things:

1.it's worth having your first 4 services done by the dealer, that way if there's any issues you stand a very good chance of getting good will contributions.

2. long life/variable however you wish to refer to it is ****.

 

[jmc1976]

Mine is on long life , only difference is you have a major service done each time, also as stated above you get the full European breakdown cover with it too which Imo is worth the money, don't confuse a £25 breakdown cover with a full European one they are very different, as for the dealer service stamps if I was buying a second hand car I would prefer one with dealer stamps rather than one been serviced by an individual or private garage

Sent from my Nokia 1020 using Tapatalk

 

[ttttttt]

don't trust main dealers to service your car its a rip off. if your car is under warranty then you have no choice but to use them to keep the warranty going but if your car is more than 3 years old use a local garage simple as that

 

[James_R]

don't trust main dealers to service your car its a rip off. if your car is under warranty then you have no choice but to use them to keep the warranty going but if your car is more than 3 years old use a local garage simple as that

that's not correct at all. block exemption means you can have your vehicle serviced by ANY vat registered garage and providing they use genuine parts there is no reason for the dealer to refuse warranty repairs.

block exemption being a relatively new thing is easily missed, it's only been legislation for 12 years...

 

[chr1sd]

for those on longlife and dont want to switch to fixed servicing for whatever reason, you could buy a Pela Oil extractor. Ive got a Pela 6000. No mess, no fuss, just suck the oil out of the sump through the dip stick tube and replace with fresh oil as an interim oil change. It wont suck all the oil out of the filter housing etc but better than leaving oil in your engine for 20k miles.

http://www.pelapumps.co.uk/default.aspx?a10page=pl6000

 

[James_R]

There's a tech bulletin in circulation at the moment about using a fluid extractor, it would seem vw don't approve.

 

[Speed-FReek]

I don't see the point in changing the oil without changing the filter. There is no excuse for not doing the job properly and just changing the whole lot IMO.

I've always been dubious about the fluid extraction devices. I'm sure you must end up with more old oil left in the sump than if you do the job properly by removing the plug and draining it out. The plug is usually on one of the lowest points of the sump so you will get maximum drainage of the old stuff using that trusted method.

 

[chr1sd]

There's a tech bulletin in circulation at the moment about using a fluid extractor, it would seem vw don't approve.

Link?? Would be suprised by that given that VW have their own oil extractors. Looking on some of the mk7 Gti forums, the dealerships in US seem to prefer using extractors as the sumps and plugs are plastic.

I don't see the point in changing the oil without changing the filter. There is no excuse for not doing the job properly and just changing the whole lot IMO.

I've always been dubious about the fluid extraction devices. I'm sure you must end up with more old oil left in the sump than if you do the job properly by removing the plug and draining it out. The plug is usually on one of the lowest points of the sump so you will get maximum drainage of the old stuff using that trusted method.

I wasnt talking about using the extractor for a full oil service. I was saying it would be a good alternative to people on long life servicing to refresh their oil at say 8-10k miles without havng to drain from the sump. The filters will be fine for LL service duration, but refrshing 80% of the oil halfway can only be a good thing.

 

[James_R]

It's an internal bulletin, you won't see it on then Web any time soon.
We conducted an experiment when the boss bought a suction pump. We sucked as much oil from the engine as possible then removed the plug and a good litre or so was still left behind from the oil "extraction"

 

[chr1sd]

It's an internal bulletin, you won't see it on then Web any time soon.
We conducted an experiment when the boss bought a suction pump. We sucked as much oil from the engine as possible then removed the plug and a good litre or so was still left behind from the oil "extraction"

Yeah agree. Although on mine it was about 0.5 litre behind in the sump. Still a good alternative to leaving oil in your engine for 20k miles. might not get it all out, but will drastically reduce engine wear inbetween services.