I went to my local dealer in London (SW11) yesterday to price a basic first inspection service on a 2003 petrol Passat. Quoted a hilarious GBP183 for what is essentially an oil change and check of the brakes. My dealer local to my parents (Bolton) wants GBP66 for the same service. Assuming that it takes no more than 90 minutes and GBP25 (although as we all know its a lot less by the barrel anyway) for the oil, that is a fantastic GBP105 per hour for the privilege of visiting a dealer that won't pick the car up, has a much scruffier showroom and appeared to have no secure facilities to store my car for the day whilst I was at work and they were playing Midas with their black gold. Needless to say, you can work out where my money is going.
Makes my previous Honda dealer look less like Ali Baba.
And the other amusement was that this London main dealer does not have any kind of body shop at all and claimed to have no ties to any other dealer/bodyshop elsewhere. Good to see that in my ten years away from VW, the standards I have come to expect from their dealers are the same as they ever were.
Still a good economical car with enough punch to accelerate into/out of trouble on the Mway though. Just a shame about the dealer thinking their customers' demographics are such that they must have more money than sense (although given the number of Golf V6s around SW London that may be true).
It looks like the customers are being forced to pay a higher servicing price to cover the depreciation costs on all those Passat W8s and Phaetons that do (and will) litter forecourts as ex-demonstrators.
Whilst on my high horse, I saw my first Phaeton (LHD, debadged (completely with neither marque nor model branding anwhere on the vehicle) and V6 (judging by the engine note)) on the road in Fulham yesterday, in solid (almost matt) dark green - did nothing to attract attention (admiring or otherwise) from anyone except the minicabber in his Hyundai XG - presume VW clinicked the Phaeton against its natural rivals then. It looked as memorable as the Audi V8.
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Like your thinking. The local VW bodyshop, if you ever need it, is John Ashley in Kingston/New Malden, just off the A3. It's on an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere, by the way.
As for the Phaeton - I think it's meant to be exactly like the Audi V8, which wasn't such a comedy failure in Germany. It's not going to transform the company's image overnight but we, and especially the Americans, might get used to a huge Volkswagen, or at least make them believe that Passats are more prestigious than a Hyundai Sonata.
Is it worth the money? Possibly not on its own terms, but I do think that big VWs are here to stay.
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The pumped-up Passat look doesn't really do it for me either, although I suspect it may be a while before I see one in the metal. The quoted service cost sounds entirely in line with good ol' London / Home Counties living; my local Honda dealer charges £189 for an oil change service. Although it does include a "free" wash & vacuum...
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What I have not seen are the finance leasing rates - my regular driver has had his eye on an S320 Cdi for a while now. He has not committed so because it is hard to get the S-Class at the right price when you are only buying one at a time.
If the real purchasers of luxobarges, who seem to be men (and women) with a real idea of the true worth of money (as opposed to a perk to be offered to senior management), will not take a punt on a brand with an (almost untarnished) badge, what chance does VW have unless it simply goes the Renault route and offers guaranteed buybacks and under the counter discounts to a major player in the limo market to take a coule of hundred of them (that is surely the only way Fiat have managed to offload all those Black Ulysses that kerbhop all over London). Otherwise they are simply going to end up with the dealer principals driving 'management' vehicles that will be depreciated 50/75%in the books over two/three years and then dumped into the airport taxi market. Put it another way, if you took GBP100K of your partnership's drawings and gave your GBP40,000 to our friend the Taxman, and the other GBP60,000 to Uncle VW, sold the VW after two years and got a realistic GBP25,000 part-ex you have just blown GBP70,000 of toiling away filling in timesheets (working for the non-lawyers around). If on the other hand you waited two years and paid GBP28,000 retail for it, you get a car that is not a 7-series or S-Class that clients don't sit in and think "Now I know what I am paying top dollar for" but will do the job for the next 5 years.
And before people outside of London think that I do not know there is a world out there, I have two friends who have recently eschewed the S-Class route in favour of an MPV for the family and a used 996 for themselves.
With regard to the US - which is surely where the Phaeton must be aimed as a family car, in the current climate of 100% tax allowance up to USD70,000 to purchasers of an SUV, who would be daft enough to even think of buying one. Half of my US associates are planning on trading in their VWs and Acuras (which are lawyers' specials being understated and perceived quality items) and swapping them for a place on the Hummer H2 waiting list and optioning the jewellery that goes with them).
I will probably look at a Phaeton for my motorway driving, but will almost certainly wait until someone else has been financially mugged for it. Until then, the issue is whether the blow the Christmas bonus on a TVR or a 99T plate SL320!
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This time round, with my 3rd from new VW, I opted for their service, maintenance and tyres plan. Last week had my first set of front tyres replaced. Would have cost around the £200 mark for those two alone, which means in another 6 months a further £400 for new front and rear tyres.
I pay £47 per month, for the plan, which covers everything other than damage caused by myself. I will have had 2 services by the time my first year with the car is up, which is about £200.
That means I am paying £564 for £800 of 'goods'. I'll obviously also need replacement wipers at some point, maybe a set of brake pads etc, so I think that I have got a bargain. It will also provide VW Assistance beyond the first free year, which means money saved freezing my AA membership.
Wish I had taken up the plan when I had the Golf.
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Why do VW insist on service inspections every 10,000 miles when others, such a Peugeot, do it every 20,000?
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Actually Phoenix, Peugeot recommend inspections every 10k the service is at every 20k miles. By the way they are free at some dealers, some charge £14.99. Thats a long way off the VW prices everyone has mentioned here!
306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
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Sounds over expensive for. Just been charged £89 for an oil change service at 30,000 miles by local Cheshire VW dealer. £183 is more like what I paid at 20.000 miles.I struggled to see any real difference between the services , maybe a pollen filter was replaced and a fuel filter as well.
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My local independent garage charges £18.50 for a oil and filter change on a Seat Toledo (VW Golf with a boot).
Using Kwik Fit oil and filter changes my Citroen XM achieved 250000 miles.
Its a shame I'm now tied to Peugeot for the servicing of my new 307sw.
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Just before I got rid of my Passat, I was quoted £260 for a 20'000m service. (Worcester) Decided to get rid of the car, it was costing me too much in blue tack trying to stop all those rattles.
MLC
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My SDI polo needs £90 oil changes at 10,000 miles (VAG rate) and annual inspection services at £180 every twelve months. The handbook states "if you are close to 12 months, do the inspection service". Great! I do 12k per year, so every 10 months I will have to shell out for the annual inspection. What a good wheeze.
Joe
p.s. once the car is out of warrenty, it will get oil changes every 6 months and a service annually - non VAG of course.
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If you're in Bolton try these people who were recommended by another back Room regular.
Brown St Motors,
Brown St
Bolton
01204 397 222
I've used Bullen Brothers in Bury - indy VAG specialists - very good
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I have just paid £265 for the first 20000 mile service for my Passat (2.5 V6 TDI).
And my favourite VW dealer story: I collected my first Passat (I'm now on my third) from a VW dealer in Berkshire - 2.8 Synchro Tiptronic, one owner, 20000 miles, full service history, VW Multipoint check, balance of VW warranty etc etc and drove it back home to E. Anglia. The w/washers didn't work, so I took it into our local VW place, and they pointed out that the washer nozzles were missing. They replaced one (all they had in stock) and charged me £13.50. When I remonstrated, they replied that the warranty was to cover the replacement of faulty parts, not ones which were missing. Hmm.......
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Did you stop in Essex anywhere? they knick anything there.
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If you look in your service book, you'll see exactly what needs to be checked at this and all the other services.
Can you hold a spanner?
If so, and using Mobil 1 oil (the best for a petrol car) you can do the service for £30. GBP30.
You are paying the other £153 GBP153 for the stamp in the book.
Pays your money and takes your choice.
Do it yourself and you know the work really has been done. (Voice of experience? )
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I too was quoted a silly amount by a vw dealer for inspection service at 20000 miles. They wanted £220. My golf gt tdi is now 2yrs old and as its an import just out of warranty. Got it serviced by a good independent garage £60 all in and using vw genuine parts.
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All VW`s now come from the factory on the variable servicing setting so you can travel 9000-20000 miles without a visit to the dealer, depends on your driving technique. Lakeside VW in Stoke-on-trent are the cheapest dealership I have come across for servicing, still there customer care is shocking.
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Correct Shoei,
I have looked in the service books and the Passat is in theory set up for variable service intervals - however VW (GB) or whatever the Blakelands lot call themselves tell you that it has to go in at 10,000 miles or the warranty is down the pan. A telephone call to VW (GB) failed to get a conclusive answer (or to get them to commit anything at all to writing) - the furthest I could get is that the Passat (service indicator) can be set up to run on either fixed interval or variable service. No prizes for guessing which VW(GB) prefer.
I note that most of the emails in response to this thread presumed it was the 20,000 mile service - kind of vindicates the original point - this is the first service that other manufacturers have started to eschew in favour of gambling that their engines won't burn all their oil until they have effectively circumnavigated the globe. Makes it even more ridiculous.
I will be using Mobil 1 (staff discount purchase from family) and will be insisting on the service engineers/crew/half-trained monkeys/YTS trainee using my oil.
It may even get serviced in France on the way down to the house in Provence this summer - calculations are that it will roll into the 10,000s at some point on the autoroute.
On a (car but otherwise un)-related note, does anyone know of a website or group other than Tickford Talk who cover Metro Frazer Tickfords - I bought one at auction at Bamber Bridge 10 years ago and sold it on four/five years ago (to my chagrin). I would not mind having a look around with a view to buying one of the surviving cars (or even my own back again (NEC 80X)) as a reminder of having a full head of hair.
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I was given the choice of either fixed or variable servicing when I bought my Passat from SKF in Bolton, and my neighbours recently were offered the same on a Bora from SKF in Stockport. I can't remember what the price differences were going to be with the Service Maintainance Tyres plan between the two options.
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I thought that Lakeside were taking on all of the Rycliff staff. I found Rycliff to be fantastic and when I moved to Manchester I would still take the car to them. I often got discounts, work done for nothing, and could be fitted in at any time. They had my custom for 5 years until they decided to become Audi only.
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