When I bought my A3, I was offered and accepted ,what appeared at the time ,to be a very good service deal.
For £250 , the offer included two oil changes , a brake fluid change and an "inspection service". These had to be completed within 3 years or 36,000mles, whichever occurred first.
The car was on the longlife service option from new. This is the flexible service regime where the use to which the car is put determines, to some extent at least, when an oil change is due. Well, I've found out that nearly everyone on this option gets several hundred more miles than 18,000 between changes,. I also fould out that you cannot have a change done more than 500 miles before it's due and that the 36,000 mileage limit is rigidly enforced.
This means that it is unlikely than more than a few users will get the two oil changes within 36,000 miles. If you are a low mileage driver the default oil change interval is 2 years , so once again you will not get 2 changes.
Interestingly when I asked the cost of an oil change it was £150 and if done at the same time as the "inspection sevice", which is the prefered option by most, the total cost comes to .....£250.
So what I paid for was an upfront service with no discount...methinks that Audi are being more than a little disingenuous.
I'd be interested in anyone else's experience of this or similar offers.
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I got a very good deal from VW on a brand new Touran last year. Three services were offered to me on a time and distance regimen for few hundred pounds, however I managed to get them to throw them in for nothing along with a good discount from list.
I was very pleased with that and am actively looking forward to taking it for a service in November and getting an invoice for no pounds and no pence, and then twice again thereafter. Also got a free mini valet thrown in every three months for as long as we own the car. Jolly D.
Your example does sound like a bit of smoke and mirrors.
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To be honest, my VWs on variable servicing have never made it to 18k before crying about wanting a clean nappy, and that was mostly motorway miles.
The nearest I got was 17,600.
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Read some of the Audi forums and you may find £250 for an oil service a quick look around and a brake fluid change after 2 years is a bargain.
Some dealers are quite happy charging upwards of £400 for an 18,000 mile oil change and well over £100 to change £7 of brake fluid.
I'd say with the £250 deal you are probably getting the brake fluid change free.
I was quoted £250 for an 18,000 miles service which dropped to £200 when I asked if that was the best price.
If you are a low mileage driver the mileage will reduce accordingly so the change is done before 2 years, but anyone buying a modern diesel and doing less than 15,000 a year probably needs to consider their choice, but in any event any Audi can be put on fixed annual or 10,000 mile services.
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Read some of the Audi forums and you may find £250 for an oil service a quick look around and a brake fluid change after 2 years is a bargain. Some dealers are quite happy charging upwards of £400 for an 18 000 mile oil change and well over £100 to change £7 of brake fluid.
Yes I agree with this, I have an A4 diesel, and I pay about £295 for an inspection/oil change service, (it would be £400 if I got it done ion the south east !)
I usually get 18.5K between services on my car.
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I see what you mean. Chances are you'll actually get one inspection service, with oil change and brake fluid, for £250. All the same, you haven't been overcharged and when the additional cost of a brake fluid change is factored in, I think you will still just be in profit.
I bought an A6 in January and wasn't offered a service package. As a private owner, I'm not happy with Audi's 18,000 mile/2 year oil change policy, even with the best synthetic 5W30 that money can buy. Note HJ's comment that this is probably only achieved by allowing high levels of oil contamination to be considered as "acceptable". This may be fine in the context of a 3-year lease and 3-year warranty.....but as the guy in our local village garage says "Oil's cheaper than metal, boy!"
So I've just had the oil and filter changed at 9500 miles and the next change will be due with the inspection service at approx 19000 miles, according to the service indicator.
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With the use of the correct oil and filters, and following VW's servicing regime, is there any evidence of engine life problems?
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other than the turbos you mean?
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Sorry if I've missed this, but why didn't you ask/why didn't your dealer put you on the fixed servicing of 10k/or 12 months (whichever the sooner)?
I had this deal on my new Skoda Octavia, which like your Audi can have fixed or variable servicing set up at delivery - so every 12 months I had the free service. If I had kept the car after the 3 years servicing was up I would have asked at the last free service to switch over to variable servicing.
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Yes, runboy that is what I'll do.
However, it does seem, to me at least, that they are not being straightfoward about the offer and the low chance of them having to do what they say "on the tin", unless of course the car is run on the fixed service interval regime, which is not the way the computer is set up when leaving the dealer. I only realised the "rules" when my first oil change became due at 18,600 miles and I asked some questions.
A bit of honesty goes a long way with me. The fact that I had to dig around to find out about the details grates with me, especially as I bought a new car from them.
I believe that the the BMW/Mini service offer has similar restrictions, but without the option to go to fixed interval services..
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Fixed versus variable servicing seems a bit ambiguous to me. My Audi came set up (default setting?) for extended (variable) servicing, showing the first service due at approx 19000 miles. When I rang the local dealer at 9000 miles to book an oil/filter change, they said "Why? Are you sure? Your car doesn't need it!". I said I planned to follow the fixed service routine. Handbook says this is correct if the car is used for towing, which it is. When I collected the car, the invoice said something like "Oil and filter changed within context of extended service plan", and the computer had not been touched. Confusing!
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Confusing!
I would take "Oil and filter changed within context of extended service plan" to mean that's literally all they did, and that the extended service intervals should be followed for the rest of the servicing. Hence they didn't reset the computer.
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My retired father who hardly uses his car (6000m year) was sold a new 140bhp Octavia 2yrs ago. It was set to the variable/2yr service schedule. I suggested he have it done annually when he approached the Skoda dealer the persuaded him this was not needed. I don't agree; a car doing short local journeys would to me be best having the oil changed every year.
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And of course once on the variable servicing, you have to hunt down specific oil to top-up. Different oil specs for different servicing patterns. Makes life interesting when stood in Halfords trying to choose.
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I don't agree; a car doing short local journeys would to me be best having the oil changed every year.
??? Because you know better than the manufacturer? Not so long ago, servicing was 6 months/6k, and cars required a rebore after 50k miles (if they were lucky; less lucky cars were dead by then). When did you last hear of a car requiring a rebore? Conclusion, cars barely need servicing at all...
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When did you last hear of a car requiring a rebore? Conclusion, cars barely need servicing at all...
That's a good part of the reason. Another part is that cars are more 'disposable' than they were then; cheaper in real terms to buy, and more expensive to repair. And of course people drive further.
Petrol cars used mostly for short runs never warm up properly, so their oil still accumulates a lot of combustion products, and should be changed accordingly.
I think you are recalling the days when early Minis were unable to stand the sustained fast running offered by those new-fangled things, Marples' Motorways?
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With the use of the correct oil and filters and following VW's servicing regime is there any evidence of engine life problems?
No I dont think so. There is no history of engine/tubo failures on these cars provided the correct oil and service intervals are used.
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