Servicing

cali-o! · Aug 3, 2020

New to this! Any views on service charges, is it recommended to stick with a VW dealership.

WelshGas · Aug 3, 2020

cali-o! said:
New to this! Any views on service charges, is it recommended to stick with a VW dealership.

Depends how old your vehicle is and if you plan to sell in the future . Many buyers look for a Full Service History by VW so you might take a hit on resale value.
Vw does fixed price servicing by most Dealerships. Independents can do the work cheaper but VW give a 2 year warranty on parts and work carried out. The choice is yours.

Seamelody · Aug 3, 2020

With no service book, not sure how this is going to work in future. Unless you keep paperwork / invoices

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An-j · Aug 4, 2020

I decided to keep with vw for ease and take it back to the garage I bought from. I took out a service plan with vw for ours. Just before Xmas they did a deal which was 10% off I think and you pay monthly to cover the service costs.
Probably not a lot cheaper, but as we plan to keep the van long term
it spreads the cost at least! Was helpful this year as knew that the cambelt change was needed as well so at least the service cost was covered.

GSX1300R · Aug 4, 2020

I would say that if your van is still under warranty then get it serviced by VW..But after that I go to our local independent garage..It’s about half the price of the main dealer and after all it is a VW not a Bugatti.

Seamelody · Aug 4, 2020

My Cali ocean is nearly three years old, it’s never been serviced at a VW California centre, always at our local VW van centre is there any specific ocean related service items which should have been or require checking before it’s out of the 3 year warranty?

Thanks in advance

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GSX1300R · Aug 4, 2020

Seamelody said:
My Cali ocean is nearly three years old, it’s never been serviced at a VW California centre, always at our local VW van centre is there any specific ocean related service items which should have been or require checking before it’s out of the 3 year warranty?

Thanks in advance

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I don’t think there is anything that specific to the VW service. maybe the Pollen filter but I think The ordinary van has that. If it was coming up to 3 years I would check everything that was subject to the 3 year warranty. An early MOT will pick up most problems. We had problems with our leisure batteries which were replaced on the last day of the warranty also the rear door struts that weren’t holding the door up..You should know your van pretty well after 3 years so make a list of suspect things as I imagine it’s not easy to make a claim if out of warranty.

Seamelody · Aug 4, 2020

Thanks Peter,

As you correctly stated, having owned the ocean for 3 years I’ve kinda got to know it in detail. My main major concern is around the electric sliding door which intermittently scraped the rear wheel arch, this has been repaired and sprayed twice and now about to go back to dealer for the third warranty repair. Much appreciated

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BeeBee · Apr 8, 2021

Just back from Lookers Glasgow, VW dealership. Pretty content with the 1st service (2 years) as the next nearest in Edinburgh was quoting £60 more for exactly the same work .... Oil and filter and general checks.
Also had asked about replacement Pollen filter but told wasn’t included in service.
Turns out as I waited a bit longer than suggested they replaced the Pollen filter for free. Tech told me it would have cost approx £30 + fitting.

Alan Andrews · Apr 8, 2021

An-j said:
I decided to keep with vw for ease and take it back to the garage I bought from. I took out a service plan with vw for ours. Just before Xmas they did a deal which was 10% off I think and you pay monthly to cover the service costs.
Probably not a lot cheaper, but as we plan to keep the van long term
it spreads the cost at least! Was helpful this year as knew that the cambelt change was needed as well so at least the service cost was covered.

The deal at xmas time gave a 20% discount on the usual service plan price for a 2 service plan. So 1 major and 1 minor service costs covered.

I took advantage of this deal and have just had the major service done.

Did work to be a good deal as the service costs are always increasing.

Also remember that if you are a club member you can get 10% discount on other work too.

I use the Birmingham Van Centre and have no concerns about their abilities.