Service plans

[Gavinskii]

Thanks WG. I'm about to take delivery of a new Ocean on the 5yr deal this weekend. A friend ordered the same and collected it last week and believes that the cambelt is now rated for replacement at 10 years / 140,000 miles.....can anyone else verify this?

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks WG. I'm about to take delivery of a new Ocean on the 5yr deal this weekend. A friend ordered the same and collected it last week and believes that the cambelt is now rated for replacement at 10 years / 140,000 miles.....can anyone else verify this?

Correct, but if I was laying my vehicle up for months on end each year I would do it sooner. There seem to be more problems on low milage vehicles than high milage vehicles, just my personal observation.

 

[wave]

Morning everyone.

My Cali will be 3 years old on 1st July 2025 as previous owner to me didn't upgrade to the 5 years so I'm not sure what, if anything VW will offer close to this point especially with the latest 'All In' offers they have going.

We had our 2019 Golf serviced on Friday which at £343 for a major service and MOT I thought was quite reasonable but I did ask about 'All In' as the VW warranty we got with the car 2 years ago expires mid-Dec. The chap said don't do it today as it'll cost you £37/mth but on Monday (yesterday) VW would be doing some good offers and sure enough price had come down to £29/mth for 2 x service, 2 x MOT, 2 years VW Assist and 2 years VW warranty - a saving of around £970 over normal servicing etc and £192 less than previous figure.

In the latest Black Friday deals I see the same 'All In' figures for VW commercial have done the same lowering from £43/mth to £33/mth (£240 less) and supposed saving overall of £1450 so dilemma is although I have roughly 6 months left of VW 3 year warranty do I jump in now or wait????? Currently we only have the VW warranty and VW assist till end of June and next oil service shows not for another 510days/6000 miles. Only issues we've had so far are upper bed hinges and above seat locker hinges all under warranty.

So what's everyones thoughts.................................

Many thanks for all your posts. I managed to cancel my All In plan within the 14-day cooling off period, and then set it up again at a saving of £10 per month (£240 over the 24-month contract).

 

[Norfolk Jim]

Transporters have a bi-annual service requirement. That's every two years.
Why would you want to over service the vehicle?
Warranty? Really? My experience of attempted genuine warranty claims have never been successful.
My experience of a VW Dealership is they are masters of wiggling out of any warranty claim.
To me it's a bit like dealing with insurance loss adjusters.
That and the timing belt scam for UK customers..... Don't get me started.

I don't do high mileage so would service my Cali yearly anyway; I don't consider that over servicing when keeping for a decent length of time. If I was perhaps a builder then bi-annual would be the way to go with constant use. I cannot complain about warranty as VW just replaced both my bed hinges after only one broke and are also replacing the overhead locker (above rear seat) hinges as it was getting close to cupboard when being shut. Nothing has been too much trouble for them - even had a replacement vehicle to get home FOC. A lot depends on how you approach them. We have a 2019 Golf GT Estate under warranty and they replaced a couple parts of clutch that failed even after 73k miles. The VW assist is also worth it - my wife is a community nurse and whilst visiting patient she found car wouldn't start (it has keyless entry and start). I was on a survey so couldn't meet her - told her to press the 'spanner' button and within 30 mins AA/VW tech arrived, replaced battery in fob and got her on the go again to her next patient - excellent service. I'm saying this as all we normally hear about is the bad side of things like the cambelt saga; oddly VW specialists are suggesting change at 80k anyway!

 

[Norfolk Jim]

Many thanks for all your posts. I managed to cancel my All In plan within the 14-day cooling off period, and then set it up again at a saving of £10 per month (£240 over the 24-month contract).

Well done - piece of mind

 

[willwander]

Thanks for the reminder.
£33 a month for the all-in-plan on my 2019 Ocean. I’m not a fan of spending money, and I do think the van will get over serviced, but it will be almost 7 years old by the time my warranty runs out, so far I’ve had a couple of bits done on warranty, so probably broke even. Roadside assist also good value as planning a few more long European trips over next couple of years.

 

[Jon A]

Re the comments about overservicing, linked to being "forced" to use 2 services inside 2 years (ie "use it, or lose it")

I've just bought an all-in package for my 5 yr old cali. When the documents were emailed thru, as expected the roadside assistance elements have a stated expiry date 2 years from now. However the expiry date on the service plan is 3 years away. Not what I expected, but good news in that it gives me more flexibility

 

[Jon A]

to being "forced" to use 2 services inside 2 years (ie "use it, or lose it")

I've just bought an all-in package for my 5 yr old cali. When the documents were emailed thru, as expected the roadside assistance elements have a stated expiry date 2 years from now. However the expiry date on the service plan is 3 years away. Not what I expected, but good n

oops. Can't edit my post, so adding: above should have read that the roadside assistance AND the warranty expire in 2 years. 3 yrs for the service bit

 

[66tim99]

Re the comments about overservicing, linked to being "forced" to use 2 services inside 2 years (ie "use it, or lose it")

I've just bought an all-in package for my 5 yr old cali. When the documents were emailed thru, as expected the roadside assistance elements have a stated expiry date 2 years from now. However the expiry date on the service plan is 3 years away. Not what I expected, but good news in that it gives me more flexibility

I have a 5 year warranty, and the van is now 3 years old so out of service schedule. It pains me to buy the service plan because it includes the warranty that I already have, so I take it to the local VW approved garage for services/MOT's (£260 last time), and buy my own AA cover. I have just put it in my diary to take out the service plan just before it's 5 years old.
Wonder if I'm overthinking it.

 

[willwander]

I have a 5 year warranty, and the van is now 3 years old so out of service schedule. It pains me to buy the service plan because it includes the warranty that I already have, so I take it to the local VW approved garage for services/MOT's (£260 last time), and buy my own AA cover. I have just put it in my diary to take out the service plan just before it's 5 years old.
Wonder if I'm overthinking it.

I think there are different options, the all-In plan includes warranty and roadside assist, but you can buy a different package that just includes servicing.

 

[ArunAlec]

I think there are different options, the all-In plan includes warranty and roadside assist, but you can buy a different package that just includes servicing.

You’re correct but the “basic” service plan doesn’t offer much of a saving over paying as you go…… unfortunately VW aren’t discounting this plan, unlike the All In plan , which is discounted and seems like a good deal.

 

[Norfolk Jim]

oops. Can't edit my post, so adding: above should have read that the roadside assistance AND the warranty expire in 2 years. 3 yrs for the service bit

Good shout - I took it out on our Golf no 18th and it says warranty and Roadside Assist exp 17/11/2026 (2 years) but says Servicing and MOT exp 17/11/2027! (3 years). I hadn't picked that up at all. Taht'll be good on Cali when due in July as that would take servicing and MOT through till July 28!

 

[BeerhowlerSouthWest]

VWUK had a 4yr/80,000 mile replacement Interval but on the Continent it was 120,000 + miles with no time limit.

For a Commercial Transportert I, personally , think that is reasonable. BUT, for UK California owners, doing on average 5,000 or less miles /yr this was not so.
Instead you had comments regarding the differences in the two approaches.
Mine was changed at 80,000 miles and 4 yrs but if it was being laid up for extended period of times I , personally, would have kept to the time limit.
But each to his own.

Thanks for clarifying, I was told the timing belt needed changing every 4 years or 60k miles, whichever came sooner.
I researched this online and it seems VW Germany are 120,000 Kilometers or every 10 years, I can only imagine this is opportunism from VW UK as we are a softer target, plus, of course, they use the arm-twister to good effect of "If you don't and the belt snaps, it's goodbye engine"

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks for clarifying, I was told the timing belt needed changing every 4 years or 60k miles, whichever came sooner.
I researched this online and it seems VW Germany are 120,000 Kilometers or every 10 years, I can only imagine this is opportunism from VW UK as we are a softer target, plus, of course, they use the arm-twister to good effect of "If you don't and the belt snaps, it's goodbye engine"

For commercial vans, 20,000 miles/ yr not really a problem, BUT the majority of Californias and new conversions rarely do anything like that milage and therein lies a possible problem. How does such a vital component respond to lying idle for months at a time which is common in many leisure vehicles.
Personally, if my vehicle was low milage and laid up 6 months of the year I would err on the side of caution. Fortunately I wasn’t in that position.