Sounds like you’re on VW’s Fixed (time and distance) service regime which is recommended by VW for lower mileage drivers. Under the fixed service regime, the service intervals are the sooner of 9,300 miles or 12 months. It’s coming up to 12 months since your car was last serviced, hence why the service light has come on.
I’m assuming your car still has a year of its VW Approved Used warranty to run as you bought it around a year ago from a VW dealer. With that in mind, it would be worth checking out your warranty booklet to see if there are any special requirements with regard to getting the car serviced. While your car’s still under warranty, I would be inclined to get it serviced at a VW dealer as it gives VW less wriggle room with regards to rejecting a warranty claim (if you need to make one) if there’s evidence the car’s been serviced by VW.
You could consider getting your car serviced by a reputable independent VW specialist. However, to avoid potential warranty issues if you need to make a claim, you’d need to ensure they’re VAT registered, they follow VW’s service schedule and use VW genuine parts / VW approved fluids for the service and you’d get evidence of this (e.g. fully documented invoice with details and part numbers of parts / consumables used). Additionally, if your car has a digital service record rather than a service book, if using an independent VW specialist, try to find one who has access to VW’s systems and can update the digital service record for your car.
Below are VW’s recommendations (from their website) on which service regime is most appropriate, depending on vehicle usage;
Fixed servicing - Recommended if...
- You drive fewer than 9,300 miles per year
- Mainly drive in the city, or if you make frequent short journeys
- Often carry out hill climbs, towing, and driving with multiple passengers.
Flexible servicing -
For longer distance driving, we recommend a flexible service plan. Your Volkswagen's service light will tell you when you need to book your car in.
Recommended if...
- Regularly drive more than 25 miles per day
- Regularly drive long-distance
- You drive at a constant speed with a minimum vehicle load.
Link to information on servicing below;
https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/owners-and-services/servicing-and-parts/servicing-and-pricing.html