I have a four year old Mark V GTI that I have owned and enjoyed since new but it is now time for me to move on. Due to the pressure of work and family/life commitments I don't have the time to sell my car privately and would prefer the convenience (and I accept extra cost) of a simple dealer part-exchange.
The car is March 06 registered and has just done 40,000 miles so according to the VW maintenance plan the cambelt is due for replacement. At the end of August it will need the two year brake fluid change. An added complication is that the service warning has come on although I seem to recall the manual states that a service should occur the LATER of either the Service warning appearing or the next service due date/mileage recorded by the main dealer at its last service. I'm not going to hit the mileage figure any time soon and the due date is November 2010. All work done to date has been carried out at a main VW dealer.
I have got quotes for the three items to the tune of between £725 - £900 (I live just outside London...). I am not convinced that I am going to retain this cost in part-ex value if I do the work prior to the part-exchange. But at the same time, I don't want to convey a view that the car has not properly maintained when it goes for part-ex assessment. If I was selling the car privately I would get the work done for piece of mind; when it goes to a dealer who can do the service work at cost I am less concerned of the merits.
I could of course adopt a middle ground of getting the cambelt changed as it is the one item that is unequivocally due.
Does anyone have any specific views on the value of getting the work done prior to sale? All constructive points made greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Nick Lawton
