Independent service ?

[GolfTi]

Over £200 is outragous for a 1st/ oil service.

What else are they doing for this price?


Phone around your local dealers, they will be a bit more than the indies but not £180 more

[Komenda]

All true. But it also comes down to the individual and how hard they negotiate when trading a car in.

I buy my cars from my local VW dealer so I have the ease of going back to the source if anything does go wrong, and I have a good relationship with them.  I don't get them serviced there though.

[am1w]

Steve, your dealer is way too expensive. In fact, it's a shocking price.
Try another dealer.
One question: Do they charge more to service a Diesel? I cannot understand why this should be as its only an oil and filter change and an overall check of the car.
I know from others on here who don't have a service plan, that it's approx £170 for a first service with a main dealer for a GTI.

[Steve30]

What are the pro's + cons of using these indi companies apart from price's ?

If I were buying a car like yours in a few years i'd only pay the right money if it had a full service history through a main dealer.

JIm

Jim a lot of these  dealers are very poor at what they do, when it comes to servicing , wrong oil , no oil filter change parts not put back properly just to name few ? Dealer servicing means nothing to me mate , I'm sorry but I don't have much faith dealerships they are a rare breed nowa days !

[Jimmymature]

What are the pro's + cons of using these indi companies apart from price's ?

If I were buying a car like yours in a few years i'd only pay the right money if it had a full service history through a main dealer.

JIm

Jim a lot of these  dealers are very poor at what they do, when it comes servicing , wrong oil , no oil filter change parts not put back properly just to name few ?

I agree mate, but the used value of our cars is directly impacted by having a main dealer service history. The price you've been quoted must be an error, I was offered two services from my dealer for £300 the other day! I wish I'd accepted it now



Jim

[evo1986]

That price must be wrong steve.........main dealer servicing cars keep there pedigree and certainly sell alot easier

[Snoopy]

Ask them to price match. My local VW dealer does.
As for full dealer history sorry thats a saleman BS line to get the part ex price down they try every trick in the book its meeningless.
Disadvantage = of indy is you won't get the hidden 'service bulletin' updates or corrections to the car they don't tell the public about 
Advantage = They give a sh!t and will probably do a better job.

[R32UK]

phone your local skoda/seat dealership and ask them for a price. they will be cheaper by some margin.

[p3asa]

Call me paranoid but I don't trust certain garages in respect to cars being sold with "Full Service History"

I mind going to look at a car with my wife that was 4 years old and in excellent condition and the dealer claimed it had a FSH. When I asked to see it they made some cock and bull story that the book was locked away in admin but I could come back and see it. I agreed to come back and test drive the car as it was seriously blocked in at the time. Anyway when I came back they had the service book ready for me. No grubby marks, pritine condition, all services conveniently stamped by the selling dealer, all with the same pen. Yeah it might have been legit but it just didn't sit right. I reckon they had just done it themselves. I had no proof but just walked away.

Yes I could have contacted the previous owner but that would have been once I purchased the car and had the new Reg document. Far too much hassle.

I always keep receipts now and staple them in to the back for any services / parts / work done on the car in case I sell privately.

Steve, as for your £345 for the first service, you must have picked them up wrong
VW are still offering a 3 year service and free MOT for life of the car, for cars over 90 days old for £349
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/fixed-price-servicing

[mac7]

I'm fortunate that I can service our cars myself. I follow the service schedule, use VW parts and keep all the receipts in a folder. We recently sold our four year old Passat without any problems and got within a few hundred quid of the asking price. It only went into a dealer once, for warranty/recall work.

As Snoopy says, the main issue surrounds the service bulletin updates, which usually seem to be software related anyway. A friendly chat with the tec's at the local VW dealer sorted that out.

So much of the service seems to involve simple 'inspection' these days which I'm sure doesn't always get done but helps the garage justify the costs.