15,000km Service Cost from Each Dealer Outlined

[bull]

Hi Adam, It appears that you waited for the 15000 klm to come up and ignored the 12 months time period.
Does this satisfy the warrantee requirements for the car. I know that i do this with my wifes Honda , but i was going to service every 12 months with the Golf.

[AdamD]

Adam - why wouldn't you get "Transporter" (MRL Automotive) to service your car? He is also in Adelaide isn't he? I'd much rather support a independent VW specialist (and enthusiast and forum member etc) than give my hard earned cash to the VW dealership.

Yep, Miro is a great bloke and I'll be using him every 6 months for my oil change services from now on (yep, I prefer frequent changes and am happy to pay the extra for added peace of mind). I've already had him out to service my mum's Mk5, and he did a great job. But for this service I needed a dealer as I had the wastegate rattle clip fitted (ref this thread), hence Solitaire.

Hi Adam, It appears that you waited for the 15000 klm to come up and ignored the 12 months time period.
Does this satisfy the warrantee requirements for the car. I know that i do this with my wifes Honda , but i was going to service every 12 months with the Golf.

Not quite; I only do ~8,000km per year (I live close to the city, and my car is really only used occasionally during the week, and on weekends). My first/previous service was in June last year, at 8,000km, which is VW's 15,000km/1 year service. So 8,000km and 11 months later I had the next one done, and although the car's 2 years old, it's only done just over 16,000.

[sillywet]

15,000km service at Norris VW Kedron (Brisbane) yesterday. Manual Golf R, standard service (oil and filter) was $436. They washed and vacuumed it for me (even though the wash was pretty ordinary) and I got a loan car for the day.

Absolute rip off, but I see the value in it when I sell the car I guess.

[walbjj]

15,000km service at Norris VW Kedron (Brisbane) yesterday. Manual Golf R, standard service (oil and filter) was $436. They washed and vacuumed it for me (even though the wash was pretty ordinary) and I got a loan car for the day.

Absolute rip off, but I see the value in it when I sell the car I guess.

I've never followed the logic of people that believe they will achieve a higher resale simply by having the dealer stamp. If u do the sums, comparing indeP vs stealer servicing and then look at the possible resale advantages, then it's not all that great, and I would argue that u save more in the long run by servicing at an indep.
Looking at it simply, taken over a 5 yr term, as people lease a car over 5 yrs, that means 5 services. The most basic service 15k, savings r about $150, with the more expensive services, it can be over $500 saved. Therefore, being conservative, u will save about $1000-$1500 in servicing alone, more if u provide ur own oil.
Then what about repairs? Clutch? Etc
And about the resale price, if u have 2 similar cars, one services at a dealer and 1 by independent, realistically, what would a buyer pay in terms of a premium?
I can understand if the indeP was a no name shop, or maybe even ultra tune, but enthusiasts actually seek Out decent indep workshops to service their cars and most would prefer those over an apprentice at a stealership

[SilvrFoxX]

It is a piece of mind thing not a logic thing, if you do run into warranty issues the process is going to be a lot better if you have an established relationship with the dealer service centre. They can see the car servicing history and if claims need to be had then it isn't going to be a drawn out nit picking affair.

I have a 3 year warranty, thats 3 services.. post that I will go Indy.. best of both worlds

[Candyman]

I agree with SF

I can also prove the value with our last car, our MKV GTI

Not only with the way VW helped with repairs post warranty because of established services with dealers but also the sale privately where the first question was "serviced by dealer ?"

Perceived value perhaps but it sold our GTI.

[sillywet]

walbjj i'm with you 100%. If it were me buying a second hand car, then I would much prefer to see that it had been maintained by a mechanic who knew what he was doing/raced them etc rather than some knob who wears a VW polo shirt and has watched a few videos from HeadCo in Germany. However, in the second hand market, my opinion is that most people don't share our view and would rather see the stamps in the service book from the same authorised dealer. As such, whilst I may get stung a hundred more for each service, it's a price i'm willing to pay whilst it's in warranty.

If, for whatever reason I did need something relatively major done like a new clutch, then I would definitely get that done by a good mechanic and not at the dealer, but i would then return to the dealer for the regular services.

[walbjj]

I recall with my brothers b5 rs4, dealer repairs for timing belt was about 4-5k, ea charged about $2500, he did that service twice. Plus 3 clutches. That's almost $10k in savings from an indep over stealer. I think he came out ahead when he sold it in terms of resale in that case

[AdamD]

I recall with my brothers b5 rs4, dealer repairs for timing belt was about 4-5k, ea charged about $2500, he did that service twice. Plus 3 clutches. That's almost $10k in savings from an indep over stealer. I think he came out ahead when he sold it in terms of resale in that case

For unscheduled repair work (that wouldn't show up in your logbook anyway), it's a much easier decision to go with a qualified and trusted independent, in my opinion.

[SilvrFoxX]

Was just quoted $470 for 15K service at Denlo Service centre at Rosehill and then $390 at Trivett Service centre at Blacktown

lot of difference