Mk3 103tsi - Almost 1 year on and first service due

[Gerrycan]

I avoid using recirculation as much as possible for that very reason. Its not the filter that worries me but the possible build up on the condenser.
The killer for any car is smoking in the car. I had a friend who bought a 2nd hand Merc E class.
A great car except it was owned by a smoker and despite spending a quote a lot of money was never able to get rid of it completely. Present in the leather and the air-con.
Humidity is relatively low anyway in Adelaide so it is not often required.

I expect them to try and add the expensive additions during the pre-service interview.

I had a quick look for the 'pollen' filter but it appears that unlike the mk2 where you go in underneath the glove box on the mk3 you have to remove the glove box.
I just found a video on Youtube so will probably try tomorrow now.
Useful for accessing the fusebox as well.

[Timbris93]

I used my regular mechanic not just because he's over a hundred dollars cheaper than the Skoda dealership, it's also got a lot to do with the fact that the dealership ****ed me around and treated me like **** the moment i drove the car off the lot.

[Gerrycan]

The car's first service took place yesterday.
Early drop off and I asked them to look for faults related to the cold start hesitancy I occasionally experience (I was not optimistic and they did not find anything).
I noticed the paperwork referenced the $269 capped price figure so the young lady who took my booking over the phone did the right thing.
Went to pick it up in the evening and of course forgot my glasses so I was not sure I believed my eyes when I saw the $450(ish) pricing on the invoice (so they had ignored the note).
The guy serving me was pleasant enough and said he had just priced it off the Skoda website and even showed me a printout which was of similar appearance to my one I had got off the web just with much higher prices.
I told him to wait while I went to my car and picked up MY printed quote which was then viewed with some surprise by him and the colleague he shared it with.
To be fair he did not quibble at all but just asked me to help myself to a coffee while he re-priced the invoice to match my quote.

Afterwards we went out to the car and to his horror it had not been washed, but I said that was ok because I had forgot to ask them NOT to wash it.
He had a little difficulty understanding that, so he got the 'dangers of using sponges to wash cars' lecture (poor bugger). I did add it was more of a problem for Asian built cars as they had softer paint. He understood that as he said he did a short stint at Suzuki and while they were generally reliable vehicles they had all sorts of problems with their water based paintwork.

Once I got home and got my glasses on I could see that the price included injector cleaner, a top up of genuine 'special' VAG/Skoda window washer (It smells good and is a bit of a standing joke between my wife and I). Only other work done was top up of coolant (250cc?), adjustment of windscreen sprayers and tyre pressures.

The car felt very skittish on the way home, with vague light steering. I checked the tyre pressures and they were at 42psi on the back and 39psi on the front.
For me the correct pressure with these tyres for general use is 36psi all around. It just gives a better ride, better straight line stability and a slightly heavier feel to the steering.
If I were putting a heavy load in the back then I would increase pressures accordingly but otherwise I really do not know why they do this.
They test drove it for 7 km to achieve 20kph and 10 l/100 averages. So that was quite reasonable.

Tyre wear for 17 inch Dunlop Maxx Sports is even but seems fairly heavy considering I have done only 11k km. I should get to 25k km if I rotate them front/rear.
This is considering my general driving makes Miss Daisy's chauffeur look like a hoon and someone in the UK with a vRS has got 80k km on the same brand????

So the lessons for others who might use the dealers for their servicing is:
a) Go to the website and get the true capped price for your car printed off.
b) Confirm the price when booking (apparently not all dealers are part of the capped price scheme?)
c) Leave a copy of your expected service pricing with them when you leave the car.
d) Clarify whether you want them to clean the car or not when you leave it.
e) DO NOT PRESS the cappuccino option on the fully automated Saeco machine in the waiting room, it does not use real milk just some sweet powdery abomination of a substitute.


Just when I thought I had done ok pricewise, I received a call from Skoda Australia this morning offering me a free service which I was now unable to take up. Doh!
Now going to ring Skoda Service and tell them they might want to tidy up their web sites and make the dealers aware of Skoda capped price servicing policy and rates.

Apart from the pricing fiasco I have no real complaints (unless you count the fortuitous non-cleaning and I was offered a 'make-up' clean at my convenience).

UPDATE:
Spoke to Skoda Assist and advise them of my experience and they said it was more probable that it was not a web site issue but just people putting in the wrong parameters. Despite them having the car details in front of them. Mk 2 service is $384, so goodness knows what model or service was chosen to get well over $450?
Capped price servicing costs are updated every 6 months as well, apparently.
My details were taken and will be passed on.

[ian]

My Tiguan 130KW diesel is due in 4 months and I have a singed agreement for 6 years at $333 per year ill see if they try to pull a swifty when its serviced ?

[Gerrycan]

My Tiguan 130KW diesel is due in 4 months and I have a singed agreement for 6 years at $333 per year ill see if they try to pull a swifty when its serviced ?

You might want to check the small print on the agreement but is it with the dealer or VW?

[K4neX]

I can confirm that it is $284 as I just had my 15000km serivce on Monday.

[vEnOm_oz]

I plan on providing an engine oil other than Castrol, which the dealers use. Does anyone know if that will affect the service price in any way?

[Reichter]

I just checked the skoda australia website --> capped price servicing, entered my cars details and got over $400.

I will be doing services every 5000kms (4 months) anyways as that is what i have done with all my vehicles. The scheduled services will be with the dealer though. The extra ones...not sure yet. Havent found a VAG mechanic i trust yet...and im new to melbourne. Any recommendations?

[woofy]

Depending on where you are, Volkspower in Burwood are pretty good and the owner bought MkII Octavia years back. Not sure if he still has it, but was a good sign. There is also Volkstech near La Trobe uni in Bundoora, again not sure about them. There are a few ex SKoda/VW mechanics spamming the Skoda group there are times who also do it. A guy called Vic from memory is one that I think some people from here have used.

Re using your own oil, you can do that, they will just drop that cost from the service components. Just make sure you get the right compliant one though so they take note of that.

Re dealers, Richmond Skoda have done well by me, just increased their charges a lot once Zagames took over. Last service in Nov came under the capped price so was cheaper than in the past. Their new service centre in the AUdi part seems to be coping with more cars now as well.

[brad]

I plan on providing an engine oil other than Castrol, which the dealers use. Does anyone know if that will affect the service price in any way?

Dealers use whatever they get a good deal on. My local guy was on Valvoline for ages. It's just spares that sell the Castrol in containers.