Servicing Tiguan - Discounts/deals

[jimbomort]

thanks for all suggestions and views, negotiating a group rate, was as much about ensuring a quality service as a better price. Looks like not much interest in doing the group thing, thats makes it clear

on suggestions on good servicing - thanks Sharkie for ref to jmac, I will follow up, may be doable from here. My brother found a great mechanic in Sydney for working on his Porsche 928, same thing, did a great job and at nothing like the price the porsche crews were asking. Not sure if that guy also works on VWs as well but I can get details for Tig owners in Sydney if anyone is interested

I wont be taking my car to ultratune

[Ricardo]

Thats an interesting discussion about the merits of getting servicing from a vw dealer vs non dealer. We live some distance from the nearest dealer and so when we get our Tig we were going to get it serviced by a local mechanic.
What things do we need to consider to make sure the local mechanic does not void the warranty?

[jimbomort]

Ricardo I am no expert, others here can probably provide a more thorough answer but as far as I know all servicing needs to be done in accordance with the VW servicing book and they need to use the correct fluids etc and genuine parts. I am not sure whether there is any requirement for them to be VW trained, probably not but I'd get another opinion on that.

Whether many mechanics will have the diagnostic tools for the Engine mgt system etc I dont know, but shouldn't be hard to find out.

I myself will be using JMac as recommended by Sharkie in this thread.

Bottom line as far as I am aware, car companies tend to insinuate that you must get your servicing done by them, but as long as done above, its not necessary, ala people in remote centres such as yourself. Can also depend on who you make any warranty claims with, some dealers are keen to squiggle out of anything, whereas others are more reasonable and of course thats affected also by their relationship with the customer or lack thereof

[Sharkie]

The requirements to keep your warranty (and this is law ... provided for in legislation and tested in court) are:

1. qualified mechanic.
2. VW parts and fluids (or VW approved fluids)
3. full service as per logbook.

The VW specialists around all have the appropriate diagnostic equipment for VWs so that is also good. UltraT and other workshops mostly do not.

So if you are remote, I'd invest in a VAGCOM setup and workshop manual (both available off the internet) and "loan" these to your mech when he works on your car. Its going to cost you a few hundred $$$ but will alow detailed diagnostics etc.

ALSO ... important to note that the UltraTs and other mass sevice shops (like KMart etc) do not use original VW parts or VW approved fluids and this will void your warranty when it comes to warranty claim time.

[Transporter]

The requirements to keep your warranty (and this is law ... provided for in legislation and tested in court) are:

1. qualified mechanic.
2. VW parts and fluids (or VW approved fluids)
3. full service as per logbook.

The VW specialists around all have the appropriate diagnostic equipment for VWs so that is also good. UltraT and other workshops mostly do not.

So if you are remote, I'd invest in a VAGCOM setup and workshop manual (both available off the internet) and "loan" these to your mech when he works on your car. Its going to cost you a few hundred $$$ but will alow detailed diagnostics etc.

ALSO ... important to note that the UltraTs and other mass sevice shops (like KMart etc) do not use original VW parts or VW approved fluids and this will void your warranty when it comes to warranty claim time.

Very detailed description and truth, only at the point 3. I would rather say "Full service history as per logbook"

It's good idea, also by having the manual you'll learn something about the car you drive and you'll be more in control what should go in your car, rather than depend on mechanic that he knows what oil to use.

[Ricardo]

Thanks guys for the tips. Is the cost of servicing a diesel any different to a petrol engine? Also how much does it cost for the first service. I heard it was at 15000km and someone posted on the internet that it cost them $620 does that sound right? Does the diesel particulate filter require any servicing or replacement?

[Transporter]

There should be not much differnce between servicing diesel or petrol engines, since both should use the same engine oil. The DPF doesn't need any extra servicing however if you use your car for short trips and drive ubrouptly it could have shortened life. Manual says check particle loading at 160,000km (for Touareg) (it could be 120,000km in Tiguan). You drive long distances, therefore I asume that you won't have to replace DPF before 200,000km

$620 for 15,000km service is not right.