Servicing and Warranty work?

[Calibang]

Just wondered what owner thought or how they dealt with this.
Sorry to ask this first world question!

I believe we are no longer tied to manufacturers to have the vehicle serviced by them or have warranty work completed. But how does this work in practice?

With the light geographic cover of VW Van centres around the country, it is not always convenient or accessible to use them. Often (both times I've experienced) the van is required for longer than 24 hours, which necessitates a follow and pick up vehicle.

I have also been contacted by my dealer, from where I bought my vehicle of the extended warranty / packed service. Again, has anyone any experience of this and as above, is it necessary for VW dealers (or that specific dealer) to cover this if we do take this out?

I would love to hear what other people do and as always any advice gratefully received.

TIA

 

[Ch1pbutty]

We purchased a VW Service plan for our 2012 Beach which covers 2 services (1 minor/1 major)..so 4 years in effect. Under the plan Service can be carried out by any VW Commercial dealer. We got a good price as VW were running Black Friday offer in 2020, so cost was similar to an independent dealer + VW work is covered by 2 year warranty. Any extra items outside of the normal service schedule will be charged as extras (brake fluid, aircon regas, haldex oil/filter - if 4x4 etc)

We went with VW as our van was purchased few years ago with low mileage + FVWSH; The VW history will help when it comes to sell on. A good Indy mechanic will only be known by those local to you, so not so relevant to someone who is buying from further afield who might feel more comfortable with a FVWSH. Although that said its a sellers market at the moment so makes little difference.

We also purchased similar plan for our 2007 Audi which has just come to end, and has worked out quite well with no suprises. Just about to sell the car so the the Audi history should give buyers more peace of mind as there is alot to go wrong on it and so expensive to fix if things have not been changed when they should have been.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

Not quite sure about warranty work as the garage would have to liaise with VW head office to get any acceptance of warranty work and payments. So in that respect it would always be best to get that done at a main dealer. As far as servicing well there are lots that wouldn’t dream of taking it anywhere else and paying extortionate VW prices just to get a VW dealer stamp in the service book. There is absolutely no reason why you local garage can’t service a VW van and do it as well if not better than VW. Last time I had mine serviced at my local garage it cost me half the price of VW with ALL the correct parts and oil and checks that VW would do. There are some that say they would only buy a Van with Full VW service history and yes I can understand if that’s what you think.
Don’t forget this is a VW transporter based camper van and not a Ferrari, Lamborghini or Bugatti, in which case yes absolutely these need specialists working on them.

 

[Calibang]

@Ch1pbutty the one they sent me is attached at a cost of £839.30

Taking this out would tie you to a VW dealer for service, warranty and MOT. No bad thing in that it is an all-in-one but as the problem I have is access to dealers, given how sparse they are. I also run a VW Golf but the VW car network is much better (4 in my area for example)

 

[Calibang]

@Ozzy Pete I agree that a VW dealer would be best place to deal with VW with warranty issues / parts etc but then that reinforces the need to use them? Often (not always) warranty issues are found during servicing so it goes back to the same question. To be honest I have a VW Golf (which I am very pleased with) and this has been going to main dealer even with their inflated prices (Quoted £355 but charged £466 for a main service and separately, £184 for oil change), mainly because of the stamp in the service book and the convenience.

I fully agree with your assertion of using local garages, it is after all a diesel van.

That is why I was so interested in what other owners do, and how they deal with warranty issues etc.

 

[Betty67]

I am lucky living near to a van centre poole, bought service pack last black friday. Had excelent service cannot fault, though when 5 year warrantee runs out will be difficult to justify high service cost. Will be looking out for the service pack deal in november again next year. Think it was 20% off so well worth checking.
was £382.80 for 1 major and 1 minor service, bargain i thought
note: if vw do offer this do not pay by credit card as this is a finacial services agreemen credit card charges may apply and like me credit car company charged extra fee as this is deemed to be cash withdraw. So use debit card.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

@Ch1pbutty the one they sent me is attached at a cost of £839.30

Taking this out would tie you to a VW dealer for service, warranty and MOT. No bad thing in that it is an all-in-one but as the problem I have is access to dealers, given how sparse they are. I also run a VW Golf but the VW car network is much better (4 in my area for example)

Ours was £382.80, but just covers 2 scheduled services (1 x minor, 1x major). It is not a warranty.

 

[Calibang]

@Ch1pbutty so deducting the addition of 2x MOT, the warranty and roadside works out at £350 or so, which isn't bad I guess.

I'm tempted to take it out as we are hoping to keep the Cali for a long time and given the expense of some of things on it may prove to be at least a bit of peace of mind

 

[Calibang]

I am lucky living near to a van centre poole, bought service pack last black friday. Had excelent service cannot fault, though when 5 year warrantee runs out will be difficult to justify high service cost. Will be looking out for the service pack deal in november again next year. Think it was 20% off so well worth checking.
was £382.80 for 1 major and 1 minor service, bargain i thought
note: if vw do offer this do not pay by credit card as this is a finacial services agreemen credit card charges may apply and like me credit car company charged extra fee as this is deemed to be cash withdraw. So use debit card.

Thanks Betty67
Im near Manchester so close to Manchester centre but booking in recently was a 5 week wait. I understand its difficult times with Covid, so hopefully this gets better when things (if ever) get back to some kind of normal.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

@Ch1pbutty so deducting the addition of 2x MOT, the warranty and roadside works out at £350 or so, which isn't bad I guess.

I'm tempted to take it out as we are hoping to keep the Cali for a long time and given the expense of some of things on it may prove to be at least a bit of peace of mind

Yes, sounds like good value to me as also gives you a warranty.

(We added full UK, Euro breakdown to our multicar policy. Itvwas about £100 per year per vehicle for the cover (adding European cover only increased premium by £6 so was a no brainer!))

 

[Ozzy Pete]

@Ozzy Pete I agree that a VW dealer would be best place to deal with VW with warranty issues / parts etc but then that reinforces the need to use them? Often (not always) warranty issues are found during servicing so it goes back to the same question. To be honest I have a VW Golf (which I am very pleased with) and this has been going to main dealer even with their inflated prices (Quoted £355 but charged £466 for a main service and separately, £184 for oil change), mainly because of the stamp in the service book and the convenience.

I fully agree with your assertion of using local garages, it is after all a diesel van.

That is why I was so interested in what other owners do, and how they deal with warranty issues etc.

I would say absolutely take you vehicle into VW for servicing while it’s under warranty that’s a no brainer, But after that I certainly would consider a good independent. One thing I’ve noticed about a main dealer is that they will try an sell you stuff that you don’t really need. Here is an instance, we were in our local Jaguar dealer a while ago and the receptionist was talking very loudly to a customer about a new set of tyres for his F type, that they recommend changing because they found one was down to 3 mm. She admitted that the others weren’t down to that quite yet but they would do a deal at £1200 for all 4. The same tyres locally would probably have been £900 or less which is where they would be fitted anyway. Now I know Jag tyres are expensive but they try and make it sound far worse than it actually is.
But I suppose it was convenient to get them changed there.
Not all dealers are like this but it’s their job to make money for the dealership and dealership prices are never cheap.

 

[Calibang]

I would say absolutely take you vehicle into VW for servicing while it’s under warranty that’s a no brainer, But after that I certainly would consider a good independent. One thing I’ve noticed about a main dealer is that they will try an sell you stuff that you don’t really need. Here is an instance, we were in our local Jaguar dealer a while ago and the receptionist was talking very loudly to a customer about a new set of tyres for his F type, that they recommend changing because they found one was down to 3 mm. She admitted that the others weren’t down to that quite yet but they would do a deal at £1200 for all 4. The same tyres locally would probably have been £900 or less which is where they would be fitted anyway. Now I know Jag tyres are expensive but they try and make it sound far worse than it actually is.
But I suppose it was convenient to get them changed there.
Not all dealers are like this but it’s their job to make money for the dealership and dealership prices are never cheap.

Yes it’s a shame that it’s the constant selling by staff. I remember picking up my wife’s Mercedes and the dealer tried to sell us damaged insurance (minor dings and scuffs to wheels etc). It was really annoying as it was high pressure - buy it now else it’s not available. We weren’t even allowed to take the brochure away and as soon as we’ve driven away, it was no longer available. Why do they do that? It really put me off, and I’d certainly thought when we come to replace we would go elsewhere.

I plan to take out the extra warranty/servicing package and would still take it to main dealer for servicing etc. I’m a bit risk averse but I was interested if others took the risk and what, if any, different outcome.