Bad VW franchise garage !!!!!!

[RobertO2023]

The other member on here has been waiting three months for a gearbox and I’ve been waiting over a month to get a basic service from VW. I’ve only asking for the basics of how they’re supposed to operate as a garage.

There is absolutely no requirement to have the vehicle serviced at a VW franchised dealer. As long as the service uses genuine parts and you log the service, your warranty will be valid. I have given up on main dealer routine maintenance by using a first class independent who always deals with customers in a totally professional manner. VW is not the only manufacturer to be criticised for poor customer service, it’s rife throughout main dealers.

 

[6.1dom]

There is absolutely no requirement to have the vehicle serviced at a VW franchised dealer. As long as the service uses genuine parts and you log the service, your warranty will be valid. I have given up on main dealer routine maintenance by using a first class independent who always deals with customers in a totally professional manner. VW is not the only manufacturer to be criticised for poor customer service, it’s rife throughout main dealers.

Yes, I fully understand this but I only bought the Van one month ago and my contract is with the garage. I bought it from so I’m going to proceed with them rather than going elsewhere as they give me a courtesy van but independent garage won’t.

 

[RobertO2023]

Fair enough, especially if it’s warranty work. My independent has courtesy vehicles or will collect the vehicle from work/home
I never heard of warranty that ties you to a specific service centre. To uphold a warranty the vehicle only has to serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications. In the past I have taken brand new vehicles to third party service centres and never had any issues when a warranty claim was subsequently made through a franchised dealer. I hope you get everything sorted with no problems

 

[6.1dom]

Fair enough, especially if it’s warranty work. My independent has courtesy vehicles or will collect the vehicle from work/home
I never heard of warranty that ties you to a specific service centre. To uphold a warranty the vehicle only has to serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications. In the past I have taken brand new vehicles to third party service centres and never had any issues when a warranty claim was subsequently made through a franchised dealer. I hope you get everything sorted with no problems

Regarding warranty I can go to any VW garage anywhere in Europe and they would have to provide me a courtesy vehicle but my original contract is with the garage that I bought it with regarding servicing. I never took out a service plan and I will be taking it to an independent garage and using VW parts I will not be taking it to a VW garage That’s for sure.

I’m gonna try and put in for some compensation as this van was sold to me in a lot worse condition so it was definitely overvalued.

 

[Burner]

Interesting thread
Mine is booked in Manchester VW this week for a service, just annuall oil change and software updates, is extended warranty bought with van, I’ll see how it goes!

 

[Sackmycook]

Interested to see if you get charged for the software upgrade....

 

[RobertO2023]

Is there a fixed charge for an oil service?

 

[TrevorK]

Fixed Cost Maintenance for Vans | VW Vans

With Volkswagen you can pay monthly for servicing, maintenance and tyres if your vehicle is less than 12 months old and has covered less than 10,000 miles.

www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk

Also if you book your service online with VW commercial then you pay the national fixed price, dealers often charge more if you book direct.
The 2 service plan seemed the best value.

 

[6.1dom]

Interesting thread
Mine is booked in Manchester VW this week for a service, just annuall oil change and software updates, is extended warranty bought with van, I’ll see how it goes!

I tend to find they do a quick drain of oil, but they don’t flush the engine oil out so there’s always new oil getting contaminated with old oil. I don’t mean putting a flushing additive in just using normal oil to just flush out the old stuff.

 

[6.1dom]

Fixed Cost Maintenance for Vans | VW Vans

With Volkswagen you can pay monthly for servicing, maintenance and tyres if your vehicle is less than 12 months old and has covered less than 10,000 miles.

www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk

Also if you book your service online with VW commercial then you pay the national fixed price, dealers often charge more if you book direct.
The 2 service plan seemed the best value.

Thanks this is good to know. I’m probably gonna use a VAT registered garage and then just get the VW parts myself do the work myself and then pay the garage to invoice.

 

[6.1dom]

Interesting thread
Mine is booked in Manchester VW this week for a service, just annuall oil change and software updates, is extended warranty bought with van, I’ll see how it goes!

If I was you, I’d buy a UV solvent base pen and Mark across the filter housing and the top line and then use a UV light once I’ve carried out the service because it will never line back up perfectly and you’ll be able to see if they’ve bothered changing the oil filter as some technician is in such a rush they don’t bother changing them.

If you wanna help your van last as long as possible I change the oil every 6000 miles and they stay VW should be done every two years so I’ll have the book stamp. I’ll use the filter still and a decent VW spec oil and I’ll be doing the service in between.

I looked at the service intervals for some of these filters. Can you’ve got to wonder if VW has got your best interest at heart? Fuel filter every 120k
Pollen filter every 70 K and the oil was something like 20,000 miles, which is ridiculous for oil

 

[Sasquatch]

I don't think manufacturers or garages can win.

People moan about the cost of a service, or service intervals being too short, or filters and the like being replaced unnecessarily.

And when they try to keep costs down for them and you by engineering vehicles with extended service intervals, and rigorously testing to ensure consumables can have as long a service life as reasonably possible, along come people to complain about that being far to long.

 

[6.1dom]

I don't think manufacturers or garages can win.

People moan about the cost of a service, or service intervals being too short, or filters and the like being replaced unnecessarily.

And when they try to keep costs down for them and you by engineering vehicles with extended service intervals, and rigorously testing to ensure consumables can have as long a service life as reasonably possible, along come people to complain about that being far to long you know

Do you know some cars have lifetime oil in the gearboxes and lifetime filters and if you know how a filter works it can never be lifetime they do it to make the cars running cost lover but I wonder if they take ownership when everything wears out quicker probably not. At the end of the day it’s a mechanical thing running it hasn’t changed in 100 years. I know engineering has changed and got more advanced but oil doesn’t cost much to change versus a new engine.

 

[Sasquatch]

MSc in Space Technology and Engineering, so while I don't own a single spanner I have a very extensive knowledge of filters, lubricants, and particularly fuels, so I do know about things like lifetime fills.

With modern machining tolerances etc, 20k mile oil intervals is perfectly fine if the use to which the vehicle being put is appropriate (ie, not constant stop start urban motirng , for example), and a suitable type of oil is being used.

Extended intervals are quite normal, even among the budget manufacturers. The average lifespan of an ICE car in the UK has remained pretty much static over the last 20 years so there has been no widespread adverse technical consequence as a result of this trend.

If you want to change your oil or consumables more often than VW advise then all power to you. Nevertheless, unless your vehicle is on an arduous duty cycle it won't bring any tangible benefit, but if it brings you peace of mind then it's worth it to you. (For the purposes of not going too far off on a tangent, l leave aside peripheral concerns such as oil or contamination or dilution, but those are ancillary issues and changing the oil will not repair those faults.)

But I stand by my previous post. People moaned about garages taking the Michael with service intervals being too short when comoared to A N Other brand, and parts being replaced when they felt not actually necessary. Yet when manufacturers address this and extend intervals and consumables lifespan they still complain. You can guarantee not a single one of those complaining either way could explain kinematic viscosity or tell you what piston precession is, yet they feel themselves more qualified than the vehicle manufactuer to opine what was or wasn't a technically appropriate and commercially viable service regime.

 

[6.1dom]

MSc in Space Technology and Engineering, so while I don't own a single spanner I have a very extensive knowledge of filters, lubricants, and particularly fuels, so I do know about things like lifetime fills.

With modern machining tolerances etc, 20k mile oil intervals is perfectly fine if the use to which the vehicle being put is appropriate (ie, not constant stop start urban motirng , for example), and a suitable type of oil is being used.

Extended intervals are quite normal, even among the budget manufacturers. The average lifespan of an ICE car in the UK has remained pretty much static over the last 20 years so there has been no widespread adverse technical consequence as a result of this trend.

If you want to change your oil or consumables more often than VW advise then all power to you. Nevertheless, unless your vehicle is on an arduous duty cycle it won't bring any tangible benefit, but if it brings you peace of mind then it's worth it to you.

But I stand by my previous post. People moaned about garages taking the Michael with service intervals being too short when comoared to A N Other brand, and parts being replaced when they felt not actually necessary. Yet when manufacturers address this and extend intervals and consumables lifespan they still complain. You can guarantee not a single one of those complaining either way could explain kinematic viscosity or tell you what piston precession is, yet they feel themselves more qualified than the vehicle manufactuer to opine what was or wasn't a technically appropriate and commercially viable service regime.

Thanks for sharing this information. It’s nice to know from someone that knows about this as I just have a more mechanical understanding that oil needs to be changed more often. I’m a bit belt and braces I suppose people will always moan that things are too expensive.

Might be the answer is if you can’t afford a VW transporter go and buy a Peugeot

 

[Sasquatch]

Hey, if you can afford it and it helps you sleep at night then you go for it.

I have my own views as above, but if you feel that it brings you peace of mind then that alone is a good enough reason.

 

[RobertO2023]

I remember years ago when Mobil1 was launched. BMW used a 325i petrol to do a non stop 1 million miles test driving 24/7 around a racetrack. They then stripped the engine to show it was still all nice and working well. When I was in America I learnt many of their Trucks did 1/2 million miles on the same oil.

 

[Sackmycook]

EV's......the way forward
Low service costs and long intervals

 

[6.1dom]

EV's......the way forward
Low service costs and long intervals

Don’t tell everyone, but after VW, I ended up working at one of the big leading electric car manufacturers

 

[Sackmycook]

In China?