Hi all

I've had my VW Golf TDI from new (just had 1 st MOT) and it is also due a service next month.

So far, all the servicing has been done by local franchised VW garage.

I have no problem with the workmanship,that was fine. The price was pretty steep tho', if I recall correctly it was over £400 !

Do I really need to have VW garage to to do the service, or would a cheaper alternative garage do the job ok ?

What are the implications of not having a VW garage service ?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated !

Thanks Guys

Hope xx

No, the best thing you could do is find a good independent garage who can service it according to the VW service schedule but they won't charge franchised VW service rates.

They have to use VW approved parts though.

Thanks guys !

How do I find a good independant and how do I ensure they use vw parts ?

Sorry for sounding so thick !

I live in wakefield west yorks so if anyone knows of a good independant garage can they please post details.

Hope xx

That would only apply if the car is still under warranty. Once the warranty has expired then it doesn't matter if genuine VW parts are used or not.

A good place to start would be a Google search on VW forums such as :-

TDIClub Forums - Powered by vBulletin

Welcome to VolksWagen Diesel

Diesel Car Forums - Index

They should be a good starting point and no doubt there are some good recommendations available there.

With regard to warranty ,i'm not 100% TBH.

Might be the 3rd and final service under warranty ?

Will I find this info in the hand book thingy ?

Hope xx

Thanks for the links Rob S .

I'll have a good look.

Cheers

Hope xx

Hi i am a VW Technician and no you dont need to be serviced at the dealership any garage will do must keep reciepts and also buy the parts from the dealership before you go to the indipendant garage as they will make money of you getting to parts them selfs. Any further questions on your car please mail me i will answer to best of my knowledge. Thanks

if its just had its first MOT then it must be at least three years old so the car would be out of warranty anyway, but for anyone else wondering about there car (regardless of manufacturer) you can use a good independent but make sure you retain all invoices as these are in most cases required as proof of service if warranty claim needs to be made (do not rely soley on having the service book stamped) as in many cases the service book is only treated as a reflection on the record but the invoicing shows if all parts were change according to schedule, we deal with servicing on many fleet cars that a brand new but we are not a dealership and the warranties still stand if problems arise

The EU removed the block exemption with regards to car servicing which means an independent could service the car from new. The only provisos are that it must be serviced as per the manufacturers schedule, so if the car needs to be hooked up to a manufacturers diagnostic system, the indy garage might not have that equipment, so it will need to be checked by the franchised dealer. It would also be advisable to use service items and parts supplied by the manufacturer during the warranty period. Servicing by an indy should not affect any warranty claims, if teh work has been done properly.

Thanks guys for all your replies I really appreciate it.

I will take your advice and buy the parts required myself.

Cheers

Hope xx

make sure you use the correct oil on these engines as they can fail early on if you dont-this is expensive oil-ibet if you check your £400 bill a big chunk is oil!!

many VW's are now using longlife oil ( 0/30 ) as part of the servicing

it is quite expensive, i have seen it as much as £62 for 5 lts if your struggling to find it at better money try your local vauxhall dealer who sell at £40 retail price.

there is a sensor fited to the sump of these cars that can detect the viscosity of the oil and uses this info to determine when the car should be serviced (puts the "service now" warning on the dashboard) these cars also need to be plugged into the correct equipment to rest the service warning using either the "longlife" schedule or "adaptation"settings so if you do want to use any indepent garage please make sure they also have this equipmet to reset your service warning otherwise they will be telling you to go to the dealer to get it reset (more cost for you)

check which service you need as vw do 2 a basic and a advanced one.

we got our golf tdi serviced at a vw garage as it was the first time for us, but next time its back to my local garage.

vw also picked the car up for me (lazy)