Ex lease car, only serviced once

Ex lease car, only serviced once

Author
Discussion

EricM

Original Poster:

30 posts

129 months

Monday 22nd January
quotequote all
Hi All,

I’ve been down to one family car for 3 long years and I’m looking to move back to having 2 cars again

I fancy another Golf GTI, ideally a late mark 7.5 that I can then buy VW extended warranty on

I’ve seen a number of ex lease mark 7.5 GTIs come and go at Arval over the past few weeks, all 70 plate with less than 20k miles, good looking condition and priced quite well versus elsewhere, they also deliver free which appeals as I live miles away in NE Scotland

What’s putting me off is they all state they’ve had only one service at 3 years old just before they’ve been handed back at the end of the lease

Should they really have been serviced yearly?

Will VW gladly take my cash for an extended warranty then tell me the car hasn’t been serviced properly later?

Should I just look elsewhere for one?


Sheepshanks

34,975 posts

126 months

Monday 22nd January
quotequote all
VW Group cars are all come from the factory set to LongLife (sometimes called Variable) servicing.

VW say the regime should be set according to expected annual mileage but in practice cars sold to retail customers are usually switched to fixed interval servicing, lease cars are left on LongLife.

On LongLife max interval is 18500 miles or 2yrs. Sometimes it will come up sooner (the Variable part) depending on how the car is used.

86DA

229 posts

134 months

Monday 22nd January
quotequote all
I saw an Audi S3 for sale, it was 4.5 years old, but had only had one service.

It had done 10,000 miles, but had 4 new tyres on it.

Both put me off to be honest.

EricM

Original Poster:

30 posts

129 months

Monday 22nd January
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
VW Group cars are all come from the factory set to LongLife (sometimes called Variable) servicing.

VW say the regime should be set according to expected annual mileage but in practice cars sold to retail customers are usually switched to fixed interval servicing, lease cars are left on LongLife.

On LongLife max interval is 18500 miles or 2yrs. Sometimes it will come up sooner (the Variable part) depending on how the car is used.
Cheers, I wasn’t aware about longlife servicing on lease cars

To me it reads like they are 3.5 year old cars that have been serviced once at 3 years old

I think it’s worth me phoning up tomorrow to ask if there’s any more service history than what’s shown and where the service was done, hopefully at VW and not Halfords or Kwik Fit!

jonwm

2,567 posts

121 months

Wednesday 24th January
quotequote all
Lots of lease / Hire cars get stripped at PDI of Service books, spare keys etc, doesn't mean they haven't been serviced just means its not documented, VW can look on there systems at service completion, when the vehicles come back "in life" or "end of life" they are repatriated with key, manuals etc.

Rough101

2,287 posts

82 months

Wednesday 24th January
quotequote all
On VAG long life this is entirely feasible.

Sheepshanks

34,975 posts

126 months

Wednesday 24th January
quotequote all
EricM said:
I think it’s worth me phoning up tomorrow to ask if there’s any more service history than what’s shown and where the service was done, hopefully at VW and not Halfords or Kwik Fit!
What are you hoping for? It'll have had an oil and filter change. It *might* have had the pollen filter changed (supposed to be done at 2yrs) but 50/50 whether it gets done or not.

Other than that, all they get is a basic safety check. I waited while while daughter's Golf had its frist dervice and it was in the workshop 20 mins. Same for a very rough wash and vac (if it was my car I'd have said not to do it) and about 20 mins for the paperwork. So in and out in hour.

Cars don't get the brakes stripped and cleaned, tappets reset, ball joints greased etc etc like they used to. The less mechanics have messed around it with it, the better. I wish cars were sealed-for-life.

alscar

5,375 posts

220 months

Wednesday 24th January
quotequote all
EricM said:
Sheepshanks said:
VW Group cars are all come from the factory set to LongLife (sometimes called Variable) servicing.

VW say the regime should be set according to expected annual mileage but in practice cars sold to retail customers are usually switched to fixed interval servicing, lease cars are left on LongLife.

On LongLife max interval is 18500 miles or 2yrs. Sometimes it will come up sooner (the Variable part) depending on how the car is used.
Cheers, I wasn’t aware about longlife servicing on lease cars

To me it reads like they are 3.5 year old cars that have been serviced once at 3 years old

I think it’s worth me phoning up tomorrow to ask if there’s any more service history than what’s shown and where the service was done, hopefully at VW and not Halfords or Kwik Fit!
Sheepshanks explained it well.
As such all their 3 year old cars ( when returned ) would have had one service a year prior.
If owned privately you as the owner can decide to change to annual servicing if that’s what you want.