Franchised VW dealer servicing: Supplying your own oil

[SpeedBash]

From searching the web, it appears some franchised dealers (not necessarily VW) allow you to supply your own oil when having the vehicle serviced by them.

Car is due it's first (oil change) service and my local dealer is charging over £200 for this.

I asked him if he would allow me to supply my own oil, from TPS no less, but he wouldn't.

So, does anyone know of a franchised VW dealer near Slough who does?

[Yipper]

Just get the service done at an indy. Should cost £100-150.

[va1o]

I wouldn't be getting worked up about £200, that sounds quite reasonable for a first service at a main dealer. They do more than just an oil change as they do several other checks and top-ups. If you want to get it cheaper try a few other VW dealers for quotes.

Don't take it to an indie as it just causes problems with the warranty and affects the car's value when you try to sell it on. Only really makes sense on something more than a few years old.

[aka_kerrly]

You could try A.V.I.T near Slough

[liner33]

Skoda do them for £159 on their fixed price scheme , you often see Audi and VW owners getting their cars done

http://www.skoda.co.uk/finance-and-offers/service-...

[SpeedBash]

Appreciate the replies which mirror a lot of my own thinking.

Car is on a non-maintained lease so just want to get it serviced from a franchised dealer as cheaply as possible.

My local dealer went through the individual costs of the total he has quoted me and made a point of stressing that the cost of the oil was over £100 in itself yet when I queried supplying my own identical oil from TPS he wouldn't allow it. Hmm, I wonder why.

I understand they need to make a profit but IMHO, £160 is a fair price for this type of service.

Another dealer about 15 miles away is charging £35 less for the same service.
Why? It's an identical service, costs should be comparable - just that my local dealer wants more profit.

TBH, it's now the principle of the matter.

Even though my local dealer is much more conveniently located, I've booked in with the one which is 15 miles away.

I may even call a few others to see how they compare and/or if they allow supply of own oil.

I'll see how I get on tomorrow.

[Spidersleg]

How much is the identical oil from TPS?

[M4cruiser]

SpeedBash said:

Car is on a non-maintained lease so just want to get it serviced from a franchised dealer as cheaply as possible.

My local dealer went through the individual costs of the total he has quoted me and made a point of stressing that the cost of the oil was over £100 in itself yet when I queried supplying my own identical oil from TPS he wouldn't allow it. Hmm, I wonder why.

I understand they need to make a profit but IMHO, £160 is a fair price for this type of service.


I'll see how I get on tomorrow.

Franchised servicing is the price to pay for having a new car. You just have to do it. Especially if the car doesn't belong to you (like it's on a finance deal). Expensive oil is the norm for things like new VWs on the long-mileage plans, i.e. extended service intervals, or whatever they call it.

I haven't had a new car for many years, and that's one of the (many) reasons, but I guess that's another thread.

If you supply the oil, are you sure they'd use it? I'd be worried they'd use their regular stuff and take the good stuff for their own cars!

[SpeedBash]

Spidersleg said:

How much is the identical oil from TPS?

Car requires just under 6 litres.

From TPS, Quantum Platinum Plus 5w30 would be £20 (incl VAT).

Dealer is charging £108.75 for the oil (assume it is incl of VAT).

Bit of a markup, eh.

[Sheepshanks]

liner33 said:

Skoda do them for £159 on their fixed price scheme , you often see Audi and VW owners getting their cars done

http://www.skoda.co.uk/finance-and-offers/service-...

It's £164 from VW but they're both for the fixed interval service and the OPs car will be on longlife.

[Sheepshanks]

SpeedBash said:

Car requires just under 6 litres.

From TPS, Quantum Platinum Plus 5w30 would be £20 (incl VAT).

Dealer is charging £108.75 for the oil (assume it is incl of VAT).

Bit of a markup, eh.

About the same pricing as on my Merc - I'd never heard of supplying my own oil until I got the Merc and the dealer suggested it. Sure enough knocked £100 off the bill. From a business point-of-view I was gobsmacked they'll throw away that amount of profit.

On VW, the dealers will usually compete with each other - someone on the Alltrack thread just had it servicing for £129, and they filled the AdBlue up in that price. However I guess the Southern dealers are going to be pretty busy and probably don't need to discount. It's also tricky to find someone interested enough to negotiate - a lot of the dealers just use call-centres now for service booking.

I got a copy of the invoice for the first service on wife's Tiguan under the VW service contract and it was shade over £100.

[SpeedBash]

Car is on fixed annual/10k service regime not variable servicing.

As mentioned, IMHO c£160 is a fair price for this service and this dealer in Cumbria is charging that: http://www.hadwinsvolkswagen.co.uk/offers/service-...

Think sheepshank is right, the higher pricing is indicative of Southern dealers - also, a lot of them are now using call centres to manage the service bookings so it is proving difficult to speak to someone in the dealer service dept to negotiate.

My local dealer wants £217 but, as mentioned earlier, another dealer 15 miles away is charging £185 so am going to go with him even though it is slightly inconvenient and means a while-u-wait service.

I'm going to chance my luck tomorrow and phone a few other dealers just to get an idea of what others are charging.

[Rich_W]

SpeedBash said:

My local dealer went through the individual costs of the total he has quoted me and made a point of stressing that the cost of the oil was over £100 in itself yet when I queried supplying my own identical oil from TPS he wouldn't allow it. Hmm, I wonder why.

Well for a start it's not the same. It's an "equivalent" VW dealer will use Castrol. Its written on the oil cap as a clue.

SpeedBash said:

I understand they need to make a profit but IMHO, £160 is a fair price for this type of service.

What do you do for a living? I bet you overcharge. I reckon you should be on 2/3rds of whatever it is you receive.

SpeedBash said:

Another dealer about 15 miles away is charging £35 less for the same service.
Why? It's an identical service, costs should be comparable - just that my local dealer wants more profit.

Funnily enough business rates and land costs are not the same all over the country

SpeedBash said:

TBH, it's now the principle of the matter.

Not really . Just another champagne taste lemonade money who feels that everything he can't afford is "overpriced"

If I worked in a dealer I'd turn you away quite frankly. You sound like you give bad CS scores for no reason

[SpeedBash]

Rich_W said:

Not really . Just another champagne taste lemonade money who feels that everything he can't afford is "overpriced"

If I worked in a dealer I'd turn you away quite frankly. You sound like you give bad CS scores for no reason

Really? You might want to review some of your recent posts:

1) Renting race wheels when you can buy some

2) Moaning about £30 for a picture at a works Xmas do

3) Moaning about your local bike shop having a 'weird attitude' (is that what you put on your CS feeback cards??) so going to a bigger retailer instead and ultimately looking to 'price match' with the cheapest you find

Drinking lemonade from a champagne bottle don't make it champagne!

Everyone likes a deal and doesn't want to 'feel' they are being ripped off yet according to you, when you do it, you are being savvy but when someone else (i.e. me) does it, it's because I'm poor.

[Sheepshanks]

SpeedBash said:

Car is on fixed annual/10k service regime not variable servicing.

As mentioned, IMHO c£160 is a fair price for this service and this dealer in Cumbria is charging that: http://www.hadwinsvolkswagen.co.uk/offers/service-...

In that case it really is just an oil and filter change and some very basic checks. I waited while daughter's Golf was done and it was in the workshop 20 mins.

Those prices above and in the other links are for cars 3yrs+ old. Be interesting to know the reason why dealers won't do those prices on newer cars, but VWs stance is not unusual. I guess a lot of people (like us) have the car on service contracts - was £149 for the first two services on our Tiguan. After that it'll be going to our indie - I wouldn't continue to use the dealer if they serviced it free.

[Rich_W]

SpeedBash said:

Really? You might want to review some of your recent posts:

Everyone likes a deal and doesn't want to 'feel' they are being ripped off yet according to you, when you do it, you are being savvy but when someone else (i.e. me) does it, it's because I'm poor.

Thanks for the stalking you weird ! Do that to girls as well?



Anyway, my point is relatively simple.

Seemingly EVERY fking gobste dick on this site feels that the motor trade must never make a profit. And that's why I pointed out that whatever the fk you do for a living. You should be paid less. Just to point out the glaring hypocrisy.

The irony is that £200 a year is nothing really. Especially since it will cover your warranty (they'll try VERY hard to exempt the engine if it goes pop if you supply your own oil!) I bet you spend more than that on petrol in 2 months. Or more than that on food in a month. Search around find the cheapest dealer and go there. That's SAVVY. And I'm fine with that. bhing about being "ripped off" when you had the option to go elsewhere is pathetic!

What's next, asking them to knock off £2 and not check the tyres? Then another £1 as you'll supply a pen for them to use to fill in the service book?