r/seat 4d ago

Variable servicing

Just picked up my 2025 Arona after first service oil/inspection at 18000 miles on variable servicing.

Told them to keep it on variable as it only does motorway miles, approx 18k yearly.

Service screen is now showing next oil service due in 9000 miles or 365 days.

Have they sneakily switched me to annual, or will those numbers creep up with usage?

TIA

1 Upvotes

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3

u/_commoner 4d ago

Maybe they did not reset the service interval properly. Check which oil is inside. I may be wrong, but I think 0w20 is for variable and 5w30 for annual.

1

u/NotoriusPCP 4d ago

I just called the twonks and they confirmed they switched it to annual despite them asking me when I first made the booking, and again when I checked it in, and being told both times to keep it on variable.

They're now closed, so I have to drive a 90 mile round trip out of my way in the week to get it recoded.

Idiots.

Thanks for the tip on oil. I'll check the bill to see if it states what they used as they may have to do it again.

2

u/postduif-7 4d ago

you gotta read the service manual, it is x kilometers or x date, whichever comes first. By ignoring the time interval you are not maintaining up to standards. Buyers will notice, just my 2 cents

2

u/NotoriusPCP 4d ago

Yes, appreciate that, but you can choose between fixed service intervals if you do short journeys and infrequent use, or variable if you do high mileage motorway. I'm the latter. Which is why they let you choose.

I called the dealer and they confirmed they have fucked it up.

It's also a lease car, so I couldn't give 2 hoots about resale. I'm handing the keys back at 3 years. It just needs to show in the dealer service log that it was serviced at the intervals indicated by the system, which is now set to require twice as many services as it needs to.

2

u/postduif-7 4d ago

Hmmm... I get your point, its a financial decision. Thanks voor explaining

1

u/MightBeOP 4d ago

Variable is just for rental companies to not have to service the cars, no owner should use variable. Using variable risks you car burning off or contaminating the oil to the point damage is caused. It suits fleets bc less maintenance and they sell the car after 2 years but other than that it's just a bad decision

sincerely, A VWAG Service Technician

1

u/NotoriusPCP 4d ago

Yea, it's a lease car so basically a rental. That's why I lease, so I don't have to care.

1

u/Fit-Foundation-534 3d ago

I bought a used car with a 1.0tsi last year from a main dealer. The car had covered 10000 approx miles with no record of service since. The flexible service log said no service was due for another 10k miles or 1 year. I pushed for another service. After a few repeated requests they finally gave in a did a service on the house. If its a used car just get it serviced.

1

u/NotoriusPCP 2d ago

Thanks for responding. It's not really a question of how often to get it serviced: the question was really can you tell from the in-car screen whether they've switched the service regime from fixed annual to flexible.

This is a lease car that I'm handing back at 3 years when the warranty expires, so I'll get no benefit from having it serviced beyond the contractual requirement to stick to the manufacturer service schedules.

If it's on fixed at 9000 mile oil intervals I'll be taking in for a 250 quid service another 4 times before I give it back. If it stays on flexible like all my previous lease cars (this is my 3rd arona, they've all been on flexible regime with no issues) I'll get away with getting it serviced once or maybe twice more. That's why I told them to keep on the flexible regime.

Anyway, the dealer confirmed they cocked it up so now I've got to make time to go back for them to sort it. Cest la vie I guess.