Maintenance

[Compostpeat]

I am about to place an order for a 4 year lease on a 1.5 TSI Elegance and have been asked if I want to include a maintenance contract. Does anyone have experience of these? Are they value for money or is it better just to pay the costs as they arise?

[mrew42]

I am about to place an order for a 4 year lease on a 1.5 TSI Elegance and have been asked if I want to include a maintenance contract. Does anyone have experience of these? Are they value for money or is it better just to pay the costs as they arise?

Getting it as part of the lease can work out expensive. Depends also what it covers.
I got a separate service contract direct from VW and it saved me a few hundred over the term.
Last time I only had a 2 year lease and it only needed one service in that time. This time I've got a 3 year so bought the service plan. Covers a major service too.

[Tammma]

Yeah you can buy a service plan for 3 or 400.

If it works out to more than 15-20pounds extra per month I probably wouldn't bother...

[Rory]

Not seen prices for a while but there were some very low prices for 3yr leased cars because on longlife servicing the car should only need one service.

It might make a difference to the pricing depending on annual mileage - strictly, up to 10K/yr should be on annual servicing, over 10K on longlife. So you could find a 10K/yr price is dearer than 12K/yr as the latter should only need one service over 3yrs.

No idea how much going for 4 yrs would bump it up - might make quite a difference if you went for service and maintenance rather than just service. There used to be a tyre option too.

[Compostpeat]

Thanks for the replies. I think on balance I will steer clear of the maintenance contract and just hope for the best

[John27]

I have a 3 year service and maintenance plan from VW. Cost is just over £13 per month. This covers first three services, first MOT, provides VW roadside assistance for the second and third years (first year is usually provided free either by VW or the dealer) and of course, covers most maintenance issues (doesn't cover tyres for instance). Pretty much covers most eventualities that are not covered by the warranty providing piece of mind. Over the 3 years (assuming I keep the car that long) I will pay about £475 but the three services alone would probably cost more than that and that's before you add what else is covered. If I sell the car within the three years, I can either transfer the plan to the new owner (who then carries on making the payments) or just cancel it (30 days notice). I don't have to pay up the plan like you do with service only plans.

If your car has the longlife service interval and/or you are not worried about maintenance issues and/or not needing breakdown recovery (you might have that already in a packaged bank account or car insurance), then this is probably not for you. But otherwise it may be worth considering.

I say may be worth considering as I got my plan in April 2019. No doubt prices have gone up and the coverage may have changed.

[Tubemonster]

I have a 3 year service and maintenance plan from VW. Cost is just over £13 per month. This covers first three services, first MOT, provides VW roadside assistance for the second and third years (first year is usually provided free either by VW or the dealer) and of course, covers most maintenance issues (doesn't cover tyres for instance). Pretty much covers most eventualities that are not covered by the warranty providing piece of mind. Over the 3 years (assuming I keep the car that long) I will pay about £475 but the three services alone would probably cost more than that and that's before you add what else is covered. If I sell the car within the three years, I can either transfer the plan to the new owner (who then carries on making the payments) or just cancel it (30 days notice). I don't have to pay up the plan like you do with service only plans.

If your car has the longlife service interval and/or you are not worried about maintenance issues and/or not needing breakdown recovery (you might have that already in a packaged bank account or car insurance), then this is probably not for you. But otherwise it may be worth considering.

I say may be worth considering as I got my plan in April 2019. No doubt prices have gone up and the coverage may have changed.

That was a good price. I just recently got quoted £496 for the next two services and 2 x half price MOT's from my local dealer.

[Rory]

I have a 3 year service and maintenance plan from VW. Cost is just over £13 per month. This covers first three services, first MOT, provides VW roadside assistance for the second and third years (first year is usually provided free either by VW or the dealer) and of course, covers most maintenance issues

If you'd have to buy roadside assistance (it's around £150 for a 2yr package) the service plan becomes a no brainer.

What mileage is your's based on?

Some of the people on the Ateca forum have single figure £/mth but I think that assumes the car is on longlife intervals.

[John27]

Mine was based on 10K per year.

[casw1000]

This is an interesting topic. The last few Nissan's I had, I purchased a 3yr service plan, it worked out about £100 per year. As I am looking to purchase a new R-Line in April or May, I would like to know more.

Also, what is the 'longlife' intervals that has been mentioned. I am looking at the 2.0ltr petrol, so I would just assume thats an annual service requirement?

Anyway, thanks for the info. Much appreciated.