Today I took my Octy 3 Elegance DSG 1.6 tdi for it's final (free) service. With 28,500 miles on the clock and over almost 3 years of varied motoring, the car emerged with a totally clean bill of health - all 4 tyres still with 5 or 6mm of tread left, brake pads with only 20% of wear, and passing every point of the Skoda Health Check with flying colours.

 

The brake fluid was changed as per schedule, & the invoice showed a total charge of £158.23p, which, if I'd HAD to pay, was a decent price in this day and age for what amounted to an excellent all-round service.

My new Octy is on order (build week 31) and should be ready for collection early September, this time in Quartz Grey Metallic - just hope it 's as good as the current one has been !

JKW 

You've done well to get your tyres to last that well, I've recently changed two tyres at then around 23,000 miles, which had been on the front wheels and were swapped to the rear last summer during its second service. Not too impressed at that really and the other two tyres are going to be lucky to last much more than six months and I'm not a hashy driver either, these are the worst wearing tyres I've ever had, the make being Dunlop Sport tyres, not a tyre I've used before or will ever use again!

Today I took my Octy 3 Elegance DSG 1.6 tdi for it's final (free) service. 

Was that on a 3 year PCP or similar deal then? Mine is, and gets all servicing free up to third year. At present it is only 20 months old and under 9000 miles.

Good that you have had a trouble-free experience. I too obtained the 3-years free servicing offer when purchasing my Octavia. Here's my experience.

 

*Car was perfect for a few weeks, then the water-pump failed. It was replaced by Preston Motors - good service.

*One week later the water-pump failed again, and was replaced again by Preston Motors - good service

*A few months later the sound generator began to distort and cause window vibrations - Preston Motors could not fix the fault, so turned the volume down. I prefer it down/off anyway.

*Drivers seat intermittantly jumps back or forward a notch when driving. It occurs perhaps once every 50 trips so was impossible to replicate. Problem still not found, so I live with it.

*1st years free service at Preston Motors - all okay.

*Preston Motors closed down so I had to locate another Dealer for the 2nd "free" service. I made the mistake of choosing Essex Auto Group

*Essex Auto Group refused to honour the free service offer and expected me to pay. They said it was a Selling Dealer offer and that they would not cover costs. After escallation with Skoda Customer Services (who informed them that it was a manufacturer offer), Essex Auto Group relented and I got my free service for free.

*After 2 years and just 15,000 miles my clutch began to slip. I made the terrible mistake of taking my car back to Essex Auto Group again (I should have learned from my previous bad experience). They failed to spot a clear manunfacturing fault (proven conclusively by Fully Independent Inspection), and charged me £856 for their incompetence. The matter is being pursued via multiple avenues now.

 

In summary, the Dealer used has a huge impact on owenership experience. For the first ~18 months of ownership I was very happy with Preston Motors. The car had a few faults but the original Dealer resolved them promptly and professionally. My experience with Essex Auto Group on the other hand has been behond awful. For my final free service the car will not go to Essex Auto Group. They have seen me twice and tried to rip me off twice - twice bitten....

 

I actually like the car but will never buy another Skoda due to the low quality of some of their Dealers.

Edited 12 July, 20169 yr by Orville

Well done for getting your three services in.

 

The amount of people who paid / qualified for the 3 year service plan and don't realise the car is set to long life servicing is worrying.

 

At up to 20,000 miles or 2 years on long life servicing some people are only having one of their 3 services in the three years.

Was interested to see you got brake fluid changed for free. My Octy is due for it's third free service in a couple of months and wondered if it included brake fluid. Have done just under 23k and changed front tyres recently but rears are fine.

My biggest disappointment was the trade in value I was recently offered by 2 dealers so decided to hang on for another year as I did take out an extended warranty in case of any DSG problems.

My car was on a 42 month PCP, with the 1st service "provided" by my local Skoda dealer, from where I'd bought the car. The after sales service was appalling, and so for the following 2 services I travelled  55 miles each way to a Skoda dealership who truly warrants the reputation I had relied upon (thank you Mitchell's of Cheshire Oaks).Well worth the distance/time & fuel involved for both my car & myself to be treated so well.

 

In answer to the earlier questions, the brake fluid change is part of the 3rd scheduled service, and as mine was not on the "Variable Service" plan, I was able to take full advantage of receiving all 3 free services, getting one every 12 months.

 

I agree regarding the poor trade-in / equity values, hence my decision to VT at the 3 year point and that my forthcoming car would be (is) on a PCH deal, with Variable Servicing because I'll have to pay this time ! However, with my usual 10k miles pa that should mean just one service to pay for during the 3 year lease, after which I plan to PCH again !

JKW  

Today I took my Octy 3 Elegance DSG 1.6 tdi for it's final (free) service. With 28,500 miles on the clock and over almost 3 years of varied motoring, the car emerged with a totally clean bill of health - all 4 tyres still with 5 or 6mm of tread left,

 

Not original tyres, surely?

All 4 tyres are Continentals, the front left was damaged & replaced after 12 months, & not wanting uneven wear on the same axle, I changed the front left too despite it having plenty of "life" left. The rears are the originals, all 4 tyres having either 5 or 6mm tread on them now, proving the wear is fairly consistent despite front wheel drive obviously affecting the fronts a bit more.

JKW

Hmmm, Continentals lasted 17,800 miles on my last motor (despite rotating them at 8,000 miles - a Ford Focus CC 2.0 TDI); 16,900 miles on my VRS (despite rotating them at 9,000 miles).

 

The fact that you're claiming effectively that all 4 are 80% useable after 28,500 miles suggests that either I've been very unlucky with Continentals or that readers should be placing another interpretation upon your observations.

I'm on 33,000 miles and my Michelin primacy hp, I think, are now down to 3mm on front so need changing. Might try cross climate next. Or put rears on front and get another pair of HPs. I've been amazed at the tyre wear. The rears are still at 5/6mm.

This is also 1.6tdi.

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Edited 14 July, 20169 yr by snowjoe

OOPS ! Mega apologies !! My tyres are Michelin Primacy HP's,  size 225/45/17, and have been since Day One. I had Continental's on an Audi I'd previously owned & basically had a very "senior moment" when posting earlier.

The wear figures & mileage covered are correct though, just the manufacturer I got wrong - sorry !

JKW

Well done for getting your three services in.

 

The amount of people who paid / qualified for the 3 year service plan and don't realise the car is set to long life servicing is worrying.

 

At up to 20,000 miles or 2 years on long life servicing some people are only having one of their 3 services in the three years.

Mine was on fixed intervals. Didn't get the brake fluid done though.

My front tyres lasted for 25k and the rears should do 60k if I avoid punctures.