When recently we found ourselves with both children at university we looked at our car situation and found we had two almost identical vehicles. A 2019 VW tiguan DSG 4motion and a 2022 Skoda Karoq sport line, not including the MOG of course! Having recently sold my beloved Defender Puma 110 station wagon which I had from new, it just started to get too heavy for me to maintain and being a stickler for perfection I didn't want to see it start to show signs of neglect, so took the early decision to sell. We would have probably stuck with the two VAG cars for a while longer but VW after telling us when we bought the Tiguan that the timing belts weren't life'd as the latest quality was so good and as ancillary items were checked routinely at service all would be well and without the high cost of a routine belt change: I believed them
I've never been a fan of cam belts, it's always been a chain for me! But I thought on the information stated I'd give it a go. At 4 years old and in for service they tell me that it will soon be due a cam belt change and that it is either 5 years or 50,000 miles. You can imagine we had words! Mostly mine! Evidently it was a VW UK decision! It was still shy on milage at 45,000 miles and 4 years so I told them I wouldn't be considering it yet and when challenged I had to politely explain to them that I could count. This was in the January and in that August the row between VW Germany and VW UK came to a head as the VW Europe current protocol was 220,000 KMs and no time limit; they then forced VW UK to come into line. Well, strangely enough the UK main dealers were still saying... off the record.... that they still recommended the 5 year 50,000 mile protocol and so were the greedy independents but none would put it in writing of course.
Well that finished me as far as VW were concerned so I sold the car! Still missing my Defender I set about trying to get something to replace that but smaller and with less maintenance and guess what there isn't anything except the Suzuki Jimny and Suzuki had stopped importing them into the UK and Europe. You might possibly be able to get Suzuki to get a commercial version but the wait was long with no guarantee's and it was sooooo basic. After some research we imported a top of the range brand new Gen 4 Jimny direct from Japan and we paid less (£5000) than the UK dealers wanted for a 20 plate used car. The whole process was fantastic and happened exactly as we were told it would. It has everything you could want fitted without being to technical and I can service it myself, its just like a mini Land Rover with the 4x4 system of the series LR and no Haldex to service although FYI when VW service your Haldex system they just do a fluid change and do not clean the filter screen which even on a lightly used car will be solid with crud after 4 years or 40,000 miles (VW service interval). I questioned them about this and they said VW do not list it in the service schedule we just change them when they fail, I don't call that servicing it so that was another job I had to do, and another reason to get rid. Hence the Jimny! I will service it all myself. It fits in the garage and goes on the lift and it's the same as a defender only smaller. I have no intension of it ever seeing a dealership and it suits the narrow lanes here in North Wales'
Being a retired R+D automotive engineer I cannot abide the corruption that is going on in dealerships re. the amount of dosh they extract from people changing their cars, probably in the region of £8000 profit for a new car with a part exchange of up to 4 years old! and the service dept. well, that isn't worth going into other than to say that's why they love PCP deals. As people don't own the car, merely rent it as such they just hand over the keys and pick the car up when finished! Oh, and PCP allows them to control all the profit in the sale too giving them maximum retained profit which when changing up into a new PCP deal is even worse and you can find yourself with the new car being loaded with a deficit form the old PCP deal when finalised. Stay clear Of PCP, Buy A car you can afford to drive/maintain and only use straight Hire purchase that you arrange yourself, shop around too! You will have an ownership time when the car HP has ended so your ongoing use is free from debt and you will always have an asset when you do wish to change. If you can, sell it yourself privately.... believe me all, cars sell!
Before I retired from the motor trade the honesty of dealing was far better and retained profits were reasonable. The work carried out in the workshops was far more contentiously done and by Mechanics not fitters as now who's general answer is computer says nothing wrong! For gods sake child use your hands and eyes! On the car not the computer..... it will not diagnose everything and don't tell me I need new tyres!
