Service history

[chrispygti]

My GTI has had vw service history from its very first service.

Is it worth trying to keep it VW or in reality would it never add any value in the future?

I know the garage where I'd take it to be serviced as the closest
VW garage is 15 miles away and no way to get there and back etc.

Look forward to your opinions

[jonnym]

VW went from "you must use a VW dealer for all work" to "we don't mind where you take it, just so long as genuine parts are used". That was the warranty but guess it can be carried on to selling.......especially as a dealer SH doesn't always mean a good job has been done. For me a good specialist is better than a dealer but a dealer doing a PX will lower there price because of this!

I'd do it, and buyers in the know should know this too but.....

[flashp]

It depends on how good you think your specialist is. Mine totaly eclipses main dealers. My main dealer is average.

For example, JKM are specialists in every sense and have even provided tech back to VW. They've invested heavily in exploring and demonstrating VAG tuning and have an extremely high level of expertise in house . Main dealers are service agents with menu pricing delivering perceived value for money for Joe average.

A VAG tech will do the work on the ticket, nothing more in the alloted time or quicker. A good specialist will have their eyes everywhere while they're working.

What do you value?

I'll lay good money that if I sold my car here and I said it was JKM serviced all the way down the line, no expense spared everyone who knows them would be 100% happy.

[GTI5]

Agree with the above with a small caveat...if you have an expensive failure outside of warranty then are VW more likely to tell you to 'Go forth and multiply' on a goodwill gesture if you have serviced the car elsewhere?

A VW garage will surely be able to supply you with a courtesy car or collection service?

[Tortaruga]

VW won't offer goodwill if you have the car serviced elsewhere. They do provide courtesy cars though.

[sub39h]

as above - it depends on a few things. for starters, if you're planning on keeping the car long term maintaining VW SH will not have much of an effect on the resale value.

but if there's an expensive failure VW won't help. that said, i doubt they'd help much now anyway as Mk5s are at least 5 years old. (but that said, the gesture of goodwill will ususally only bring the price down to how much a specialist would pay to do the same job anyway from my experience)

so my car, now nearly 8 years since first registration, is now for the first time having it's service done outside of the main dealer network. i feel that the added benefits of having the car serviced by a trustworthy specialist (in this case AKS Tuning who in my opinion is the best VW specialist bar none) will far outweigh any goodwill Audi may offer me at this stage in the car's life (even if it only has 67k on the clock)