Dealer service or not.

I have a Golf Mk 4 53 reg SDI with 11k on the clock. I've had it since early 2005 and it had it's first long life service at 2 years old. Now it's out of warranty I ask myself if the cost of a main dealer service is worth it. I'm quite competent and carry out a service myself, oil change etc. Does it really affect the value of the car that much if I were to sell it. I'd like to hear other peoples views on this. Also is it necessary to use long life oil? I have some Motaquip MQX 5W 40 fully synthetic ACEA A3 B3. Would this be suitable.

I think a car having a full VW service history looks much more appealing than one which has a full service history and I would worry (allbeit unecessarily perhaps in your carse) about one which with such low miles didn't have any service history at all, i.e. no stamps in the book.

Yeah a full vw service history looks good if your going to sell the car. However if you are thinking of keeping the car, then serviceing it your self is just fine, that is if you are going to run the car in to the ground and keep it for 10 years or so. If you have car serviced by your local garage and you have 10 stamps from the same garage in the book, that is looks just as good cause it still shows you are careing for you car. Also you will save a ton of money cause vw are so over priced.

i have a golf mk4 s reg 1.6 se and i have been to pretty much every garage who is any good around my area and they wont touch a new (or nearly new) vw or audi. they send you to the dealer for pretty much everything. its because everything is coded and genuine vw parts should be used ( which isnt necessary in all cases of course) in the end i had my 90,000 mile service done by the dealer and it cost me 270 quid. a normal service would have been around 150 though so not quite so bad.

it would turn me onto a car more if it had receipts and mots and stamps in the service book because it conveys that the car has been taken care of. however saying that, i bought my car last year for 3,800 quid 76,000miles on it all the luxuries except alloys and it had no service stamps whatsoever - it had been run on cheap and nasty fuel and had all odd tyres on it. that says alot in my book about the owner but that is just me and my opinion and what can be perseived frm small details. .. and i still bought the car lol

depends how u look at it i guess