Service costs to 50,000 miles

[Stuart W]

Well in terms of service and other costs the Passat has been fairly cheap to run to 50,000 miles.

Approx costs have been:

Interval service at 19,000 = £180
Interval/inspection service at 38,000 = £200

3 litres of oil @ c. £13 per litre = £40

Two new front tyres @ £100 each = £200

That's a total of £620, or 1.24p per mile.


It's not all good news though, since I should spend a similar amount during the next 10,000 miles or so:

Four new tyres
Interval service
Brade pads (?)
Brake fluid replacement (?)

I've already spent £37 on another litre of oil and two front wiper blades at 51,000.

[Quatrelle]

Stuart - if you happen to come to France, take back some oil - more profitable perhaps than a 'booze cruise'! Seriously though, our local supermarket does top brand oil (Castrol Edge, etc.) at less than 50€ for five litres. That's a lot cheaper even with the strong euro....worth popping some in the boot.

[Stuart W]

Thanks for the suggestion, but since I've never been abroad in my life I can't see myself starting now, unless I win the lottery

I'm not sure how much the local dealer charges for five litres, but presumably it would be a bit cheaper than the pro rata price of £75

The price for the litre has gone up from around £13 to £15, but they've given me different stuff this time, and this is apparently the very latest gear:

Castrol SLX Professional Powerflow, LongLife III, 5W-30

It came in this slightly ludicrous zipped plastic case, complete with VW logo, velcro strips to attach it to a suitable place, not to mention a couple of fold-out cardboard funnels, hand wipes, dipstick wipes, and plastic gloves

Of course, I'm too much of a man to use the gloves and hand wipes, and I forgot to use the funnel and so still ended up wasting a considerable amount of oil

All a bit OTT if you ask me; while the throwaway funnels are a good idea, I would prefer a lower price rather than the fancy carrying case.

[crox]

Thanks for the suggestion, but since I've never been abroad in my life I can't see myself starting now, unless I win the lottery

I'm not sure how much the local dealer charges for five litres, but presumably it would be a bit cheaper than the pro rata price of £75

The price for the litre has gone up from around £13 to £15, but they've given me different stuff this time, and this is apparently the very latest gear:

Castrol SLX Professional Powerflow, LongLife III, 5W-30

It came in this slightly ludicrous zipped plastic case, complete with VW logo, velcro strips to attach it to a suitable place, not to mention a couple of fold-out cardboard funnels, hand wipes, dipstick wipes, and plastic gloves

Of course, I'm too much of a man to use the gloves and hand wipes, and I forgot to use the funnel and so still ended up wasting a considerable amount of oil

All a bit OTT if you ask me; while the throwaway funnels are a good idea, I would prefer a lower price rather than the fancy carrying case.

I buy my oil at my local Skoda dealer, and pay about £6 for a litre ... might be worth a punt, as after all they are the same engine. Skoda are also more likely to be bargained down.

[Stuart W]

Nice idea crox, I might try that next time round, if I still have the Passat by then.

I wonder how much my local Audi dealer charges

[Quatrelle]

Unfortunately, our local Audi, VW and Skoda dealers are all under the same roof

[Stuart W]

The price for the litre has gone up from around £13 to £15, but they've given me different stuff this time, and this is apparently the very latest gear:

Actually I was a bit unfair on the dealer, because the price was in fact about £13.50, which is the same or about the same as the last time, so in effect I got the carrying case for nothing

What happened was that the invoice stated the price for each item net of VAT, and showed the total VAT at the bottom, so I just quickly guesstimated the total price of the oil, but my figure wasn't entirely accurate