Independent garage - Full Service History, would it put you off?

[secret lemonade drinker]

With VW current software track record if your vehicle is working LEAVE WELL ALONE!

 

[Nicholas Poole]

Hey,

Looking at a 2019 California T6.

Gentlemen, who owned it lived pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Therefore, he got his local independent garage to service it every year on time.

However, it’s never been serviced by Vw or as far as I can tell looked at by Vw since new.

Would just put you off buying it at all. Is it anything I should be concerned with?

I’m not sure if it bothers me to be honest but also when I come to sell it, I wouldn’t want it to be a sticking point.

It’s out of VW warranty now.

Ive been taking my 2016 T6 Beach to a main dealer since new, and only a couple of months back I took it for its first non franchised but VW Specialist service. Had a great experience from the knowledgable (VW trained) technicians, used VW parts for peace of mind, and the invoice was about £350 less! What I did appreciate was the absence of a long list of jobs that the Main Dealer always worried me with on collection - I had another independent check the van over armed with their last list and he said it was fiction.

Beach has now done 60k so I think Ive done right by it!

 

[CALIFORNIA-VW53DUB]

You have not said what the mileage actually is on the van, but assume it is low. So an annual oil and filter change is ideal, especially when you consider VW will only do it every 10 or 20K over a two year period. I have never seen them white grease the door hinges/locks or handbrake cables. And they have always changed my van oil (when under warranty every year whatever the mileage, even if just 4k been travelled) and every time it is half way up the dipstick and you have to ask the service manager to get some nutty to put the other litre in they can not be bothered to do............think about that for every 7 vans, the dealership gets a free oil change out of that customer.
VW do the very basics, they do not even know there is a filter on the 4 Motion system, and just change the oil. They cannot diagnose anything unless the computer system tells them is something wrong and just change parts until the fault clears. I had a brand new T6.1 Ocean, that ended up in the dealership more times than I care to mention, and they did a worse job than the factory fixing what was wrong.
Having worked with VW’s for over 40 years, most of the independent garages have gone through the Transporter/Commercial range which includes California’s for years, and seen the changes VW have made through over that period, and often know how to fix a part VW want to just replace.
You have to ask yourself, why does your van that is 2 or 3 years old still need a software update? It was working fine without it.
Indépendant garages are just that, and they need good continued business to survive, and keep going. VW dealerships do not give two hoots, your'e a number who pays the money. Plus their labour rates are extortionate.
Independents all day long, especially after your warranty has expired.

You only have to look at threads like this one, to see what a waste of space VW dealers are............needs a new BCM/ECU £3k bill...........ends up being a loose wire!

Urgent advice request - catalytic converter warning light

Thank you

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