Should I service my leased car ahead of schedule?
Dear Alex,
I tow a small caravan with a leased Volkswagen Golf Mk8 mild hybrid, which is 12 months old and has done only 4,000 miles. The on-board service indicator says that the first service is not due for another year. I tow less than 1,000 miles a year and the caravan is well within the Golf's tow limit of 1,500kg. I hand the car back next year but should I get it serviced ahead of schedule due to my towing the caravan?
– MS
Dear MS,
It sounds as though your car has been set up on a 'long life' service schedule, which may not be appropriate to your usage.
Modern VWs – and several other manufacturers' cars besides – can be serviced in one of two ways. For normal driving, a one-year, 10,000-mile service schedule is usually recommended.
However, the car can be switched to a different regime if your mileage is higher, under which servicing is required only every two years or 19,000 miles, in Volkswagen's case.
The reasoning behind this thinking is that higher-mileage use, with lots of motorway running, doesn't exact as great a toll on the engine or its oil. Sensors in the engine can check on the oil quality and, if it deteriorates, will tell you to book a service ahead of time.
Even so, I don't feel comfortable with allowing a car to go for two years or 19,000 miles without an oil change, so I'd always get this done at a year or 10,000 miles regardless.
If you aren't doing particularly high miles you may wish to have the car's software switched back to the standard service regime by your dealer, at which point your first service may fall due.
Before you do so, though, I'd suggest calling the lease company, which is the legal owner of the car, to check with them. After all, they may specify that their cars are set to a long-life schedule for reasons unknown. Alternatively, you may find that it's an error and they want you to get the schedule changed and the car serviced now.
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