To maintenance contract or not, that is the question...

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Jlo

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Joined
Jun 6, 2015
Messages
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I took my eGolf to the shop over the weekend for the delay charging TSB, while there I noticed they had priced the maintenance contract and was floored to see the cost (around $450) for a contract that would cover what is essentially two services, the 20K and 30K. I asked the shop manager what the deal was considering cost for an electric car "maintenance" was 3 to 4 times more that a standard Golf. I mean, other than a cabin filter, I have no filters, lubricants or other gasser related items. I couldn't get a straight answer but did get a guess, which was "it must be technician time".

Does anyone know what the cost of the 20K and 30K services is when purchased by themselves when needed?
 
Um, there is no scheduled services for the e-Golf, as far as I know. None.

Certainly not at 20k and 30k. The Leaf has a 150k/10 year (which ever is first) which is a gearbox oil change.
 
I'm not sure what the cost is individually for the 20K and 30K but was told that they are around $450 each when I was being pressured by the Finance Manager to buy the pre-paid maintenance. He said "this is an expensive car to maintain". I basically called BS and declined it.

When I questioned him on what would be expensive about an electric car he stated they have to hook up special tools to run diagnostics reports on the electric drivetrain. And, because each dealer may only have 1 tech that is trained on the e-Golf, the availability and labor rates are higher.

The good news is the pre-paid plan can be purchased prior to hitting 20K so I was planning on waiting to see how this all played out before then.

Anyone out there hit 20k yet?!?
 
The purpose of the "F&I" department is to put back in all the profit that they had to negotiate away to get you to sign the deal. When we bought ours, the F&I guy tried to sell us LoJack (on a SEL, that had it built in), Scotchguard (on a car with a Vinyl interior), and a road hazard policy for the tires that cost more than a set of 4 new tires. And of course extended warranties, emphasizing the cost of traction battery replacement until I pointed out the 150K warranty on same.

There is one scheduled maintenance item on an e-Golf - changing the inverter coolant after something like 50k/5 years. The rest of the periodic service items are simple inspections - tires, brakes, ball joints, etc. There is no plugging in special instruments, unless something is wrong. There should be no reason to actually use the dealer service department, the things in the service are the sort of thing that make up the "free x point inspection" that chain tire dealers offer.

One of the problems dealers will face with electric cars is that they don't need regular service, so the service department won't be as big a revenue source as normal. The "engine" has one moving part, not hundreds. There is no transmission. An ICE car gets some of its metal parts hot enough to glow, the hottest thing in your golf's drivetrain is a heat sink that might hit 120F. Those very hot parts of your ICE have to contain small explosions, resulting in pressures greater than 50 bar. The highest pressures in your e-golf are in the air condition, with the tires in second place. No replacing air filters, timing belts, lubricants, hoses, spark plugs, etc...
 
Thanks much all...certainly all very informative posts.
The manual does have a maintenance schedule printed and I also have a copy of the dealer's checklist for what's supposed to be done (virtually same information). I think am misenterpreting the "maintenance" and "service" terms. To me, for this car, they're the same and essentially things the dealer has to do while on lease. If I can save half the cost by paying the ~$450 it may be a good idea.

I'll re-post as soon as I scan VW's maintenance contract brochure, the manual's maintenance schedule and the sheet I got from the dealer's VW documentation for reference.
 
After reading through what they do on the 20k and 30k, I think I am going to cancel my prepaid maintenance. I am not going to pay anyone at the dealership $250 to rotate my tires. I can take that $450 and put it towards gas. ;)
 
s4alex said:
After reading through what they do on the 20k and 30k, I think I am going to cancel my prepaid maintenance. I am not going to pay anyone at the dealership $250 to rotate my tires. I can take that $450 and put it towards gas. ;)
If it's leased, you don't need to worry about the 30K service, either. You just return the car. So, only the 20K service is a consideration.

Even my F&I guy said he didn't recommend the maintenance contract for a leased e-Golf. The only product he tried to sell was the damage insurance, which does have some merit. But, I turned it down.
 
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