This was posted 2 years 5 months 4 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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2 Essential Services for Free with a 4-Year Volkswagen 4plus Care Plan for 4-15 Year Old Volkswagen Vehicles Only @ Volkswagen

950

I’m compelled to share this VW 4Plus care plan deal.
It was shared by rock-bottom back in Feb 2022 (link below) but now it becomes available again.

Yesterday I got my mk17 golf serviced at local dealer (72mth/90k), used one of 4 years care plan (care plus this time) and paid nothing. The service cgarge was meant to be $517.
I had paid the 4 year care plan at $820 so my car will be covered with another 3 years service with no additional cost.
I highly recommend VW owners to get this if the purchasing criteria meets.

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/682718

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  • +4

    Did they find any (expensive) repairs that were not included in the free offer?

    • +2

      No, it looks all good. No repair needed.
      Edit: at first I thought they would be looking for some extra repair revenue but nah.

      • Can confirm that I have had a similar experience. No useless on selling or repairs.

    • +1

      Mine tried to say something expensive needed replacing, had it checked elsewhere and they said there was nothing wrong.

    • +8

      No issues with my Golf of 7 years

      • +1

        No issue with 6 years owning.

      • +2

        Same. 2015 mk7 golf going strong with 130k kms.
        Bought this care plan about a month ago and taking it in to service next week

        • I have the same!
          They said I needed to change my timing belt at a cost of $1,400 as it was due for a change. And DSG box oil change at the next service, $500, not covered on this plan ( I gave it in for service 2 weeks ago). Total cost was $300, didn't pay anything. Got a wash and a hoover on the inside too, so well chuffed!

      • +6

        Plenty of issues, but none of those…

      • No issues with my Golf of 9 years
        MK7, 1.4tsi + 7spd dry dsg

    • +21

      I'm upvoting you because my DSG was subject to 2 x recalls and then failed <7 days after the 2nd recall service.

      Plus failed ignition barrel
      Plus failed waterpump and supercharger clutch.

      There were TPIs for all of these issues, so Volkswagen was fully aware.

      This was for a 2012 Polo GTI (failures all occurred within 7 years and <100,000kms)

      • +1

        To be fair you did own probably their least reliable car. That’s not your fault but not every VW owner has your experience.

        • +14

          Of course not, just an anecdote to counter the negs and "6 years no problems" anecdotes :)

          • +9

            @Tafe: I had a 2016 Polo GTI (DSG) and and had several issues during ownership. The dual climate kicked out first, was quoted $3K by VW to fix during a service - claimed I needed a full HVAC replacement. Took a look myself and it was just the blower motor, pulled it out and oiled it was good as new and worked for a further 2 years until sale. Next up was a leaking thermostat housing for which VW quote $2.5k. I went to a decent euro mechanic who said it was a really common issue in VW and Audi cars he saw due to a cheap plastic used and gave a quote of $1.2k to replace the housing, pump and and fan belt (doing 90% of the work, advised it was best to do all of it while in there). I went back to check if VW's quote included the water pump which it didn't, they quoted an extra extra $300 to replace it. Given the nature of the issue, the work involved and the possibility of a leak being caused by either the housing or pump, I asked them if they though it was best to replace the pump, they said it was (but never bothered to mention until I came back after speaking to my mechanic). When I pushed further the VW service tech even admitted to me that if they had replaced the housing at the quoted price and I found it was actually the pump, i'd be up for another 2k+ repair. Add to this the fact that the infotainment system would often crash mid trip and due to the sporadic nature I wasn't able to prove this to VW during service who fobbed it off when I mentioned it, so while I'm sure many out there have different experiences in VW ownership, I can't say "reliable" was a term I'd use personally. Fun as hell to drive, great little car otherwise, but the issues mentioned stopped it short of being reliable to me.

            • +2

              @boredofficeworker: Ripper cars to drive but yes after owning Civics and a Prado, all surviving many more kms with far less few issues (i.e. none) I don't think the original comment is without merit! There's a lot of copium in the negs haha

    • They fixed my 4 year old out of warranty Golf's DSG at no cost.

    • My Mk7 just ticked over to 7 years, zero issues.

    • +7

      I compiled some US data for vehicle reliability. On that (one) metric, VW were not the best, but not the worst either. Close to the worst though, depending on the year.

      https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vS8qCFED3DvC…

      • +3

        If you manually compiled it from JD Power's data, that's a pretty special effort, thanks for sharing!

        Some of the brands' dependability ratings have shifted dramatically over time though, so that ranking them against their 19-year average paints either an unfairly rosy or awful picture.

        So using your table, I grabbed just the last 3 columns (representing 2016, 2017, 2018 model years), then sorted by that 3-year average — here's a screen grab.

        • Where once Kia is 3 from the bottom, it's now in the top third.
        • Volkswagen is still not brilliant, but at least places squarely in the middle of the pack. Average.
        • Land Rover wins the consistency price for placing bottom most years!
        • That's really quite interesting. Strange to see Honda racked so low.
          Overall it seems the Koreans are absolutely owning the Japanese brands by those metrics,other than Toyota & Lexus

        • +1

          I did, yep. Car nerd and data nerd. Yes totally agree with your points. My newest car is a 2008 so it's not super relevant to me personally, but I can see how the average is not useful information for those who are looking for something up to date.

          • +1

            @captaincabinets: Car nerd and data nerd — what a combo, I wonder if that's fairly rare? I can see why you'd gravitate to places like JD Power and similar. (Occasional data nerd here, my son's the car nerd 😄)

            Love the table. Thanks again!

    • passat my12, going strong, ymmv of course

  • -6

    Lol. Wonder how many times a month you need to go back to the dealer to get basic things fixed. Hope you have a permanent tow truck dedicated for your vw

  • +11

    Yesterday I got my mk17 golf serviced

    Are you from the future?

    • I honestly thought they meant MY17

    • -2

      You mean fixed. Sure lol

  • Curious how this works if you're already booked in at your local dealer for the next service. You just tell them the details of your Volkswagen care plan and there's no further charge?

    What if you're due for changing the air & dust filters at this service; does that fall under the "care plus" service? Never paid too much attention to all these marketing terms.

    • +1

      Call them that you have the care plan and they will link to your rego. ‘Care plus’ includes air filter and brake oil replacement.

      • You don’t want brake oil!

  • +1

    Checked Skoda doesn’t work. And Skoda site says $1600 over 4 years lol

    • Skoda offered me extra 2 year warranty and 2 servicing for $600. Initially I had paid $1400 for 5 year servicing. So in total $2000 for 2 year extra warranty on top of 5 years and 7 years servicing.

      • +1

        Great deal. Must be for new car. Mine is 10 years old. Id hope Skoda will have the same deal as VW. My car was financed through VW finance

  • -1

    Good for jetta 2011?

  • +1

    Are these good for the big services? I've got a timing service coming up

    • Keen to know this one too

    • Read the inclusions. It only covers that. Not the extras.

  • What's the difference between the essential service and the standard service? Will they still run through all the same checks?

    • They did check everything same as the standard service that I had 2 years ago.

    • +1

      It's in the term and conditions:

      Essentials Service
      means the Essentials Service which includes genuine Volkswagen oil and filter replacement, Volkswagen’s safety and diagnostic check, reset service interval display and logbook stamp.

      Essentials Service Plus
      means the Essentials Plus Service includes genuine Volkswagen oil and filter replacement, Volkswagen’s safety and diagnostic check, reset service interval display, logbook stamp, pollen filter replacement and brake fluid replacement.

      • Ok so when they say includes "oil and filter replacement" I assume they are only talking about engine oil?

        Does this offer include the "major" services when the DSG and haldex need replacement oils/filters too?

        • I have no clue :)

        • +1

          you can use this offer for a major service, but you will be up for items not covered in a major service (dsg fluid, haldex fluid etc)

        • My showroom told me I had to pay extra for the timing belt and dsg oil

  • What's the consensus on VW reliability in Australia? Any owners care to comment?

    • +26

      People don't buy VW for reliability.

    • +2

      Theyre fine if less than 10 years old and under 200,000k's.

      Wouldnt touch one outside of that. Transmissions are prone to malfunctioning and not something you would want out of warranty, diesels can have extensive carbon build up affecting turbos etc if driven around town.

      Basically they're great when new but due to the complexity and integration of the electronics they're not viable in the long term. There's a reason you don't see many golf's older than 12 years out there.

      Meanwhile a Toyota on the other hand…

      • +4

        Take another look and you’ll see a heap of Mk5 Golfs on the road. They’re 17 years old now.

        • Haven't seen one for a while tbh
          And I believe the mk5's were the last of the non turbo-reliable engines

          • @Drakesy: I see heaps of GTIs with turbos and first generation DSGs.

            They don’t have water pump issues though and it came before the troubled era of twincharging and dry clutch DSGs.

            Although the GT Sport was twincharged it wasn’t very popular.

          • @Drakesy: Always a little surprised when I hear people have issues with thier vw.
            I have the last of the mk5. 09 TDI Diesel DSG with no DPF. 150k kms.
            Its been completely hassle free for me.

            • @locosam: The dpf free models are a rare breed.
              Hold onto it

      • -1

        Nothing wrong with them as long as you do basic maintenance like everything else.
        If you don’t want carbon build up due to short trips then change the oil more frequently and then make sure you go for a big drive at least once a month.

        • Hmm… How big is a big drive? 60km round trip? 100 KM round trip?

      • +1

        Never had an issue with my Amarok, admittedly it has a ZF transmission not a DSG so that definitely helps.

        My wife's 2017 Corolla on the other hand.. about to go in for an engine overhaul due to one cylinder not firing at less than 70k km. Toyota charging $2,000 just to open it up and diagnose before any repair work is carried out.

      • meanwhile there is a class action happening on the toyota front for some of their diesels…..

    • +2

      My Golf MK 5 made in mid-2004 (in South Africa) is still going strong at 260,000km. Manual transmission and has the FSI 2.0 engine which probably adds to the reliability.

      • Probably the last of the old school VW. VW used to make solid stuff. I loved the original GTIs up until 20 odd years ago.

        The new stuff is disposable rubbish.

        • VW long term reliability certainly peaked around the MK5 era (non-auto) most had no DPF and simpler safety systems than MK6+. However on general build quality VW continues to make great, well balanced cars. VW's of the 60's till 90's were much, much worse on reliability and where most of the stigma (other than the known DSG issues) comes from.

        • Really? The Mk3 & 4 GTIs are the worst ever made IMO. Quite happy to just assume it went 1,2,5,6,7,7.5 and maybe we can forget the current one due to all the buttons becoming touch sensitive.

      • +1

        Yeah as soon as they went dsg and turbo charged the problems became prolific

    • +3

      Sell it when the warranty runs out.

    • +1

      Make sure you have a dedicated tow truck and tell people you are having your car "serviced" to cover up it always being fixed

      • I'm starting to think you don't like VWs?

        • +4

          Brand new S3, within 1 week and less than 100km. The engine literally blew up and apparently this is acceptable and you can't get a refund or a brand new car replacement.

          • -3

            @Fatnashreturns: No manufacturer will replace an entire car due to an early failure.

            • +3

              @Matt P: They should.. and also it sounds like VW now offers this, due to ACCC pressure.

              Issues with consumer complaint handling have been identified across the industry, but high levels of complaints against Holden and Volkswagen led to a legally binding agreement with the ACCC that goes beyond existing ACL obligations.

              This agreement included the introduction of a '60-day policy', where manufacturers automatically offer refunds or replacements if a defect prevents a vehicle from being driveable within 60 days of purchase.

              In January 2019, Toyota – which is the market leader in new car sales – also adopted this 60-day refund policy.

              Source

            • +1

              @Matt P: Why not? They should

              • @Fatnashreturns: Not saying they shouldn't.

                From the above choice link it looks like its heading in the right direction

  • This is interesting, I wonder if I can get this for a stage 1 tuned mk7r or if I should just get it serviced at the tuner

    • +1

      Get it done at the dealer, just make sure your turner includes free retuning if the dealer updates the ecu ( which is unlikely unless there is a significant update or emission related update )

  • +14

    For 10 years I wasted money on European cars.

    Since going Korean/Japanese, I’ve never looked back.

    The Hyundai and Kia I have now are amazing value for money.

    Euro cars no longer have the ‘class’ appeal they used to.

    • +2

      This is the way.

    • +2

      Went kia sportage
      Then audi q7 which cost me $8k in a year
      Went back to a sportage
      Has never let me down

      • I been owning kia sportage gt-line, 2017 , 2.4 l.. crap engine, underpowered, eats lots of fuel. Sold it and bought 2016 q5, 38k on the clock .. will see how it will go haha

        • +2

          The sportage is low powered because its a naturally aspirated engine. But let's be honest it's an suv not a hot hatch. America got a turbo variant that would go toe to toe with the q5 just not here

          Just wait till the q5 gets to 10 years and check back in, it gets expensive fast

      • To be fair the q7 and Sportage are not in the same league at all. Apples to oranges. I would agree in general that the Korean cars have gotten a lot better though.

        • The equivalent admittedly was a q5
          Although it was known that the transmission in the same years q5 weren't up to scratch.

          And tbh I did enjoy driving the q7 when It worked

  • Thanks, considering the savings vs your basic services this will be worth it. I have to admit that life with the Mk7 Golf has been good, 6yrs and still going strong

  • My tiguan is 3.5 years old so I'm not eligible =(

    • +1

      Same situation here, but I'll take a look next time it's on sale, after the 4yr service.

      Wonder if the plan is transferable with sale….

      Looks like it is transferable.

    • +3

      My tiguan is 3.5 years old so I'm not eligible =(

      What about your Tiguan?

    • Mine's 6 years old and is eligible once you put the details in?

  • +3

    Trying to work out if it is worth it as I do not enjoy dealing with our local VW dealership after they held my vehicle for ransom for six weeks due to not following through with a part purchase in time (admitted fault and did give me a free additional service). I now have an amazing independent specialist mechanic who has avoided a lot of bigger costs due to knowing the idiosyncrasies of my model…

    • +1

      I suppose you've answered your own question. I've been with an independent for a long time now, and will never look back.

  • Thanks OP mine came up to $911 which over 4 years is ~$228 per service. Pretty good deal!

    Btw I think they only have 1000 of these for passenger vehicles:

    The 4-Year 4Plus Care Plan Offer is only available for purchase at 4Plus Care Plans | Service & Repairs | Volkswagen Australia between 23/12/2021 and 30/06/2022. The 4-Year 4Plus Care plan offer is limited to 1,000 4-Year 4Plus Care plans available for Passenger Vehicles and 500 4-Year 4Plus Care plans available for Commercial Vehicles. Whilst stocks last. Not available with any other offer. Additional work may be required at an additional cost to keep in line with the Volkswagen Service Schedule. For details of what is not included in a scheduled service, please refer to the program terms and conditions.Volkswagen Group Australia reserves the right to extend, withdraw or change all offers.

    • does this mean that you may not get the free services?? I dont understand. I bought it because of the offer, would be thoroughly misleading if they wouldn't provide the free services

      • Not sure I follow you on why you may not get the free service.

        This 4Plus Care plan covers your servicing costs for the next 4 years(assuming 1 service per year).
        What is not covered by this is if parts need to be replaced(ie: Wipers).

        • "while stocks lasts" I don't understand what that mean..
          probably Im overthinking it.. surely if you manage to purchase it you'll get what advertised

  • I bought this last week for my 2013 MK7 Golf while it was in for service - cost was $852 so I guess it depends slightly on model/year.

    My dealer was happy to let me buy it and use it straight away, but YMMV.

    Essential seems to be the engine oil + air filter (this was ~$370 on the VW website).
    Mine needed engine oil + air filter + brake fluid + pollen filter (they invoiced me $580 for this but the dealer was then 'able' to cover as an Essential Plus service once I'd bought the plan).

    Neither covers any mechanical work - my timing belt has apparently come up for replacement (at 75k / 9 years) which they quoted additional $1200.

    • Did you have any out of pocket expenses for the service (on top of the care plan cost)?

      Have seen other comments that you'll still pay extra for items like spark plugs, etc.

      • +1

        IMO you're just prepaying for a fixed list of items they'd do every/alternate services (like oil change).

        I actually found what it does/doesn't cover: https://www.volkswagen.com.au/en/owners-service/service-repa…

        2x Essential:
        - Genuine Volkswagen Oil and Filter replacement
        - Volkswagen’s Safety and Diagnostic Check
        - Reset service interval display
        - Logbook stamp

        2x Essential Plus
        - As above, plus
        - Pollen filter replacement
        - Brake fluid replacement

        Nothing more and nothing less - expect I'm paying full price (incl labour) for anything else.

        • Can we argue that they didn't specify which "oil" and that therefore DSG oil and haldex oil is also included when those services are due? :)

          • @Binchicken22: VW would pay the dealer for the service once you redeem it so you're effectively arguing with the dealership to include things they won't be reimbursed for. IMO wasting your time

            • @Matt P: Haha yeah I know, it's not going to fly.

              Not a good enough offer without those sort or services included, would rather just go to a VW specialist.

            • @Matt P: I agree it really is $200+ for oil change and service reset? Doesn't seem very good value to me

  • +3

    Cars for 15 year olds?😢 I’m 19 and I don’t have a car.

    • i like young men

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