Oil Service after 5000 miles? Really!!!

[NoWayMan73]

My wife has a My18 Audi A4 Avant 2.0 Tfsi, her car displayed a message today saying that it needed an oil change in 28 days! The car is 9 months old and she has done 5,000 miles. I'm no expert, but this doesn't seem right to me! Should her car really need and oil service after 5,000 miles and being 9 months old?

If it is correct, does anybody know how much should this service will cost?

Thanks for your help

[B5dawg]

If your car was a diesel id say you could possibly need as oil change as the low mileage might indicate that the car is doing short journeys and doing a DPF regen quite often which can dilute the engine oil with diesel and bring the service light on. But on a petrol it does seem too early. 

could be that the service light wasn't set right or the car was hanging around a while after being PDI'd before you bought it. 

[NoWayMan73]

Thanks B5dawg, really appreciate your advice. I think I'll give Audi a call and see what they say. We ordered the car and watched it progress through to being delivered at the dealers. There was only a few weeks between delivery and pick up. Do you know when they do the PDI? Is it once it arrives at the dealers? Also, do you know how much you should be paying for a first oil service?

Thanks

Andrew

[Magnet]

Hello Andrew,

I too would be querying why a 9 month old/5K car requires an oil change.

If it were mine, I would question this at the dealer, and my line of questioning would be biased towards getting them to explain to you why this isn't a mistake. If indeed it isn't a mistake then they must be able to give you an actual quotation for the cost.

Armed with this information, you can then approach other main dealers (say in a practical 20 mile radius) and confirm this service is indeed necessary, and ask for their quotation. 

Perhaps you could let us know how you get on.

Kind regards,

Gareth.

[NoWayMan73]

Hi Gareth, thanks for your reply. I've just got off the phone to the service department at the dealers we bought it from. They said it could be correct especially if my wife does short journeys. I wouldn't say her journeys were really short. She does a round trip of around 8 miles to drop our children off at school and then the same in the afternoon. They did say that they would check that it does need it and has been set to the correct intervals before they carry out the oil change. They said the intervals are set at the factory so they wouldn't know until they got it in to check it. The cost is £192 inclusive of VAT and labour etc. Does that sound right do you think?

Thanks

Andrew

[Magnet]

Hello Andrew,

Thanks for the update. It is quite likely that you spoke with a service receptionist, who to be fair, would do their best to explain why you 'might' need to have it serviced, rather than checking that it actually does. 

Cost? Would seem about what you could expect I guess, based on anticipated labour charges of probably around £120/hour inc. VAT. (Min. 1 hour?) Balance is probably cheaper than expectations for oil and filter.

Repeating :- worth an (in -person) visit to the next nearest main dealer to gain second opinion on the necessity. One thing is pretty certain, you will be alerted to the need for this to be serviced again within 15 months -before it's 2 years old. 

Kind regards,

Gareth.

[niedzial1983]

It is possible that the service indicator have not been reseted correctly and its showing wrong milage

[NoWayMan73]

Hi Everyone, thanks for all of your replies to this. A quick update, we took my wife's car into Audi this morning and they said it is correct, all sensors are working as they should be etc and it must be down to the way my wife is driving the car!! On top of that, she also needs to new front tyres as they only have 2mm of tread left. This is on a car that is less than a year old and has done just 5,500 miles. To say I feel very annoyed is putting it politely 😡!! Can anyone recommend a decent tyre that is both hard wearing but will offer decent kerb protection?

Thanks for all your help.

[Magnet]

Hello Andrew,

The plot thickens. Tyres worn to 2 mm of thread in 5000 miles? Does your wife do a bit of rallying when you are not looking? 

Now Audi fit premium brand tyres to their cars when new - what brand are on yours? Personally, with reasonable driving, I would expect even budget tyres to last this long. 

This is what I would do if it were mine:- take the car along to a local trusted tyre retailer ( avoid the national chains) and ask them to assess the amount of remaining tread and its evenness across the width of the tread. It would  be useful to have this reported back to the forum before returning to your Audi dealership. Tyre brand woukd also be useful - as mentioned. 

Kind regards,

Gareth.

[NoWayMan73]

Hi Magnet, thanks for your reply. And the advice, what do you think that would do though? 

When I asked Audi how could the tyres need replacing after only doing 5,500 miles they said the tyres we have are pretty soft and it's not unusual for them to need replacing after 5,000 miles. They are Pirelli P Zero's 245 35 R19s. Audi said that we could try a harder wearing tyre and to keep swapping the backs for the fronts etc!! We were quoted £280 per tyre!!

I'm getting really fed up with Audi at the moment, I hate feeling like I am being ripped off. Myself and my wife both got new cars at the same time, mine has the same size tyres on as hers (different brands) and I've done more miles than she has. Mine seems to be fine!! In total, we've had 5 Audis and have been very happy with them, but I think these will be the last ones we have. I know most manufacturers are the same and their sales are down, but they shouldn't try and make up for lost sales by squeezing every penny out of the people who do buy their cars.

Sorry, rant over now!

[Magnet]

OK Andrew, .....'what do you think that would do though .? . '  ( visiting local tyre retailer) 

(1) It would result in an independent specialist opinion on whether you tyres need changing now. (2) whether the trade wear is uniform  - if it isn't, you need to do something about it,  (3)  you will get opinion on whether this rate of wear is abnormal for this brand of tyre (4) if they do need changing then it would have a significant beneficial affect on your wallet by buying from the tyre retailer. There are probably more reasons for doing this, but surely that is sufficient reason to take this action. 

'Dissatisfied with Audi...' ........' feeling like I am being ripped off...' 

First point:- I think the dissatisfaction is via the Audi dealership. Why not try another dealership within reasonable distance - to enquire about your oil changing recommendation and if it is really necessary at this point.

Second point:- ... ripped off..' I think it's common knowledge that considering buying tyres at the main dealers is always going to be the most expensive route - hence my suggestion to visit your local tyre retailer. Now if you really want to avoid being ripped off then you start thinking about Internet tyre purchases for best prices for the brands and brand  'pattern' you want,..... but that's another story and another positive action! 

I think I can now only offer you good luck in getting this sorted (if indeed it needs sorting) via. the most efficient and cost effective route.

Kind regards,

Gareth.