Volkswagen servicing, one of the most popular car brands on the market today, has a reputation for being well-built, dependable vehicles. However, the fact that they are so well-built and that they are Dubai cars gives them a high price tag. If you’re looking for a new car, you’re probably wondering how much it’ll cost to maintain it – not just how much it’ll cost to have it serviced, but how much it’ll cost for parts for major repairs like timing belts, brakes, suspension, and so on.
We’ll show you how much it costs to maintain a Volkswagen in this article, including what you might expect to pay at a dealership versus an independent garage or mechanic. In addition, we will compare the cost of parts to other popular manufacturers such as Ford and Honda, Volkswagen servicing.
First and foremost, what model of Volkswagen do you own?
It goes without saying that a larger vehicle with a larger, thirstier engine will be more expensive to operate and maintain. A small, gasoline-powered VW Golf, for example, will be far less expensive to maintain than a large diesel-powered Touareg or Tiguan.
You’ll need to think about things like tyres and brakes; larger cars typically have much larger wheels, which means larger tyres (which are more expensive) and larger brakes (also more expensive.) Cheaper models may also have drum brakes on the rear, which do not need to be replaced as frequently as disc brakes, saving you money when compared to a larger car.
What is the age of your Volkswagen?
Another important factor in the cost of maintaining your Volkswagen is its age. As a general rule, newer cars will be far less expensive to run and maintain than older cars for a variety of reasons – an older car will be far less reliable simply because mechanical systems wear out and cause more problems as they age – and this comes with higher costs. Second, part availability may be an issue – and if your older Volkswagen has bespoke parts or parts that must be sourced from outside the country, you’ll have to pay a premium to have your car repaired.
Furthermore, many newer cars come with fixed-price servicing/oil changes from the VW dealer, so you’ll likely save money there versus an older car. A car, like everything else, has a service life of about twenty years or so if properly maintained (though classics like the Beetle can last much longer with care and attention), and there will come a point where maintaining and repairing an older Volkswagen will become uneconomical.
Are Volkswagen vehicles dependable?
VWs have a reputation for being well-built and engineered. To some extent, this is correct; however, while they are reliable vehicles, they are not the most reliable vehicles on the road; that honour belongs primarily to Japanese brands such as Toyota, Lexus, and Honda.
In fact, Car Wow compared the reliability of around 30 car brands and discovered that VW’s reliability score was 62%, beating out German competitors like BMW (53%) and Mercedes (56%) as well as sister brand Audi (53%), but falling short of cheaper competitors like Ford (67%), Kia (69%) and Hyundai (71%).
Car Wow also calculated the annual cost of maintaining and repairing a Volkswagen, which came to around £710 ($824). Again, not cheap, and certainly not as cheap as the costs of maintaining a Ford (£610/$723) or Honda (£530/$629), but significantly less expensive than Lexus (£1,100/$1,305) or BMW (£1,090/$1293).
Cost comparison – bringing your car to a Volkswagen dealer:
We’ll tell you right away that taking your Volkswagen to a dealer for repairs or maintenance will cost you more money than taking it to a local, independent repair shop. This is because you pay for the peace of mind that a dealer provides, such as the fact that your warranty will be honored and that genuine parts will always be used.
However, there are many independent garages that are warranty approved and will use OEM or equivalent parts while charging you a lower hourly rate, so if your VW is more than three years old, you may want to consider a local mechanic to save money.
We compared the prices of some common Volkswagen repairs, such as servicing, to more expensive and complex repairs, such as timing belt or chain replacement, to see what the prices would be if you took your car to the main dealer versus a local mechanic, Volkswagen servicing.
It’s worth noting that the data we’ve used here is from the United Kingdom. We used VW’s fixed-price repairs and servicing prices from their website for the dealer cost. VW charges different prices for different models, so we averaged them to provide a consistent price – you may pay slightly more or less.
We chose three VW models for the independent mechanic cost: the Golf, Art eon, and Tegan. We thought it represented the VW auto range well – the small car, saloon, and SUV. Each vehicle was manufactured between 2018 and 2020. We calculated the average cost of an independent garage if you booked through Fixer, an aggregator that allows you to book repairs at trusted garages from the comfort of your own home. Again, as a result of this, you may pay slightly more or less. Read more: gargashauto
