Volkswagen considers capped-price servicing

But it won’t happen this year – if at all

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German car maker Volkswagen is considering capped-price servicing in response to criticism over variable or higher than average maintenance costs.

Toyota led the market with capped price servicing, introducing it three years ago. Other makers such as Mitsubishi, Nissan and Ford have followed.

“We are doing right now an analysis on cost of ownership … once we know I will be deciding what to do,” the managing director of Volkswagen Australia told Motoring.com.au. “If it is confirmed we are significantly higher, we will do something [but] this year nothing will be happening. This process takes time.”

Ms Koeckler said one option may be to offer special deals on high-cost parts or maintenance.

“You can always run special programs with special parts or special key service work,” she said.

Volkswagen also ruled out a move to a standard five-year warranty to quell concerns about vehicle reliability. Volkswagen currently offers a factory-backed extended five-year warranty (up from three) on some models, at an extra cost of about $1200.

“We stay with three years,” she said.

Meanwhile, most of the almost 8000 118TSI twin-charge Golf and previous generation Jetta engines have been rectified following a campaign that called them back to dealers in May 2010.

Ms Koeckler said between 500 and 1000 vehicles were unaccounted for, but customers were still being contacted.

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