VW Adding Free Maintenance in 2009

Volkswagen is really going all-out to buoy its flagging U.S. sales. Starting with its entire 2009 lineup, the company will add a Carefree Maintenance Program at no charge that will pay for all scheduled maintenance for the life of the new-car warranty: three years or 36,000 miles.

Interestingly enough, this includes just three services at 10,000, 20,000 and 30,000 miles. The new Routan minivan will have more maintenance intervals — at 6,000, 12,000, 18,000, 24,000, 30,000 and 36,000 miles — all of which will also be covered.

VW is also adding a new “courtesy vehicle check” that allows owners to bring their new car back to the dealer within 90 days or 6,000 miles for a review of the car’s features and to have it checked for any mechanical issues.

Many luxury automakers offer similar programs, but with just three services included for most models, VW might have found a winning formula. It won’t cost the automaker much to perform three services, and the program will sound great in commercials.

Update: VW has confirmed that it will reduce its comprehensive new-car warranty to three years or 36,000 miles for the 2009 model year compared to the current four-year or 50,000 mile warranty for 2008 models.

Comments

This is great for leased VWs. I just hope folks arent hoodwinked into buying one and keeping it past its warranty, unless they have deep pockets for repairs or can stomach high depreciation.

YAY! I can buy a VW again now. I leased a Jetta when i started college and the maintenance at the dealership was ridiculous! I have never paid so much for services. I loved that car, but paying to service it was the main thing that forced me into a Focus instead of replacing it with a new VW. It didn't help that my driving style seemed to eat VW brakes- hasn't really happened on any other cars I've owned, though.
The only downside is the long intervals- I'm not really comfortable with that, lol.

Broq

Doesn't Volkswagen currently have a 4yr/50K warranty? Are they downgrading the warranty and then adding free maintenance? I'd rather have the longer warranty!!!

Ken,
You're right. VW said 3 year/36000 miles the life of the warranty but the website says 4 year/50000 for 2008. I have sent an inquiry to VW to see if that is going to change for 2009.

Yeah, VW used to offer free maintenance in 1999-2000-ish, but it was only for 2 years, 24,000 miles (same as the length of the comprehensive warranty), but there was a 10 year / 100,000 mile powertrain warranty.

They then dropped the free maintenance, and extended the comprehensive warranty to 4 years, 50,000 miles and downgraded the powertrain to 60,000 miles.

It appears they are playing the same shell game again.

VW Has confirmed the new, shorter warranty. Update has been made above.

I don't think this will help VW sales, unless people fail to inform themselves. If so, then tough $hit when their car breaks down at 40k..

This really doesn't surprise me. Consumer Reports shows how Vw's don't hold up well over time but receives high marks in other areas. I guess Vw is tired of fixing cars. Afterall, this is the best time to slash the warranty with MANY new models coming. I guess this shows how VW is not standing by their vehicles and I was really hoping to buy another Vw, but this is not a good move in my eye! I want a company to stand by their product, not offer free maintenance that some consumers can negotiate some dealers to throw in for free or for a nominal charge.

I agree with the comments above. This will confirm that VWs are basically throwaway cars. Nice when they're new but not worth the high cost of maintaining for the long haul. You see lots of Honda and GM cars from as far back as the 80s running around, but no VWs.

Lame, lame, lame. If they wanted to improve confidence in their crappy reliability they would keep the warranty the same AND add this perk. WTF, does VW think people are stupid?

Doug,

Best comment of the day~!

This is yet another case of VW saying "F You!" to their customers.

So VW is giving you 3 oil changes for free -- big deal. Save me $150 over 3 years -- wow. Now, if VW did the same as BMW/Mini where they include parts that break in the 1st 3 years I MIGHT consider buying a VW.

I hear to many horror stories about VW's poor quality and service to buy one now.

They should offer this as an option if you don't want the 4 year warranty. I would want my parts covered as long as possible with free oil and tune ups.

There is no such thing as "Free" maintenance. I'm on my fourth BMW and the first thing I noticed when BMW went to a "Free" maintenance program is the service intervals got stretched out. The air filter in particular used to require placement at 30k, now it's 60k. That's 10k past the expiration of the "Free" maintenance. How convenient. At least my Service Advisor admitted that the parts (nor the car) involved have not improved in quality to justify the longer intervals so ideally if I was going to keep the car beyond 50k I should stick to the old service intervals. I have done such and since I can do the "in between" maintenance myself it's not a big deal.
People get so turned on by anything labeled "Free" when in reality it's anything but.

The post is really informative. My experience says, when it comes to VW maintenance services, the tools they service providers use are crucial part of the maintenance process. I had faced a serious problem by not choosing the right VW services. And, I suggest that anyone looking for VW services should ensure that the service provider is using state-of-the-art tools for its special as well as routine maintenance.

I own a 2009 Jetta. It included free maintenance. At 5k I called the dealer and they told me oil isn't changed until 10k since it's synthetic oil. After the 10k free oil change they said they 'recommended' an oil change at 15k. So I paid $ 85 for an oil change at 15k Not covered by the free maintenance. After the 20k free oil change they put a sticker for an oil change at 25k (which is approaching). I want to put it off until 30k. Will this void the warranty?