[Gail Thompson]

My Tucson has just been serviced and passed with 4 amber requirements. I’ve been told by the Hyundai dealership that the front discs are covered by Motability but the fuel treatment, the air con service and antibacterial cleanse are not. Anyone got any experience of this as I don’t have a spare £127.

Topic

[Wigwam]

Gail, Motability will pay for whatever is necessary. I’m inclined to think that the other things are not necessary – maybe you should ask Motability. You should not be paying for anything.

[Gail Thompson]

Thank you Wigwam. That’s what I thought, I’ll give them a call on Monday.

[ChrisK]

Air con is not covered by Motability as in the past the servicing dealer for my VW cars never had the service of the AC but did not stop them calling me to have it done. I always tell them if Mota pay I’m happy to spend my time at the garage while they do the AC service. They never call back.

That said with my cars always being renewed at 3 years its never been a problem for me anyway but generally they do say to have it done every 2 years but its not my car so why worry as long as its working…. without smelling.?

[Wigwam]

ChrisK, I’ve met even heard of an aircon service. What does it entail?

[Gail Thompson]

Thanks ChrisK, that was my thought, if Motability won’t pay, I’m not forking out for something that isn’t technically mine!

[ChrisK]

Wigwam wrote:

ChrisK, I’ve met even heard of an aircon service. What does it entail?

Basically they just re-gas the system and clean the matrix to get it smelling nice again if you have that damp laundry smell in your car.

If your a smoker and smoke in the car your more likely to smell the effects of a dirty matrix.

I’m not sure if they do anything else to the system so its a re-gassing and an anti bacterial clean and I’ve seen local garages doing it for £50.

[Phaedra]

What fuel treatment? if it’s AdBlue for diesel then Motability do cover it.

Please excuse spelling/typos. Apart from being a clot it turns out I had one on my cerebellum that's now causing various problems!

[Wigwam]

If an aircon needs re-gassing that would be a warranty issue. Sounds like a garage trying to make money for nothing. Quel surprise.

[Wigwam]

Phaedra, I believe it’s snake oil they are wanting to charge £127 for.

[joss]

The only other thing they do on an air con service is the so called drier, If required. The best thing to do is use your air con year round. This will keep it in good condition, Regular cabin filter changes May be.

If you use the air con frequently, it should last the length of you’re 3 year lease.

 

Joss
Current car: BMW X2 sDrive 20i M Sport 5dr Step Auto In metallic Portimão Blue. 04:10:2025
Previous car:Peugeot 308 GT Premium 1.2 Pure tech Petrol.

[Richard]

You don’t NEED an aircon “service. It’s a bit of a” con” in that sense, it’s not a service they spray anti bacterial stuff over the system or set an anti bac bomb off in the car & allow it to circulate. You notice sometimes if you turn the aircon off you’ll get a moist cheesy smell? It’s to treat or prevent that. I haven’t had it done on my private car in 5 years. At the end of the day if your aircon stinks it needs doing & motability should pay same as they would anything else that’s wrong. If your aircon doesn’t stink then don’t get it done.

Fuel treatment? Garbage, rip off, snake oil yes sometimes it can help matters but who cares, if the cars running OK then it’s running OK. I’d be inclined to ask why they’ve engineered a car that needs this furl treatment when all fuel in this country meets the minimum BS standard therefore the car should run on it & not need this magic pixie dust to make it better.

Did they try & sell you nitrogen for your Tyre at the same time too? Wouldn’t be surprised.

If it were me I’d be inclined to complain to motability that they’re trying to con you into spending money that’s unnecessary. This garage is trying to make a quick buck off you because they know they can’t fleece motability.

All imho of course

[michaelTurner]

Hi, I have several cars on motability and after two years the dealer said the air conditioning needs servicing to prevent a build up of bacteria that is then introduced back into car Motability claims it not essential so it is not covered.

I have only had it done once and I insisted that Motability would have to pay not me, now I do not know if they did or the dealer did it becouse I have been with the for ten years.

[Richard]

Oh I’ve just bought an aircon service on groupon at ats for £30 regas & antibac fwiw.

As for service Inc gassing the system they will just drain your perfectly good gas out (R134a or R1234Yf price much higher if its this one as newer) assuming its working, mix it into their system with other gas taken from other cars & their wholesale, vacuum the system down so any moisture boils off, then if the vacuum holds they’ll has it up again with whatever gas they’ve accumulated between wholesale & scavenged from other vehicles.

If your aircon is plenty cold enough I’d leave well enough alone. If it ain’t broke & all that….

[Richard]

You can achieve similar results with this sort of thing too

[Wigwam]

I must be doing something wrong. I’ve had aircon in cars at least the last 25 years and they’ve never smelled.

[MR Mark Winter]

Hi

All I have ever got is “Motability do not pay for the air-con service unless something is wrong, if not you will have to pay for the check up”. So each time I say service the air con, during this they do a re-gas, to replace some of the gas that has escaped, so far have never been charged for any air con service.

 

[ajn]

Would I be wrong in thinking if the air con don’t work, it should be under the manufacturers warranty as faulty, not fit for purpose..

 

[Richard]

If something breaks motability pay for it to be fixed. So if you get a hole in the condenser that causes all the refrigerant to escape they would patch it & recharge the system.

The thing with antibac appears to be they say its like putting an air freshener in the car you don’t expect motability to buy you those.

Same with speculative vacuum down & recharge its a waste of time unless the ac doesn’t work

[Richard]

@wigwam depends how you use it, whether you have dogs, where you live, luck, weather & more. If you use the car all the time aircon fairly often & don’t get faults then it won’t smell.

My recent cars have never needed it either, I had a Focus in 1999 that had aircon faults all the time & as a result regularly need anti bac treatment so it didn’t smell like a teenage boys  bedroom.

[ajn]

Thanks for the explanation Richard, guess the answer is use it regularly, in non smelly areas, and when the dog isn’t in the car?

As for the air freshener thing, my car went in on a recall, came back, washed hovered and with a Volvo air freshener..

This key thing was a waste of time as I had to pick up a courtesy car.

[ajn]

[ajn]

Hopefully the recall was done too

[Author]

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