The harder you drive the car, the sooner the service indicator will flag up. Our Audi TT 225PS service was supposed to be @20,000 miles. It was closer to 10,000. Still didn't cost £240 though.
My experiance of VW service is pritty good as they subsidise the cost of parts included in a service with less frequently purchase parts. For example I went to get a new parcel shelf for a 1997 model polo and the cost of a bit of egg board was £140. Gulp! Neadless to say I didn't bother and made a nice Stealth-Self instead.
My Polo 9N still has to have it's first service.
Interesting little sales pitch VW have here I see. The little light and bleep can only be reset using VAS 5052 (£4500) or VAG-COM (£200). therefore most people HAVE to take it to a dealer to get this done if nothing else.
I had an interesting talk about warrantee with a guy from VW @ milton-fluid.
Because the UK government have changed the law, servicing does not have to be carried out at a VW authorised service centre. However servicing does have to be done by-the-book, with evidence. Therefore if you service the car yourself in the warrante period, make sure you buy original VW parts/spares/oil etc. and keep the receipts. I am not saying this would be enough.
One other thing he said about warrantee was that if you work on the car yourself, and end-up having to get the car repaired by VW because you have screwed up, they can only cancel you warrantee for that particular part. E.g. if you are removing the steering wheel to replace and indicator stalk and the airbag goes off, VW cannot cancel your whole warrantee, but only the airbag. Once VW have fitted a new airbag, it is under 12 months warrantee again anyway. Removing airbags is never a good idea. If you do try, don't sit behind the airbag!!! A nice point of UK law is that VW have to prove
you have screwed up and not VW.Anyway I digress...
If there was a warrante claim, you may find VW comming back to you and saying "But you haven't had your car service by VW."
Just saying "I did it." isn't good enough. You have to prove that you did it by-the-book, therefore minimum requirments would be ErWin at least. ErWin does give you a step-by-step list of requirments and how-to's for servicing at certain millages.
It may also affect the resale value, as picky buyers may spot the lack of dealer stamps in your service book.
One advantage of a self-service is that you know it will be done right. I know if I was a service mech. in a garage, i'd get very board doing the same thing day in and day out, probably becoming complaisent. But hay, that's me. Thank god all service mech's aren't me.
At the end of the day, that dealer stamp is worth a lot of money, which ever way you put it. However, these are available on ErWin. Regardless to say, you have to give your dealer number before you can buy one. Doh! I'm sure Ebay have some???
Disclaimer:
Sorry, but don't take any of this as gospel. I am only repeating what I was told. All though it has come from what I consider a reputable source, it doesn't mean you should. We are both human and get things wrong.
. Having spoken to the garage where she bought it (names omitted to protect the innocent) they have said that it is telling you the car needs a service 
the chap then proceeded to tell me about sensors in the sump etc etc, all of which I accept, until he said they would charge £240 for the privelige!?!?!?!? 
