Van Servicing

[robbra]

I have a two year old van that had a four year warranty on certain major parts. My main agent is 25 miles away and want the man in the village to do the 36000 mile service.
Can I go to him and providing he uses the manufacturers parts the warranty won’t be affected?
I have been in touch with the manufacturers but they won’t confirm.
I believe this was part of EU law recently.
Any help appreciated
Rob

[Martin]

Re: Van Servicing

My advice is stick with your main agent whilst it carries its 4 year warranty. In spite of him being 25 miles away I’m sure they will provide you a loan van whilst yours is off the road 💡

[admin]

Re: Van Servicing

I would not be too sure about the loan van Martin….

One of my Connects has had a rear shunt, although the driver behind has admitted liability and their insurance company accept liability, they want to give me a chinky chento as a loan vehicle ( yep, I know its not spelt correctly).

WTF’s use is one of those to anybody, never mind a service engineer with £5,000 worth of stock to carry around. A reality check is needed here.

I once made a mistake and bought a Citroen (spit) because it came with a superb parts guarantee, no probs. 😉
What they forgot to tell me was they could not fix it in less than 6 weeks (fuel pump), less than 2 weeks (suspension), less than 2 weeks (broken wire on the injection circuit), or guarantee the repair they did would last more than 5 minutes.

Manufacturers service may be expensive, but it affords you much more leverage and protection when it goes wrong, NOT.

Find a good local garage, give them the work, build a relationship with them, buy a decent van in the first place (not French IMO) and reap the rewards we all seek with our own customers…trust!

Amen

Kevin

[aqualectric]

Re: Van Servicing

Amen to that !!! Citroen – what a load of Merloni ( whoops – Freudian slip – err…utter crap). Can’t wait until my lease is up. They’ll stitch you up at every turn. Don’t get me started……..
(Deep breath and a Vallium)… You can get your local motor engineer to service your van as long as he fits genuine parts, is VAT registered and you can get a VAT receipt for the job. This way it does not affect your warranty status. The law was changed to stop the main dealers cornering the service market. I had my first new van leased from Citroen, and for the last 2 years of the lease I had it serviced by our local mechanic – he was faster, cheaper, friendlier and not related to Dick Turpin like the dealership.
£94 for a set of front brake pads inc fitting for a Citroen Dispatch van?? 😯 . I didn’t want to make the thing worth stealing!! So I enquired if they could possibly requote me for non – gold plated brake pads instead. 👿
Local engineer – oil change + flush, new front pads, collect and deliver back – £79 all in: AND back by lunchtime. 😀
That’s independents’ service versus manufacturer. 😉 No contest.
If you want to check for your own peace of mind call Trading Standards or The Society Of Motor Manufacturers And Traders (Tel. 020 7235 7000) either will be able to tell you. 8)

[deltra]

Re: Van Servicing

hi rob,as long as the garage that does the servicing is v.a.t. reg there is not any problems with warrenties etc.(so i was told by mercedes 8) )

[robbra]

Re: Van Servicing

Hi all.
Thanks for the replies.
My village garage(Puddletown) used to service my van when I worked for Servis UK and charged £75 + parts for a sevice opposed to Renault at £160 and I trusted him to do a good job. It was the warranty bit I was concerned about and will now book a service with him.
Cheers again.
Rob

[Author]

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