Servicing and dealerships?

Sort of. It's a common belief that taking a car to a franchised main dealer is the only way to ensure that the warranty is still valid, and that the mechanics (or "technicians", or whatever they call themselves) are fully trained on working on your vehicle i.e. are aware of the correct procedures, and have all the neccessary specialist tools.

This is all wrong, of course.

There are trading standards type laws that say that as long as the vehicle is serviced in line with the manufacturer's recommendations, and using genuine OEM parts (or parts produced to an equal standard), then there is no reason why the warranty should not be valid. Main dealers will of course be aware of the recalls for recent vehicles, but they should pass this information directly onto the owners anyway (I think - if not, then this should be the case).

As far as having the correct tools - a lot of small back street garages won't neccessarily have all the latest diagnostic equipment, to diagnose errors on the very latest cars (so much stuff these days is so complex that the only way to fault find is to plug it in to a computer), but the equipment is available for garages to purchase, and there's no reason why a decent independent specialist shouldn't be equipped with the latest stuff.

As far as mechanics knowing the correct procedures i.e. tightening things up to the correct torque, correct tenstioning of belts etc etc. - all this information is available in technical manuals available from the manufacturer, which, again, a decent independent specialist worth their salt will have. Though the vast majority of mechanical jobs haven't changed much - i.e. removing a gearbox in a modern FWD car is still pretty much the same job, with the same bits needing undoing, as with a 20 year old car (except with maybe a few more sensors and wires to disconnect) - they just can be slightly more complex.

Having said all this, it has been known that it's a lot *easier* to claim on a warranty if it's only been in the main dealer all it's life, but there's no reason why this should be the case.

HTH.

-- Peter

Get Circumcised to e-mail me

Main dealers are definitely more expensive, there are tangible benefits though, one being the fact that most work will carry an international warranty. Main dealer technicians will know your vehicle a lot better and will be more aware of common problems, they also have to have all the special tools to work on your vehicle. As far as diagnostic equipment goes, independents will be able to justify buying equipment that will communicate with engine, airbag and abs systems mainly, anything else will be too prohibitively expensive, ie for climate control and can systems for instance. As far as warranty goes Astravanman is right, you are no longer obliged to use an agent but you are less likely to be able to get a goodwill repair from the manufacturers outside of warranty or if there is a grey area with respect to cover if you have used an independent garage. Selling a car with a main agent service history is always going to make your car seem more atractive, I guess it's up to the individual to decide wether it's worth it or not, many people seem to use the agent for the first few years and then independents after that.

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That's the theory. A lot of main dealer technicians are clueless

17-year-old YTS muppets though. And yes, they have to have all the special tools to work on your vehicle. But any reputable specialist will have all the neccessary tools, and will be able to hire less frequently used ones specially for the job (I'd have thought), and still probably remain cheaper than a main dealer. Though having said that, I don't know how expensive tool hire can be for specialist stuff.

Selling a car with main agent service history does in theory make it more attractive, but if they haven't paid proper attention to everything on the car, a clued up prospective purchaser will easily spot this. Also, the condition of the car is a much better way to decide what a car's worth. Say there are two identically specced cars with the same mileage, and one has a full dealer history and lots of dings, dents and scrapes, and the other one is immaculate, but has either been owner maintained or looked after by an independent specialist, I'm sure anyone in their right mind would much more happily buy the second one, and value it as more than the first - providing no corners had been cut (i.e. not replacing tensioner etc along with cambelt).

That's the problem with main dealers, or even non-main dealers. There have been a lot of stories about using the wrong oil, overfilling the oil etc. I read on one website that this guy had taken his car in for

7 oil changes and it was done correctly only 2 times! Some of these things can be hard to spot for most people. It's possible that the oil isn't changed until the 2nd year, and nobody will ever know. To somebody who knows nothing about cars they'd never know whether a car had been serviced properly or not :-(. Even if you know about cars you can't check everything.

Only if you intend reselling it very soon.

Indeed.