I have had my 02 Fabia Comfort 1.9 TDI Estate serviced from new at Hockmeyer’s Motors of Sleaford, in Lincolnshire. They were Skoda franchised dealers from 1987 until 2004 (now with Daihatsu) and still seem to work on plenty of Skodas. I have nothing but praise for their friendliness, desire to help the customer, integrity and, as far as I can judge, mechanical expertise – that my Fabia has now done nearly 150,000 more or less trouble-free miles and is still going strong must be largely due to them.

Because I trust them so much, I bought a new, pre-facelift Octavia 1.9 TDI Elegance Estate from them in December 2008, which they sourced from Rainworth Motors in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. I am very happy with deal I got and with the car.

I had planned to have all my servicing and warranty work done by Hockmeyer’s, as I gather this is perfectly legal. However, I have recently heard that this might be inadvisable, because:

1. Non-franchised garages do not receive Technical Service Bulletins;

2. They don’t necessarily have access to up-to-date diagnostic equipment and

3. Skoda might be reluctant to make show good will if a problem arose on a car which had not been serviced (at least during warranty) by a franchised dealer.

The one that bother me in the list above is (3), as I’ve no reason to be other than entirely confident about their ability and care of the car. Does anyone have any thoughts on:

a. whether I should have all or some services done at a non-franchised garage;

b. the service offered by Horton’s of Lincoln – a dealer who is close at hand and whom I have found to be pretty good on a few occasions when I have needed work or advice – or Rainworth Motors at Mansfield?

Any comments really welcome.

Another view is that come part-ex or private sale time. The lack of a proper Skoda dealer stamp for all work done may lower what the car is worth and put people off.

I wouldnt touch a 3yearold car without full servicing at a manufacturers dealership.

Thanks for what's clearly wise advice. However, I tend to keep my cars for........ever (still hanging on to the Fabia at 150k and kept previous VW Vento to 220k!), so this is not a prime consideration for me - point taken, though.

In that case it may be fine for you to do.