From today's Metro:

The

I believe my warranty is subject to me servicing the car at my dealer ONLY!

I wonder if this con extends to warranty issues with remapping & lowering springs? :(

Originally posted by devonutopia in this post

I believe my warranty is subject to me servicing the car at my dealer ONLY!

:(

what?!! sounds a wee bit fishy to me.

fishy to say the least -another question for them on Thursday.... If I can make them say I can service the car at any Skoda dealer, perhaps I can negotiate for them to honour my warranty if I lowered the car... Bit of a bribe, but honest at least. "You let me lower, and I'll keep bringing my car back for its services!"

Originally posted by devonutopia in this post

I believe my warranty is subject to me servicing the car at my dealer ONLY!

Not correct, Jason. This is what Skoda UK's FAQs have to say about the matter:

Question:

Can any Skoda retailer carry out servicing?

Answer:

All franchised retailers can fulfil your warranty and servicing requirements. To find your local retailer please select the retailer locator tab from the home page of this site.

This FAQ is also interesting for what it doesn't say:

Question:

Can I go to a non-Skoda retailer for servicing?

Answer:

This is not something that we would recommend since non-Skoda retailers are not trained in the servicing of Skoda vehicles nor are they kept up to date with technical information. It may therefore have an adverse affect on the terms of the new vehicle warranty.

Since the 2 year unlimited mileage warranty is provided by SkodaAuto, I would expect it to be valid throughout Western Europe, ie my car should be be covered in the event of warranty problems when I visit Holland this summer.

Under EU directives you can get it serviced at any garage, provided that the mechanics are competent and that genuine Skoda parts are used.

Jon

Dev,

sounds a bit dodgy to me.

Did you buy new?

Even if you didn't you'll have the remainder of the Manfactuers warranty. I would have thought any Skoda dealer could service your car.

I bought my car in Gillingham almost a 100 miles from my home and there would be no way I would travel there just to get my car serviced.

Better check this out.

When we got SWMBO car I assumed it would come with a used car warranty on top of the balance of the manufactueres warrant. Only found out it hadn't when we were getting the radio replaced. Luckily we had logged to problem before warranty ran out.

Cheers.

Adrian.

and to take the point a bit further, i've been basically going around all the bmw garages in the area to inquire about warranty work-didn't want to get it done at the place i bought it (long story) and they are all more than willing to, even to the point of collect and deliver from bolton.

your dealer's taking the micheal.

For interest, has anyone had warranty work done FOC other than in the country in which they purchased their car?

PS I'm thinking of possible coil pack failure whilst in Holland.

Jon's comment above regarding anyone being able to service it as long as competent and using official parts is where we should be by the end of the year. This has been on the cards for a while now and manufacturers are trying to keep it very quiet.

Not sure of the exact date that this comes into place but it IS going to happen soon - my local Merc garage (used to be a main dealer until a year ago when they refused to pay Merecedes Benz even more money for the privilege) have said they will be able to do "official" warranty valid servicing in the next few months. :cheers:

good news

Hmm

The trouble is there are not many other Skoda dealers near me. About two I think. And as they're all franchised dealers, their servicing costs are going to be fairly uniform.

I don't know how consulting another dealer could help with my little lowering problem. Does anyone think that another dealer could fit my springs, and then honour my warranty? PS: I have rung Skoda UK about this. They said the Eibach springs were not standard parts, so this could be the sticking point on the warranty issue. How do I convince Skoda that eibach make those lowering pro-kits for the Fabia TDI??? :confused:

dev,

what's most likely is that your whole warranty won't be voided, just the parts that may have been deemed to have been caused by the non-approved mod(s).

Dev,

why not wait a couple of month and then get the springs from the Fabia RS? In this time you can also put aside some dosh for your remap.

Skoda can't say they're not standard parts then.

Cheers.

Adrian.

Originally posted by Huck in this post

dev,

what's most likely is that your whole warranty won't be voided, just the parts that may have been deemed to have been caused by the non-approved mod(s).

I was told by a warranty "expert" that in no uncertain terms my entire warranty will be voided.

As for using the RS springs, thats not a bad idea. Its just they're only 15mm, and I really wanted the 30mm that the eibach springs give. Looking at 15mm on a ruler, it seems so piddly as to not warranty doing. 30mm seems a lot more, as its more than an inch...

I wonder if eibach could provide some kind of document saying " these springs are designed for the Fabia TDI... " ??

Seeing as you're concerned about your warranty what's 15mm (hmmm.....I know some wag is going to say something:rolleyes: ).

After your warrantys run out you can then get the ones you want.

I know it's a little extreme and not particularly sensible in money terms but it's a compromise which meets the majority of your requirements.

At least you won't wake in the middle of the night in a cold sweat worrying about your warranty.......

Cheers.

Adrian.

But I don't want to wait 12 months! And I'm going to keep throwing my toys out the pram until I get my own way!

Lets see what Thursday brings up. If I can just get them to void any suspension repairs, I'm gonna get the beast lowered!

Jason,

Okay I would go to the other dealers, even if it's an hours drive, so what you like driving!

You service once or twice a year, it's a day out to that town. As to warranty work, popped mine in with the KW's fitted and about 3 fingers gap between wheels and arch for a front ARB fix, was done and will done again without comment and thats a garage which I don't put my car through for servicing work. Of course having there demo chipped means there possibly quite friendly towards mods.. I still think your dealer needs a kick up the 123, but it is his choice...money talks and you walk my friend.

When I chiiped my car I was happy to pay for any "warranty" work as a result of the chip, likewise suspension and likewise brakes...don't get to hung up on warranties...the VAG platform is stable, okay gremlins occur it's all a case of luck. IMHO if somthing thatbad goes wrong on the car I'll wip the offending parts off and replace. But your delaer can't really say whole warranty voided for springs IMO, thats a narrow view, but a cpative market makes for an easy place to enforce there rules....walk away.

Alternativly PM me there details and I'll lean on em, were tough up north y'know.

umm an idea spawns...best run after it!

...list of mod. friendly dealers??

Mine seemed happy when I mentioned the chip and exhaust, saying that they didnt mind me getting it chipped or the exhaust. I queried the warranty thing with them and they kind of hinted "so what we dont care" , I was there today sorting out a new gasket for the exhaust no problem.

Originally posted by TaviaRS in this post

Under EU directives you can get it serviced at any garage, provided that the mechanics are competent and that genuine Skoda parts are used.

Jon

was having a conversation along these same lines with my area tech manager the other day and the outcome was car can be serviced by any (ANY) garage and doesn't have to have genuine parts fitted but if patterned parts were fitted and there was a problem YOU will have to prove these were not at fault. on the subject of chips and dealers offering chips watch this space i think skoda are doing something about these dealers (don't know what it will be but i presume it won't be nice).