Block Rereg question - How can Seat prove that your service isn't to their standard?

[The Governor]

My Leon PD150 is coming up for its first service, and I'm giving serious thought to putting in a proper garage, with mechanics I can speak to and honest people behind the counter, instead of the dealers.

My worry is the warranty issue, I know I can take to any VAT registered garage, but as I understand it, it must be serviced to "Seat Standards" .

How do they prove/disprove this in the event of a warranty claim? Couldn't they just always say that wherever you took it wasn't good enough, despite the expertise of the place you took it?

I have real questions over the competence of the local dealers, especially examining the service record of the my wifes Ibiza and my experience with things that had been missed on that despite being FSH'ed at a Seat dealer...

Are there any links on how the judgement about competence is made, or are you in the hands of Seat in the event of warranty claim?

[edc]

Standards relates to working according to the service schedule, using genuine parts. You cannot measure the quality of how somebody actually unscrews a screw or places in an air filter.

[The Governor]

Exactly my point mate, I just don't want to fall foul of some small print that voids my warranty.

I believe that a good mechanic can do this probably better than a Seat one, purely because the franchised dealers seem to have no qualms about doing half a job and that culture pervades throughout the dealership.

Trouble is the manual doesn't offer a huge amount of guidance and I don't want to assume that if all the boxes are ticked and parts are used I'll be okay, know what I mean?

[big ALI H]

Try emailing SEAT UK to see what they say. If they say as Ed has above then problems arise then you officially have it in writing from SEAT themselves.

[The Governor]

Emailed Seat yesterday and got this back from them:-

"Dear Mr Thompson

We write further to your email dated 11th January 2005.

Further to your query we would like to advise that you are not required to
use a member of the SEAT Approved Service Network for servicing or to adhere
to the servicing schedules to qualify for your warranty. However, if a
fault occurs as a direct result of inadequate servicing or lack of
servicing, the fault will not be covered under the warranty.

We hope that this information has been of assistance to you. If we can be of
any further assistance in the future please feel free to
contact us on our Freephone Customer Care line 0500 222222 during our office
hours of 8.00am - 6.00pm Monday to Friday or 9.00am - 1.00pm
Saturdays.

Kind Regards
Simone Davids-Lyle
Correspondence Executive
SEAT Customer Service Centre"

[big ALI H]

Mmmm, pretty much a standard response i would think.

To be fair, how hard is it to change an air filter, oil, fuel filter etc - things that are done as part of a service. If its a good garage/mechanic its near impossible for them to feck it up really so i'd take my chances if the price difference is as big as i imagine it will be. Might even look into it myself from now on, especially when the dreaded cambelt service is due! Its out of warranty after that anyway so will probably get it done just before 60k to make sure there are no problems.

Would be interesting to see how much cheaper it would be. May also be worth chatting to a Skoda dealer too mate - they tend to be much more helpful and obviously they are VAG too.

[The Governor]

Yeah, you're right. The only bit that made me a bit suspiscious was the "However, if a fault occurs as a direct result of inadequate servicing or lack of servicing, the fault will not be covered under the warranty.".

You can be sure if there's a warranty issue the first argument you'll have is "Sorry Mr Thompson, your brake discs have shattered as a result of the last oil change service" :blink:

In terms of cost, I called around, Kings wanted £190 (for an oil change! :-o ), Pichbeck wanted about £160 and Meadens wanted £148.

There's a firm in Southampton who have great word of mouth (and allegedly do a bit of work for local VW/Audi dealers :whistle: ) who would do the same job for £85 inclusive.

I stuck mine into Meadens this time as I haven't bottomed out the issues yet, but I am tempted to put it in somewhere I can actually speak to the guy who works on the car and I can see what's going on instead of the car disappearing behind the magic doors... :think:

I figured for the extra £65 it'd be worth ensuring that I won't get warranty probs... at least for now.

[big ALI H]

Yeah, you're right. The only bit that made me a bit suspiscious was the "However, if a fault occurs as a direct result of inadequate servicing or lack of servicing, the fault will not be covered under the warranty.".

You can be sure if there's a warranty issue the first argument you'll have is "Sorry Mr Thompson, your brake discs have shattered as a result of the last oil change service" :blink:

In terms of cost, I called around, Kings wanted £190 (for an oil change! :-o ), Pichbeck wanted about £160 and Meadens wanted £148.

There's a firm in Southampton who have great word of mouth (and allegedly do a bit of work for local VW/Audi dealers :whistle: ) who would do the same job for £85 inclusive.

I stuck mine into Meadens this time as I haven't bottomed out the issues yet, but I am tempted to put it in somewhere I can actually speak to the guy who works on the car and I can see what's going on instead of the car disappearing behind the magic doors... :think:

I figured for the extra £65 it'd be worth ensuring that I won't get warranty probs... at least for now.

If the fault directly relates to the work done then yes, they can refuse but changing a filter or oil etc, what can go wrong, especially if the garage lives up to its name. Especially if you use genuine parts too btw

Make sure the dealers aren't confusing the oil change with the 12 month service - there is a BIG difference and some quite often try to bend you over too - know of quite a few who have been caught out by this one

[The Governor]

I agree totally with you mate, but you know what chancers these people are when it comes to warranty work...

In relation to the 12 month vs oil change service, as far as I can tell from reading the schedule, the only additional stuff done on the 12 month is that they drain the fuel filter and do a load of checks but no actual work.

Nice work if you can get it :D

[edc]

Oil change only - Nationwide Autocentres £10 (and you supply your won oil/filter) or you can use one of the many deals on the street for a simple oil change and accept the oil they give you.

[CatB1]

Took my wifes 16v cupra to the main dealers for servicing 3yrs ago and it will never go back again.The undertray only had half the fasteners installed and the sump plug had only been hand tightened.It felt terrible arriving back home after being out in it and finding a puddle of oil on the garage floor.Luckily I collected half gallon from the sump in a drip tray.Main dealer told me fasteners and sump plug must have vibrated loose on journey home.Ended up threatening solicitors action.All remedied in my favour. :)