Come resale time would I really lose a lot of cash if the car hasn't been serviced at the main dealer?
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To avoid invalidating the warranty, franchised dealer servicing is best. Why do you not want to use a franchised dealer anyway? They have all the equipment needed to service your car, factory-trained technicians, and easy access to information from the manufacturer for any problem which might occur.
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L\'escargot.
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well if it was under three years old, I wouldnt even consider buying (let alone you loose value on it) a second hand car that didnt have main dealer service stamps. After three years, then yes any independant service stamp will do.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I would say that it depends what the car is, and when you envisage re-sale time to be.
a) If the car is, say, an expensive or complex car, and resale time will be while the car is below, say, 5 years old, then there will be a difference.
b) If the car is more modest, and re-sale time is going to be in the bangernomics territory, then, it won't make any difference.
You need to make sure that you obtain enouh paperwork from whoever services your car to keep your warranty alive. IMO, the only other reason to stay with the dealer is if there is a major problem just outside warranty, and you rely on goodwill. (Re: BMW & Jaguar Nikasil, Mondeo rotten doors, etc, etc)
For our Astra, which we bought at 6 months old, with 10,000 on the clock, it has fallen into category b - well, in fact, I do all the servicing on it. We intend to keep it until it drops to bits, it is as straightforward as modern cars can be, and having seen dealer servicing from the inside, I don't place too high a value on it! *
* I was factory trained! That one day in Ellesmere Port made all the difference!
Number_Cruncher
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Its an Audi A3 on a 56 plate. I intend to keep it for 2-3 years. I've just heard horror stories about the local main dealer servicing, and for £250-350 for a service that might not been done properly, I'd rather go to a good VAG specialist I used to go to when I owned my mk3 golf.
I was just wondering if say, it was serviced by the VAG specialist using genuine parts for the next 2 years if Audi would give me less ££s for the car come trade it time?
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I alway's service my car from new independant of a main dealer, last main dealer I left mine at for a week & it was still the same when I picked it up dispite extensive explanation of the fault from cold! when I demonsrated driving it out of the main dealership the problem showed its self straightaway! & guess what they wanted it for another week only then to be told the updated download still hadn't arrived!. If they had listened the 1st time & got onto the manufacture the download may have been there quicker anyway it didn't inspire me with confidence.
If you service a car whilst under warranty you must use all manufactures parts & oil and have a VAT reciept for the repairs & a check list. I have never experienced a warranty claim problem yet . I find when you come to part X car's are worth next to nothing anyway as they alway's manage to come up with a new excuse as to why its not worth what you think.
Having experienced buying a Merc & told there good for 160000 miles no problem at all, having spent £12000 in servicing in 141000 & then to find out Merc didn't want it back I might as well of saved the money on the servicing
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Some of you are making the assumption that you will receive a much better service from a main dealer than a good independant. From my experience this is not the case. The independant dealer that I am now using is much more thorough than any main dealer that I have used in the past. He has fixed minor problems which the main dealer has never been able to fix. The independant dealer is however more expensive but worth it.
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Interesting comments. I've been having the same thoughts.
When my last car hit 3 years old, I stopped servicing it at the dealer, and went to an excellent local VAG specialist, who had the VAG com gear and knew what oils to use etc. The servicing was less expensive, and they didn't have a glossy showroom, but they clearly knew exactly what they were talking about, unlike the main dealer, who thought giving the car a 30 second rinse with the jet wash after the service justified the prices.
Now I've got a 7 month old Seat, I would really like to continue using the independent, especially given it's just taken the dealer 2 visits to fix a problem and I don't have a great deal of confidence in their servicing dept. However, at the back of my mind I have a nagging doubt that if I need to make another warrantee claim, I'll be turned away because I didn't maintain a main dealer service history. I certainly don't think it will make a jot of difference to resale value, even if I p-ex after 3 years, it's just the warantee situation. Anyone had any direct experience with this situation?
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Direct experience of warranty claim with non main dealer servce!, as an independent My garage serviced a fleet of toyota vans from new using all toyota parts & service sheets. One of the vans crankshaft snapped at 59942 miles whilst under a 60000 mile warranty, my heart went & I thought oh god! well it went to the dealer & the service manager rang me & politely asked for proof of service records & purchase invoices of genuine parts all of which we supplied & the van was returned to my customer 6 weeks later with a new engine FOC. Moral of the story, well I would by a toyota ( if I had too) due to helpfull dealership & keep all relevent paperwork.
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If you are only keeping the A3 for a couple of years use the main dealer - you've paid plenty for your car so why skimp on running costs? You might save £100 by going independent. I kept my A3 for 2 years and it only needed one service in my ownership. Come trade in all information about my vehicle was on the Audi dealership database. If something does go wrong do you want to argue that the car was serviced properly at your independent?
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If you are only keeping the A3 for a couple of years use the main dealer ....
Totally agree with everything in the above post - except that even if you save £500 over 2/3 years it's still not worth the risk of a warranty claim problem. If you're selling after 2/3 years then who cares if the dealer doesn't do a proper job?
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...the other thing that occurs to me is that when you take a car to the dealers these days, there's often software updates of minor rectification work necessary (like a recall, but non-safety related). I reckon it's unlikely a specialist would even know about these things, never mind be prepared to do them FOC.
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