I have recently bought a 2nd hand German car through a dealer and am having a few problems. The dealer that I bought through is 130 miles away and the local dealer is 10 miles away.

So, looking at owners' forums I find that my 2 thermostats are liekly to not be working properly. Send in and dealer changes one of them (the easy one that even I could do!) and says all OK and up to temperature - told that the car gets to 95ºc but when asking that is when it is at a standstill and not tested on the roads. Anyway drive home the long way round and temp still not high enough. Call dealer and leave message. Get message back saying that talked to the techs and that the temp I am getting c. 80c is absolutely fine etc etc and no need to change the main stat (which opens at 88c).

Anyway, I sent an email saying that I would get the main stat changed and then look for recompense should temp and mpg both improve to where they should be. Question is, can I get warranty work carried out at an independent garage? Not overly keen to go to the local dealer as either they lied to me and tried to fob me off, or they are incompetent and don't know what they are talking about.