Will repair invalidate warranty??

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Tue 4 Mar 2008 13:36
Will repair invalidate warranty?? - Soanto
I recently had an extremely small altercation with a BMW 1 series in the car park at work, resulting in VERY minor scuffing to my VW Touareg bumper and to the BMW front wheel arch. Like an idiot (not really) I 'fessed up and the quote from BMW came in at a grand....

I've had mine repaired by the local Chips Away man for 85 quid and he's given me a quote to do hers for 125. It's a really great job and I'm really pleased with it.

She's now asking if he's authorised as if he's not it will invalidate her warranty. Is he? Will it? Any other suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 04/03/2008 at 13:40

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Tue 4 Mar 2008 14:08
Will repair invalidate warranty?? - Falkirk Bairn
I am afraid body repairs @ a non-approved franchise does invalidate the body warranty for that panel in the case of some manufacturers - not necessarily all manufacturers.

I had that when a 2 week old car was repaired at Ins Co bodyshop which was not a Honda approved site - rust came through after 5 years - Ins Co paid up (again) as their policy at the time was repairs guaranteed for the whole time you have the car - most people trade cars frequently so clause in policy costs them infrequently (Now that Ins Co have a 3 year limit!)

Used to be that all franchises had their own bodyshop - fewer and fewer now but the franchise will have a list of "approved bodyshops" - i.e. where they get a cut!

Interestingly a local BMW charges the man in the street & companies nearly £100/hr for a mechanic - their bodyshop rates are about £35-£40 / hour - just shows what competition and Ins Co pressure can do to hourly charge out rates.
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Tue 4 Mar 2008 20:18
Will repair invalidate warranty?? - NARU
I don't see how they'd make it stick. Every time I visit my dealer there is a smart repair chap there. Indeed, he did the touching up on my car (before sale) - which qualifies under the approved used scheme. I'd be willing to bet that BMW dealers use someone similar.

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Tue 4 Mar 2008 21:29
Will repair invalidate warranty?? - Soanto
I think you're right - the guy that did mine said that his colleagues are approved repairers for VW and that BMW quote for the full repair but then call them in to do the job - making lots of money in the process!

In fact we had a contract hire BMW collected today on behalf of BMW finance and they've marked two of the Alloys for a Smart Repair - isn't this what Chips Away do?
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Tue 4 Mar 2008 23:29
Will repair invalidate warranty?? - Bill Payer
I guess if you get the work done through a dealer then the manufacturer can't avoid the warranty (although they may well argue about it at a later date) but if you have it done independently of the dealer (or one of the manufacturers authorised repairers) then you're on your own.

I would be extremely doubtful (but am willing to be corrected) that any of the smart repairers are authorised in their own right.
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