have i voided my warranty?

A

aoc

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Little long winded.......apologies!!

bought car in Sept - one yrs warranty. since then the oil light came on in Nov, so i just topped it up. then changed oil and oil filter at end of Feb (friend mechanic did it) and now last wkend oil light came on again, had to top it up. Rang the maindealer where i purchased car - says that because i did not get them to do oil change etc i have voided warranty and told me a specific oil that i must!!! use....
however, i called another main dealer who contradicted this. I then called the parts dept of my main dealer back who told me that i didn't have to use the oil and that they use a diff one nyways. when i challenged service dept guy about this he told me to 'save my breathe' and he was putting me on speaker phone with him and the guy i bought the car off.... i was less than impressed!
i am confident that i have used the correct oil..... they are saying they won't look at it under warranty, but if i pay €129 to have the oil, filter and general service done they will look at it?????? and then would look at it in another 1,000 miles to see if it is ok. basically trying to get me to admit that the problem has only arisen since my guy changed the oil......
any opinions??
 
What does the warranty itself say? Only by checking this out will you know for sure.
 
where would it be on the warranty? its seems to be a standard SIMI vehicle order form - excludes gear box parts only it says, i can't really read the rest something about 12 mts or 12000 miles..... nothing else really...
 
If you state what make of car it is you might get a better direction as to what to do !
 
aoc said:
Rang the maindealer where i purchased car - says that because i did not get them to do oil change etc i have voided warranty and told me a specific oil that i must!!!
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Oil is a user serviceable consumable. Replacement oil, and indeed the labour cost of topping it up is not included in any warranty I've heard of. So long as you've used a reasonable oil, in line with the manual, they don't have any grounds for refusing to look at it.

Unless you've bought some very exotic car, it's not reasonable to expect you to bring in the car and pay for oil changes to maintain a warranty.
 
its a golf........... the mechanic was very specific that as i didn't use the oil that they use and a vw filter that my warranty is voided and they will not look at the car unless i pay them.

he was so rude, i am going to email the owner of the garage... i had previously heard about this guys reputation for being unnecessarily rude to customers and trying to get out of warranty issues.
 
aoc said:
its a golf........... the mechanic was very specific that as i didn't use the oil that they use and a vw filter that my warranty is voided and they will not look at the car unless i pay them.

he was so rude, i am going to email the owner of the garage... i had previously heard about this guys reputation for being unnecessarily rude to customers and trying to get out of warranty issues.
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Definitely have a word with the Consumer Rights people in Sue Ellen's post, then make a formal complaint. I recall a ruling ages ago on this specific topic (but I can't cite a reference): car retailers are not allowed insist on maintenance in their own garage, or using original manufacturer parts to maintain a car under warranty. So long as reasonably qualified personel using equivalent standard parts are involved, they are on a hiding to nowhere (or at least in the small claims court).
 
2008 Golf - reg on 31.07.

Thanks guys... i hate confrontation but this guy had really irked me! i said to him if i was a man we would not be having this conversation.

Will ring consumer rights and see what they say. i will not be going to that garage on my own that is for sure!
 
Are they saying you used the wrong brand of oil (eg. not Castrol) or the wrong type of oil (eg. not 5w40) ?

I would understand them having an issue if the wrong type of oil was used. Presuming it's not one of the advised oil for that car.
 
they are saying both, they are saying i can't prove what oil i put into it. ...... but in reality he is saying regardless of what oil etc i used because i did not get them to do it they will not look at the car without payment.
 
Can you not simply use a different dealer.

And they wonder why dealers are closing down all over.
 
as my warranty is with them i shouldn't have to pay someone else to look at it.
national consumer agency - advised me to call garage again and ask them to look at it under warranty, if they refuse they advised me to put my complaint in writing... they should offer to fix or examine the car at no cost to me... if they won't do this, i can get it done in another garage and bring them to small claims court to get money back (which i would have no problem doing)... other options are they should replace the car or they should take the car back and refund my money....... i am obv trying to avoid gettin this far into all of this.....
or am i being unreasonable...... should i have to pay for new oil and filter just so they can figure out if there is a fault in the car?
i just want them to take a look at it and advise me.... is that so unreasonable??
 
aoc said:
where would it be on the warranty? its seems to be a standard SIMI vehicle order form - excludes gear box parts only it says, i can't really read the rest something about 12 mts or 12000 miles..... nothing else really...
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That's what I was expecting, it's not on the warranty, so legally, they can't assign extra conditions after the fact.

NCA is the way to go so. Advise the garange in writing that you are taking legal advice and that you intend prsuing this through the Small Claims Courts. See if that softens their stance.
 
Leo said:
A different dealer is not going to honour a warranty offered by another. That would be commercial suicide.
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I assumed it was a manufacturers warranty not a garage warranty. As the OP said "maindealer where i purchased car". So the warranty might even be pan European not just with one garage. But if it isn't it isn't.
 
AlbacoreA said:
I assumed it was a manufacturers warranty not a garage warranty. As the OP said "maindealer where i purchased car". So the warranty might even be pan European not just with one garage. But if it isn't it isn't.
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The warranty, SIMI, pan-European, transatlantic or sliced-pan, is not the issue here.

The purchaser's legal rights and recourse are, and they are with the seller - the garage that sold him the car, no-one else. A warranty as stated previously is in addition to his consumer rights enshrined in law by the Sale of Gooods and Supply of Services Act 1982.

The one mistake made by OP was perhaps in not asking the seller to check the original oil-light problem when it occurred, rather than consulting a 3rd party.

To other vehicle purchasers: do not sign the SIMI contract when buying a car, there is no legal obligation on you to do so and they cannot force you to sign; there are portions of the document that appear to try and diminish a purchaser's legal rights and replace them with some sort of dodgy 'warranty'.

The form says that signing it does not interfere with your legal rights, but IMHO it serves to intimidate a purchaser with a complaint from acting within the legal framework that currently exists.
 
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mathepac said:
...there are portions of the document that appear to try and diminish a purchaser's legal rights and replace them with some sort of dodgy 'warranty'.
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Good post Mathepac. Just to add to that point, you can not waive your legal rights as a consumer, any contract attempting to do so could be challenged.
 
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