Is the warranty on a new car worth the service costs?

murphydavid

I have a now a 9 month old car with two years warranty remaining that is soon going to require a 10,000 mile service and I believe the service has to be done by a registered mechanic if I want to keep the warranty valid. I presume most people would have it done by a garage because they can’t or don’t like doing it themselves however I actually like doing it myself. I intend to keep the car for the next 15 years so I am not bothered about the re-sale value and I am perfectly capable of servicing it myself having all the tools and serviced my previous car till it was 18 years old with only one minor breakdown in all that time. I must confess I have not read the warranty so I am not sure what it says but I suspect it will not cover wear and tear items and there will be a get out if I am suspected of having caused any damage by bad driving or something. Also I have no idea how much a service costs and I am going to have to find out. I am just about to do both. But in the mean time I have no experience of what happens if I were to make a claim on the warranty. What I would like is to get a feel from anyone who has tried to claim on their warranty and if they were successful and how easy it is, not that I expect to have to do it but I just want to try and get an idea of how valuable the warranty is.

Cool_Username

A warranty is a good thing to have, it'll pay to keep it valid - if a disaster happens like your engine blows up the warranty will have more than paid for itself.

Inactive

Agreed, I would have it serviced to schedule until the warranty expires, then service yourself.

vikingaero

What car do you drive?

I think dealer servicing during warranty is worth it as many minor fixes and software updates are performed.

motorguy

vikingaero wrote: »

What car do you drive?

I think dealer servicing during warranty is worth it as many minor fixes and software updates are performed.

+1

And should there be a major problem, you're more likely to get a favourable outcome from the manufacturer if theres a full dealer history.

motorguy

murphydavid wrote: »

Yes, but what I'm not sure of is if the engine blows up and all the oil and or coolant is lost on the road will they say I drove it without enough oil and caused it to blow up and refuse to pay?

Running a car without oil wont cause the engine to blow up. It will cause it to seize, but not blow up.

If the car has a full dealer history it would be a lot easier to prove it had been maintained correcty.

KonkyWonky

Typically a local garage will charge around £90 for a normal service which includes parts.

Its a no brainer for me, that same £90 will be lucky to get you 2 hours labour at a dealership garage should something go wrong with your car.

Anihilator

KonkyWonky wrote: »

Typically a local garage will charge around £90 for a normal service which includes parts.

Its a no brainer for me, that same £90 will be lucky to get you 2 hours labour at a dealership garage should something go wrong with your car.

It's a no brainer until during the warranty or shortly after there are major issues that might cost a lot to fix.

Then the dealer does it for nothing or at a large proportion to themselves.

Aye its a no brainer.

KonkyWonky

Anihilator wrote: »

It's a no brainer until during the warranty or shortly after there are major issues that might cost a lot to fix.

Then the dealer does it for nothing or at a large proportion to themselves.

Aye its a no brainer.

Sorry, not really sure what your point is.

I stated that as far as I am concerned then its common sense to spend the £90 and maintain the warranty.

If you disagree then please explain because I can't make head nor tail of what you posted.

flyingscotno1

KonkyWonky wrote: »

Sorry, not really sure what your point is.

I stated that as far as I am concerned then its common sense to spend the £90 and maintain the warranty.

If you disagree then please explain because I can't make head nor tail of what you posted.

He agrees, to just before or after warranty ends because even if something fails out of warranty you can often get them to pay for it I think!

gilbert_and_sullivan

I'd keep the service history intact until the warranty is out, you can use another registered non dealer workshop but generally genuine parts must be used.

If you feel that your car is reliable enough to risk going DIY then do so, depending on what car it is it might be worth the gamble, but DIY servicing will without doubt void warranty.