Servicing: Dealer or independent?

It’s a question most owners of cars that are still under warranty are often confronted with: “Dealer servicing can be very expensive, independent operators can be less so. If I have my car serviced outside the dealership chain while it is still under new-car warranty, am I still covered?”

In real terms, you are. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010, in effect, was written to protect buyers from conditional restrictions that might apply after a sale. It means a manufacturer cannot specify where a new car should be serviced while it is under warranty and, therefore, that a car will remain covered during the warranty period even if it is not serviced by an authorised dealer.

Multi-brand importer Volkswagen Group Australia, for example, when stipulating conditions for warranty claims, does not single out non-dealer servicing as a no-no. It merely states that a vehicle is not covered by warranty in the event of “Failure to have your vehicle serviced within the times and recommendations of Volkswagen Group Australia, including the use of Volkswagen approved parts.”

And prominent servicing specialist Ultra Tune, which operates a chain of centres around Australia, rests its laurels on the fact that any servicing work carried out in its network does not void the manufacturer’s warranty. It points out that its centres use only “high-quality” parts and that all servicing “strictly follows all the procedures recommended by your vehicle’s manufacturer.” The owner’s service handbook is obviously also stamped by Ultra Tune at each service.

What all this says is that independent servicing is something that could well be considered by new-car buyers baulking at high authorised-dealer servicing costs.

Unless you are benefitting from the increasing propensity of car-makers to embrace fixed-price servicing, there could be an opportunity to make worthwhile savings without endangering that all-important warranty.

The emphasis, though, is on “could be”.

While there are a number of car-servicing specialists out there with the ability to replicate exactly what a dealer will cover during a scheduled service, there is also the fact that many are not.

And this is important, because if there is a shortfall in capabilities it usually relates to the specialised equipment usually available only to a dealer. Not applying so much to hands-on equipment such as spanners, tyre pressure gauges and screwdrivers, this, more often than not, takes the form of the expensive electronic diagnostics that have been developed by the car-maker especially for your car.

Not only do these machines have the ability to zero in on a fault, they also allow the keeping of records saying exactly when the fault was detected and addressed. This sort of thing can come in handy when making a claim, largely because it indicates proper care of the vehicle has been taken during its warranty life. Some independent servicers could be less likely to satisfy this requirement.

However if you look closely at your car’s maintenance regimes, you’ll invariably find that basic servicing involves very little rocket science. Changing oil, filters and spark plugs, checking brake function and filling the windscreen washer bottle is not that complicated.

It’s only when you come to the major services that things get a bit more demanding.

No question, most reputable servicing centres are capable of performing basic maintenance but, once you build up the kilometres and arrive at a major service, the situation -- unless you are using a big servicing network -- can change. And that’s where it can be difficult to avoid contact with an authorised dealer.

A car-maker faced with a warranty claim when the vehicle has not been serviced by an authorised dealer is unlikely to ignore, or be unaware of the fact. But if there’s no proof of inept servicing -- or, significantly, no use of bogus and inferior replacement parts -- then there can be little argument.

The bottom line is that if you want to go outside the dealer chain to service your car, be aware of two things: One, that the independent service centre is equipped to service your car at the appropriate levels of proficiency and, two, that you are actually making the wished-for cost savings. Often you may find there is little difference between the two.

All that said, it has long been recognised -- if not always put into practice -- that a happy customer is a repeat customer. If a car dealer looks after customers by not treating ongoing servicing requirements as a potential cash cow and does the job with courtesy and competence, then there’s every chance of doing business again at vehicle changeover time. Keeping a customer is far more cost-effective than luring a new one.