fiat or motorhome dealer to Carrie out first service

[dshague]

i went to  my supplying motorhome dealer today for a remedial job ,wile there i inquired about booking van in for its habitation check next year .manager asked if i would like the first vehicle service done at the same time .i said i thought i had to take van to a fiat main agent .no he says we use genuine  fiat parts .the cost is £90 less than fiat service .what do you think .  

[Den]

Some Mh companies are fiat accredited, But if not with the legislation now as long as they use genuine parts your ok. Of course with the gearbox problems i'm sure some will try to say the warranty is void. Then it may come to a court case. My own a merc based is going to my local garage along with my master (work van) But make sure on the receipt its noted that original parts are used.

[dshague]

good point den thanks

[Derek Uzzell]

When a vehicle is serviced during its warranty period by other than an authorised agent of the vehicle's manufacturer, to maintain the warranty's validity the servicing should use genuine parts and fluids branded by the vehicle-manufacturer, or parts and fluids that match the quality of the genuine items. The servicing itself must also be as recommended by the vehicle-manufacturer. As Den advises, when servicing is not via an authorised agent of a vehicle's manufacturer, retaining original invoices is particularly important to prove that the appropriate parts/fluids have been used.

 

If possible, it's worth getting hold of a service schedule that details exactly what a service entails. One should then be able to tell whether there's any unusual task that a non-franchised garage may have difficulty performing. It's commonplace nowadays for vehicle software upgrades to be carried out during regular services to address 'niggles' that have become apparent across model ranges or to alter engine performance characteristics. A franchised dealer should be aware of any necessary upgrades and be able to carry them out: a non-franchised agent may not.

 

The ongoing Citroen/Fiat/Peugeot saga adds (in my opinion) a definite extra element of risk to having an under-warranty Ducato serviced other than by an authorised Fiat agent. If a Fiat agent has done the servicing and something nasty happens mechanically (clutch/gearbox failure?) when the vehicle is, say, 15 months old, then at least Fiat wouldn't be able to cast doubt on the competence of your friendly (and cheaper) local garage. Whether avoiding this risk is worth £90 is anybody's guess.

[dshague]

thank you .its now booked in at fiat .

i wonder how many van owner that don't read this just take the dealers word and have the first service done .   

[Derek Uzzell]

I would guess that not too many motorhome dealerships have the facilities, or staff with the necessary training/skills, to carry out servicing or significant repairs to a motorhome's base-vehicle. And only a very few dealerships will be agents of a base-vehicle manufacturer and thus be authorised to carry out under-warranty work.

 

So it's likely to be quite rare for a dealer to be in a position (like yours was) to offer base-vehicle servicing as an alternative to having the work performed by an agent of the base-vehicle manufacturer.