Home Page › Forums › Discussions › General independent garage chat › Opinion: Block Exemption is useless if motorists are unaware of it
- This topic has 9 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 6 months ago by Philip Kerkham.
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Mike Ruff, GW editorKeymaster
Working as a director at a family run independent garage, Block Exemption and the ‘right to repair’ have always been a big thing for me. Aaron Phillip
[See the full post at: Opinion: Block Exemption is useless if motorists are unaware of it]PeterGuestYes we have had the same experience hundreds of times. Don’t think you are winning the battle though because if and when you get the customer convinced, the dealer will try to devalue the vehicle at sale time because it has not been dealer serviced.
The motor industry has far more than its fair share of crooks, poorly or untrained people and plain idiots. It urgently needs to get its act together or there wont be any independent or small dealers and the customers choice will disappear.BenGuestI was recently in a Porsche dealership collecting parts for a job we were doing and overheard one of their salesmen completing handover of a new vehicle. Having been in sales for years prior to working in my family run garage, I took great interest in what he was saying. I was quite surprised to hear him emphasise very strongly that the owner should only bring their Macan to the main dealer for servicing as using an independent would ‘probably’ void their warranty, not least because they could not guarantee that OEM parts would be used and after market parts were inferior (I laughed a little given as I was there for OEM parts), he then went on to say that using an independent for servicing would also de-value their vehicle when they came to sell it not only privately but also to a dealer even if it was carried out by a ‘so-called’ specialist.
The pitch came from him very fluently and was clearly ingrained (whether by himself or from the top down), either way, it’s toxic and given Block exemption, should be banned.
Steven PatersonParticipantI would like to know what parts are OEM approved for warranty purposes, because I have seen several garages promote the ability to carry our warranty safe servicing while fitting what they assume are quality oem approved parts (and many of them are not oem approved), we need someone who claims to represent our industry to tell us what brands are 100% warranty safe brands to use, rather than people fitting parts that once had a brand name that have now become boxing companies for cheap chinese parts using a popular name to sell there product (usually bought buy a factor), our thoughts are if it’s not Tier 1 or OEM it’s not warranty safe
graham LangeGuestThis won’t be popular, but I tend to advise customers with new Volvo’s (we only work on Volvo Cars) to use the main dealer for at least their first two services. There are things we can’t do, that Volvo can. The biggest issue is software. As part of the main dealer service all Volvo’s are given a software upgrade package as part of the service, and whilst we have VIDA which is the full factory diagnostic kit, we can only buy software individually, whereas a main dealer has it as a package and includes it free in a service. We cannot compete with this, and it means that essential updates to new cars are not done, and therefore the car is not fully serviced to manufacturers specification. Now, this may be an argument for different day, but there are two sides to every coin, and usually main dealers do such a poor job of looking after their customers that they come to us later anyway, and the later service items like cam belts etc that really earn the money is often after the warranty period has run out and over three years old….
MR PAUL COLGRAVEGuestI have owned my business for 25 yrs. We service and maintain dozens of new vehicles every year. We always use dealer filters and oil and carry out services to dealer schedules. It would not be fair to class all dealerships as the same, just as it would not be fair to class all independents as the same. It is common knowledge that dealerships do intimidate customers to gain their work. We serviced a Peugeot RCZ , used dealer filters and oil. A month or so later the management light came on and message emissions fault. Still being in warranty the customer took the car to the nearest dealership who read the ECU and quickly determined the wrong oil had been used and just as quickly blamed us as the independent. The customer called me while still at Peugeot dealership. I told her the car had definitely had the correct oil and was bought from the same dealer. The dealer could be heard in the back ground still insisting it was the wrong oil and basically accusing me of lying , i asked the customer to put him on the phone , repeatedly asking him what the fault was(never answered) and was it definitely the oil that at caused the fault .(to which he replied yes.) In front of me i had the sales invoice, from themselves. I read off the invoice number, i heard him tap a few buttons quickly followed by a very stutter y comment(not apology). He then put down the phone. This is a fine example of what dealerships are telling our customers to avoid any warranty and make us look bad. How ever it was funny at the time to listen to him squirm.
cn coxGuesthaving traded for over 35years i downsized ready for retirement. this included deregistration from vat. now why do they insist you are vat registered to keep warranty valid?
if i do not charge vat it can make no difference to a claimnjwGuestI own and run an independent. Servicing is an issue that can be resolved. The biggest ring fence for me now, as mentioned above is the diagnostics that we cant get into, despite having 3 different pieces of equipment. This is their new “servicing” scam as far as I am concerned. Keeping the customer close by not allowing us access, thus stopping the customers choice as to where they go for repairs. Its just wrong
JOHN HARBISHERGuest18 Weare Grove
Stillington
we have been informed by Mazda as a independent garage we cannot update digital records if we carry out a service on a Mazda is this correctPhilip KerkhamGuestGood luck on servicing new cars now our job has moved on to a point that just changing oil and filters is a hazard ! I keep away from new cars just not worth the risk of upsetting something unless my customer makes me do it ! Time for me to move on after fifty five years of sorting cars ( if my customers will let me) ?
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