I prefer to buy locally so that any post sale issues can be resolved. Well we bought our Vitara from a dealer 70 mins drive away. Doesn’t sound too far but if you had to leave the car and go back later in the day for it you’re looking at losing most of a day.

Anyway within a day of picking it up I found the DLRs weren’t working. Brakes also were intermittently grinding in reverse. Both PDI fails surely. They gave us a free courtesy car for the day and resolved the faults. But it was a tedious day of killing time,

Then it needed a service, nine months into our tenure. We returned to the supplying dealer for this. Largely to maintain a relationship, at least in our first year. It meant kicking our heels for four hours. And that was “While you wait” service. They reported coolant leak stains but said it might be historic as levels were OK. They suggested I monitor it for 250 miles. Next day I checked the coolant level after 50 miles. It was low, just over the mark. I smelt a rat re the level having been properly checked at the service. However I topped it up as I couldn’t take it back all that way on low. After that, as I suspected, it’s now only going down very slowly in 250 miles. Having got my torch out I can see a wet gasket joint which presumably is what the service guy saw, so it is indeed leaking/weeping.

Rang today but despite my pressing they can’t get in the workshop for a month. This is probably not untypical of main dealers. Even then that’s only to assess it and raise as a used car warranty issue with Suzuki. We will need to take it back a couple of weeks later for the actual repair. Courtesy car is chargeable for both days. In theory I could take it to another Suzuki dealer but we’re in a bit of a Suzuki desert and the nearest one is still 30 mins away. They may also be rammed and of course we have no comeback on them if Suzuki reject the warranty claim. If that were to happen I am then confident (from the staining and slow rate of loss) that’s it’s been leaking for months so the supplying dealer should cover it if Suzuki won’t. Hence I need to stick with them for now. The car is drivable albeit I need to keep checking the coolant so I just need to suck up the delay.

It would have been a lot easier if they’d been local. Just dropping it off each time and going about our day. As it stands each visit means a day lost. As per the title, I should have followed my own advice.