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Should I take a chance and not take my new honda civic to the dealers to have it serviced?. They quoted me over £600 for a 3 year 27k mile service plan to be paid monthly!.That is a lot of money taking into account that the first 2 of 3 services are very little more than oil changes plus checks which could easily be done by myself. The 3rd service includes checking and setting up the valve timing which I could maybe give to them to do as I believe it has to be set up correctly as it has variable valve timing.
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Did I not read in the "auto express" recently that honda would allow their cars to be serviced by another garage so long as they belonged to a certain federation, although the service book seems to contradict this in the small print. If I was allowed to do this then I have 3 choices, either pay £600,have it done at another garage a lot cheaper, or do most of it myself and hope nothing major goes wrong in the first 3 years. (a well known law called "SODS LAW" comes to mind). I intend keeping the car long term. What should I do?. Regards Malcolm
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Hi Malcom,
Your predicament has been highlighted many times over the years and I recall that a ruling was given on this by some authoritive body that under some restrictive practises laws, one could use a recognised garage to have servicing carried out without infringing on your warranty by the vehicle manufacturer.
However there is as always a big difference in law to what can actually be achieved by the individual when it actually comes to the crunch.
Myself I would do two things.
I would go to a service station such as Halfords and ask the question.
I would then write to Honda asking them to state if your warranty would be intact if Halfords for example carried out the servicing on your car.
I would do both things as a belt and braces operation before I actually had the car serviced.
I am sure that HJ will put in his opinion on this and probably be able to state the definitive on this old problem.
regards
Alvin
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H.J. The car is new. It is a 3 year 27000 mile service plan paid monthly costing in total £600. What is the position regarding having a new car serviced at a garage other than the dealers?. Regards, Malcolm.
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Six hundred quid is a big hit for a 30,000 mile service, but all your car has had so far is engine oil changes so this is its first real service. I'd get your Honda dealer to break down in writing exactly what the six hundred quid service includes (no pound sign on Dutch computers). If as you say you want to keep the car for a long time and the valve timing has gone out slightly then the cost of having this set up properly should be seen as an investment. Might as well also have the timing belt changed at the same time.
HJ
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Malcolm,
So this Service plan includes all the servicing for 3 years///? does not sound too extreme in this case then ?
My Vectra cost me £400.00 over three years, all Main Agent service (three year warranty on the one I bought)..one of the only good things about a Vectra is its service costs... My old (j plate) Civic used to cost a fortune to service in a franchised dealer (Conwy Honda). Honda seem to view themselves as a Japanese BMW and charge accordingly. So what price a Skoda...Free servicing for three years impecc. build quality and a cheap car to buy new makes you think about badge snobbiness really. I always thought that Honda's service intervals were rather on the short side as well. Mind you you always had a fine Columbian Coffee while you waited.
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