Why is my Meriva's warranty invalid following a service performed by a local garage?
I bought a Meriva from a Vauxhall dealer two years ago. It came with a lifetime warranty and has 12,000 miles on the clock. It has just had its second annual service at my local garage. Vauxhall said it needed a master service costing £220, but my local garage (who I used before and have been happy with) said that it only needed an oil and filter service because of its low mileage.
Vauxhall allows you to have the service anywhere but to get the warranty revalidated you need to produce a VAT invoice with the quality and quantity of oil used. When I took the car to Vauxhall to have the warranty revalidated they said that the brake fluid hadn't been changed (as well as the pollen filter and key fob battery) and that this could render the warranty invalid in the case of future problems with the brakes. I spoke to my local garage and they said that they had checked the brake fluid but it hadn't needed changing and that the main dealer was just trying to get me to spend more money.
I'm now worried that my warranty won't be valid (even though it met the conditions for being revalidated) but don't want to pay over the odds for expensive Vauxhall servicing. Who's right?
You have not met the conditions of the warranty because the car did not have the stipulated 2-year service demanded by the manufacturer. The system runs: small service, big service, small service, big service. So I think you have invalidated the warranty, even though at two years all brake fluid needs is a quality check that can be done with a test stick.
Answered by Honest John on