My motorcycle seized a day after being serviced due to low oil. What are my rights?

My question concerns a motorcycle, but that is not significant as I believe the circumstances would apply equally to a car. On 22 June this year I bought myself a brand new motorcycle as a fun bike. It came with a 12 month manufacturer’s warranty. Having run the bike in, I took it for its first service by the supplying dealer on 26 July, the bike having covered about 700 miles. The very next day the bike failed on the M26 in Kent, so on the advice of the supplying dealer I had the bike recovered to a dealer in Kent where the AA diagnosed a seized engine. I spoke with the manufacturer directly from the dealer in Kent, the company refused to have that dealer carry out repairs and insisted I have the bike returned to them in Bolton (at my cost). The factory eventually collected the bike from its dealer in Kent on 20 August and has today informed me that having examined it the company will not repair the bike warranty, because it its opinion the bike had insufficient oil and therefore it was not covered. CCM intends to return the bike to me unrepaired. I am stuck between the factory that will not honour the warranty because in its opinion the bike had insufficient oil, and the dealer who carried out the service only the day before its engine failure and claims he did re-fill the engine with the correct type and quantity of oil. The fault must either be a manufacturing one and therefore the responsibility of CCM, or it must be a servicing one and therefore the service centre's liability. What do I do next?
That is all you can do. But first you need to talk to asklucy@honestjohn.co.uk. HJ.

You would be right to join them both to the action but the real claim is against the supplying dealer who undertook the service, as it seems likely the service was not carried out properly. Get a formal written response from the manufacturer as to the cause of the fault. Then approach the service centre for their response. If they will not replace the bike and compensate you for your loss, you should issue proceedings. LBC.
Answered by Lucy on

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