Fast_Blue_Scooby

Any advice most welcome.

I have a MY99UK Turbo. It is 2 years old and it has only done 12,000 miles.

I have had my car serviced by an independent garage, actually run by a friend who has serviced my cars for the last 10 years. He is well known in the area and has a very good reputation.

Today my car was in for it's 2 year service when he noticed that the rear diff oil seal was leaking ever so slightly.

As I have the 3 year, 60,000 warranty on my car, I paid a call to my local Subaru dealer to inform them of the problem and to book the car to be fixed under warranty.

Well I have just been told by my local dealer that Subaru UK have said that they cannot carry out the repair under warranty! Reason given, well it was okay for my car to be serviced by a non Subaru garage in the first year, in fact if the car was less than a year old, they would fix it with no cost to me, but because the car was serviced in the second year by a non Subaru dealer, the warranty will not cover it!!

This is my first Subaru and apart from the usual reputation/performance status of the car, the 3 year warranty was one of the reasons why I bought the car as I thought I would have 3 years of not worrying about anything going wrong with the car.

Now I find my car needs a repair and the warranty does not cover it!!!

I thought it was outlawed that car companies could insist that you had to have your car serviced by a Subaru dealer, something to do with customer choice and not having a closed shop.

I have phoned up Subaru UK myself and I am awaiting a reply.

Has anyone any advice to offer me and has anyone been in a similar position regarding claiming on a warranty.

My car has been meticously looked after and serviced, all with Subaru approved parts, in fact the car looks better than brand new, now I find that Subaru will not cover me under the warranty!

Thanks in advance...........

john banks

Years two and three of the UK warranty are supplied by the importer International Motors - i.e. Subaru UK. The first year is the actual manufacturer's pan-European warranty. Same with my Belgian import except it is Subaru Belgium who do the second and third year warranty. This may be the reason they are quibbling. Don't know if they are right though.

TonyNesta

I think it does say in the warranty book, that you have to get the car serviced by an authorised Subaru dealer to make the warranty valid. To be honest, I'm surprised they said they would have fixed it in the first year despite not being serviced by an authorised dealer. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.....

T

polarbearit

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by TonyNesta:
<B>To be honest, I'm surprised they said they would have fixed it in the first year despite not being serviced by an authorised dealer. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.....

T[/quote]

It is an legal obligation for them to allow the car to be serviced anywhere in the (mandatory) 1st year of warranty, but as years 2 and 3 are just covered by IM (and not governed by law) the can attach whatever terms they want unfortunately....

You could always try another dealer and see what he says. Also this may change when block exemption is lifted!

Jon