Legality of forcing you to use 'OEM' parts for servicing to maintain warranty.

[Apex]

My current 2018 V60 on lease is due its 2nd service and the local stealers are asking £440 for it......

Later in the day I get a call from them to discuss (it seems one side of the dealership doesn't talk to the other) and they basically said 'Volvo' told us we where too "cheap" etc etc 'Volvo' is a premium brand, if you want to retain your warranty you must use 'Volvo' branded parts etc all the typical bullrubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish; am still not buying it.

I've a few local Volvo Indys to look into and I am hopeful their prices are around the £250 mark (this is a price I had factored in at the start of the lease for the car)

Is anyone au fait with if it is legal for the brand/dealers to say to maintain warranty you must use $BRAND parts ?

[Saracen999]

My current 2018 V60 on lease is due its 2nd service and the local stealers are asking £440 for it......

Later in the day I get a call from them to discuss (it seems one side of the dealership doesn't talk to the other) and they basically said 'Volvo' told us we where too "cheap" etc etc 'Volvo' is a premium brand, if you want to retain your warranty you must use 'Volvo' branded parts etc all the typical bullrubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish; am still not buying it.

I've a few local Volvo Indys to look into and I am hopeful their prices are around the £250 mark (this is a price I had factored in at the start of the lease for the car)

Is anyone au fait with if it is legal for the brand/dealers to say to maintain warranty you must use $BRAND parts ?

First, IANAL.
Second, this memory goes back a number of years (20-30) so it's very possible that either I misremember, or the situation has changed.

That memory is that what you allege used to be the case, but I think it changed a long time back. IIRC, it went to a House of Lords case here and I have a vague memory of an EU court saying the same. Which was :-

- manufacturers cannot insist tbat only they do the ssrvice, and
- nor can they insist on own- brand parts ....

BUT ....

- they can require servicing to be done competently, by suitable staff, and
- can require parts of equal quality to be used.

And fsilure to do so potentially invalidates the warranty.

This, of course, is an entirely reasonable way of walking the line.

On the one hand, it prevents exploitation by manufacturers gouging customers either for servicing costs or parts prices.

On the other hand, you can't replace good quality branded parts with cheap garbage parts and then expect the manufacturer warranty to cover the costs if those garbage parts fail, and do further damage to the rest of the car.

And that balance opens up a huge opportunity for argument as to what caused what damage.

Bear in mind that manufacturer warranties are based on an assessment of the risk of a part failing, and the damage potential if it does. For instance, some engines can smash themselvex to bits if certain belts/chains fail, wrecking the whole engine. So, they over-engineer those parts and require changes at service intervals well within expected belt/chain life. But if you use cheap junk .....

So, as I understand it, no, they cannot make you use their bits, but if you use cheaper bits, you'd better be confident that that cannot be used to attribute blame if they fail.

In other words, it opens a potential warranty escape clause.

Personally, I avoid cheap, unbranded stuff as not worth the hassle, expecially in anything safety-critical (like brakes, tyres, etc) or where potential for damage if they fail early is high. But, for me, a quality component fro a thirc party? Fair enough.

Again .... these are vague memories going back a long way. Someone is sure to be more up go date.

[Apex]

This is it Saracen, i am half remembering.

Current situation for me is am going to ring a few other Volvo franchised dealers and see what the price is and at the same time check with the local indys i know of that deal with Volvo's; there is a added complication in that i've just re-read my lease contract "must be serviced to Volvo's schedule with 'Volvo' parts" - great just get a indy to do it and then there is a cluase that states 'franchised' dealer arrr balls

[DanceswithUnix]

My last service at an Alfa independent was nearly £420. That's 2.5 hours of labour at £70 per hour, the oil was £34 and thanks to the fancy turbo petrol engine setup it needs a £66 set of spark plugs every 2 years.

It should have been a little more; they said the engine air filter looked like new, checked records to see how few miles the car did last year and put the old one back in for another year.

The car is costing me about £2000 per year in depreciation, so not looking after that cost with poor servicing seems a false economy.

[Guy]

You're in a similar situation to me. As it's a lease and technically not owned by you, (you're just the registered keeper) they can be picky on the requirements.

Fortunately on the past 2 out of 3 leases, I've only had to have the servicing carried out in accordance with the manufacturer service schedule and to have the work done by a VAT registered garage, and to use genuine parts. So avoiding main dealer service tax!

[Ttaskmaster]

This might be of some interest:
http://www.figiefa.eu/wp-content/upl...rkbrochure.pdf