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On 06/02/2011 13:40, Gordon Henderson wrote:
On Sun, 6 Feb 2011, tom wrote:On a lot of modern cars there is an attempt to prevent you accessing the cars computer via DRM laws etc. There was a law going through the European Parliament to make it illegal to have your car looked at anywhere other than an approved garage. Not sure if it got kicked out or put to one side for later.There's something called the "Block Exemption" law passed in 2003 which means that your car manufacturers warranty is valid if it's serviced at a non-manufacturer owned garage, but AIUI, it still must be "approved", however I don't know who does the approval - I suspect you need the right diagnostic kit and facilities. Once outside warranty, then it's up to you, of-course.
I guess in a way I'm lucky that my warranty has run out. It'll be a few years before I can afford a car young enough to have a warranty.
I've just used the facilities of http://www.servicingstop.co.uk/ to get my car serviced and MOTd, however I would not recommend them, nor will I use them ever again as their price was actually higher than Mercedes would have charged me for a standard "level 2" service - Merc. includes all the consumables in the price they give you, Servicing stop didn't - and they didn't warn me of this either. I also found it very frustrating to have to deal with a call centre (in the UK) who then called the garage, etc. rather then deal with the garage directly. They seem to tie the garages up into exclusivity contracts too, so while I was happy with the garages work, I can't go directly to them, but must always use Servicing Stop...
Ahh I see so they're like a scheme for garages to get customers? I'll make a note to avoid them.
My cars original 4-year warranty expires this month anyway, so I'll be shopping around for the next service, and doing bits of it myself - changing oil/filters, coolant and brakes isn't a big deal for me, but the garage can use their diagnostics to check the tuning, emissions, etc.
I use Mobile Car Services who are based in Torquay, I believe they don't have a web site but they can be found on Facebook here http://tinyurl.com/mobilecarservices
Although I think it's about time I did learn the basics.
And does anyone actually check the service records when buying a 2nd hand car privately? I'm not sure for a car over 6-8 years, it's worth it unless it's a really good car...I've had a look at the service history on my car. Isn't much there, tyres, brakes, that's about it. I'm going to get the cam belt and water pump done as a precaution as I don't know when they were last done.
Rob -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq