When purchasing a new car, the official dealer often imposes its after-sales service. At the same time, prices for simple manipulations such as changing pads, oil and filters are significantly higher than market prices. If the client is indignant and threatens to go to another car service center, then the officials allegedly threaten them with the right to cancel the warranty. Read about how to replace an unscrupulous dealer or even replace him with the services of a more budget-friendly unofficial service without losing the car’s warranty in the Izvestia article.
Corrupt creatures
How not only dreams come true, but also old cars
Chained by one chain
Many Russians who buy cars new are still forced to come for warranty service to the dealer - the same one who sold them the car. Even if it is no longer convenient for them. After all, often the purchase is made far from the place of residence, since it is not so easy to find a good offer or the required configuration and color. And dealer bonuses like free winter tires or cheap insurance have not been canceled.
However, not all official dealers demonstrate the best service practices. Often people encounter deception and banal rudeness from service providers. They have to overpay for spare parts, which, having the status of so-called original ones, are no different from similar non-original parts that are produced at the same plant. Only in the first case, these parts in the original packaging of the automaker go to official dealers, and in the second case, the same components in the manufacturer’s packaging go to the retail market. The price difference is significant.
dealer
Photo: TASS/Dmitry Rogulin
Motorists also have questions about maintenance prices. In an ordinary independent car service center, the banal procedure of changing engine oil, brake pads and air filter costs, for example, 700–1000 rubles; at an official, the same manipulations can cost 2–7 times more. Many citizens overpay for these services, not realizing that they can be abandoned completely painlessly.
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Purchasing a car is not only a one-time expenditure of a large sum of money, but also subsequent payment for maintenance and consumables. Most of the costs are incurred on vehicle maintenance, especially if maintenance is carried out at an official dealer and while the car is under warranty.
Is it possible to reduce maintenance costs and is it necessary to have it done at an official dealer of Lada, KIA, Nissan, Toyota?
Is it necessary to undergo maintenance at an official dealer?
Every car owner knows the truism: while the faithful iron horse is under warranty, service and maintenance must be carried out only in the halls of an official dealer.
On the one hand, this is a huge plus: nevertheless, specialists in such centers have much more experience working with certain brands of cars, but if you look at it on the other hand, not everything is so rosy. Such seemingly simple and elementary actions as changing oils and special fluids, spark plugs and filters cost many times more in official centers than in regular service stations.
For many new car owners, stories that carrying out repairs and maintenance work only at official dealers will save the car’s warranty are real horror stories.
It turns out to be a kind of dilemma: both it is necessary and it is injected.
At its core, warranty service is a kind of bait for car owners, used to generate additional profit. Of course, official dealerships will not operate at a loss, and accordingly, the costs of vehicle owners become very significant. This applies to both domestic and foreign cars.
It is worth noting that the guarantee includes the possibility of returning the vehicle if a serious malfunction is discovered during operation. For what reasons can they refuse technical service from an official dealer?
More than 15% of car owners prefer to carry out maintenance at a car service center, a licensed car manufacturer, rather than contact an official dealer. Of course, this threatens the loss of the warranty and a conflict with the dealer, but there are several reasons for this decision:
1. Cost of planned technical work. Almost the entire range of work performed in official services can be carried out at any service station. The quality will not suffer at all: today, many car services specialize in cars of a specific brand and have licenses from car manufacturers to operate.
Such centers have the necessary equipment and qualified employees who can carry out any work, from “firmware” of the injector to engine overhaul. A huge plus is the significantly lower cost than the official ones.
2. Cost of additional equipment and spare parts. Official dealers use only original parts during maintenance and when repairs are necessary. Accordingly, the cost of such consumables is quite high.
In contrast, regular auto centers can find similar high-quality parts, but at a lower price. Of course, in any case, you should consult with professionals, since you can often find extremely low-quality fakes.
3. Queues for maintenance are too long. To undergo maintenance at official dealers, you almost always have to wait in line for more than one hour, while at private stations the situation is not so sad.
Is it worth doing maintenance at the dealer after the warranty expires?
Most Russian car owners, after the end of the car’s warranty, remain loyal to their own official dealer, holding the opinion that the quality of their services is better, and they trust the officials more than private service stations.
In addition, this solution has the advantage of filling out a service book, which is especially important in the event of a subsequent sale of the car, and a guarantee for all work performed. Despite this and various discounts and promotions, you will have to pay a considerable amount for the services of an official dealer, especially after the warranty expires.
For this reason, many car owners choose authorized services that specialize in a particular brand of car. Such centers have all the necessary equipment, their own spare parts warehouses and qualified employees, often with official permission from the automobile concern to carry out activities.
The only disadvantage of such services is that you cannot count on a quick solution to the problem , since many of them work by appointment.
Maintenance at an official dealer is a very controversial issue that worries many car owners. Whether to contact dealers or not is an individual decision for everyone, depending on the financial capabilities of the car owner.
where to go
First of all, a motorist can familiarize himself with the list of dealership centers and prices even before visiting a dealership on the website using a maintenance calculator, Mitsubishi explained to Izvestia. True, the prices there are not official and final; information about the cost of a standard hour is obtained based on data provided by the dealers themselves. But, as a rule, these data are very close to real ones, and in some cases the price tags may be lower.
“For example, the cost of spare parts and services for cars older than 30 months may differ less within the Mitsubishi 3+ service program,” said Mitsubishi official representative in Russia Natalya Kostenok.
one hundred
Photo: RIA Novosti/Konstantin Chalabov
Toyota sets maximum resale prices for spare parts used during maintenance and regulates the number of standard hours required to carry out a particular maintenance procedure. But the cost of a standard hour is set by the official dealer independently based on market and competitive conditions. At the same time, Mitsubishi and Toyota, as well as other manufacturers, do not prohibit changing dealers. Threats of any dealer to revoke the warranty for a customer attempting to get service from a third-party service are groundless.
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What should I do if the dealer refuses warranty repairs?
If you have become a victim of a plot similar to the one described above, then you already understand why the dealer is acting illegally. Meanwhile, the procedure here is quite simple.
First of all, any relationship with an official dealer, including requests to eliminate defects, must be made in writing. It is not enough to simply come to the seller and point out the breakdown. It is necessary to write a written request to eliminate the defect or conduct an examination to establish the seller’s innocence of the defect and provide a reasoned refusal based on the examination.
The requirement must be submitted in the form of a claim in 2 copies, where one must include the incoming number or simply the official must sign it and give it to you as proof of acceptance. In any case, it is better to film the submission of the claim on video, since the cunning of some dealers knows no bounds - there have been cases when representatives of the car dealership claimed that the buyer did not give any claims, and the employee who signed never worked for them at all, and it is almost impossible to prove the opposite.
- (DOCX format for filling out on a computer).
- (PDF format to fill out after printing).
And only by proving that the defect arose as a direct result of the intervention of unauthorized persons, the dealer can refuse to repair the car under warranty.
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Official, bye!
Requirements from official dealers to undergo technical inspection only at their place are illegal. There is no such legal definition as cancellation of the warranty, reminds automobile expert Sergei Ifanov.
“The seller and the client sign an agreement; non-compliance with its provisions will still need to be proven in court. Article 16 of the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights” prohibits linking the purchase of one product and service with the mandatory purchase of another product and service. Accordingly, the dealer has no right to hint at canceling the warranty. The law gives citizens full right to choose a car service center,” Ifanov explained.
Moreover, an official dealer can be exchanged for an unofficial service.
“If the buyer is sure that the unofficial service center meets all the conditions, then there is no need to worry. The main thing is that this corresponds to reality, and in the event of a dispute between a consumer and an official dealer, an independent expert, whom the parties will have to turn to, is sure of this,” noted Natalya Kostenok from Mitsubishi.
dealer
Photo: TASS/Dmitry Rogulin
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Toyota takes a similar position.
“Of course, the client has the right not to follow our recommendations if he believes that he can independently carry out maintenance in accordance with the manufacturer’s regulations or is confident in the quality of services provided by third-party organizations. In this case, the client assumes responsibility. However, if it is determined that the malfunction that has arisen was the result of the use of a low-quality part or incorrectly performed maintenance or not to the full extent recommended by the manufacturer, then in this case warranty service may be denied,” noted PR Director of Toyota in Russia Natalya Astafieva.
If the dealer does not treat the client as a walking wallet, then he will offer lucrative loyalty programs in advance that will help retain him, explains the AutoSpetsCenter Group of Companies.
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“As a rule, official dealers have a scale of discounts on service, designed for owners with cars of different ages. Dealers also make special offers to retain owners of cars that have already expired from the warranty or offer to extend it, said Alexey Ermilov, marketing director at AutoSpetsCenter.
What is a guarantee and why is it impossible to void it?
A car is a product, its owner, after purchasing it at a car dealership, is a consumer, and the car dealership itself (we will call it an official dealer below) is a seller. It is obvious. There is also a car manufacturer - we will also need it below. Consequently, the legal relations between the above-mentioned persons in the context of our product are regulated by the Federal Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” (hereinafter referred to as “PZPP”). We will deal with him.
So, we will start with the basic term - guarantee, which not everyone understands as it should be understood by the letter of the law.
A warranty is a period (it is called the “warranty period”) during which the seller undertakes to eliminate defects that arose through no fault of the consumer. Since the guarantee is a term, it becomes obvious already here that it is impossible to “fly” or withdraw from the term.
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Here are some more useful postulates about the warranty period:
- neither the seller nor the manufacturer has any obligation to establish a guarantee by law (no obligation is specified in any legal act),
- however, if there is no warranty period for the product, this does not mean that the seller can give the car to the buyer and say goodbye to him - in case of claims regarding the quality of the car, the buyer can still make claims; the law sets a period of 2 years for this, if the seller did not provide for a longer period (Part 1 of Article 19 of the Civil Code, quotation below),
- if the car is under warranty, then the responsibility to find out whose fault this or that breakdown occurred falls on the dealer, but if he proves that it was the fault of the buyer, then the consumer must pay for the examination that found this out (Article 18, Part 5 ZPP).
Article 19, part 1.
In relation to goods for which warranty periods or expiration dates have not been established, the consumer has the right to make these demands if defects in the goods are discovered within a reasonable time, but within two years from the date of their transfer to the consumer, unless longer periods are established by law or contract.
Article 18, part 5.
In the event of a dispute about the reasons for the occurrence of defects in the goods, the seller (manufacturer), an authorized organization or an authorized individual entrepreneur, or the importer are obliged to conduct an examination of the goods at their own expense.
