Service History
Discussion
My existing car has been serviced within the AUDI dealer network until my last service where I went to an independent specialist, my last MOT was also done by an Audi dealer. In discussions with a Skoda dealer yesterday regarding the value of my car as a trade in they produced a digital record of my cars service history (VMS), the most recent MOT was not recorded on the document nor the most recent service. I was informed that the independent service would have appeared if genuine VW group parts were used. Despite me providing the receipt for the service and also the MOT certificate they stated that while they could market the car as having a full service history, they could not market it as ‘approved used’ as the service was not recorded on the (VMS). Not unsurprisingly they then reduced the value offered for my car.
I have two questions.
1. The VMS document is incomplete as the MOT is not recorded, how do I go about getting this corrected.
2. Is the position of the dealer correct, should I be penalised for getting my car serviced out with the dealer network, which is a cosumer right, and thus affect my trade in value. Or are they simply trying to drive down the offer on my car.
Grateful for any thoughts and thanks for reading.
I have two questions.
1. The VMS document is incomplete as the MOT is not recorded, how do I go about getting this corrected.
2. Is the position of the dealer correct, should I be penalised for getting my car serviced out with the dealer network, which is a cosumer right, and thus affect my trade in value. Or are they simply trying to drive down the offer on my car.
Grateful for any thoughts and thanks for reading.
Don't quote me, but some dealers have very stringent rules on what they will accept to resell as "approved" or "Select" or whatever and one such stipulation may be that the car has full main dealer history and regardless of the genuine parts, any service completed outwith the network won't show on the manufacturer database and thus, as far they are concerned... it's not full dealer history and if if that's what they expect to re-market as "approved" then well, tough really... that's their choice and if you've opted to service outwith, then it's one of the downsides you'll have to accept. Some manufacturers and thus dealers are very hot on full dealer history / brand loyalty and regardless of your right to service elsewhere, it's their right to withdraw certain perks offered to customers who have full history and who have shown loyalty.
Put it this way, if you were buying from a dealer and part of their Select / Approved / Signature used car sales process was that all cars had full history, would you not be somewhat put off to discover that some of said full history was done by Fred in the Shed, even if genuine parts were used? I would to be fair, granted that's not to say Fred in the Shed is worse than the dealer, sometimes the opposite but like it or not, a full compliment of dealer stamps does make a used car more attractive to certain buyers and thus, the dealer is probably within his rights to alter the trade in value accordingly.
Just my thoughts, could be wrong!
Put it this way, if you were buying from a dealer and part of their Select / Approved / Signature used car sales process was that all cars had full history, would you not be somewhat put off to discover that some of said full history was done by Fred in the Shed, even if genuine parts were used? I would to be fair, granted that's not to say Fred in the Shed is worse than the dealer, sometimes the opposite but like it or not, a full compliment of dealer stamps does make a used car more attractive to certain buyers and thus, the dealer is probably within his rights to alter the trade in value accordingly.
Just my thoughts, could be wrong!
Thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed response.
If, as you suggest, this is a way of dealers penalising customers for exercising their statutory right to have their car serviced out with the dealer network then fair enough, that is their prerogative. It does seem a touch underhand as I’m pretty sure this isn’t widely publicised and unfortunate that you only find out about if when you come to trade in against a new car. Ultimately though it will be the dealers loss as I’m happy to shop around and see if a better deal is available elsewhere.
If, as you suggest, this is a way of dealers penalising customers for exercising their statutory right to have their car serviced out with the dealer network then fair enough, that is their prerogative. It does seem a touch underhand as I’m pretty sure this isn’t widely publicised and unfortunate that you only find out about if when you come to trade in against a new car. Ultimately though it will be the dealers loss as I’m happy to shop around and see if a better deal is available elsewhere.
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