Sale of goods act, warranty and distance buying

[irocfan]

I'm curious about how SoGA works (on a practical) level with cars bought at a distance. Say you live in Brighton but end up getting your car from a main dealer in york surely that makes trying to get your complaint/issue resolved quite tricky (unless said dealer is nationwide). Is that part of the 'risk' you accept for going further afield?

In a similar vein I guess, are warranties these days a "...return to vendor..." job or any reputable garage will do?