First service on new Honda Scooter, where?

[Bingo]

Thanks for the replies. I was going off the maintenance schedule in the booklet and I am sure I read somewhere maybe on here where someone got their first service done by Honda for a Vision for about £25 or something ridiculous. It just seemed excessive for what according to the book is just an oil change which if it was I could get the local mechanic to do. Clearly the advice is to go to Honda then. If its that important a service I am happy to do that as I will likely keep the bike for ten years or until it causes me any bother down the line. On the plus side the service intervals are longer than the old model. I used to have to change the oil every 2500 miles on that one.

Extract from the book.

[Mister Paul]

Its a tricky one! Legally, as I understand it, you don't have to go to a franchised dealer for servicing. However, I kind of agree with Smeghead, that maybe you should have the first service done by a Honda dealer, just to cut out any possible hassle from Honda in case of any trouble. I presume you'd go to Vertu in Stockton - close to my home, but I've never had any dealings with them - except that they contracted a load of work out to the local workshop that I use!

I've heard it said that this law only applies to cars, and so far I've never been able to find confimation that it also covers motorbikes.

I had some emails with Honda UK about it, and this was their response:

"We do not have any established terms and conditions or rules saying that if you service your car with an independent dealer this will mandatory void your warranty.

We do not oblige our customers to service their cars at Honda dealers, but defanetely we recommend this, because as mentioned in my previous e-mail we can guarantee only for Honda dealers that they follow specific procedures established by Honda and use only Honda genuine parts in order to ensure that the motorcycle will continue working properly and no issues will arise in the future. Hence in case if the car develops an issue due to a non proper servicing of the motorcycle this will void the warranty."

[velocipede6295]

Having changed my bikes a bit in recent years,it always irks me to have to go back and pay for the 600 mile service so soon after buying a new bike. However I think it is best to get it done by the dealer, so I will have have no problem if I have to make a warranty claim. When I was negotiating to buy a new Yamaha X Max 400 two years back, after negotiating a satisfactory PX price on my trade in, I said I would do the deal, if they included the first 600 mile service free of charge. The salesman readily agreed, and I got him to endorse the service book, and sign that the first service was free of charge. When I later took it in for the 600 miles service, they didn't charge me, as agreed.
Six months ago I bought a Forza 300 with 445 miles on the clock. I asked the salesman about the 600 miles service which was due very shortly, and I did not want to have to pay for a service in a week's time. He agreed that they would do the 600 miles service, a bit early, before I collected the bike, which they did, and they stamped the service book, to show that it had been done.
When I am buying a new bike it is the only time that I feel that I have any leverage in negotiating a deal, they may not always agree, but it costs me nothing to ask, and it has worked both times when I have asked. I know this advice is too late for the original poster, but it may help someone else who is considering buying a new bike - try and get the first service included in the deal, before you agree to buy. However what I smugly saved on not paying for the first service on the X Max, was heavily outweighed with depreciation, when I part ex'd the X Max after 18 months, for an NC 750X DCT. Must keep the Forza longer!

[Mister Paul]

My Honda dealer does the first service for free. The only problem is they're in Manchester and I'm in North Somerset....

[Bingo]

Thanks again. I got this bike from Padgetts which is 75 miles away so not really practical to go back but there was no negotiating with anything with them. It was literally the only Vision in stock in the country in the colour I wanted. I could have possibly got a white one elsewhere but it was the one colour I didnt want. Some dealers were saying could be end of May to July!! So no discounts and £100 delivery fee. I asked if they would fit a Top box FOC and they agreed to that but they couldnt get one from GIVI for three to four weeks. So I spent hours finding a UK stockist (again hard to find) with the box and rack adaptor in stock. Told Padgetts I had found one and could they fit it. They then said they wanted £65 as I never bought it through them!! I was a bit disgusted at that being a new customer and that they couldlnt get one themselves so I fitted it myself. So I doubt they would have thrown in a free service even if I could be bothered to trail 75 miles down the A1 on a 110cc bike!

Advice taken though. Ill book it into Teesside Honda which is about the nearest when its nearly due.

[Greyerbeard]

One point that manufacturers, road testers and customers often gloss over when emphasizing 'longer service intervals' or e.g. 'service intervals now extended to 10,000 miles'... is the bit that says 'or annually, whichever comes first'. Worth remembering?

[MrGrumpy]

One point that manufacturers, road testers and customers often gloss over when emphasizing 'longer service intervals' or e.g. 'service intervals now extended to 10,000 miles'... is the bit that says 'or annually, whichever comes first'. Worth remembering?

Yeah, I've spotted that. Apparently some Ducatis and Triumphs have 16k service intervals, but not many owners will do more than 3000 in a year, so its a bit meaningless! There again, with the Tmax I tend to observe the 6000 mile service and not rush to the workshop every 12 months.

[Data]

Its a tricky one! Legally, as I understand it, you don't have to go to a franchised dealer for servicing. However, I kind of agree with Smeghead, that maybe you should have the first service done by a Honda dealer, just to cut out any possible hassle from Honda in case of any trouble. I presume you'd go to Vertu in Stockton - close to my home, but I've never had any dealings with them - except that they contracted a load of work out to the local workshop that I use!

I've heard it said that this law only applies to cars, and so far I've never been able to find confimation that it also covers motorbikes.

I had some emails with Honda UK about it, and this was their response:

"We do not have any established terms and conditions or rules saying that if you service your car with an independent dealer this will mandatory void your warranty.

We do not oblige our customers to service their cars at Honda dealers, but defanetely we recommend this, because as mentioned in my previous e-mail we can guarantee only for Honda dealers that they follow specific procedures established by Honda and use only Honda genuine parts in order to ensure that the motorcycle will continue working properly and no issues will arise in the future. Hence in case if the car develops an issue due to a non proper servicing of the motorcycle this will void the warranty."

As I understand it you can take you motorcycle or scooter to any non-franchised VAT registered dealer for it's servicing whilst the bike is under warranty. It doesn't have to be the main dealer for that brand. However, if you do it can delay warranty work as the non-franchised dealer often cannot carry out warranty work for another brand or will be unwilling to undertake it. The reason for this is that a dealer who didn't supply the bike often takes a hit on the labour charge that the manufacturer is willing to pay. It's less usually than the going rate. For example, Piaggio used to only pay half the going labour rate here in the UK. Even Piaggio dealers didn't like doing warranty work so getting anyone else to do it was always a problem. It's a bit different these days but you see what I mean.

[StephenC]

When I looked at the Honda service plan, I found that '3 services' was actually 2 services plus the 600 mile service. One thing to be cautious of is that if you buy the plan and then cease to own the scooter for any reason (eg sale, accident or theft), then Honda WON'T give you any outstanding money back, which I think is quite bad practice.

My dealer discouraged me to use it for the 1st service saying it was better value to save it for the 18k one. I had bought the bike on a 3 yr PCP so was planning to keep it for the whole time, so for me it made sense. Granted, for others it may not.

I'm coming to the end of the 3yrs in May and the bike is on 11k instead of the forecast 24k. Full main dealer service history and no marks or scratches, so I'm hoping that they will accept that all that wipes out the deposit if I roll over onto a deal for a 350. If they don't, I'll just pay the bubble and keep the bike (after all, it is on 13k less miles than I was expecting so has plenty of life left).

[richie the 1st]

so is it any different to your 1st vision.