Warranties.

[Yorick]

BMW are surprisingly the least bothered.

Good morning Yorick

 

Thanks for your email about servicing on your BMW Motorrad.

 

You can have your bike serviced anywhere of your choice. We always advise customers to have servicing and repairs carried out at a BMW Approved Centre. This is because if you visit a third party garage and something goes wrong, a BMW Approved Centre may not rectify the faulty work, but it’s completely your choice.

 

If you’re purchasing your bike on finance and your contract states the servicing needs to be carried out within the network, you’ll need to speak to your finance company directly about your contract.

 

I hope this information helps.

 

If there’s anything else I can do for you, please let me know.

 

Kind regards

 

Ambreen

 

BMW Motorrad
United Kingdom

[Dodgy69]

That means it could void your warranty.

[Yorick]

That means it could void your warranty.

Only if you are stupid. The law is on your side.

[Couchy]

So if part of a specified service is plugging in the diagnostic machine and setting certain parameters and checking for faults how can a non main dealer do that ? In the case of Ducati the diagnostic machine can only be bought by a Ducati dealer and it is linked online to the factory. The same machine is also used to setup certain parts of the running. Without this you can’t complete a full service to the schedule in the manual. I’m not on the dealers side but wonder how an independent can complete that side of a service ?

[Dodgy69]

Agreed, they've made modern bike's so complicated only main dealer can do the work.

[Mr. Dazzle]

In the case of Ducati the diagnostic machine can only be bought by a Ducati dealer and it is linked online to the factory.

This is the key point/misunderstanding - 'they' have to make all necessary kit available to anyone who wishes to buy it. Dunno if that it true of bikes, but it is of cars and I can't see why they'd differentiate in the law?

For example, my BMW (car) is serviced by a non-BMW specialist dealer. When I took the car back to a franchise dealer for some recall work they could see on their system all the work the non-BMW guys had done and they confirmed it had the latest version of all the software.

[Couchy]

In the case of Ducati the diagnostic machine can only be bought by a Ducati dealer and it is linked online to the factory.

This is the key point/misunderstanding - 'they' have to make all necessary kit available to anyone who wishes to buy it. Dunno if that it true of bikes, but it is of cars and I can't see why they'd differentiate in the law?

For example, my BMW (car) is serviced by a non-BMW specialist dealer. When I took the car back to a franchise dealer for some recall work they could see on their system all the work the non-BMW guys had done and they confirmed it had the latest version of all the software.

Wow never knew that, wonder how many independent dealers buy the official kit and pay the subscriptions ?

[weeksy]

In the case of Ducati the diagnostic machine can only be bought by a Ducati dealer and it is linked online to the factory.

This is the key point/misunderstanding - 'they' have to make all necessary kit available to anyone who wishes to buy it. Dunno if that it true of bikes, but it is of cars and I can't see why they'd differentiate in the law?

For example, my BMW (car) is serviced by a non-BMW specialist dealer. When I took the car back to a franchise dealer for some recall work they could see on their system all the work the non-BMW guys had done and they confirmed it had the latest version of all the software.

Wow never knew that, wonder how many independent dealers buy the official kit and pay the subscriptions ?

I'd imagine not many in the bike world anyway

[Mr. Dazzle]

In the case of Ducati the diagnostic machine can only be bought by a Ducati dealer and it is linked online to the factory.

This is the key point/misunderstanding - 'they' have to make all necessary kit available to anyone who wishes to buy it. Dunno if that it true of bikes, but it is of cars and I can't see why they'd differentiate in the law?

For example, my BMW (car) is serviced by a non-BMW specialist dealer. When I took the car back to a franchise dealer for some recall work they could see on their system all the work the non-BMW guys had done and they confirmed it had the latest version of all the software.

Wow never knew that, wonder how many independent dealers buy the official kit and pay the subscriptions ?

No idea...but I imagine there are a lot more people wanting cheap servicing for diesel 3 series than there are for a Ducati

I also imagine the law limits how much you can charge, otherwise the OEMs would sell the kit for a stupid unobtainable price right?

[Bigyin]

Agreed, they've made modern bike's so complicated only main dealer can do the work.

My Ducati independent place asked me if mine had a software update when it went in during August for the major service as he now had the computer kit to do it all ... I wasnt sure when the last update was as mine hadnt been plugged into the Ducati mainframe since i bought it so he said he would check and update if necessary ... He was quite pleased with his new electronic toys