Jeff,

VW, nor any other manufacturer, can compel you to use their service
department for items that you have to pay for, such as regular maintenance.
You can choose to have this work done by any competent mechanic. Should any
problems arise that would require a warranty fix, however, you would have to
provide proof that all of the regularly required maintenance was done.

Such proof can be a printed reciept from a qualified mechanic. If you choose
to do the work, you must provide proof that all of the appropriate parts
were purchased (they don't have to be purchased from the VW dealer as long
as they meet VW's specifications). Keep all your reciepts for work
performed. If you do the work yourself, keep the parts reciepts and maintain
an accurate log book.

If you choose to do the work yourself or have an independant mechanic do the
work, make sure that all work is performed according to VW's published
standards. Make sure that all parts that should be replaced are replaced.
This will show that the person (you or your mechanic) that did the work
followed all procedures.

For example, I used to work at a Porsche dealership. We had a meeting one
day about how we could persuade more customers to have their maintenance
work done at our facility. The parts manager pointed out that he sells lots
of oil change and "tune up" parts to independant shops throughout the city.
He noted, however, that he had never sold a pollen filter to an independant
shop or individual owner. He had only sold them to our own service shop. Now
think about this: if those shops weren't replacing the pollen filters, what
other steps in the scheduled maintenance might they not be performing? Makes
you think.

My 2�.

Cheers,
Bruce
motorbruce
motorbruce@hotmail.com

From: Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET>
Reply-To: Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: VW warranty? (NVC)
Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 16:26:07 -0500

Sorry I know it's not quite friday yet but ...

For the first time ever I own a car new enough to come with a warranty.  A
VW New Beetle.  It's time for regular servicing - can anyone tell me if I
am required to have it serviced at the dealer (to ensure the warranty is
valid) or can I take it to my usual VW mechanic?

Thanks