Will Not Going to the 4S Store After the First Maintenance Affect the Warranty?
2 Answers
Not going to the 4S store after the first maintenance will not affect the warranty. Specific explanation: If the car is under warranty and has not been repaired or maintained at a 4S store, the car will not lose its warranty opportunity. In other words, after the first maintenance, if you go to an external repair shop for maintenance, the car can still enjoy the warranty provided by the 4S store. If you always maintain the car at a 4S store, some warranty processes are relatively simple and do not require too many other operations. However, maintenance at an external repair shop will be relatively more complicated. Related knowledge about car warranty: If some minor parts or parts unrelated to where the maintenance is performed have problems, as long as it is confirmed that the damage was not caused by maintenance at the repair shop, there is no doubt that the 4S store will definitely provide the warranty. This is because these parts have nothing to do with where or when the maintenance is performed, so the 4S store naturally has no reason to refuse.
I just bought a car not long ago, and after getting the first free maintenance at the 4S shop, I started wondering if I could save some money by going to a regular repair shop. Some friends have tried it, with some saying it's fine—saving a few hundred bucks a year on maintenance, cheap and convenient. But others have run into big trouble, like when their transmission broke down and they went to claim warranty, the 4S shop refused, citing incomplete maintenance records from unauthorized service points, forcing them to pay thousands out of pocket for repairs. I checked the warranty manual, and sure enough, it states that regular maintenance must be done at authorized points using genuine parts, otherwise the warranty is void. After weighing the options, the warranty period is only a few years, and the small savings aren’t worth the huge risk—if the engine or chassis has issues, repairs could be even more expensive. Better play it safe and stick to 4S shop maintenance until the warranty ends. Plus, you get free safety inspections on the car body, helping avoid sudden breakdowns on the road.
