New member - Service Issue and costs

[mark]

Hi Everyone,

I am a new member and have just purchased a GTR1400 on a 10 plate registered mar 2010. The service book shows the 4000 mile service done in Jul 11 @ 5406 miles. I bought the bike 01/11/11 and the new dealer stamped the book on this date after an oil and filter change @ 6928 miles. I have called my local Kawasaki dealer to ask whether mybike needs a 7500 mile service, as i estimate I will be at 7500 miles in two weeks. The dealer advised I would need the 7500 service or my warranty would be invalid quoting approx £220 plus vat.

Can anyone tell me if this is correct?
Is my warranty valid at all as the 4000 mile service was done at 5406 miles?
Does anyone know a really good dealer whos charges are less within a reasonable ride from Newcastle upon Tyne.

Thank you in advance,

Mark

[Rusty]

Hello Mark and Welcome .... great bike as everyone here will tell you  ;D
For what it's worth if the dealer has stamped your book at the 2nd Service and signed it etc then who is to know that he hasn't carried out the 2nd service according to K's service plan ?
I think it's a bit much that he then wants you to come back in a couple of weeks for another service for which he is going to charge you just under £300 ... I know this because mine has just come back from 8000 mile service and cost me £288 ... go to the Title " General Discussion " and about 3 or 4 threads down is a bit I put on about the 8000 mile service that may be of interest to you.
My 3750 mile service was done at about 4500 miles and my 7000 mile service was recently done with just over 8000 miles on the clock .... I really don't think it matters a hoot wether you are a bit of mileage over the schedule just as long as the book is stamped at "around" those sort of miles, it's a K dealer stamp and if you want to help with the resale value in a few years time ( why would anyone  want to sell a Gtr ?) you should keep ALL the paperwork and receipts for the bike.
Hope this helps and I am sure you will get loads of replies .... sorry but I live in Sussex and have never heard of the place you speak of ... Newcassssstle ??  ;D ;D

[mecki]

First of all welcome to the forum.
I guess you're talking about M&S in Newcastle since they are now the Kawasaki dealership.
I found the guys in the service department quite helpful this far.
They even told me that an oil change at 3750 miles was not necessary unless the bike was over a year old which made the second service a lot cheaper.
When they were servicing my Bandit before I was quite a bit over the service interval because I was on the continent when a service was due and never had any problems with warranty.
Since I heard that the GTR has iridium spark plugs and should last a lot longer than 8000 miles and they already told me that the next service would because of the spark plug change an expensive one, I will try to convince them not to change the plugs when I take her in for the next service.
Changing the plugs seems to be a lengthy process. I guess you have to remove the fairing and whatnot to get at them.

[Rusty]

Which of course takes time which converts into money !  >:(

[Lonewolf]

Mark, welcome along to the forum.  ;D

The servicing intervals are always up for debate. Firstly I'm sure you realise that you do not have to take your GTR to a Kwak dealer for servicing, if you have a one man band, back street bike shop which does servicing you are perfectly entitled to have the servicing done there which should be significantly cheaper than a main dealership.

On the plus side, although it'll be a bit of a bummer and an expensive one at that, if you were to get the bike serviced at the 7500 interval at least then you would be back on track for all future services. This service, the 7500 one is I gather an expensive one. I only say this because I bought my GTR with that sort of mileage on and as part of the deal I ensured that the service cost was covered by the seller.

Its personal choice re having the GTR serviced by a 'profesional'. My Kwak dealer told me that there was nothing wrong with doing the servicing myself and then writing in the service handbook the relevant info, i.e. what I had done and when and at what mileage. Ive had quotes from numerous Kwak dealers for part x prices on my GTR. Some I've told I have full service history and others Ive told I have no service history, and what do you know they all referred to their little blackbook and gave me the exact same valuation. Full service history, its all a fallacy!!

Oh and mecki I recall Boomer saying very recently that the plugs dont need changing as frequently as is stated. Its possible they may even out last the bike. Its an awkward job to access them but not impossible for the GTR owner with the right tools. If you dont want them changing, your dealer should resepct this. It's your money!!

[mecki]

I am not so sure that if you really have an issue and want to put a claim in under warranty that filling in the service book yourself or having this done by a back-street mechanic will be honoured by Kawasaki.
I would suspect that they would just say that not having had the bike serviced by an authorised dealer in the prescribed intervals voids the warranty.

[Lonewolf]

mecki, no, it is a fact that these days you do not have to have any vehicle serviced at a main dealership. 

[BigAlan]

mecki, no, it is a fact that these days you do not have to have any vehicle serviced at a main dealership.

This is correct, apart from the first service on my Sprint ST i did them all myself and when the rear "dog bone" suspension snapped after 2 years i took it to the Triumph dealer and he sorted it all out, he did ask if i had serviced it correctly to which i replied yes but never wanted to see the service book.

Alan

[100milesaway]

mecki, no, it is a fact that these days you do not have to have any vehicle serviced at a main dealership.

Mr Wolf is spot on Mecki you can have the bike serviced where the hell YOU want as long as that person is VAT registered and  they use genuine Kawasaki parts. ;)

[howard]

Hi your warranty will not be invalid if you dont have it serviced by Kawaskai but if you do it your self you do have to use genuine parts and be mechanically competent.
Do it your self then its done properly and you have saved money(keep all recepts)

[mecki]

Well, in the Warranty Terms and Condition (Page 6) it states:
The warranty may not apply if the periodic maintenance and servicing is not carried out by an authorised Kawasaki dealer at the appropriate intervals as specified in the relevant owner's manual. Evidence of this servicing must be produced, if requested, at the time of any warranty claim.

So unless there is a UK law or EU regulation that renders these terms and conditions void, I dare doubting the claim that you can service your bike yourself as long as you fill in the service record and keep the invoices for oil purchases etc. without jeopardizing your warranty.
They may replace or fix the wheels if the paint comes off, like Suzuki did on my Bandit, but when it comes to engine failure I bet you'll be out of luck.

[keith]

hi before you take your bike to m&s for your next service,go to the kawasaki centre scotswood road,i know it is now a honda dealer but they can still service your bike and keep; your warranty safe,as long as the dealer you use is compitent and uses genuine kawasaki parts it is not a problem which they have loads of parts left anyway.no harm in asking them for a quote,they used to service my zzr's before i got my gtr,i will be doing the same when my next service is due,(,as it looks like i wont be selling it,no one interested in buying gtr's,although they are an excellent bike very hard to sell on unless you give them away!!!)

[Hans]

Well, in the Warranty Terms and Condition (Page 6) it states:
The warranty may not apply if the periodic maintenance and servicing is not carried out by an authorised Kawasaki dealer at the appropriate intervals as specified in the relevant owner's manual. Evidence of this servicing must be produced, if requested, at the time of any warranty claim.

So unless there is a UK law or EU regulation that renders these terms and conditions void, I dare doubting the claim that you can service your bike yourself as long as you fill in the service record and keep the invoices for oil purchases etc. without jeopardizing your warranty.
They may replace or fix the wheels if the paint comes off, like Suzuki did on my Bandit, but when it comes to engine failure I bet you'll be out of luck.

Danish law says that all services performed on vehicles can be performed according to the manufacturer regulations which guarantee still applies. This does not apply to motorcycles. Now I have spoken to the Danish importer of Kawasaki, and they say there is no EU rules. Therefore there must be a national rule of Great Britain.

[Kevin]

  Mr Wolf is spot on Mecki you can have the bike serviced where the hell YOU want as long as that person is VAT registered and  they use genuine Kawasaki parts. ;)

Are you absolutely certain of that? I really like my local Suzuki/Yamaha dealer and suggested I might take my GTR to them for at least the interim service as well as I wasn't so keen on the Kawasaki dealer I was using at the time. They told me that while it is the law you can take cars to any competent mechanic and maintain the warranty if genuine OEM parts are used that is not true for bikes. I have no idea if that is accurate or not but they service all sorts of bikes (that are presumably out of warranty) and I can't see they'd be turning down work if they didn't believe it to be true.

Kevin

[Lonewolf]

Kevin, it would seem rather strange that they were turning work down! Perhaps this needs further investigation.