mike wilkinson

I know that a lot of people on this forum have taken this route to a new car....so hopefully someone can clear things up.

I have a WRX on order from Belgium through Keyring Cars for a summer delivery.

I understand that:
1.There is no alarm fitted.
2. No locking wheel nuts.
3. 3 year/60,000 miles warranty is standard.

What is confusing me is what do I need to do to activate the warranty?
Does a warranty claim have to be ok'd with Subaru Belgium before work can be carried out by a Subaru dealer here in the UK?
Or is there a way of registering with Subaru UK when taking delivery of the car.

also: Are Subaru Belgium still insistant on 7,500 miles servicing rather than the 10,000 in the UK?

And finally!
Has anyone had difficulty with servicing a Belgium car at a Subaru UK dealer?

Thanks in advance for help,
Mike.

Harry_Boy

Back in a sec, Mike.

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

As I understand...

-Any UK dealer will service the car no problems, infact I think they are legally obliged to. Some will be grateful for the business and treat you as one of their own, some will be grumpy that you bought a cheaper car abroad - that's their problem.

-Any warranty claims will need to be submitted to Subaru Belgium to be authorised. Since they sold you the car and they are warrantying it, you have to abide by their servicing schedules ie whatever it says in the service book. However if you want Subaru UK to honour warranty work done in the first year they also insist you have the 1000mile service which is not specified by the Belgian dealer.

-I think you need to register you car chassis/reg no. with IM (the parent company of Subaru UK) in order for "their" dealers to work on your car and so that your car appears on their all knowing computer system. Possibly this bit has some relevance to the first year of the warranty which is I think backed by Subaru Japan and recognised internationally?? IM(tel:0121 522 2000 fax: 0121 522 6000) I think IM will want to see some evidence of you original purchase reciept too.

Its a while since I did this now - hopefully not too much has changed.

[Edited by Boost II - 3/24/2002 9:49:40 PM]

Harry_Boy

Hi Mike,

Gotta be honest Mate - I'd have thought that Mark M at Keyring would have been able to sort you out on these points. Not to worry, though, answers to follow.

Harry_Boy

1. Belgium doesn't seem to suffer from our appalling crime levels, so there's no standard alarm. In fact, they don't have an equivalent to our Cat 1. My Rex (3 weeks old from Garage Knockaert in Ypres) came with the standard Subaru immobiliser, build into the key.

The key itself has 'open' and 'close' buttons for the central locking. First thing I did was take it to Max the Clifford dealer in Leeds for some seroius security. You can get a Cat 1 for about £300. I ended up spending £1200 in total!! There's nothing like peace of mind.....

Harry_Boy

2. Again, there are no locking wheel nuts. These cost about £17-£18 a set from the local dealers. I ended up getting 2 sets... (Am I paranoid or what???)

3. Belgian cars have a 3 year warranty. You can register the car with International Motors in the UK, by sending them a copy of the sales invoice and Vehicle Registration document. They will send you a letter confirming that the car is registered for warranty work for the first 12 months. This is compulsory under EC law.

For the remaining 24 months, the warranty is administered by Subaru Benelux. If you need any work doing, the UK dealer that is undertaking the work will contact Subaru Benelux to check that they can go ahead. Nothing different from you being a Belgian national and needing something done to your car whilst on holiday in the UK really......

Harry_Boy

4. Yup. Still 7,500 miles for Belgian imports, to maintain the warranty, I'm afraid. IM unilaterally extended their service intervals to 10,000 miles. Most people around here think that's just too long, though!

5. No problems getting franchised dealers to service European imports. They're not supposed to refuse, even though those arch protectionists at IM don't really like it. If you find one that's not sure, try another in the area, or remind 'em of the existence of the EC.

Cheers, HB.

Harry_Boy

Sorry about all the separate answers - couldn't get the bl**dy bulletin board to accept all in one single post - very strange.....

mike wilkinson

HB and Boost II,
Thanks for the clarification.....I know that Mark at Keyring Cars has been very helpful so far, but its good to hear it from those with first hand experience.
It all seems pretty straight forward.
Cheers, Mike.

Harry_Boy

Any probs Mike, mail me at harry@pinkelephantpr.com

Been through the same hoops (although I bought direct) in the last 3 weeks....

MidLife

Mike

Took delivery of my WRX via Keyring Cars last December. You will have no worries about registering the car and sorting the warranty with Subaru UK as Keyring give you all the info and fill out the forms for you.

Keyring also arranged for the cat 1 alarm (Sigma M30 as fitted by SUK) to be installed prior to delivery. Ask them if they can do this for you.

Always found Keyring approachable and most helpful. Talk to them about any queries/worries you have.

Relax and enjoy the car when it arrives.

fazack

Anyone know how to instigate the free roadside cover on belgium sourced cars ?

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

Fazack - It seems you need to live in Belgium for the Subaru Assist to be valid. Someone who imported an MY00 once got a translation of all the warranty details and this was in the small print.

fazack

I'm sure I was told it was pan-european. I'll go through my correspondence tonight and check.

Harry_Boy

Hi Fazack - are you sure that you're not thinking of the warranty, rather than the recovery service Mate?

Steve vRS

Just get AA or RAC. If you stick with the Belgian cover, you'd be waiting ages for the van to come from Antwerp.

Steve

Apple

I'm getting 3 years Subaru Assist with my Keyring / Belgium scoob - it's through Mondial assistance and they'll come out to a breakdown but not an accident - is this the same as UK?

fazack

Apple,
That is exactly what I am expecting - I have a begium sourced car through keyring. How did you get it set-up ?