Warranty Query

Hi Folks,

A few months back, I had my clutch replaced under warranty (at about 11,000 miles), at a Suzuki dealership. The bike was well within the warranty period and had been serviced regularly (at Suzuki dealerships). I was warned at the time that they would initally try to bill Suzuki, and whilst Suzuki would probably pay for it, there was a slight chance that I would have to pick up the balance. As the months went by, I naturally assumed Suzuki had paid for it all and forgot about it. Today I got a polite phone call from the garage saying that they had gotten the claim back from Suzuki and whilst Suzuki had agreed to pay for parts and half the labour, I had to pay for half the labour (which worked out at £37.xx). Now, the garage are very good and I intend to keep using them and I recognise that it's Suzuki that are being "Suzuki Aftersales Helpful (TM)" (Read: "We have your cash, we don't want to know if it breaks down.") So, I'm going to go in and pay the cash on Monday, no quibbles.

However, I'm looking at ways of claiming this £37 back from Suzuki, after I pay it. I'm not at my house at the moment, so I can't check the exact wording of the warranty, but does it only cover parts and not labour? I can understand them putting a cap on labour charges to stop them having to pay to a garage that charges way over the odds, but to me £74 labour doesn't sound excessive for a clutch change and if Suzuki reckon £37 should be the standard rate, they're having a laugh.

I know £37 isn't a lot, but it's the principle of the thing and part of the reason I bought a brand new bike. I mean, I could have bought a £60 clutch plate & spring set and done it myself, had it failed on a second hand bike.

Any ideas/comments?

Thanks in advance.

[Sid Squid]

I think you'll find the clutch is considered a consumable, like tyres and bulbs etc, as such I reckon you've done well getting this much from them.

A clutch won't fail through poor manufacture, it'll have been abused* or badly adjusted, by whoever PDI'd or perhaps during a service, if you have any recourse it will be with your dealer not with Suzuki.

*Not saying you did, just reasons why they fail.

Sid, spot on mate, thats usually the wording on any manufacturers warranty, i.e. that the clutch is viewed as a consumable and having been in the motor trade for almost 30 years, I have never came across a manufacturer that will cover wear & tear.

Ceri, regarding the price, ALL manufacturer's have pre-set labour rates that they will pay out if a claim meets all the criteria.

Have worked with various groups who have a retail labour rate of say 70 quid per hour but the manufacturer will only re-imburse 50 per hour (there are all sorts of metrics that they use to eventually come to the warranty rate), also parts are reimbursed at usually cost price + 5 or 10% maximum (as a handling charge).

Find out if the actual clutch was worn or if anything was warped / malformed etc as they would look at the issue differently if it is not worn but possibly been a manufacturing fault.

Personally mate, I would have been delighted with the 37 pounds contribution ( if it indeed was due to wear) as usually they would not cover wear & tear under their terms & conditions.

I would still write to them though via their customer relations dept and explain the situ that although you are reasonably ok with the outcome, for the sake of 37 pounds you would not be having this dialogue and you would be more than likely to spread the good news to others etc, i.e. via forums like this !

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

if you have any recourse it will be with your dealer not with Suzuki.

Correct, your contract is with the dealer and not with Suzuki, and therefore whether it's within Suzuki's warranty or not (and thus covered under the DTI's Sale of Goods Act - which lasts up to six years) it's with the dealer that you need to settle things. If the clutch was faulty, then you really shouldn't be paying a single penny, but if it was a 50/50 matter with undue wear involved etc then that's a different matter.

Whether you decide that paying £37 will be worth the extra goodwill at the dealer (or not) is for you to chew over , but I suggest that there's no legal obligation to do so.



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can i ask why a cluth wont fail through bad manufacture.. it is a part created from many.. therefore it might go wrong...?
just interested.. not wanting tostart a debate.

Originally Posted by jonboy

Whether you decide that paying £37 will be worth the extra goodwill at the dealer (or not) is for you to chew over , but I suggest that there's no legal obligation to do so.
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I like the garage and don't want to be an **** about it. I don't live near them anymore, so I could just refuse to pay it without reprecussion, but I recognise that it's not them that are really asking for the money. They did the work in good faith and to be fair have gone without payment for 4 months (presumably, Suzuki only just re-imbursed them).

Scooby, although I didn't get to see the plates, when I spoke to the mechanic about it when the work was done, he said all the plates were cooked. I agree with what Sid Squid says, this means it's almost certainly down to poor adjustment (front sprocket end of the cable). From the way the bike felt after they were fixed, I believe they were slipping (ever so slightly) from the day I bought it (brand new) and I just got used to the bike feeling like that. In retrospect, I can now also recognise that the bike I learnt on also had slight clutch slippage, hence my, at the time, thinking nothing of it.

However, all that is really my word and impossible to prove. I think my course of action is going to be go in, pay up and then write a letter explaining the situation to suzuki customer services. No doubt there'll be a black mark next to my name thanks to the "gear selector falling off" campaign.

Ta for the comments folks.

[Sid Squid]

It is them that's asking for the money, they want paying for half of a job that they did - replacing your clutch. Suzuki have already fronted all the parts cost and the other half of the labour cost.

I sincerely doubt that the clutch failed due to a manufacturing fault, I can't stress this enough, if it had been in some way faulty I find it very hard to believe that it'd give you 11,000 miles of apparently normal use if it were a duffer. This leaves, as stated, the two possibilities:

1) You're a hamfisted knobber, who, by accident or design has murdered a poor defenceless clutch, you swine.

Or, my preferred possibility:

2) It was improperly adjusted, either from new, or when serviced, whichever it was that's down to either whoever PDI'd it, or whoever serviced it, either way it's the shop that you bought it from and had it serviced by, (who I think you said was the same place, yes?).

Whatever is the case you've done well as regards Suzuki, they've stumped up a few quid for something that isn't covered under the warranty.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

1) You're a hamfisted knobber, who, by accident or design has murdered a poor defenceless clutch, you swine.

Or, my preferred possibility:

2) It was improperly adjusted, either from new, or when serviced, whichever it was that's down to either whoever PDI'd it, or whoever serviced it, either way it's the shop that you bought it from and had it serviced by, (who I think you said was the same place, yes?).

Whatever is the case you've done well as regards Suzuki, they've stumped up a few quid for something that isn't covered under the warranty.

It was a different place that I bought it from and had the first service there (I don't use them anymore because they're hamfisted knobbers ), but subsequent services were at this new place. The only thing I noticed regarding the clutch and servicing was that after each service it seemed the clutch had all/almost all the free play removed, so for the first few miles, whilst I got used to it, gear changes were a bit jerky. The cable seemed to stretch/work itself loose after a bit (albeit slowly) as by the time the next service was due, the change after the service was again noticeable.

Is it possible that the cable was too tight after each service, making it slightly disengaged/slipping, resulting in the clutch cooking? Still my fault really, as even a novice such as myself should have adjusted the clutch themselves (and now I know how to, I have done). Again, bit of a case of my memory/story against theirs. The garage have a great reputation and seem very concientious in other areas, so it seems odd that I'd get "the work experience boy" doing my clutch 3 times on the trot...

Ta once more for the advice Sid.