Warranty, servicing and 'free' roadside assistance: understanding the fine print

If you don't get your car serviced at the authorised dealer, you might lose your 'free' roadside assistance. Even if you got it serviced on time by an authorised mechanic.

Download the PODCAST of this report.

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Regardless of whether your vehicle has spent 2020 mostly unused or not, warranty, scheduled servicing, the battery and that supposedly free roadside assistance you have are all affected…

If you don't get your car serviced at the authorised dealer, you might lose your 'free' roadside assistance. Even if you got it serviced on time by an authorised mechanic.

This report is based on the recent real-life experience of an AutoExpert viewer who suffered a dead battery at the roadside, and found his roadside assistance had been cancelled.

Before we go too far, if you’re looking for a roadside assistance program the Auto Expert 24/7 Roadside Assistance package could save your bacon >> There’s no bullshit joining fee, you get four call-outs per year, and it costs $69 per year for nation-wide coverage.

Tim Reid says, rather extensively:

First off, love your YouTube channel always great to have someone tell it how it is without all the BS.

I ran into my very first problem with Kia's so-called 7-year unlimited-km and roadside warranty today.

I was at a shopping centre and upon returning to my car I went to start it and the battery was as dead as a dead dingo’s donger.

I rang the Kia's roadside assist number and after giving them all my information they informed me that I no longer had an active warranty account with them.

I asked them how can that be I only bought the car new in 2015 so that's not 7yrs.

The guy on the phone then asked me if I get my services done at a Kia dealership. When I said no, I get it serviced on time, all the time at my local mechanic only 2mins down the road from me, he said well I could pass you on to the head office and that might be able to do something down the track for you, when I said yeah I kind of need help now as the battery is dead now and I need a new one now to be able to get home and to work, not sometime down the track.

He then said well sorry we cant help you as your unlimited km and roadside warranty is no longer active as it hasn't been serviced at the dealer to keep it in warranty you will have to work something else out and then hung up. 

I was then left to ring the NRMA and had to join them so that they would come and help me which they did in 20 mins, but only after it cost me $270 for the battery and $60 joining fee.

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Flat lining

From the outset here, anything flat in relation to cars is a shit sandwich. So let’s break it down how the warranty and roadside assistance situation works.

In relation to Kia’s seven-year warranty program, I think Tim is conflating the roadside assistance with warranty.

When you buy a Kia, you get one year’s complimentary roadside assistance, then, if you go back to the authorised dealer for servicing, they automatically renew that roadside assistance for another year and continue to renew it for a further seven years as long as you continue servicing with the dealer as a contractual obligation. And you void this deal/arrangement if you take the car to the local independent mechanic.

However, do not mistake this for voiding your warranty simply for servicing it with an independent mechanic, because that would be anti-competitive and illegal. Yes, Kia and the dealership would like you to service with them, but there’s no legal obligation for you to do that, and they cannot hold the warranty over your head in trying to force you into thinking that or doing that. Anybody who says that is talking bullshit. And if anybody tries to make you do that, report it to the ACCC >>

I think it was the roadside assistance that has been cancelled, not your warranty. And keep in mind warranty exists outside of what the brand offers you, under Australian Consumer Law >>

A battery for my outgoing Sportage cost $130 recently.

Also, regarding the battery. No, you can’t claim the battery under warranty because it’s typically a two-year warranty on batteries because you can abuse batteries very easily. And diagnosing your battery’s problem isn’t straightforward >>

Cold cranking batteries, the ones you use to start your engine, are not receptive to being deeply cycled or fully depleted.

If you drain them completely a couple of times in a row, there’s a high chance you can kill them. The older the battery the higher the chance. It’s like a battery having a stroke >>

Cold-cranking batteries are very different to the batteries four-wheel drivers use to keep the fridge on overnight or to power lights when camping, and they’re different again from the batteries golfers use in golf carts which are made differently for coping with deeper cycling applications.

It’s also possible to kill your battery by leaving it unused for a long period. Here’s how to save your car batteries from long-term neglect >>

So, two years warranty for a cold cranking battery, roughly, after that you’re on borrowed time. Some people will get up to five years. But if the original battery is in your five-year-old car, you are likely to kill it in winter because it’s on borrowed time.

Typically, this is how drivers find out their battery needs to be replaced in the developed world - right when you need it most, in the driveway or when you’re part-way to a destination.

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