Litchfields or not?

[Stevie76]

All,

Been hunting around old posts for information on using Litchfield's for servicing and how it might affect warranty etc which there appears to have been much debate about for good reason considering the price differential between them and an HPC and the infinitely better serviced received.

From what i have read it seems as though the general consensus is that Nissan would have a hard job refusing a warranty claim if a car was serviced by Litchfield's due to the specialist knowledge, use of right spec components, and access to correct equipment to look after a GT-R so......not knowing how to set up a poll can i ask for responses to this thread along the following lines:

1) I have a UK car with warranty and would only have it serviced by an HPC.
2) I have a UK car with warranty and would only have it serviced at Litchfield's.
3) I have a UK car had it serviced by Litchfield's and have had an issue with Nissan re a warranty claim.
4) I have a UK car had it serviced by Litchfield's and have had warranty work completed by Nissan with no problems / debate about where it gets serviced.

I have not had my R35 that long, getting 1200 mile opt completed in 2 weeks, and would love to get it serviced following this by Litchfield's. I am however not necessarily comfortable putting the warranty at risk, given cost of replacement parts, by going outside of Nissan unless I am very comfortable that i am not likely to encounter downstream problems with Nissan as a result of doing this......would really appreciate everyone's thoughts on this.

[andrew186]

you wont have any issues with warranty as long as Litchfields (and they will) use "Nissan recommended parts / service your car to Nissans recommendation/specifications"

[misters3]

Nothing wrong with using Litchfields.

[christer]

Stevie

I have an April/May 09 car with warranty. After HPC's telling me blatant lies with regards to issues with wheels, tyres and brakes etc. I took the decision to use Litchfields because I generally refuse to deal with liars on principle. It was a well-considered decision (imho) bearing in mind warranty etc but I am happy with that decision. I had my 18 month service done at 11k miles with Litchfields and I actually feel happier knowing that Litchfields use better quality fluids than NIssan standard to hopefully protect the car's mechanics going forward. Take a look at Litchfield's site regarding warranty and if you feel it necessary look up the legal side of things independently. Litchfields have the Consult III tool that Nissan uses and receives updates in terms of software and updates etc from Nissan.

Your choice obviously, for me it was not cost but rather the fact that I refuse to deal with liars that made my decision very easy.

[alloy]

Originally Posted by christer

Stevie

I have an April/May 09 car with warranty. After HPC's telling me blatant lies with regards to issues with wheels, tyres and brakes etc. I took the decision to use Litchfields because I generally refuse to deal with liars on principle. It was a well-considered decision (imho) bearing in mind warranty etc but I am happy with that decision. I had my 18 month service done at 11k miles with Litchfields and I actually feel happier knowing that Litchfields use better quality fluids than NIssan standard to hopefully protect the car's mechanics going forward. Take a look at Litchfield's site regarding warranty and if you feel it necessary look up the legal side of things independently. Litchfields have the Consult III tool that Nissan uses and receives updates in terms of software and updates etc from Nissan.

Your choice obviously, for me it was not cost but rather the fact that I refuse to deal with liars that made my decision very easy.

100% agree with this! Nissan are criminals, Litchfield is excellent service!

[xsvoid]

I serviced mine with litchfields last week, nice people, especially Matt. Very helpful, polite and extremely knowledgeable. I would have used the HPC I bought the car from but they are as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

Use them !

[Karls]

In my experience, HPC's are just not set-up to deal with the GT-R, they are way out of their depth. Maybe I'm tarring them all with the same brush but I would expect the 'standards' they set would be the same in each centre? Those standards, for me, fall well short of what should be expected on a car like the GT-R. I therefore switched to Litchfields for peace of mind, knowing that when my car is serviced, it is being done properly with in-depth knowledge and experience and care. Add to that great customer service and it's a no-brainer!

With regards to the Warranty, I have no concerns whatsoever as Nissan do not have a leg to stand on. They don't deserve to get any servicing work on the GT-R anyway as they charge an overwhelming price for a distinctly underwhelming level of service.

[JoZeff]

I think we are going to have to stop giving litchfields the biggup. It wontbe long before Nissan get fed up with the obvious competition and try to find a loophole that stops them operating. They won't grant hpc status unless they pay big bucks which litchfields won't and why should they.
Let's call it our little guilty secret.

[Gatling]

Originally Posted by JoZeff

I think we are going to have to stop giving litchfields the biggup. It wontbe long before Nissan get fed up with the obvious competition and try to find a loophole that stops them operating. They won't grant hpc status unless they pay big bucks which litchfields won't and why should they.
Let's call it our little guilty secret.

How can Nissan stop them from servicing your car? what they are doing isnt illegal!

[andrew186]

haha they cant, EU competition laws!

[WingedBeast1968]

Whilst we are all impressed with Litchfield's service, I have to say that it doesn't always go according to plan. Like my recent G2 at Litchfield's.

All fantastic, except now my tyre pressures are wrong, so I'll need to go to a place which has Nitrogen to get them corrected. 24psi on a cold one. Not the end of the world.

My steering wheel is on the piss after the "alignment". Irritating.
The gearbox clutch alignment isn't right, so I now have some interesting noises when pulling away and changing down. It wasn't doing that before, but apparently I may have a "gearbox problem". Wrong thing to say.

Appart from that, no complaints.
I was invited to return to Litchfield's for remedial action, but that would involve another 200 mile round trip and a day of my life. Not to mention £70.

I was going to let this ride, but it has become more irritating as time has gone by. Especially the "gearbox problem" comment.

And this doesn't mean that a Nissan HPC would have done any better. Probably not, in my experience.

Cars eh? The worse pain there is.

[m4rc1980]

+1 for the steering wheel on the piss!

seems as though I wasnt the only one this has happened to "thanks Matt!!"

it isnt acceptable and has incurred me with yet more time and money getting it corrected as was too very annoying and a very long journey to take back 200miles + round trip

the shame about it is Matt could now have cost iain my future business as was wholy a wasted day for me

well worth test drive before payment

[Litchfield]

Guys I'm sorry you won't pleased with your services, as I have said to both of you before.
We do wheel alignments on a daily basis and I can only think of a handful of people that are not 100% happy over the last 12months. Anyone that is not totally satisfied is to many and I appreciate the wheel being slightly off can be annoying.
As I have said to you before if we can do anything to put it right just let me know.

Iain

[imattersuk]

I think it's a bit harsh guys. Come on you would have noticed the steering wheel off centre as soon as you drove away so a quick u turn and back into the workshop would have sorted that so I don't accept the 200 mile round trip stuff.

I actually had the opposite experience on my G2. When I took the car in my steering wheel was slightly off center after Marshalls replaced a rear tyre and didn't bother checking, I told Matt and he rectified it when doing the optimisation.

Can't comment on the clutch settings other than I noticed an immediate huge improvement after Iain did the clutch learning on mine. No more kangaroo starts from cold.

I do think it's important to keep these things in perspective and feel the owner also has a responsibility to do a quick 5 minute check before driving home 200 miles, nobody is perfect and errors do occur sometimes.

[Gatling]

Originally Posted by imattersuk

I think it's a bit harsh guys. Come on you would have noticed the steering wheel off centre as soon as you drove away so a quick u turn and back into the workshop would have sorted that so I don't accept the 200 mile round trip stuff.

I actually had the opposite experience on my G2. When I took the car in my steering wheel was slightly off center after Marshalls replaced a rear tyre and didn't bother checking, I told Matt and he rectified it when doing the optimisation.

Can't comment on the clutch settings other than I noticed an immediate huge improvement after Iain did the clutch learning on mine. No more kangaroo starts from cold.

I do think it's important to keep these things in perspective and feel the owner also has a responsibility to do a quick 5 minute check before driving home 200 miles, nobody is perfect and errors do occur sometimes.

I agree entirely, this is where I dislike internet forums, so easy for people to be rash and unreasonable and cause a shit storm. It works equally the other way, when a site gets a company fan club and post unrealistic opinions about them. Happens on this site alot.