No doubt you have all seen the Citreon adverts proclaiming no vat and cash back deals. Well I took advantage of this over two years ago. I went along to the local dealer, sat through the sales spill, signed the paperwork and drove away in a brand spanking new Citreon Zsara.

I must admit that its a nice car to drive, handles well, does not cost a fortune to run and the after sales service is fine. BUT, READ THE SMALL PRINT VERY CAREFULLY. I do not cover a great deal of mileage so was somewhat surprised to be told that my warrantee is invalid as I haven't done 25000 miles in 2 years.

I have just been hit with a annual service bill of £207 because I keep the mileage down. On reading the contract I should have taken the car in last August but left it because I was way off the reconmended 12,500 miles. Big mistake on my behalf.

So, be warned, the deal looks good but they will honour it only if you follow their rules to the letter. Go over the service mileage guideline or time scale and you get lumbered with the bill.

usually service intervals are at time / distance intervals
like '6 months/6000 miles, whichever comes first.' summat like that. so your warranty is invalid cos you haven't had the 1year/12500 mile service (or the 2years/25000 mile service, whichever one is missing)

most car companies do the same thing

remember, if you were driving in town a lot, you wouldn't do many miles but you would be getting a lot of wear and tear on the car

/me agrees with hugo

Servicing is really important if you want to keep your warranty up, and most services are x number of miles OR so and so time depending on which is first.