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Dear Mr Piaggio,

I have a pre-loved GTS 250 which has over a year left on its warranty. Do you know whether:

1. The 'Vespa' sticker on the front is covered by warranty? The silver coating is peeling off the vespa sign and the actual sticker is coming away from the paint. The bike has always been garaged undercover and I'd really like to keep it in pristene condition.
2. Do I have to get my servicing done with the dealership I purchased the bike from? Or will this void the warranty? Its well known large chain motorbike shop who i'm sure are good at bikes, but I'm hesitant to get the GTS serviced there because the few after sales questions I have had have lead me to believe the staff know nothing about scooters!
3. What oil do you recommend for this model? (a clown at the above mentioned shop tried to tell me the GTS is two stroke!!!)

1.  It should be, yes.  But depends on whether the dealer is willing to make the effort to do the warranty claim on your behalf.

2.  No.  You can get it done by any qualified motorcycle mechanic to keep your warranty.  However, because of things like 1) above, its a good idea to get it done by an authorised Vespa dealer.

3.  Normal engine oil.  We use a Castrol 10W-40 semi-synth in the workshop (I think).

Again, this highlights the point that you shouldn't just pick your vehicle, you should also pick your dealer.  Warranty work is a pain in the ass, with lots of paperwork and no profit.  So some dealers will not make it easy to get such done, but a good dealer recognises that its part of the service and will make extra efforts to look after THEIR customers to do it in a timely and efficient manner.  Two stroke in a GTS? Frightening.

warranty update for any vepsa owners:

my dealer covered my badging issue and was actually really great about it. very pleased!

gemely:

Do I have to get my servicing done with the dealership I purchased the bike from? Or will this void the warranty?

Click on the link and read this: http://www.everythingtwowheels.com.au/warranty.html

 You can get a replacement for a decent price at www.scooterwest.com in San Diago.

I'm looking at one also (small one) as I want a chrome vespa logo for my FACO front fender chrome. I lost the 200L off the glove box several months ago, and simply ordered one from scooterwest, and in 2 weeks, had it in my hand. I'd suggest getting a chinagraph pencil, and doing an outline on the original badge for positinal and angle, and then get a  hair dryer to get the badge off. It is plastic, so comes off easy. As for the other questions, as per what steve said, as there's not piaggio dealership in Albury and I needed to know that one also... Good luck Gemely.

An interesting note on servicing and warranty:

We are not a Piaggio/Vespa dealer. In fact the nearest on to Launceston is 150kms away. As such, there are customers who are unable to travel to the Piaggio/Vespa dealer for service. We serviced a Piaggio X9, and in the course of servicing, replaced the steering bearings as they were pitted. This bike is not under warranty, as it is a few years old. We replaced with genuined Piaggio parts, sourced from Peter Stevens (very over priced, might I add). The new bearings also pitted within a week of fitting. When we contacted Peter Stevens, we were told that they will not do anything to replace these new bearings, because we are not an authorised Piaggio dealer. They're happy to sell us the bearings (very over priced, might I add), but not back them up. Subsequently, we replaced them with a superior Japanese bearing at approx 1/8th the cost of the Piaggio part.

No disrespect to other Piaggio/Vespa dealers, but our mechanic is BMW/Suzuki/Moto Guzzi factory trained which would give him the edge over most scoot mechanics, but Peter Stevens don't believe so.

So, by all means, take your scoot to your favourite workshop. Take it to where you have the best relationship. Take it to the people that you believe best look after your scoot. But be aware that some suppliers can be painful when it comes to warranty, and Vespa can be one of them. ACCC, fair trading, consumer protection aside, some are painful...

the scooter shop:

An interesting note on servicing and warranty:

We are not a Piaggio/Vespa dealer. In fact the nearest on to Launceston is 150kms away. As such, there are customers who are unable to travel to the Piaggio/Vespa dealer for service. We serviced a Piaggio X9, and in the course of servicing, replaced the steering bearings as they were pitted. This bike is not under warranty, as it is a few years old. We replaced with genuined Piaggio parts, sourced from Peter Stevens (very over priced, might I add). The new bearings also pitted within a week of fitting. When we contacted Peter Stevens, we were told that they will not do anything to replace these new bearings, because we are not an authorised Piaggio dealer. They're happy to sell us the bearings (very over priced, might I add), but not back them up. Subsequently, we replaced them with a superior Japanese bearing at approx 1/8th the cost of the Piaggio part.

No disrespect to other Piaggio/Vespa dealers, but our mechanic is BMW/Suzuki/Moto Guzzi factory trained which would give him the edge over most scoot mechanics, but Peter Stevens don't believe so.

So, by all means, take your scoot to your favourite workshop. Take it to where you have the best relationship. Take it to the people that you believe best look after your scoot. But be aware that some suppliers can be painful when it comes to warranty, and Vespa can be one of them. ACCC, fair trading, consumer protection aside, some are painful...

 

Thats a fair point Cam.  Suppliers will unsurprisingly tend to look after their own dealers better than non-dealers when it comes to this type of thing.  We are very wary of servicing scooters from brands that we don't stock for similar reasons.  There is much more to buying a scooter than just buying a scooter...

I thought I read on this forum somewhere that a new vespa had to have 1st service at 1000km OR 4 months to keep up the warranty... Ive looked through my log book and owners manual and cant find the 4 month thing anywhere. Found the 1K km thing straight up

Can someone point me to the right place to find it??

the scooter shop:

We replaced with genuined Piaggio parts, sourced from Peter Stevens (very over priced, might I add).

If you want Piaggio/Vespa parts ring Brenton ay GPS imports in Melbourne. Not trying to hang *** on Stevo's but Brenton seems to carry much more stock than the guys at PS any day of the week plus his trade account discount is much greater than PS's too.

http://www.gpsimports.com.au/

E2W:

the scooter shop:

We replaced with genuined Piaggio parts, sourced from Peter Stevens (very over priced, might I add).

If you want Piaggio/Vespa parts ring Brenton ay GPS imports in Melbourne. Not trying to hang *** on Stevo's but Brenton seems to carry much more stock than the guys at PS any day of the week plus his trade account discount is much greater than PS's too.

http://www.gpsimports.com.au/

We get a lot of stuff from Brenton too - he's got an amazing and unique ability to be able to get hold of some very odd parts.  He sourced me some disks for a 2004 Benelli Velvet 250 recently at less than half the price of the originals, and in half the time.  I did have to send him trace's of the originals though, but he still got them!  Cracking work!   Regarding the other thread, he is someone that would definitely benefit from advertising on this site...

Linz:

I thought I read on this forum somewhere that a new vespa had to have 1st service at 1000km OR 4 months to keep up the warranty... Ive looked through my log book and owners manual and cant find the 4 month thing anywhere. Found the 1K km thing straight up

Can someone point me to the right place to find it??

In the maintenance section of your owners manual.  At the top of each section detailing what is required in the service. (To date I haven't found them to make any comment on timing, and only seen raised eyebrows when schedules have been even fairly severely exceeded on km).  But if we have to make warranty claims it does make it much easier for all parties if the service schedule has been adhered to.  Just negates any possibility of issues on that side.

steve@ace:

You aren't shooting me down at all  All comments are valid.

No this wasnt a poke at you Steve. Stevo's is what people in Melbourne call Peter Stevens Motorcycles.

E2W:

steve@ace:

You aren't shooting me down at all  All comments are valid.

No this wasnt a poke at you Steve. Stevo's is what people in Melbourne call Peter Stevens Motorcycles.

LOL... it's not all about you, Steve!!!!!

We just thought we were covering our bums by using genuine parts from the genuine supplier. Turns out that wasn't the case...

the scooter shop:

LOL... it's not all about you, Steve!!!!!

Whaddya mean?  Of course its all about me! 

Linz:

I thought I read on this forum somewhere that a new vespa had to have 1st service at 1000km OR 4 months to keep up the warranty... Ive looked through my log book and owners manual and cant find the 4 month thing anywhere. Found the 1K km thing straight up

have never seen the 4 month thing but could be wrong. 1000 K's is the standard, longer service intervals after that.