To get started, I will be answering most of the questions on this topic, such as
- What is a motor vehicle service notification?
- How long does it take before motor vehicle service notification expires?
- What to do if I receive a suspicious motor vehicle service notification?
- How do you know if the motor vehicle service notification is a fraud or legit?
What is a Motor Vehicle Services Notice.
An official letter or pink motor vehicle service notification postcard from your factory manufacturer informing you of the status of your warranty is known as a motor vehicle service notice. It may notify you that, based on their records, your warranty and the protections you currently enjoy are about to expire and that you must update it in order to keep those protections in effect.
Your car service notices are expected to come from the factory. The main goal of this service notification is also to inform you of the status of your warranty. It will arrive, as was stated earlier, at the time your warranty is scheduled to expire. It will inform you of the current circumstances and motivate you to take action.
The make, model and the year of the car, vehicle service records, warranty expiration date, as well as your name and contact information, will all be included in a legitimate notification. Additionally, it will bear the brand’s emblem or seal.
How long does it take before Motor Vehicle Services Notice expires?
The expiration date of a motor vehicle service notification may differ depending on the company that it is from.
A particular period of time is covered by a vehicle’s warranty. When your warranty has a long way to go before it expires, all manufacturers won’t have any need to send you a notice.
The important parts of the car are frequently covered by the manufacturer’s standard warranty. This warranty typically lasts three to five years, or 36,000 to 50,000 miles. And unless your warranty is close to expire, the manufacturer won’t send you any notifications.
However, not all motor service alerts are genuine. A third-party business may occasionally try to sell you an automobile warranty that may not be necessary for you.
What to do if I receive a suspicious Motor Vehicle Services Notice?
Many people have been a victim of fraudulent activities, it is easy to fall for the traps that scammers will put out for you. These are things to keep in mind when you cannot tell whether the notification is legit or not.
Do not give out personal information.
As you know by now, the scam vehicle service notification will not have the right information regarding you or the vehicle. A legitimate notification will include the make, model and the year of the car, as well as your name and contact information. Additionally, it will bear the brand’s emblem or seal.
However, the scammers will try to get it out of you, which will help them to make their future scam attempts seem more legit.
So, you should not provide any information about you or your vehicle to them or anyone that you do not know.
Resist the urge to click on any links or attachment.
When you received a notification email, Do not open any attachments or click on any links if you receive a dubious Motor Vehicle Service Notification.
Instead, speak with the maker or your neighborhood dealership to confirm its legitimacy. If the notification is genuine, they can authenticate it; if not, they can suggest what to do next.
Be aware of when the notification should come.
We have already made it clear that the vehicle service notification will only come when your warranty is about to expire. By knowing this, the companies will rely on two pieces of information. The first one is the period, and the second is mileage. For the case of the mileage, they will depend on the last one known to them and estimate it accordingly.
Now, if you have a clear idea regarding when the warranty expires, you will know when exactly you can expect to get the notification. And with that knowledge, you can easily ignore any other notifications that come before the exact time frame.
Acknowledge that these warranties are not relevant.
Even though the extended warranty may come from a genuine company, they will seldomly provide you with a cost-effective solution for future repairs. Most finance companies will not even require you to get extended warranties. Therefore, you can completely ignore these notifications, regardless of their legitimacy.
How do you know if the Notice is a fraud or legit?
Now that you know the basics of a motor vehicle notification, let us discuss how you would be able to fish out a service notification scam.
Wrong information or lacks basic information:
A scam notification might be filled with a lot of information. But will most likely not have all the right information. For example, your vehicle’s mileage according to the last service will be wrong. It might not even have the correct information regarding the vehicle.
Check for typos or a lack of specifics:
Fake notifications often contain grammatical errors or awkward phrasing, and many times the words are ridiculously abbreviated. You may also notice a lack of specifics, like seeing “dear vehicle owner” instead of your name and unique car details.
Notification is not received at appropriate time:
Wrong timing is one of the clear signals that the message is a hoax. Just like it was explained earlier, it is sure a scam if you receive the warning well after the warranty has passed or it is nowhere close to the expiration date. The mileage total is no different. If you get a letter or postcard and your car’s mileage is not close to the limit, it is a scam.
In this instance, it will not matter if the other details, such as the firm name, number, model, and others, are same.
Dealership denies knowledge:
When you receive a vehicle service notification, you should contact your dealership. Talk with them and tell them about everything on the postcard. If the dealership denies the knowledge of the postcard or letter, you are dealing with a common criminal.
You should also check the number on the letter or postcard to see if it is the number of the dealership or not. If it does not match and you give that number a call, you will be falling deep into the scam.
On the other hand, if the number is correct and the dealership explains why they sent you the notification, you can investigate it. But, again, you should know that these warranties are pretty much useless.
Verify the service center’s standing:
Do your homework and check the reviews and ratings for the service center. Fake centers might not or barely have any web presence.
Watch out for high-pressure tactics:
If the notification comes with a sense of urgency or threatens that your car is in menacing danger, it may be a fake.
Purchase cost:
There won’t be accurate information on the vehicle’s price. Typically, a scam service notification will include the amount that the vehicle’s present dealers are asking. Additionally, it will frequently differ from what you originally paid for.
Business name and telephone number:
The business will handle you courteously. A suspicious car service message won’t include the right company name and phone number. The data will not be the same as what is on your original warranty card, at the very least. Erroneous data on the phone
Verify any incentives:
Do not get too excited when the notification offers a promotion or discount, verify the offer through the dealer or automaker’s official website or phone number.
Location:
The fraudulent car service notification will typically come from a state where the business has no physical presence. Instead, the postcard will originate from the con artist’s base of operations.
Be wary of unsolicited notifications:
If you did not recently visit a dealer or service center, an unsolicited notification may be a red flag.
Agents will not be honest with you:
Scammers often avoid giving you time to consider things, which is one of their recurring behaviors. They will repeatedly urge you to sign up for the extension immediately away using scare tactics. In fact, they will treat you rudely and with a great deal of disrespect at some time.
Verify the sender’s contact information:
if the message was sent via email or text, double-check the sender’s address and phone number online or by dialing the number. Watch out if you can’t find them online or if no one answers the phone.
Fraudulently exaggerated repair bills:
When informing you of upcoming auto repairs, the con artists will dramatically inflate the numbers. This strategy is just one more way to frighten you into signing up as quickly as possible.
Scammers frequently claim that you must request an extension from the finance firm. Once more, this is a fear technique.
Remember to use your common sense:
Finally, after ticking all the boxes above keep in mind that if the notification appears too good to be true or doesn’t line up with the service or warranty history of your car, it may very well be a fake.
