AS FLEETS prepare to take delivery of V-plate cars, fleet managers have been warned to make sure that their drivers stick rigorously to manufacturer scheduled service intervals or risk invalidating the vehicles' warranties. Failure to honour small print instructions could see drivers render a three-year warranty void within just a few months of taking delivery of a new car.

The devil in the detail of some warranties shows that drivers who miss a scheduled service by as little as 20 days or 1,000 miles can annul the entire warranty. And the chances of this happening have increased as manufacturers such as Peugeot, Ford and Rover push out service intervals to as far as 20,000 miles, breaking the traditional regular contact between driver and dealer.

Di Rees, business services manager in charge of Leo Pharmaceuticals' 175-strong fleet, says it is crucial to remind drivers of the importance of having vehicles serviced within 500 miles of recommended schedules. 'Drivers often think that, by missing service intervals or leaving them for as long as possible, they are saving the company money. This is not the case. This is a driver's responsibility, it doesn't cost them anything so they should stick to the recommended service schedules.'

Part of the problem arises from drivers treating service intervals merely as guidelines, says Simon Boggis, group fleet procurement manager in charge of TNT UK's 7,000-strong fleet. 'A driver will often not say a service is needed until the interval has been reached. By the time the car reaches a dealership it can be a few days later and some drivers could easily have done more than 1,000 miles, threatening their warranty cover.'