It has come to my attention, that the company that represents Volkswagen in Portugal SIVA SA has withdrawn the concession from Valmaior SA in Portimão for this brand of vehicles. According to their official website http://www.volkswagen.pt all Volkswagen owners in the western Algarve are now forced to travel to Faro to receive technical support for this brand.
According to Valmaior, they are no longer able to provide warranty services to vehicles inside the warranty because they are no longer connected to the software distribution required to update the vehicle electronics.

I for one have not received any official statement as to why SIVA took this step and Valmaior is also unable to give me a valid explanation. Travelling over 60Kms to service a vehicle is imo totally unacceptable and I have therefore contacted SIVA with an information request. If you own a Volkswagen in the western Algarve and especially if you have warranty, I strongly urge that you use the contacts on http://www.volkswagen.pt/contact.shtml to contact SIVA for a statement as to how they envision to provide an acceptable service level for this brand in the near future.

I believe EU rules allow any garage to service your car without invalidating the warranty so long as the service is to the manufacturer's specification. This means you could still use your old garage Alamaior for servicing.

The issue is then over warranty work. The manufacturer will only allow their appointed dealer to carry out this work - not too unreasonable as they are paying for it.

This seems to strictly agree with what you have been told:

they are no longer able to provide warranty services to vehicles inside the warranty

Ask Valmaior and/or SIVA if Valmaior can service the vehicle to the manufacturer's specification without invalidating the warranty. Albeit different makes & garages this is exactly what I do in the UK. My understanding was that the EU ruled it as a restrictive practice to tie you to a franchised dealer.

As I understood from the workshop, the issue is not providing qualified service and original parts as these are readily available on request from the distributor - the warranty service also requires that the workshop is able to update the car electronics with the most recent engine management software as provided by the manufacturer which, according to Valmaior, becomes impossible when the workshop is disconnected from the dealership network.

I had a run in with SIVA after I purchased a new Volkswagen (luckily in Faro). Shortly after I took delivery, they sent me a letter though the public postal system asking me to confirm my personal details. The letter that they sent to me included the following info printed on it:

Address
Full name
marital status
Tax number
car regitration
profession
date of birth

the only item of personal information missing was my identity document number (there was a space for it, but I think they missed it off !)

I could not get any sense out of SIVA or Lacocar in Faro, SIVA were actually quite rude.

I wrote to WV head office, expalining my concerns about identity theft etc. The reply I got suggested that they were going to remove my name from the mailing list - but what about all other purchasers of new VW cars. They must be in contravention of the Data Protectoin Act, surely.

I will be getting back to them soon, if anyone else wants to contact them, I can give the necessary email address.

Well, I got my fax from SIVA yesterday evening and they basically told me to stop whining and go to Faro, which I specifically told them was unacceptable.

I now have a choice between writing to the consumer defence in Portugal or to VW head office in Germany, and I am seriously considering doing both.

Hiya
Please do both.
I have tried to find a book I had with the names from overseas students I used to have as one of them had his older brother somewhere in the direcors sector and he too was going into follow in his footsteps. If I can get Richard to find it I shall pm you the name.
Meantime good luck in contacting both sources

Volkswagen Kundenbetreuung [kundenbetreuung@volkswagen.de]

The above email address is the customer services department at VW head office.

Isn't the owner of the castle in Ferragudo one Pereira Coutinho also the owner of SIVA the Volkswagen Audi importers for Portugal?

Volkswagen Germany has replied to my complaint about the closing of the Portimão workshop. They distance themselves from the decisions that their portuguese subsidiaries have made stating that it was a decision made at national level and at SIVA's discretion.

They were also kind enough to forward my complaint back to SIVA, who responded me with what I now assume, is a standard letter for this particular complaint.

The word on the grapevine is that SIVA is going to joint venture with an existing brand workshop in Portimão for VW maintenance, but no news as yet.