New (Used) Car and Warranty Problem

[nickl360]

Alright fellas,

I'm just looking for a bit of advice as I'm thinking of writing a letter to the independent dealer that sold me my car.

I paid £5k for a 2002 172 back in February 2008. The car looked in great condition, it only needed a pair of new front tyres and a couple of interior niggles sorted out, which the dealer did for me. The car had only done 25k miles, so was like new.

After filtering through the documentation and service history it hadn't had the cambelt or timing belt changed, which it should have done. As the car was pretty low miles I wasn't too concerned and the garage did the work for free, which is quite an expensive job.

I also opted for the silver 12 month Warranty cover with an external company for £200 as they sold it to me as 'this will cover you if anything goes wrong on the car for the next 12 months'.

After a week of getting more confidence in the car I noticed the tripometer and the MPG settings kept re-setting, so a quick search about on the internet revealed the problem to be with the battery and it needed replacing. I phoned the independent dealer up who delivered the battery to my doorstep the very next day (twice as the first time was the wrong size battery), quality service.

Not long after I bought the car I noticed that the engine made a grumbling noise when accelerating hard (attempting to light up the front tyres), and I thought this was traction control at the time. However it turns out my car does not have traction control, so something is either broke, or not functioning correctly. I didn't notice this immediately after purchasing the car as I was building up confidence in driving it, so wasn't flooring it anywhere.

I wasn't concerned because I had this Warranty and I could use this Warranty at any VAT registered garage. Brilliant, I've got a mate who owns a garage so he could do the work for me and I know it'd be done right and to a high standard.

So today I go to my mates garage and he inspects the car and finds the CV boot has come off and sprayed gunk all over the inside of the right wheel. The exhaust mounts are broke, and the exhaust is blowing. All 3 issues contributing to the noise.

He phones the Warranty company up and they say none of the work I can claim for, as the parts have worn out and not failed. Basically a component has to fail in order to be valid on the Warranty.

Now, this is not how the Warranty was described to me by the independant dealer. They said if there is anything wrong with the car, call the warranty people up and they will sort it for you.

I haven't got a price for the work that needs doing yet but I'm not happy and feel conned. I'm going to write a letter to the dealer I bought the car from and see what they say as I don't expect after less than 3 months ownership to pay for this work.

Am I in the right here? Is there any legal stand point I can put in my letter? I don't want to be arsey with the garage as they have sorted issues out before, but it seems to me they have conned me on the Warranty and the car, as it was like this when I bought it.

Sorry for the long post, any advice appreciated

 

[Laura]

aftermarket warrenty isnt worth the paper its written on.
i found out the hard way.

all i can say is be assertive, i went down to the dealers on a number of occasion.

eventually i just left it there and gave the keys to the manager. mine was to get the cambelt done that was ment to be done before i got the car and a odd knocking sound it developed.

read over the paperwork, it should have a list of whats covered and whats not, i would imagine the engine mount will be

 

[-Leigh-]

Wear and tear.

 

[gtruk]

Read your warranty terms and conditions. You WILL find that wear and tear items are not warranty jobs.

Cv boot clips snap on clios all the time. Ive had both mine go within months....2mins job to fix and costs a fiver for the clip.

The exhaust again is wear and tear and to be frank....it sucks....they dont last very long, thats why people go for the after market versions.

The sales man may say this will cover you blah blah blah, but its the warranty paper work you receive that you have to take note of, not what bob said or said he would do.... from a legal standpoint anyway....

You could still moan to the dealership, but it sound like they have been very good up until now.

 

[dr_sybourg]

I'm sure someone told me when i sad similar problems that all garages have to offer a minimum 3 month warranty on cars, so forgetting the extended warranty for a second and focusing on "I don't expect after less than 3 months ownership to pay for this work" why dont you go back to the garage and get them to do the work? Thats what I did!

 

[Marky_]

Watchdog followed up on these worthless dealer warranties a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Daniel]

I personally wouldn't bother persuing it.

It will cost you more in time and effort than it would to pay your mate so fix the problems. Just put it down to experience.

I think you're quite lucky to have had the dealer replace the cambelt and the battery tbh.

 

[Iridium]

As annoying as it'll be - I'd give up on the warranty company. CV joint and exhaust bits aren't hugely pricey parts IIRC - but the people on the end of the phone won't care and won't budge because it does say wear and tear is excluded in the small print - although it may be worth having a shot at the garage as you can actually go there and argue with them. Just remember to keep calm, if you start shouting and stamping your feet they'll just ignore you. You might be able to at least get a goodwill gesture of free labour etc.

Dan

 

[Alastair.]

wear and tear isnt coverd, its like if ur a s**t driver and burn ur clutch out every 5,000 miles do u think warranty would replace it, no

 

[The Chubby Pirate]

This is a rather gray area, whether the part failed or not the garage will tell you its wear and tear i say move on but keep your ear to the ground on any other paticullar problematic niggles that they have that they will replace before the warranty is up ie. window regulators lol

 

[-J-]

With regards to the warranty it will be water tight... Will exclude Wear and Tear Items and will be noted in the T&C of the warranty.

With regards to what the trader told you about the warranty he is bound by FSA regulations and I would suggest you take it up with the finacial obudsman at the very least you might get your money back for the warranty.

 

[andrebailliesearle]

In reply to J's response, the warranty isnt covered by the FSA anymore as it is a warranty not a insurance product, Im a sales manager at a main vauxhall dealer and even under the warranty that the garage put on most will not pay out for a cv boot or exhaust matter (unless it snapped) but from what you written so far have you contacted the selling dealer? most selling garages will do alot unter goodwill and customer relations as they rely alot on word of mouth advertising and they wont get that from unhappy customers, if you dont get anywhere then request to speak to the dealer principal in private and voice your grievance. If you need any advice from a dealers point of view pm me anytime.