where do i stand with my rights from buying a car from independent dealer

[advirosy55]

hi,

Basically brought my car from dealer 3 1/2 weeks ago, today im driving along and hear big clunk and bang from engine, pull over, open bonnet, one of the ribs on the aux belt and shredded off.....

And upon reving the engine get a horrible sound that was not present before the rib shredded off, RAC bloke came out, said it sounds like a big top end problem, which sounds expensive.

However no belts have snapped.

so my question is, am i within in my rights to take this back to the dealer and ask them to fix it?

cheers

 

[Ben]

Did you get warrranty on it when you bought it?

 

[Henry]

you should have been sold it with a statutory 3mth 'breakdown' warranty - would have thought you're well within your rights with a problem like that

 

[Alastair.]

unless you bought it as a trade sale then yes u should have warranty

 

[advirosy55]

was given a 6 months out of house warranty with it, which covers problems up to the cost of £200, but was told by the local French car specialists, that they have to give you a months warranty before that even kicks in?

Im confused

 

[DrR]

Has the aux belt been changed when it was due? As something failing from incorrect servicing might void it?

 

[advirosy55]

i have no evidence of the aux belt been changed when due, im presuming it hasn't been, but surely i have some kind of come back on the garage? as they never advised me that they needed doing, told me the car had been "serviced" so selling it to me with warrenty that could be void by belts not been done, could be technically selling it as not "fit for purpose"

Is there any legal warranty that the garage must give before the out of house one kicks in?

 

[Henry]

can't find anything about the 3month thing (must have been misinfomed), but have a look at this instead: http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=43

 

[advirosy55]

thanks for your help.............not sure what to do really, all too confusing and what seems time consuming sending letters etc, first port of call is to ring dealer in the morning i think, see what they have to say

 

[Seandci]

your warranty would start from the date of purchase speak to dealer first before jumping the gun, if no joy then take legal action keep a record of all telephone calls/e-mail and make sure you have a witness to everything that is said, the reason I say this is because I have just won a court case myself only two weeks ago after my Clio needed £1400 of repairs after owning the car for two days. You must give the dealer ample time to sort thing out first do everything by the book should you have to go to court it will look better for you, the dealer I got my car from didn't reply to my phone calls or e-mails to which the judge wasn't happy about and thats why I won my case. If you need more advice pm me your phone number and I'll explain in more detail.

Sean

 

[Brett]

Where the belts changed at the correct intervals? I.e. 36K or 3 years for Aux belt and 5 years or 72K for cam belt?

If they hadn't been done you should have not bought the car or had them done imediately, they will break if not replaced on the F4R engine, there is usually a fair few snapped belt threads a month on this site alone.

 

[advirosy55]

i cant see any evidence of the belts been changed, however car was sold to me as having "full service history" and tbh i didnt even think to check, when spending 4 odd grand on a car, i wouldnt expect it to break after 3 weeks

also was not informed or warned by the dealer that they were overdue and needed to be replaced..just got to ring them and see what they say i guess

 

[Brett]

i cant see any evidence of the belts been changed, however car was sold to me as having "full service history" and tbh i didnt even think to check, when spending 4 odd grand on a car, i wouldnt expect it to break after 3 weeks

also was not informed or warned by the dealer that they were overdue and needed to be replaced..just got to ring them and see what they say i guess

I agree it shouldn't break however people think FSH is just having it serviced once a year, a lot of people don't even know what a cambelt it and when dealers say it will cost £800 they tend to leave them.

You could try telling the garage that they advertised it with FSH, however it does not have FSH because the belts wern't done therefore they have misrepresented the item and defaulted on the contract.

I'd go along those lines and tell them to repair it or refund you your money.

For future reference i'd also ask if it has had belts done whether it says FSH or not.

 

[Seandci]

Tbh Brett if a car comes with fsh most people wouldn't check the belts as not everyone knows about cars and what to look for when buying hence why people buy cars with fsh thinking nothing should do wrong, you would only get the belts replaced when it comes up on the service. I know some people get them done way before they are due but that tends to be people who no about cars, and the last thing most people think about after spending £4000 plus on a car is having to spend a couple of hundred pounds get cam/aux belts done.

 

[Seandci]

advirosy55 speak to the dealer first before posting up anymore details/replys as they may repair the car without any problems your jumping the gun mate without speaking to them first which is unfair and this could turn into pages of what you should do when there maybe no need to.

 

[Brett]

I'm not having a go at him mate just saying that is the problem, maybe other people seeing that post will stop the same thing happening to them.

 

[Seandci]

I see your point Brett but time and time again people will moan on car forums without speaking to the other party and not giving them time to resolve the matter first, if no joy then ask for advice, advirosy55 don't want to upset you but rather than post up on here first thing this morning get on to the dealer first otherwise you could give them a bad name without needing to, as I have already explained do everything by the book and your cover youself and don't name the dealer on here until the matter is sorted, if you bad mouths them and they find out about it they would be more unlikely to help you out.

 

[Fred@BTM]

i did a 172 yesterday with a receipt showing "cambelt £100" needless to say it was in for a noisy aux belt idler and a cambelt inspection, i inspected it, it was now way 12months old, tippex was all over the place, tensioner was too tight, timing was out

refused to let the car leave the workshop without changing it, took the old belt off and it had a crack going through one of the layers, that was lucky!

 

[Seandci]

So have you spoken to the dealer if so what was the out come.