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March 28 2024 2.37pm

Consumer rights act when it comes to cars

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View Badadmcmad's Profile Badadmcmad Flag Leeds 21 Sep 15 10.45am Send a Private Message to Badadmcmad Add Badadmcmad as a friend

Does anyone have any experience of pursuing the consumer rights act when it comes to cars that have broken down?

The act says in England you have 6 years in which time if a product develops a fault and it's not of appropriate quality, you might be entitled to repair, replace or refund from the retailer.

I've had a car from new has full dealer service history over the 5.5 years of ownership. It's only five 74k miles and the oil cooler has failed. I have a quote of £1500 to repair with no guarantee the car will be in working condition after and not need additional work.

The car's perhaps worth £3-4k by AutoTrader prices so further work would make it close to being financially unviable. Especially as there could be damage that will further reduce the life of the car.

I've spoken to citizens advice ahs they say I have a case... Just wondering if anyone has a similar experience of going through the process.

Thanks

 


D'oh!

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View Stuk's Profile Stuk Flag Top half 21 Sep 15 4.10pm Send a Private Message to Stuk Add Stuk as a friend

Nope. I'd be astounded if you got anywhere at all with it as dealers have a million and one ways of wriggling out of any warranty issue.

 


Optimistic as ever

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View paperhat's Profile paperhat Flag croydon 21 Sep 15 8.37pm Send a Private Message to paperhat Add paperhat as a friend

When did the product warranty expire or have you extended it at any time?
Have you approached the manufacturer customer services directly regarding the issue?

 


Clinton is Clinton. I have known him for a long time, I know his mother... Simon Jordan


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View Badadmcmad's Profile Badadmcmad Flag Leeds 21 Sep 15 9.31pm Send a Private Message to Badadmcmad Add Badadmcmad as a friend

Quote paperhat at 21 Sep 2015 8.37pm

When did the product warranty expire or have you extended it at any time?
Have you approached the manufacturer customer services directly regarding the issue?

The warranty was for 5 years so ran out in Jan. Full dealer service history etc. Spoken to the manufacturer and they will offer parts against the initial diagnosis but no parts guarantee nor will the £750 I pay for labour cover any additional work following the initial 'fix' if required. The nature of the failure was that all the oil and coolant was pumped out of the coolant reservoir (and proceeded to soak the offside tyre and brake) over the course of a 40 minute motorway journey. I only stopped because of a loud mechanical noise that developed, there were no warning lights (oil nor heating). Quite glad I didn't have to perform any heavy braking or cornering maneuvers TBH.

Anyway, the consumer rights act 1979 etc etc, suggests to me that if a product fails within 6 years the burden of proof onto the consumer to prove the fault was there from when purchased. So my argument hinges on the fact that these things shouldn't fail so soon. They are not service items and so should last the lifetime of the vehicle and that the lifetime of the vehicle should be longer than 7/8 months outside of warranty and only 74k miles to be of appropriate quality.

I met with the retailer this morning and they were obviously hard nosed about it and said that 74k miles is acceptable quality and when I ran through the list of other things that have been wrong with the car (top suspension mounts that only last 25k miles, cracked heat exchanger, failed clutch position sensor, rust, failed wing mirror), they were still unwilling to accept my point of view that the quality of the car is questionable at best.

They made a verbal offer to do the work for £300 if I can still get the manufacturer to provide the parts, but wouldn't put that in writing. It still doesn't mean there won't be something else wrong with the car caused by this failure, so the risk is still stacked on me and so the legal route which, if I win, would entitle me to a like-for-like replacement (obviously a working one!).

Given the car cost was £12k new and I've probably spent about £1000 on servicing since, I can't really see how it can be argued that it is of appropriate quality, and the the cost of repair and then potential fix is not really something that can be readily absorbed. It's not a £500 TV or something, it's value is £'000s...

Still, it's finding examples in case law that is proving difficult.

Edited by Badadmcmad (21 Sep 2015 9.35pm)

 


D'oh!

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