What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Noisy diff - grounds for refund?
Four weeks ago I purchased for £2500 a Mazda MX-5 2003 with 91k from a trader. It road tested fine as far as I could tell. Subsequently, a friend who also owns a similar MX-5 of the same vintage, when a passenger said he felt that it was making a noise at the rear, only noticeable with the top up, i.e. without wind noise. He's no expert but said it could be rear brakes, a wheel bearing or even the diff making the noise.
As a precaution I arranged for my local garage to undertake an inspection of the vehicle. They have confirmed a "noisy diff" (suspecting, but not guaranteeing, a worn pinion). In addition they identified a broken rear coil spring and worn n/s & o/s front suspension bushes.
Do I have grounds for seeking any form of remedy from the trader?
I have contacted him and his initial response is that he did not notice any noise, it passed its MOT in May and 'what do you expect for a 12 year old car with 91k?'. He said if it breaks down then by all means bring it back. I don't want to wait for it to fail!
It was sold with a 3 month warranty, but this only covers 'sudden & unexpected failure of components'.
As a precaution I arranged for my local garage to undertake an inspection of the vehicle. They have confirmed a "noisy diff" (suspecting, but not guaranteeing, a worn pinion). In addition they identified a broken rear coil spring and worn n/s & o/s front suspension bushes.
Do I have grounds for seeking any form of remedy from the trader?
I have contacted him and his initial response is that he did not notice any noise, it passed its MOT in May and 'what do you expect for a 12 year old car with 91k?'. He said if it breaks down then by all means bring it back. I don't want to wait for it to fail!
It was sold with a 3 month warranty, but this only covers 'sudden & unexpected failure of components'.
Asked on 7 July 2015 by Gaz14
Answered by
Honest John
You have grounds for complaint against the trader for the broken spring, but not for the noisy diff. You bought a 12 year old 91k mile car for £2,500. MX5s often do have noisy diffs. But the diff has not actually broken. So there is nothing to sue the dealer for and an aftermarket warranty would not cover a problem present on the date of sale anyway.
Tags:
differential
refund
Similar questions
My niece has a 2007 Land Rover Freelander 2 and her local garage has told her that the differential has gone. She has been told that it will cost in excess of £1000 to put right - a sum she can ill afford....
I took my Honda CR-V into the main dealer for a service recently, only to be told that the central differential is seized and requires to be heated up in order to un-seize it. They want £400 to do this....
I live in Kenya and want to buy a cheap car with 4 wheel drive. I wanted ask whats the difference between limited Slip differential and all wheel drive?
Elsewhere on 
.jpg)
