I purchased a vehicle VAUXHALL VECTRA DESIGN CDTI from Halesowen Motorhouse in the West Midlands on 2/5/2012. I had never purchased from a dealer in the past because of the greater cost however, after reliability issues with older and cheaper cars and needing the reliability for my job, purchased this car for £3,650 from this Vauxhall dealer.

Within a couple of weeks of owning the vehicle, I noted that the gear change was a little sluggish, particularly when warm and after negotiating a roundabout. I took this into the dealer and they could not replicate the fault however, did a gear oil change and downloaded the latest software into the vehicle.

Since the beginning of May, I have done less than 3,000 miles and without issues. On 2nd October, it passed its MOT. On 12th October when returning to the Midlands from a business trip in Kendal, the vehicle was held up in traffic just after Junction 1 of the M6 West Bromwich when the vehicle lost power. I pushed this into the hard shoulder to avoid causing an obstruction and checked the oil and water - both were fine. I then decided to try the vehicle again and it started and went a further half mile before the same problem occurred. I called the AA whom decided as it was just 6 miles from home, to recover this and arranged for an engineer to visit and inspect the vehicle.

The engineer plugged in the computer and stated 'nothing stored in the memory regarding the fault'. He took the vehicle on a test drive for 2/3 miles and could not replicate the fault. He advised that this would need to be looked at and recommended that I took this to the dealer for a comprehensive inspection otherwise the membership would not cover recovery if I did not.

He confirmed that I did not need an escort or tow as he was confident that I could travel the 3 miles to the original dealer. On my way to the dealer and being a Friday afternoon, the traffic was quite heavy and therefore the journey time slow. Half way there, the car lost power again.

I called the AA again and got a tow direct to the garage. Today I have heard the result of the inspection - the intercooler has leaked water into the clutch system. I have been quoted over £4,300 for a new gearbox or around £3,400 for a non-genuine gear box. I only paid this Vauxhall dealer £3,650 for the vehicle and the whole point was supposedly reputation and reliability from trusting an approved Vauxhall dealer (www.halesowenmotorhouse.co.uk/).

What are my rights and what should I expect from the dealer to sort this out minimising my own cost?