I bought a secondhand 1999 Audi A4 Avant at the end of July for £1800. It had done approx 97,000km in 11 yrs. I drove it the following week to France, where it broke down (problem as yet undiagnosed). The recovery people with whom I have European Deluxe cover picked the car up and spent a few days trying to find a garage that would diagnose the problem. All garages refused or said they were too busy (France is on holiday for the first two weeks of August) and the earliest anyone would look at it was two weeks later. It was decided to repatriate the vehicle to the UK on a lorry, and I was to fly back. This was all covered by the breakdown people.

Their policy states they will return the vehicle within 15 working days. The date was set as 9 September (action was agreed on 16 Aug). On the 9 September, I called the breakdown company to find out where the car was. They apologised and said that the company who were bringing it back had forgotten to pick the car up from France! A new date of Monday 13th Sept was given. The car arrived today to my named garage, Tuesday 14th Sept.

The issue is that my warranty that I purchased states that you have 14 days to inform them of the breakdown, which I did on day 13. You then have 14 days for the work to start on the vehicle to repair it, otherwise the warranty isn't valid. This would have happened if the vehicle came back on the original date. As a result of the delay, the 14 day deadline was missed and the warranty company will not cover the costs. Who, if anyone, is responsible? Do the breakdown people take responsibility for this as they are in breach of their 15 day policy to return the car?