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Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

Took delivery of a brand spanking new XC40 Recharge (plug in Hybrid) in January (top of the range trim version with all extras, cost more than £40k, its on a PCP)

A month later, with not even 1000 miles on the clock and the Engine Warning light starts coming on randomly on most trips, with messages about needing to be serviced. Needless say Mrs G (its her daily drive and she is nurse in ITU doing long shifts caring for Covid patients) not pleased, me not pleased. G for grumpy right now.

Booked it in to Volvo dealer, who have had it all day today but who has not been able to repair it in one day. Telling us they don't know the problem yet. and that Volvo want them to check loads of wiring between different modules before replacing anything. They reckon this will take them to end of day Monday. At this moment I am giving them the benefit of the doubt, but I fear the garage visit will be inconclusive and this will turn in to a saga which I am not prepared to go through on completely new car.

I have already expressed strong concern and told the service manager that I will not tolerate a brand new car that is in and out of the garage, it needs fixing on this one visit.

What are my rights here and what route should I take if come Monday we aren't assured of a full and permanent fix. Any tips how to frame the discussion with Volvo?

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - skidpan

If they cannot fix it you can reject it but since you are over 28 days they can charge you for the miles you have done. Nothing in the legislation to give any guidance on this, could be £10 or £10000.

Just hope it gets sorted.

Trust they have given you a car whilst its broken.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - daveyjp

As above you have right to reject if they can't fix it, Examples online of letters to put the dealer on notice.

Also remember the car isn't yours so you may need to get the finance company involved and inform them of your proposed actions.

Edited by daveyjp on 26/02/2021 at 18:16

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

Thanks
Found and downloaded a template letter from Which (Consumer Association).
Such a shame, loving the car otherwise, test drove so many other makes and models before choosing it, wouldn't know what else to get (other than ask the dealer to replace it). Just hope they fix it.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

no courtesy car

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - Avant

No courtesy car? As yours is a brand new car, that is particularly appalling. Even at short notice they should have found you something: you should make a complaint to Volvo GB about this as well as the main problem.

Judging by my experience with Yeovil Volvo (excellent), I'd thought that Volvo dealers were better than most. Clearly not all of them.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

My experience with this dealer has not been good so far, they simply don;t know the product, every question I ask is met with "I don't know, I will try to find the answer for you". Let's see what happens on Monday.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - Lee Power

No loan vehicle is extracting the urine.

Surely they must have a courtesy or even demonstrator vehicle they could lend you until yours is repaired?

Edited by Lee Power on 26/02/2021 at 19:17

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - focussed

My experience with this dealer has not been good so far, they simply don;t know the product, every question I ask is met with "I don't know, I will try to find the answer for you". Let's see what happens on Monday.

A bit late for action today but come Monday if you do not get any sense out of the dealer I would jump it up to Volvo UK and press for - either they send a tech to the dealer to sort it out within next week or you return the car for a full refund.

And you want a car to drive to replace the one you paid £40k for that doesn't work properly. They will have plenty of pool and press cars available.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

Thanks

interesting, my Volvo On Call App shows me that they have left it unlocked tonight as well!!!
I can lock it remotely, just hope that they haven't left the key in it

dont know if it is in doors (in their workshop) or not

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - Rerepo

Not sure how guygamps rejects the car because he is not the owner, just the keeper. Presumably he has to ask the owner (finance co.) to reject the car?

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - Sofa Spud

My experience with this dealer has not been good so far, they simply don;t know the product, every question I ask is met with "I don't know, I will try to find the answer for you". Let's see what happens on Monday.

While that's not a helpful answer for you, at least it sounds honest and better than if they made up an answer to try and escape responsibility altogether.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - craig-pd130

no courtesy car

Not getting a courtesy car is very poor service. I had two Volvos on contract hire (both supplied by the same main dealer in Warrington), and one of them needed a fix which took longer than they anticipated, meaning they needed to keep my car over the weekend.

They had no courtesy cars available so the service guy rang Enterprise and rented one for me.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - joegrundy

Your rights here are under s.23, Consumer rights Act 2015 - the right to demand repair or replacement of the car because it is not of 'satisfactory quality'.

BUT note that your rights are entirely against the finance company, not the supplying dealer. You have no contract with the dealer - in law the finance company buys the car from the dealer and supplies it to you. They are thus entirely liable.

"23Right to repair or replacement

(1)This section applies if the consumer has the right to repair or replacement (see section 19(3) and (4)).

(2)If the consumer requires the trader to repair or replace the goods, the trader must—

(a)do so within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer, and

(b)bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour, materials or postage)."

The 'without significant inconvenience' requirement suggests that the finance company must arrange an alternative car without delay.

I would suggest that you contact the finance company asap by phone and email telling them that you wish to exercise your s.23 rights. Repair or replacement is your choice as long as it could be said that so far you have only agreed to diagnosis at the car dealer's request.

If it does come down to replacement the finance company could charge for the mileage done so far. It would seem reasonable that this should be at the same rate as for excess mileage under the PCP - less, of course, any neccessary adjustment for inconvenience caused by the delay in supplying an alternative car pro-tem.

I would suggest you stay focussed on dealing with the finance company. Let them arrange with the supplying dealer (or anyone else) what's needed to resolve this. You don't want to get involved in a three-way discussion when legally the finance company is entirely responsible.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - joegrundy

If your PCP is with Volvo Car UK Ltd, these are the details you want:

David Browning

Scandinavia House
Norreys Drive
Maidenhead
Berkshire
SL6 4FL
UNITED KINGDOM

+4401628422210

david.browning@volvocars.com

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

Thank you
I bought the car from the main Volvo dealer in my area, I expected the finance would be with Volvo's own finance but it has all come through from Santander (I've only made one payment so far the car is that new)> On checking the correspondance it says "Santander Consumer (UK) plc trading as Volvo Car Financial Services"

Edited by guygamps on 27/02/2021 at 10:05

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

good advice all round thank you

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - Lee Power

Santander are the finance provider for Volvo car financial service in the UK.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

thanks

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

What is such a shame is that we LOVE the car, for us the PHEV approach is perfect, we charge it everynight, my wife gets to and from work mostly on pure electric, and we can (soon I hope) visit daughters in far flung corners of the country without worrying about finding charging points. It is super quite, smooth, lovely quality, a pleasure to drive, and my post here on Honest John after 1 month of ownership should have been all positive

Heh ho

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

Well today, they called me to inform me the problem is narrowed down to a faulty oil pressure sensor. Part is ordered but out of stock in UK and coming on Thursday or Friday (from Sweden). Brexit import delays not withstanding. No offer of a courtesy car just yet, buy we don't need one (though will if our own car not back in our hands by end of week),

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - craig-pd130

Well today, they called me to inform me the problem is narrowed down to a faulty oil pressure sensor. Part is ordered but out of stock in UK and coming on Thursday or Friday (from Sweden). Brexit import delays not withstanding. No offer of a courtesy car just yet, buy we don't need one (though will if our own car not back in our hands by end of week),

It's good they've narrowed it down, but p155-poor that they STILL haven't offered a courtesy car.

I would be tempted to very calmly and firmly spell out to them how disappointed you are that you've lost use of your month-old car for over a week, and you haven't even been offered a courtesy vehicle, and that this falls far below what you'd expect from a dealer of a premium brand like Volvo, and asking what they propose to do about it.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

The last few days the dealer has been more proactive in keeping in touch, they are expecting a part to be delivered and a repair to be successful and we have agreed a courtesy car will be provided if our is not back with us by the weekend.
I also phoned Volvo customer care (executive team) and asked them to record the fact that if the car breaks down again within the next few months the i absolutely will be talking to them about rejecting it and having it replaced.
Hopefully it won't come to that

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - guygamps

So to conclude, we have had the car back now 1 week and so far no repeat of the issues

Before collecting it I rang Volvo Finance executive office, and told them what had happened and that it I had reason to return the vehicle a second time for this fault (hopefully not) I would want it on record that I will be rejecting the car - they were very understanding and I got no push back

Collected the car, it hadn't been valeted, no gesture to us (especially to Mrs G), I mean a bunch of flowers or something would have been nice, lets not forget the car was only 6 weeks old and had been off the road for 1 week of that.

But at end of day if its sorted, as I said at the beginning, we have given the dealer benefit of the doubt


Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - Xileno

Sounds like a result. Now you can start enjoying it again!

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - elekie&a/c doctor
Glad you got it sorted , and let’s hope it stays that way . Out of interest, any idea what engine is fitted to these ? Info shows it as a 1.5 3 cylinder motor . Is it Volvo’s own or made by another maker ?
Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - Xileno

From what I've read, it's Volvo's own design.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - RT
Glad you got it sorted , and let’s hope it stays that way . Out of interest, any idea what engine is fitted to these ? Info shows it as a 1.5 3 cylinder motor . Is it Volvo’s own or made by another maker ?

AFAIK, it's a 3-cylinder version of the then all-new Volvo Engine Architecture (VEA) 4-cylinder engine which Volvo designed when they were sold by Ford to Geely.

Volvo XC40 Recharge - Volvo XC40PHEV back in the garage, 1k miles on it - daveyK_UK
I’m told it’s a Geely built engine in China, used in a variety of Geely brand cars including Volvo.