warranty on import

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Mon 10 Mar 2003 12:00
warranty on import - pauledg
As the "proud owner" of an imported car I foolishly assumed that as the dealer has specified that the car has "the remainder of the manufacturer's warranty" that this would be the case. It seems that the UK importer thinks otherwise (h says it probably has none)and is being totally uncooperative even in confirming the origin of the car - which I suspect is Southern Ireland. I thought there was a European Directive on Pan-European Warranties" in force to stop this sort of thing? Where do I go from here in asserting my rights? As I have no written warranty or service book I might well contravene the terms of any warranty before I ever see it if I carry on using the car! Oh, it's a Kia and so far the manufacturer, UK importer and "local" dealers have been uniformly useless...
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Mon 10 Mar 2003 15:37
warranty on import - DavidHM
Depending on the age of the car, the warranty must be valid if

1. It was first registered on or after 01.01.02
2. It is less than two years old (see above for the moment)
3. It was originally sold (not registered - sold) in a country of the European Union

All European cars must have a 2 year, unlimited mileage warranty from first registration that is valid in any country in the EU.

If the car had a three year warranty in the UK, but it was first registered before 01.01.02 (and therefore had to have only a one year warranty which has since expired) then the UK importer has no obligation to you if this was a dealer warranty. (Most three year warranties, e.g., BMW, Peugeot, etc. are backed by the dealer beyond the statutory period).

I am not sure of the position if it is a *manufacturer's* warranty that goes beyond the statutory requirements, as this would seem to penalise those that offer more than the minimum.

However, even if the car is out of warranty, if the dealer who supplied it to you stated that it was sold with the balance of warranty, you would be entitled to a contractual remedy against him. However, you would need to prove this on the balance of probabilities, i.e., not beyond all reasonable doubt as in a criminal case.

As for the terms of the warranty - it is very hard to see how they could hold you to a breach of them if they refused to tell you what they were. Keep hold of any correspondance and, if you do end up with a warranty that they then accuse you of breaching, you would win at court on various technical grounds, based either on an unfair contract or a misrepresentation.

If you think the car was sold in the RoI though, phone a Kia dealer there and ask them about the warranty terms and/or whether your car is on their records there. There may be a list of dealers in your service book, or alternatively use the internet to track one down.
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