Hi, I need some legal advice!
I bought a car from a dealer at the beginning of October, and was told the car came with a six month "Silver" plan warranty from Motorcare Warranties. I was offered the option to upgrade the warranty by the salesman at the time of purchase. He told me an extra £50 would upgrade the cover to the next level "Gold" plan, whilst an extra £100 would upgrade it two steps to the top level "Gilt Edged" plan. I asked if I could have time to think about so he completed the warranty application form for the included "Silver" plan, which I signed, then told me I could simply phone him to let him know if I wanted to upgrade anytime before Friday morning (this was Wednesday) since that was when they sent off the applications, and I could make the additional payment over the phone. You can see my dilemma over whether to upgrade at the time here:- www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=25955&...e
As you can see on that thread I decided to go for the full upgrade to "Gilt Edged" plan, so phoned and informed the salesman on the Friday morning and performed the credit card transaction over the phone for £100. Unfortunatley, I took his word that the upgrade had been performed since I never received any further paperwork.
Today I had to call Motorcare Warranties and discovered that they have me listed as having a "Gold" plan warranty, not the "Gilt Edged" plan I paid for, which offers considerably less cover (and will not cover the £500 costs I've just been quoted by a Citroen dealer). I rang the garage that sold me the warranty and spoke to the Sales Manager who told me that:-
1) the salesman couldn't have sold me a "Gilt Edged" plan since it doesn't cover vehicles over 100k miles and runs for a minimum of a year (NEITHER of which are mentioned on the application form or in the Motorcare Warranties booklet they gave me)
2) the salesman couldn't have performed the upgrade if I didn't physically sign for the it (which is rubbish since it WAS upgraded, but only one step from "Silver" to "Gold")
3) the salesman who sold me the warranty has left the company can't be questioned
4) the relevant documentation is in storage for a company move so is unaccessible and will be for a period of time
All the Sales Manager would offer me was a refund of the extra £50 I paid for the additional step from "Gold" to "Gilted Edge" cover, but obviously that's not what I want since it leaves me with a £500+ bill to pay!
Without any written proof that the upgrade I paid for was to the "Gilted Edge" cover, do I have a leg to stand on?
|
|
Credit card statement?
|
Yes I have proof of the payment, but the trouble is it doesn't prove exactly what I paid for!
----
PhiL
|
Isn't the warranty irrelevant here at this stage.
The dealer sold you a car four months ago that now has faults. The dealer is under a legal duty to repair the car as it is deemed to have the faults when sold if they appear in the first six months unless the seller can demonstrate that they are more likely to have arisen after the date of sale.
I would take the car back to the dealer and ask him politely to undertake his responsibilities, subject to you suing for full recovery of your losses if he fails to do so.
|
Before approaching the Garage may I suggest that you pay a visit to Trading Standards and get briefed on your rights under the Sale of Goods Acts and Regulations. The defect rule will be pointed out.
At least when you take on the Garage you will know what your talking about without stuttering.
DVD
|
Others have said all there is to say on the warrant issue....but what's wrong with the car? It may well be possible to get it repaired for a lot less than the dealer is quoting (particularly if it involves hydraulic suspension!).
--
RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
|
The main problem is that the nearside xenon headlight has failed, so the car is essentially illegal to drive. Took it to the Citroen dealer in Redhill, Surry and it took them over a day to locate the problem - they say that the bulb itself is fine, but the electronics in the headlamp unit itself are shorting the system, so the entire unit needs replacing at £405+VAT for the part and £69+VAT to fit it!!!
----
PhiL
|
Just spoke to the Citroen dealer again - apparently it's the igniter unit within the headlamp that's failed, and you can't replace them seperately..
----
PhiL
|
Not sure Trading Standards will be able to help reading this:- www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?fi...t
Also it's clear the fault wasn't there when I purchased the car since the headlight was working.
I'm wondering whether to approach Citroen UK to see if they will contribute since despite the high mileage the car is relatively young and has a full Citroen dealer service history.
----
PhiL
|
I shouldn't think you'll get much out of them, but it can't hurt to try. Try to source the part from GSF or ECP, then find an independent to fit it. This should halve the costs on both the part and the labour.
This is why I'll never buy a car with Xenon headlamps.
Isn't it curious how all these 'great new innovations' always seem to involve the price of an essentailly consumable part increasing ten-fold?
|
I wouldn't be sure even a 'supderdooper do everything' warranty would cover the problem. I'd guess they have it as a 'consumable' on their lists.
|
|
1. Your written proof, as Aprilia states, is the credit card statement. Does that show #100?
2. Is there any literature that confirms that #50 is the cost for Gold, & #100 for Gilt Edged? (If not, try an 'anonymous' call to the garage, expressing interest in a car they have for sale & ask them about warranties.)
If you can answer 'yes' to both those points then it is very clear what you paid & what you were paying for, & I should think that CAB/TS would be most interested in helping. The law does not like traders who charge you for items that are not delivered. Offering to refund you some months later is not acceptable!
On the warranty point, you state that it is pretty obvious that the fault was not there when the car was purchased. Are you sure - could it be a fault that has progressed as, say, a wire has corroded?
|
Phil - I would get a solicitor to write a letter to them.
Also why not print out a copy of your previous thread as evidence of your intention.All posts are timed and dated.
Together with your credit card record I am sure you could make a good case for Trading Standards or your solicitor.
I believe I know the dealer - I won't name them but didn't they used to be Toyota dealers and lost the franchise two or three years ago?
|
No sorry the car wasn't bought from the Citroen dealer that's diagnosed the problem, but from a non-Citroen used car dealership based in Slough. I can't exactly pop in to see them since I live near Croydon and it's a lovely hour's drive around the M25 away. I won't name them, but they specialise in MPVs..
When I spoke to the Sales Manager, he couldn't understand what the salesman had been up to. He seemed to think that the standard warranty would have been the "Bronze" plan, and claimed an upgrade to the "Gilt Edged" plan would have been £395 for a year. However, as I've said I was given the car with the "Silver" cover, and am 100% sure (as I said on the original thread) that I was offered and accepted to upgrade to "Gilt Edged" plan for an extra £100, which is what is stated on my credit card statement.
----
PhiL
|
I'm pretty certain the headlight would have covered under the warranty I believed I had since unlike most it actually states in the documentation what IS NOT covered, and the only item mentioned relating to the headlights is bulbs. The igniter unit isn't a consumable (how could a consumable require a £500 cost to replace?!), so it would be covered.
----
PhiL
|
|
I would have a bet that what ever level of cover you had,the warranty company would refuse to cover the igniter.Any chance of sourcing a used igniter?
|
Just spoke to the warranty company and as I suspected they confirmed that the igniter unit and therefore replacement headlamp unit would definitely have been covered by the "Gilt Edged" plan.
Next stop Trading Standards..
----
PhiL
|
Well my luck certainly isn't improving - yesterday tried to call the garage that sold me the car to find initially that the phone wasn't being answered, then later in the day it was unobtainable, and their website has vanished.
They had mentioned last week that they were moving premises at some point, and now it seems I have no way of contacting them...joy.
----
PhiL
|
They will have been paying business rates to Local Council. Have a word with them and they may have a forwarding address if they are still working at new premises.
DVD
|
Sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope you do track them down and sort things out.
Here is a suggestion.
I don't know if my plan is flawed or not as I dont know about citreon, but most cars with xenon headlights are available both in models with and without xenon headlights.
What I would do personally is get hold of a pair of standard headlight units from a breaker (£20-£50 each) and fit those. Cut the wiring back from the input to the HV transformer, so that you are just getting a standard 12v feed.
I'd say that can be done for under £100
Luke
|
|
|
|
