Peugeot 206cc
Purchased: 2nd April 2005
Registration: 05
After purchasing my Black 206cc Allure back in April, I have had nothing but problems. Immediately after picking it up I noticed some faults. And I was not happy about the way the dealer tricked me into the remaining finance.
Firstly, he told me the interest rate as 4.5%. It was only when I went to pick the car up this was 9%. After putting down a deposit and then the final balance I felt like I had no choice but to sign the finance agreement. He gave the impression that I would loose all the deposit I had put down on the vehicle if I decided I didn?t want the car anymore. And that I had no choice as the car had already been registered in my name etc.
Would he change the rate?! No way! He told me I should have known to double this to get the correct rate? I have since learnt that in their training they are taught to refrain from giving away the full APR. Not a good start.
Fault after fault became apparent on the car and even a letter to the MD of Peugeot didn?t help. I received a reply from him only 12 days after picking the car up saying he was ?sorry? about the way treated and he would ?look into it?. Still heard nothing and its now November!
Due to the distance between myself and the Peugeot garage they said to hold on with the faults and to have them all fixed under warranty repair when the car went it for its free 6 month check up. Now, obviously for any make of car you can take it to that particular make of car?s garage. I opted for my local 10 minute away dealer ? deleted. After accepting that I could do nothing about the extortionate finance rate I put my faith in Peugeot that my car would be returned fault free. Little did I know.
By this stage the following faults were present:
- Roof leaking in 3 places. (From both clips and the rear driver window).
- Doors not closing properly ? having to slam them to get them to shut.
- Headlights were mis-aligned which made driving at night difficult.
- Brakes squeaking
- Wind noise from the drivers window
- Unexplainable noise from the rear when driving.
- Passenger seat loss of memory
- Problem with radio memory seems to always divert to radio 1.
Went to collect the car on the arranged collection date, only to be phoned when I was nearly there to say it was not ready. Bearing in mind this was as they were closing!. 3 days later and finally the car back. Again just as they were closing as I had to go after work. The guy informed me all the faults had been fixed and the roof was leak free.
Less than ¼ mile down the road and I could see water dripping form the passenger side clip. Immediately called the garage and they said that they had tested it. Absolutely disgusted. On my return home I inspected the entire vehicle. This is when I found the damage the garage had caused whilst my vehicle was in their possession.
- Passenger door was pushed in to the vehicle and so did not align with the other panels on the car.
- From above the passenger door on the roof continuing all the way down the body work across the boot and down the rear of the car over the lexus lights until the bottom of the bumper were various deep scratches in the paint work. Also found on passenger door.
- Right headlight was failing to work causing an awful sound when driving.
- Chunk out of my alloy wheel
- Scratches on the front bumper where they had the headlights out to realign.
Immediately called the Peugeot garage. The most senior person there was a supervisor. I described the damage and I have to admit I was very angry. I don?t know what happened next. The next thing I remember was waking up with a nice view of the concrete road. Luckily my mum was nearby and apparently I collapsed on the floor. My mobile still being connected to Peugeot they were quickly told I needed medical attention. Not that they cared.
Saturday morning. The next day. Car was taken over to the garage. They would not admit anything wrong and that the service manager was not there to look at the car and so he would come and visit me on Tuesday. They informed me that they door had to be realigned to try and stop the leaks! ? Have you ever seen a 206cc with the door pushed in???? Apparently this is ?normal? to stop leaks. They also advised of the new style sills being fitted to stop leaks ? well proof they don?t work!!!
After this went all the way to the garage. They looked over the car and agreed the faults and the damage. The sales manager informed us that to reject the vehicle we had to write direct to Peugeot themselves. This is in fact wrong as per the law it?s the dealer who sold the car who you have to reject the car too.
Several strongly worded letters later, diary of all the telephone conversations and still waiting for an answer.
Had a call today for the director of the Peugeot garage. He informed me that Peugeot would not accept the car back. He said that he didn?t want a second hand car back as he would lose too much money on it. He also said that he didn?t want a car that was damaged and leaking. He didn?t seem to care that what he didn?t want, I have. All he seemed to care about is whether he would make a loss. He said that Peugeot themselves may offer me a new car as a replacement ? But he would not as it would cost him too much money. He then informed me that the Peugeot garage had informed him that they had been trying to contact me to get a date for the car to go in for repair. The Peugeot garage have my home, mobile, email and home address. No contact made. No messages left on the answer machine. Conveniently a letter arrived a couple of days after speaking to deleted of deleted. Offering to repair the damage and apologising for not contacting me sooner. Ummm?..
Finance company have now got back to me to say that the garage are only offering a repair. Considering the legally own the car due to outstanding finance, they don?t seem to care that I have been sold a faulty vehicle. I suppose all they car about is getting their money and the extortionate interest back.
Peugeot have now said that they will repair the vehicle and nothing more. They are even saying they have never seen the vehicle even though I drove all the way there the minute it started leaking. The finance company will not fight this anymore and their answer now is that if I disagree with Peugeots reply then I need to sue them and they will counter sue the Peugeot garage?..
WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Has anyone had any experiences like this before?
How did you go about rejecting your vehicle?
Any advice / information appreciated??
The car has had none stop faults form the start?. From everything I have read ? once they start leaking they never stop????
The more I read and the more I hear ~ The only option I seem to have is to somehow get them to agree and sign something to back up what they say. They are assuring me that once fixed the faults will be gone and that the car wont leak. I don?t think they will agree to this somehow as I?m still waiting for paperwork from over a month back I requested. I don?t see that if they have sooooooo much faith that once repaired it wont leak, why they cant promise me a full refund or a brand new car if it leaks after they have had the chance to repair it.
Please someone help me?..
Lesson learned ? NEVER BUY A PEUGEOT!
{All reference to the dealer removed, as per the No Name / Shame policy this site operates. DD}
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I can sense a moderator sighing...
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Simple.
Read HJs FAQs and reject the car. Write down a detailed list of faults and drive the car to the dealers and hand over the keys, log book etc etc. Advise the finance company of what you are doing beforehand and sit back and wait.
You may need a lawyer, but well worth the cost.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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No 1 - You have named and shamed which is against forum rules. The moderators will change your post I'm sure very quickly.
No 2 - You keep referring to Peugeot in the context of the dealer you go to; they will only be a franchise unless they are part of deleted group (owned by Peugeot Motor Company).
No 3 - This has got to the stage where you need to talk to Peugeot Customer Services at Aldermoor House HQ directly to seek a successful outcome.
Peugeot 206 is not an inherently bad car; 500,000 sold in the UK with over 5,000,000 built overall. You are just be having some bad luck but all you describe sounds fixable.
HTH
--
Was Charles {P} but someone c o p i e d my name with spaces.
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I'm afraid I can't help with much of that except to say that I wouldn't worry much about the finance.
Think of it this way, you were presented with a monthly payment that you were happy with based on the balance that you were financing, I would just say "so what?" if I found out that the rate was different from what I first believed, if I was happy with the payment then end of story. But that's just me personally.
As for the rest of it I wish you luck getting it sorted 'cos I certainly wouldn't be happy with the current situation!
Blue
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It's just a car - get over it.
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It's just a car - get over it.
Well thats what will happen in time i'm sure, but the guy wants help.
These things happen, i've got loads of companies and individuals that owe me money and sometimes you just have to let stuff go, its life.
Personally I would write a good account of whats happened, not like the one you have written above(it makes you sound like nothing ever goes right). Be more specific, only include stuff you can substantiate, give dates and the action that was taken.
Read some of the car magazine to see how others has written in to complain and the right in about your own situation. Go and see your local CAB, perhaps your local solicitors will give you some free time.
Seem to have a lot of trouble with French cars at work this month, everytime someone's got car trouble I ask if its French. They reply "how did you know?", must be magic......
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It's just a car - get over it.
There's no way I would be able to just 'get over it' if that was my car. All the best in sorting it out, Paul_H.
3 years ago I bought a new Yaris from one of the major online retailers. 2 weeks in I noticed what looked like tar spots above a rear wheel arch. However, the local dealer had a look and found it was the result of a not very good attempt to repair accident damage. After further investigation the dealer reported that the damage was (or had been) quite bad.
Luckily, the online retailer replaced the car with another brand new vehicle without too much hassle.
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So why are you on a car forum then? Have you got money and patience to burn? A car is the second most expensive thing that most of us buy.. so you can't blame people for getting upset when things go wrong and the dealer doesn't seem to care.
The general public don't know the difference between franchises and the company: as far as they're concerned the dealer represents the company, and ill-will bred by the dealer is then reflected on the company.
The poor bloke here isn't a car geek or expert, he just wants some help, which 99% of the people here are offering.
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"Peugeot 206 is not an inherently bad car; 500,000 sold in the UK with over 5,000,000 built overall. "
-- Recent Top Gear survey results seem to suggest otherwise, unfortunately seem to be a lot of people unhappy with it !!
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J D Power Satisfaction Survey 2005 - 112 out of 124.
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I had a new Pug 206CC. I never had any problems with it leaking though.
The only problem that I had was a "squeaking" sound on bad roads, where the roof moved on the rubbers, but it was OK on main roads. The other problem I had was a cracked exhaust manifold, which the Pug garage was very good finding and repairing. So no complaints there.
With regards to the finance % rate being misrepresented, they did this with my son, so it looks as if it is a common practice for the unaware. He was told that the finance on offer was about 6%, but when I looked at his documentation, it was 15% APR. It was deliberatly misrepresented to him. So he's learnt avaluable life lesson there!
Paul H, if they can fix the faults, and you like the car, I would say keep it. But I know that once you feel as bad as you do, it's hard to ever regain any feel good factor.
Reggie
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I'd talk to your local trading standards office. They will advise you on the best course of action. I'm appalled at a main dealer can damage a customer's car and not do the decent thing. After 6 months it might be too late to reject the car but if the faults have been there since day one and just not fixed you should be able to. If you have a leaky one then there may be others so perhaps contacting Watchdog might prove fruitful. If there is another peugeot dealer that you can take it to then they may be able to effect a better standard of repair than the first one.
If the dealer had not told you the APR after you had specifically asked for it then they're being very naughty indeed.
However much you want to bounce the MD of the dealership's head against a wall, remain calm and polite at all times as it usually makes them give in faster :-)
teabelly
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It could be that they quoted you the 'flat rate' which is actually more reflective than the APR figure which, i believe, is calculated using some hugely complicated and theoretical mathematics.
A quick trip to moneysupermarket.com will give you a few loan prices to enable you to get a comparison.
Good luck with the dealer, but you'll need determination, patience and persistence to get it sorted. Probably take a year I recon - seriously.
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So, Paul H, What do you reckon to all these helpful replies?
Phil
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Well, in a massive turn around I shouted all weekend, posted on several forums, car on ebay warning other people about the faults and the customer service. I have received lots of support so thanks. They have offer to provide a new car. Brand new at no cost to myself with delivery mileage.
Sorry about mentioning names. I didnt know the rule. Just wanted to warn others howbeen treated so sorry about that.
I have asked for a written statement that if this next car leaks that have full refund. They have said they cannot guarantee that this car will not leak... They cannot give me a reason why they wont guarantee their own product, especially a convertible for leaks.... Seem to have no faith in them at all.
Still on for refund as they being funny even about changing the car over. I need some guarantee as its been 7 months now since got car and no stop faults. Have had to take time off work to see certain people for advice, and to take car to garages to see. Money for insurance for loan car, money for car inspection for the damage caused. Nightmare.....
Will keep posted...........
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To be fair, I'd say that giving you a brand new car is a pretty goods response from them, even if it did take some work on your part. I don't think you could realistically ask for anything more.
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Well done
When they say they cannot guarantee the new car won't leek, I suspect they mean that if it does they'll fix it.
when you manufacture a product you can't be sure that it will conform, as experience tells you you'll get non conformancies. It's a fact of life, despite your wanting to get these down to 1 in a 1000 or so. However, that is when you put actions in place to rectify the situation.
Try to develop a good relationship with the sales and after sales guys. When you pick the car up it may be worth your while taking in a case of beer or a few bottles of wine to oil the relationship a bit, even if you (hopefully) never need to call on the warranty again.
H
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