You might remember my post in the technical section about broken springs on a P-reg Astra. Well, it turns out that they were broken (oops), but we took the car into our local independent who changed them at substantially less than the 200 pounds each quoted by the Vaux. dealer.
While it was in, the garage found that the oil cooler was leaking (we knew it had an oil leak soon after buying it, but just topped it up until it could be fitted into the garage), and replaced that too with our permission.
The car was bought from a dealer in the Leeds area two months ago for 1250 pounds. I test drove it and it seemed fine, and I didn't spot the oil leak as you can't spot the source till it's on a ramp. It had a full MOT put on it when we bought it. The car was taken straight down to Devon, you see, so we wouldn't have been able to get it back up for them to fix it anyway.
The combined work cost nearly 800 pounds, and I was wondering if it's worth dropping into the dealer we bought it from to see if they'd be prepared to make a contribution. If they refused, would it be worthing bringing a case in the small claims court, or is it "bought as seen"? We have a formal invoice for it the car (ie, it wasn't bought for cash but on a credit card).
Ta very much!
David.
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The front springs for this model are on offer from the vauxhall trade club this week for £34.99 a pair.
The oil cooler should be about £100 or less ..
my autodata book says an hour a side for the front springs so a bit more involved than a corsa the oil cooler lets be generous and say 2 hours all in
Where do you get a £800 bill from?
To summarise if you bought the car from me i would have sorted all these niggles free if you returned the car especially as you paid a premium price,however there would be no goodwill cheque in the post as you did the work On your own back with no consultation with the seller..............sorry.
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As I said, the car ws bought in Leeds then driven down to Devon so it would've been a wee bit difficult to get it back up. Will ring local garage and check with them. Oh, and it was 1 front spring, 1 rear spring, does that make a difference?
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One other thing - it's the 1.7TD GM engine, does the petrol even have an oil cooler?
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i would have rung the seller up let me give you a for instance.
ring ring,hello micks car sales how can i help?
yes im david horn and i purchased a astra off you 4 weeks ago that i have been advised needs two road springs (broken) and a new oil cooler
yes i remember you ,go get a quote from 2/3 garages off the possible cost and bell me back
hello micks car sales ive had 2 quotes one for £800 and one for £1200............hello.............
yes im still here just fell off my chair thats all,now then are these garages being serious to change these serviceable articles at this price or what?
yes they are serious............
Then i can only suggest you take a day off work come back to leeds and i will get my mechanic to fix these things while you wait i will tell him to book you in for 4 hours ,when would you like to drive the car up?
But my garage says the springs are dangerous and you shouldnt have sold the car with broken springs
so your garage are saying that the springs were broke before you bought it then even though it had a full mot?
yes
end of conversation then pal...........see you in court..........
hows that???? ;-(
buy locally in future if buying second hand is all i can really say
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Right, spoken to my dad, we're prepared to cover the cost of the springs ourselves but not the oil cooler. 800 pound bill referred to some other stuff which I wasn't aware of.
Oil cooler was 260 pounds, plus two pipes at about 50 quid each IIRC, plus labour at 25 pounds per hour for 2 hours. Leaking since we got the car, admittedly was our fault for not ringing but we would expect a contribution anyway even if it's just for the oil cooler. Apparently the pipe had a bandage wrapped around it to stem the leak. I'm going to drop in on Thursday and ask, so we'll see.
Love your suggestion for a day off work, though, given that it's a 700 mile round trip!!
The garage is a very popular independent and I'm sure we weren't overcharged for the parts.
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Are you sure, I though it was an Isuzu engine?
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I believe some were Isuzu, other's were GM's own. This has GM stamped on it.
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The Isuzu engine has a black cam cover, the injector pump is at the back of the engine, and the alternator is down low at the front of the engine.
The Vauxhall engine has the injector pump at the front of the engine, the alternator high up at the back of the engine, and a vacuum pump on the end of the cam.
Number_Cruncher
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I wouldn't hold out much hope of a contribution to the cost of the work, because it was done without the dealer's consent.
Yes, if there's a fault at the time of purchase the dealer should rectify it, but he should also be given the opportunity to repair the fault before you go elsewhere (that, at least, is my understanding). He may still have had the car fixed in your local garage, but he would at least have been aware of the cost involved.
That's how it worked out when, a week after buying my Punto, it got a puncture on the far side of the country. The tyre fitter found it had R14 tyres fitted to 13 inch wheels on the back, though it was sold as having been serviced and put through a main dealer inspection. The seller readily agreed to pay for new tyres - but only because I rang before getting the work done and explained the situation so they were aware of the impending bill in the post.
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When I bought the Mondeo (from a "car supermarket" in the South) the things (two biggish, four minor) I asked to be sorted, which I was assured would be picked up and corrected in the "101 point check" that the car had not at the time been through, had been completely ignored.
Got some of them done the next day (with a courtesy car provided), and gave up on the rest when they just stopped answering my phone calls or e-mails.
Didn't have the time or inclination to pursue it.
This place was a 50 mile trek from my house, and I totally agree about buying a car locally in future. As it turns out, 14 months later the car has been great, but don't ever believe dealers when they tell you they'll sort problems out. In future I will ask for money off and the car "as is".
Cheers
DP
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