Hi,
Thanks for looking, First post so hope its not too heavy.
Quick summary :
I bought a car from a garage 3 weeks ago with a 30 days parts and labour warranty (I rejected their extended warranty, better on the web) and took it back after a week.(They have now had it for 2 weeks and it seems to be waiting on the "Sales Manager" approving the ABS work due to the cost, but he is never available or is in on monday etc)
Faults :
ESP Light (ABS control unit failure £1200 + Vat)
Brakes Grinding even when not braking(Replaced as "badly corroded")
Air Con Not Working(Now Recharged)
Oil Pooling at the filler cap (New Filler Cap Fitted)
It was MOT'D for 12 months prior to pick up by the selling garage with an advisory that the front discs were pitted although the sharp salesman never gave us the sheet. Prior to the sale he commented that they were just noisy as the car had been sittting but the car would go through the workshop and anything needing done would be.
Does anyone know if a car should a car pass an MOT with the ABS clearly not working and requiring new discs and pads that they did not hesitate to fit the same day as soon as i took it back in.
Would I have grounds for rejecting the car and would I be expected to pay for any of these repairs if i kept it.
Thanks
dfh101
slt
Edited by Pugugly on 19/08/2008 at 23:28
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You mention the ESP light; was it on at the time of the test/collection and why wasn't the ABS light on as well? [£1200 is a bit dear to fix a couple of bad solder joints?]
The functioning of the ABS isn't tested on the MOT; but it's self-test light must work as intended.
Sales cars do suffer surface rust on their discs if they sit unsold for long periods; usually it rubs off eventually with normal use. If it's that bad; has it been lying in a bodyshop for months....? When was it last used? HPI'd? Any fresh paint?
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Thanks for replying.
The light was on at the test but I did not know what it was so had to phone vw the next day. I phoned the salesman and told him the suspected fault and the costs and again he said that it would go through the workshop and all faults fixed / would be covered by the 30 days warranty. Upon picking up the car he told me that the workshop had cleared the fault on their computer even though it was still showing.
When I took the car back the service dept stated that they did not have vw tech equipment to diagnose or clear the fault so would send it to their vw franchise nearby who diagnosed the fault and returned the car to them over a week ago.
The tax ran out on it april so its been sitting since then, its done 72000 on the original discs and pads. Nothing to indicate any damage etc. It was lease fleet car with a very good service history.
DFH101
Edited by dfh101 on 19/08/2008 at 01:56
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You need to go down to your local trading standards office.
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Was "clear the fault on their computer" actually "take the ABS bulb out?"
Time to back it and find another; car fronts hate spending anything on repairs, so I can't see this ever getting repaired properly.
Have a look at the following:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=43
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Thanks,
I phoned them today and they did not know if they even had the car in so they are either crap or wasting my time or both.
Contacting trading standards in the morning.
They would not get away with removing a bulb as it should light when the ignition is turned on and go off after a few seconds.
DFH101
Edited by dfh101 on 19/08/2008 at 23:22
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the abs light has to come on when you turn the ignition on and then go out when the car starts... also try Citizens Advice sometimes they are good, also you could try contacting VOSA as it seems they might have given you a hooky mot!!!!!!!!
Edited by Pugugly on 19/08/2008 at 23:40
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reject the car
Even if you get the brakes fixed the aircon will not last. Tourans have a huge vent under the radiator grill for the aircon condensor. 80% Guaranteed to have stone damage and leaking all your aircon fluid. thats a 600-800 pound job and they wont pay for that claiming it happened after it left them.
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www.motinfo.gov.uk/
Check the MoT here.
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Update.
After being messed around for another week with no return of calls (They have had the car back 24 days now) we contacted trading standards and downloaded letters from their website :
www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
We sent a SOGA letter to the dealer and their head office together with CCA letters to the credit card company and loan company.
So upon receiving the letters they called today and told us to pick another car.
Does anyone know roughly how this should work and :
Can we insist this one is fixed
Can we pick the same type of car with a different price and pay the difference / receive the difference back if its cheaper
Can we just request our money back
Thanks
DFh101
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Why would you want this one fixed or exchanged and have any more dealings with this shower? I believe they are obliged to refund. Money back in full and find another dealer would be my view.
JS
Edited by John S on 28/08/2008 at 20:55
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Thanks for replying.
Ideally i would rather have our £1000 deposit back and the loan cancelled. The loan they arranged is a fixed sum loan and not HP secured on the car although I believe the lenders are sharp and still tag it on hpi even though they should not.
We got caught with the finance on this as we thought it would give us the right to hand the car back once half the payments were made if its a dog but its not the right type of agreement, The thing about this is that we discussed this as a benefit with the salesman and did not realise that they sold any other types of loan so never checked the papers just signed them.
If we had arranged the loan ourselves as a personal loan it would have been £17 a month cheaper(£1000 saving over a five year loan).
They have other cars but both would require £1000 more from us which we dont have and given how they have dealt with this i dont feel inclined.
Its cost me £30 in fuel to take it back, £20 for supagard and a day machine polishing it, a months waisted insurance at £35 plus all the hassle of being messed about and not having the car for nearly 4 weeks.
Moneyback and loan cancelled sounds the best bet.
Thanks
DFH101
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Update :
After lots of Hassle and the selling dealer having the car for 40 days we got it back with new front discs and pads, the abs controller changed and the timing belt done for free given the hassle, Nearly £2000 worth of works.
The finance company leaned on them and seemed to be very helpful.
We then had to take it back a week later as the car kept on going into limp mode at 3000rpm, before putting it in to them our local vw dealer diganosed a sticking turbo with replacement required. The selling dealer then had the car for a week and claimed not to find a fault, when we got it back it was very rough and felt flatter across the rev range but would not go into limp mode, It went in with 80 miles of fuel and came back with zero so I think they just gave it the italian tune up and booted it to clear the carbon from the sticking vanes. According to vw the problem will come back sooner or later as this will only temporarily clear it.
If it happens again in the next 4 months we are to go back through the finance company
and they will get them to fix it properly.
Thanks
dfh101
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FYI, its very common these days, for dealers to allow a 2nd hand car to go out with known faults, hoping the customer doesn't pick up on them for a month or so, so as the faults can be paid for by the warranty company - little known fact, most 2nd hand car warranty's only start a month after the customer takes delivery, so your 12 month warranty is in fact 11 months!
also before you spend loads on extended warranty's, check the small print - there is a lot that wont be covered, that you would expect would be, as I myself found out the hard way, and Im in the blooming motor trade!
Edited by the swiss tony on 11/10/2008 at 23:52
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