I recently purchased a VW Golf Mk5 in early october 2009. I picked it up from a local independent dealer who works from a home office, and offered a car in part exchang. When I picked the car up visited his home office, and I know he's a legitimate dealer. It also came with a 1 year warranty from a major warranty supplier that a lot of car dealers use.
Only 2 weeks ago I had to top up the coolant, this seemed strange as I didn't have to do this on any other car I've ever bought. The next week I looked again and the coolant was on Min again, so I contacted the dealer, and he suggested I take it to a local garage for them to look at. So early this week I took the car to a local reputable garage. They have had a look, and the leak is coming from the head gasket.
I rang the dealer back, and he suggested we use the warranty and that the garage I have taken it to do the work. Which is fine.
However the warranty company will only pay out for part of the repair, and would only authorise the payment of any money on the condition that the garage take the engine apart to check the problem.
Now the car is in bits, and the warranty company won't pay for the full repair including the fluids and the cam belt kit you need to have when you change the head gasket.
What rights do I have legally? I believe under the sale of goods act that I have to give the dealer a chance to effect a repair 3 times before I can reject the car? is that correct? Do I have to pay anything towards a repair? It seems very unfair that I do. I don't have the kind of money they are asking for.
The dealer is trying his best with the warranty company, but what legal rights do I have over the dealer, and the car?
Thanks
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but what legal rights do I have over the dealer, and the car? >>
Answers at HJ's FAQ page, plus many previous threads on this subject. IMO, you will get good advice from
www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
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youve had it 3 weeks tell the trader you either expect him to give you a full refund and your old car back or he will be eating headgaskets through a straw
or tell him you want it fixing at his expense but you will pay for a gates kit for the timing belt
ps how are the tyres?
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Why do you need a cambelt kit ?
If the car has not done the milage to require a new cambelt and tensioner, then the original can be reused.
I had mine replaced at 58000, only because it was having a service and when it was examined, it was in perfect condition and so was the roller tensioner.
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bad practise to reuse a timing belt mr tee, i dont even think a reformed tyre fitter would do it
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I had mine replaced at 58000 only because it was having a service and when it was examined it was in perfect condition and so was the roller tensioner.
The six million dollar question is "would the belt and roller have lasted another 58,000 miles" though?
I certainly wouldn't want to chance it.
Also, how was it 'examined'? Quick deflect of the rubber to looks for cracks? A quick spin of the roller tensioner to listen for worn bearings?
Rule of thumb, if it's off the car and at or near the recommended change (mileage or age) then put a new one on and be done with it.
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Hi Gav, consumer regulations broadly state that a dealer has to be able to prove that a fault wasnt on the car when he sold it. Also that, dependant on a cars age and price a car must perform in a reasonable way. Ie if you buy a car for £300 and it breaks down on the way home ,You wont get much help from trading standards or the courts.However if you paid, say, £5000 for a car youre entitled for it to perform for a much longer period without problems.Thier is no specific time for how long any car must run without a major/minor breakdown.Courts take the view that, what would a reasonable persons expectations be of a car given its age/price and mileage.Decisions are then made individually.
If the fault you described happened not long after you bought the car then you are entitled to expect the the dealer to pay for the cost of the repair.The warranty aspect of your purchase is less relevant if you have only owned the car a short while.The dealer should make up the balance of the cost of your repair.
As to a dealer trying to repair a car 3 times I dont see thats relevant as this appears to be his first attempt at a repair.I would think that if a dealer has several attempts at fixing a car and is unsuccefull then you would be entitled to a refund ,or have the car fixed yourself ,then recover the money from the dealer
You mention the cambelt and fluids .It could be that these are excluded under the warranty because of the betterment clause.Ie the warranty is thier to return the car to its pre failure condition.Fitting a new cambelt would improve the cars condition and would save you money in the future . ie betterment ,it seems likely that the head gasket could be repaired without changing the cambelt.Therefore its not reasonable to expect a warranty company to pay for its repacement.
Hope this has been helpfull
regards tony
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Thanks for all the info, I've sorted it out directly with the dealer, and he will be covering the repairs in full and he will recover any costs from the warranty company himself. Thanks for the replies.
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Sounds like a pretty decent dealer, in my opinion most wouldn't even return your call (Home traders i mean)
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