Hi Dell, sorry to hear of your predicament. A number of points, if I may:

1/ To say that the bearings should last the life of the car / gearbox is unfortunately unrealistic. Individual parts fail NOT the whole

2/ Warranty companies will usually ask for the gearbox to be stripped down to determine the actual nature of the fault rather than take the word of a garage who will look to make a fair wack on the exchange box as well as the labour. If the box was swapped then the fault not fixed would you be prepared to reimburse them?

3/ Saying that, @ 4 years & 67k I would not have expected the bearings to have worn so would have expected the warranty co to pay due to "premature wear & tear", presuming the bearings are covered

4/ Who you have redress with is dependent on the actual legal status of the warranty (is it fully underwritten or some form of dealer guarantee administered by the warranty co?)

5/ You have no claim on the clutch as wear & tear will be specifically excluded on this

6/ I think they should pay for the DMF as they were informed of the failure yet neglected to inspect despite being given the opportunity

7/ My advice would be to obtain a copy of the engineer's report together with the full terms of your warranty then speak to Motor Codes; the warranty co in question is a subscriber http://www.motorcodes.co.uk/our-codes/vehicle-warranty-product/

Good luck

Edited by bonzo dog on 02/09/2010 at 20:31

Can someone please comment on this response I have recieved via e-mail. All help is greatly appreciated.

You have 3 or 4 possible routes to pursue that you can do at the same time:

1 Auto Protect for the Warranty....Google searches show that they don't seem to get very good reviews, although the nature of such WEB sites is that you only hear the bad side of things. Their main tack seems to be to say that the problem was caused by "Wear and Tear" and they don't cover it. If you take this literally, it means that they don't cover anything since any component will have been subject to some degree of "Wear and Tear" from the moment it left the production line....you need to show that the "Wear and Tear" on the components was normal for their age and mileage and that the failure was caused by something else..(or as Honest John says premature wear and tear)...to do this, you'll need an expert...someone who can examine/test the failed parts and say that the "Wear and Tear" was normal, but the fault was caused by e.g. wrong specification of the steel, forging problem etc. A letter from the garage would be a first step, but you may need the AA or a metallurgist.

In the first instance, I'd just write a letter to the MD of Auto Protect (there may be a disputes procedure documented in the Policy) and say that you're not happy with their decision and fail to see how such a catastrophic failure can be down to normal "Wear and Tear". Ask them how they can reach that conclusion without a metallurgical examination. Tell that you intend to have the parts examined by experts and if the experts find in your favour that you will expect Auto Protect to bear the cost of this. Ask them if they have any independent experts that they could suggest using and whose decision they would abide by.

The problem with Warranties is that it all depends on the wording.

2 The Dealer:....He's liable under the Sale of Goods Act to supply goods that are fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality...this also means that they should be durable...If a gear box fails after 67,000 miles on a vehicle that's been properly serviced then you've probably got a pretty strong case since the Sale of Goods Act covers goods for 6 years...after you've had the goods for more than 6 months however, the onus is on you to prove that the failure was caused by a fault that was there when you bought it...this doesn't cover things like brakes that are designed to wear, but should cover main bearings in the gear box...however as with the warranty issue, you'll need to get your own expert to examine the items and produce a report that excludes normal "Wear and Tear" as the cause of the problem. Again, I'd contact the dealer, tell him what the problem is and ask him what he's going to do about it...make sure that you tell him the claim is under the Sale of Goods Act....the only difficulty you may have with him is that you didn't give him the opportunity to put the problem right, but you can tell him that's because of problems with the warranty that he sold you...follow your call up with a letter....it may be that the dealer will come to some arrangement with the warranty company, particularly if he does a lot of business with them

3 The Finance Company....If you're still paying them off, then they still own the car and you have rights under both the Consumer Credit Act and the Sale of Goods Act, so you need to write to them as well explaining the problem. Quoting the relevant acts, explaining your losses and asking them for compensation.

Small Claims Court..this is the end game if they don't play ball after a couple of letters (always send Recorded)then give them 7 days to settle before you file the court papers....it doesn't cost a lot, but again you'll need the experts report to back your case up....the main thing to decide is who you go after.

Honest John's advice seems quite clear...It may be worth while asking him about the best way to get an independent engineers report i.e. rely on the garage, use AA etc....also whether he thinks you should contact the dealer and/or finance company

Vauxhall...it's worthwhile writing a letter to Customer Services telling them what's failed and ask if it's normal for such a problem to occur after such a short time....they may contribute