Yeh I know where you are going on this one DD!!
He lives at number 13.....
No seriuosly, it done it to me once and to one of the dealers fitters once, and I beleive once it has done it the fault shows up on the computor.
It has happened mainly with the instructor driving but sometimes with pupils.
I am really stumped with this!
Can you imagine an engine with only 3 cylinders anyway, losing one or two of them!
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Thanks to you all on this one, I posted the letters through their door in the dark hours this morning. It was polite enough, and I clearly outlined what it was I required, I have given them 48 hours to come up with something.
If they dont then I will have to get my solicitor involved at more costs. Reading the letter back to myself, I think it sounds terrible what this car has been through, I think if a third party read it they would wonder why I did not chuck it back a long time ago.
We will wait and see!
Thanks again.
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The whole case has gone up to Vauxhalls exchange team to make a decision, my dealer does not think they will agree to exchange it cos it does not meet all the criteria for an exchange!
A car is 2.5 months old, has broken down approx 10 times, had its head stripped and has spent 7 days out of the last 39 on the rd, the other 32 its been in the workshop.... what is their criteria??
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Clarky,
I'm no expert in consumer law but those phrases "fit for purpose" and of "merchantable quality" come to mind. I would have thought your car failed on those counts.
Perhaps more important isn't the seller the dealer in this case and therefore it is they who are liable for the exchange not the maker.
Many years ago shops would waffle on about having to send a TV (or whatever) back to the maker before they could give a decision on repair/exchange/refund...they don't do that now because they know we know our contract is with them as the seller.
Someone who posts here is excellent on consumer law but I can't remember who.
You need to be prepared with this information in case the Vauxhall answer is no.
MM
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Clarky,
take a look at
www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/guides_to/buyingacar/
One thing I noticed in here was "once you have told them you wish to reject the car you must stop using it."
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This seems thorough too...
diylaw.info/BuyingCars.htm
In particular it reinforces the business about your contract being with the seller not the maker.
MM
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Well you seem to have been very patient. As the previous post says, it seems to require rejection very firmly. Another facet not yet mentioned altho' I'm sure you have it in mind, is that its risky enough teaching driving without the additional risk of the engine losing power. Do think you might raise this also with Do Transport or whatever? ECU malfunction might not be an isolated instance (if that is what it is) It might help as a bargaining chip to emphasise the duty of care owed to you, by the seller if the dealer he is aware this deal relates to use at work. And that owed by you (as an undertaking) to your pupils and the public. HSWA 1974 section 3. Good luck.
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Too patient I would say.
Ditch the Corsas and renew the whole fleet with Yarises (Yarii?) and make it perfectly clear to them (if it isn't already) why.
Bet you'd get a brilliant deal from your nearest Toyota dealer
Terry
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Ditch the Corsas and renew the whole fleet with Yarises
I'm not totally sure if this is wise. IMO the Yaris is too easy to drive for a learner - they won't learn the fine points of car control with such a lovely little car. Same thing for these schools that have a Matiz. (But for different reasons!) I'm probably alone in this thought, but I feel that learners should learn in a car that makes them learn how to drive it.
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Consumer law is no help to Clarky though, because he's bought in the course of a business. Having said that, I think he's got a very good case for an exchange, at the very least. The contract he's signed for the supply of the car may not be much use to him as it may purport (successfully - these are experienced business people) to limit liability for consequential loss such as loss of earnings. Not much he can do about that.
On the other hand, given that he owns 22 of the b***** things, he does have a lot of bargaining power. You can't contract out of the SoGA's obligation to provide a car/product that is fit for purpose, unless that purpose is abnormal or made known to the seller, e.g., you can't return your fridge because it doesn't get 70mph on the motorway, but you can if it doesn't keep your food cold. If you buy a fridge and explain to the seller that you want to drive it at 70 mph, he has an obligation to sell you one that does (e.g., a Berlingo with a fridge in the back), and not to tell you that it will if it doesn't. That's getting into the area of misrepresentation, which is governed by a different act and different principles anyway.
I'm being a bit silly but the point is that this car is clearly not fit for purpose. The fault is clearly a manufacturing defect, and he didn't delay reporting the fault before giving the seller an opportunity to fix the car. Some discount for the mileage might be fair, but only for the use and not on the depreciation the car would have suffered, if that makes sense, because obviously Clarky wouldn't change his cars every 5 000 miles. Also, if any of those miles have been done by Vauxhall, they shouldn't count. For instance, imo if Clarky got 2,000 out of 100,000 miles' expected use, it would be fair to expect him to pay 2% of the depreciation he'd suffer.
All this is just opinion, not advice, of course.
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you could also move the servicing elsewhere ?
i feel www.corsasarecrap.com is far and away your cheapest course of action, probably a lot less than using your legal eagle...
how much are you paying for these things ? why do you keep buying them when they are so bad ?
as for not using yaris cos they are too easy to drive that really made me smile
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Just to quickly thank you all for your help..... please keep your thoughts coming, I am taking note and will reply in full later when I have a tad more time.
Davidhm, good reply, although it has left me a little confused (not hard). Will reply later.
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Sorry it's confusing but that's why you should at least consult a solicitor who can write a letter to them for £100 or so. It shows you're serious and might spur them into action. If you set up corsasarecrap.com you can bet that the first thing Vauxhall will do is get their legal department to write you a nastygram. This is far more likely to incense them than lead them to the negotiating table.
If you are confused, you're not going to be able to insist on your rights because dealers make money purely out of their customers' confusion. Negotiate hard, but either accept that you're going to compromise on some of your rights or sue them. A direct action website, tempting and satisfying though it might be, smells like an admission of failure to me.
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"A direct action website" is absolutely going to cheese them off. But as something to mention in negotitation as a possibility is likely to get more reaction that "im going to my solicitor" which they will have heard a million times before
Use it as a last resort, but mention it early to indicate that you are not going to be walked all over
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Well thanks very much to you all, last week we took delivery of a bran new Corsa Elegance in replacemant of our old Corsa Comfort! The Comfort was no longer available so poor old Vauxhalls had no choice but to go up one grade to the Elegance, we acheived a CD player over a cassette, and a better interior trim. Also unfortunatly for Vauxhalls the only car that was kicking around ready to go was a metalic, our old one was a solid colour so we also gained metalic FOC!!
My dealer is now fighting my corner for some compensation, so I will wait to hear the outcome of that!
Thanks all.
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