I've bought a problem 2nd hand car, HELP

[grimlea]

I bought a second hand Skoda Fabia Hatchback 16v Comfort in the beginning of September this year. It is on an 02 plate.

It had approx 60,000 miles on it. I paid £5000 for it.

The car was given its 60,000 mile service just before I took possession of it. The garage also put it through its MOT the day before I picked it up.

It comes with 1 years warranty.

The car now has 64,000 miles.

A couple of weeks after I bought the car I started to hear a banging noise coming from the front, as well as this the engine management light came on. I took the car into the garage, where they quite happily took it in & replaced the anti-roll bar, they reset the warning light and said that it may come back on, but not to worry about it. They insisted that I have a courtesy car at no cost to myself, which I was quite impressed with.

In the last week or so a few other problems have occurred with the car. When accelerating in second, there was a whirring noise. It did not occur with any other gear. As well as this, there was another knocking noise coming from the front and the car engine was missing.

Today I took the car into the garage to get these problems sorted out. I was informed that the gearbox would need to be stripped to find the problem and that the warranty may not cover it. The knocking noise has been put down to a bush on the suspension, this is defiantly not covered by the warranty as it does say so. The engine missing was put down to bad plugs & leads and that they would need replacing. This would not be covered by the warranty either.

As it stands, I have told them not to do the work on the plugs, leads & bushes until we know if the gearbox is covered by the warranty. This was mainly to buy some time as I really do not feel I should have to pay for the plugs & leads (I believe they are quite expensive on Skoda's as they are not the same as the standard ones found on most cars), as they should of been checked in the service.

I am wondering if I have been sold a duff car. To me a car which costs £5000 should not be having these sort of problems within such a short time span. The fact that the car was given its 60,000 mile service and its MOT, makes me wonder if the service actually took place. Surely the plugs & leads would not deteriorate in 4000 miles & surely the plugs and leads should of been checked. As well as this deterioration in suspension bushes would surely be evident at this point in time (I know that it possible that this would not be the case). Also, would the anti-roll bar not be part of the MOT & service checks?

I would like to know where you guys think I stand legally.

One of my thoughts is that I may have a case that the garage has not met the standards expected in the Sale of Goods Act (section 14). As I do not feel that the car is not up to satisfactory quality, especially for the price paid. I specifically went to a garage & paid more that the potential value of the car, in the hope that I would receive a better standard car. I went to a proper Skoda dealership in the hope that they would have to maintain a suitable standard.

I also feel that I should not have to pay for items which should of been checked in the service. To be honest I feel that a service was not carried out at all or if it was, problems found were not acted upon. It is my feeling that the engine management light being on continuously probably was saying that the plugs & leads were in need of a change

Please let me know where you think I stand as I'm at the end of my tether. I bought the car as I am a window cleaner and I wanted to buy a car which is more reliable than my previous one so that I would not miss any more days work. This is why I was willing to pay so much for the car. I am now going to miss a full weeks work, just before XMAS, on top of the 4 days work I lost with the problem concerning the anti-roll bar.

[gwc1000]

Hi, so what exactly does the warranty cover, and how long is it for? Did you pay extra on top of the purchase price for the warranty?

[grimlea]

Hi thank you for such a speedy reply,
The warranty does say it covers gearbox & doesn't mention any exceptions. The 12 month warranty was included in the price of the car.

The guy said it would not cover me if it was something that was caused by ourselves ie jamming it into gear without using clutch, which it wasn't. The noise sounds to me like it is a bearing, but i'm worried the warranty company will try to get out of paying.

The other problems, I can understand why they are not on the warranty & I don't despute them not being on the warranty, but I can't understand how none of them could of been picked up in both a service & an MOT. I trained as a mechanic & the garage I trained at insisted that all services MUST include a plug & lead check. For a set of plugs to go in 4000 miles is, in my eyes, inexcusable & I wonder just how much of a service they actually did. My argument with the non gearbox issues, is that they should of been picked up in the service, MOT or pre collection check. A 60,000 mile service is one of the big services & I'm surprised that so many things could be missed.

[grimlea]

As an update, i've been looking through some of the problems with the same car from the year 2002.

It appears that a very common problem is that the piston rings tend to go at a very low mileage. This is very common, so common that any Skoda garage should be more than aware of them. Signs that this is happening are excessive oil consumption, missing/pinking, low pulling power when moving away or on a hill. Now funnily enough all these things have been happening and I did mention them at the garage. I even mentioned that I had been going up a hill on Friday and had to turn around as the car had lost ALL its power and could go no further. I have had to top the oil up three times since I bought (each time approx 1 litre of oil). I didn't think twice about this as my old car was a proper little shed on wheels and needed topping up with oil & water on an almost daily basis is was so bad.

I'm now even more fed up with the garage than I was before as they should be acting on these things, they have no excuse for not knowing as they are a Skoda garage and it is a common problem. Whats more, these would come under the warranty.

[demon_x_slash]

You're still in the golden six-month period - see my post here for more info

[gwc1000]

Originally Posted by demon_x_slash

You're still in the golden six-month period - see my post here for more info

Exactly right.
Sorry I wasn't aware from your original post that you purchased from a Skoda dealer, I was thinking they may have sold you a "mickey mouse" warranty on top of the sale price. Normally these warranties cover almost nothing. One thing that surprises me is that the car seems quite old and of a high mileage for a Main Agent to retail, normally such cars are sent to auction. Most of us in the secondhand trade reckon a Skoda with over 40000 miles is past it's best, unless it's a deisel.
You say you couldn't get up a hill, how steep was it? Personally I would be back to the dealer making a lot of noise. Don't let them fob you off. I would demand the gearbox to be fixed. Also the 60000 service should have included plugs.

[grimlea]

Thnx for help guys, it is much appreciated.

To be fair the hill was pretty steep, but my old Clio, which was over 13 years old as well as being a bit of a shed, could manage it with ease.

They are a pretty new garage, I think they opened in August, a lot of the cars on the show court are around that age. Maybe them being a new garage is the reason that they have older cars.

I am also wondering if it would be worth approaching Skoda with my problems to make them aware of the problems with one of thier dealerships. Thank you for confirming it should of had pugs for the 60,000 mile service. My service book is in the car and I couldn't check. I'm pretty sure that they didn't change the cam belt (I can't remember if it has been done at all) and I have a feeling that the 60,000 mile service should of had a cambelt change (I might be wrong so if someone could confirm I would really appreciate).

[gwc1000]

Well I would say if a Clio could do it a Fabia certainly should. It may be an idea for you to go on the Skoda UK website and contact them regarding when a cambelt should be changed for your exact model, and also ask what an acceptable oil consumption is for your car. It's pointless asking this at the dealership where you bought the car. I think you should pursue the dealer with the gearbox problem because in my experience a bad gearbox can only get worse.(Especially if you drive the car!)