Unsatisfactory repairs: What would you do next?

[parkj3]

I bought a 2nd hand car, on finance, and with a year’s warranty, from a garage in Swindon, on 6th August 2007.

On the 3rd of February 2008, the cable which allowed the reverse gear to be used snapped.

I informed the garage where I bought the car, of the issue on Monday 4th February, and they advised to bring the car in on Weds 6th, as that was the next available slot they had, so they could assess it.

This I did on Weds 6th. Toby, the salesman, and my general point of contact at the garage, phoned me later in the day to inform me that the cable had snapped, and that he had fixed it temporarily. He advised me that as it was a cable, it wasn’t covered by my warranty, and that he advised me to replace the part (the gear selector lever), as he couldn’t replace the cable alone. It would cost me £130 or so for the part, plus about £50 labour.

I said I couldn’t afford that at the time, and asked why that part wasn’t covered by the warranty. “It’s a cable. Cables aren’t covered” was the response. “But the fix we’ve done isn’t a bad fix. You never know, it might last a few months”

I wasn’t sure about this, so I didn’t say anything, and took my car away, after having re-arranged the repair for the 22nd, when I next got paid.

My husband made a point of phoning the warranty company to check whether the part was covered, and after a few enquiries, the response was that yes, it was covered, because it’s not just a cable; it’s a whole part that needs to be replaced. Then my husband asked to check the details of the warranty.

“I’m very sorry, but we cannot find details of your warranty. We have no record of your transaction at all. We informed your garage of this when they phoned up to file a claim.”

So not only had the garage filed a claim on my warranty, they had been informed that my warranty didn’t exist.

We were a little annoyed at this, and questioned Toby. He put the mistake down to missing paperwork, and offered us a free service, and a fresh 12 month warranty as apology, along with the gear lever being repaired.

Slightly mollified by this, we agreed, and requested that the part be replaced.

We left it at this, and Toby phoned us in the afternoon, and stated the car was ready to be picked up.

My dad picked the car up, and we swapped cars in the evening – I had to use his spare car for the time that my car was in for repair.

I drove my car for the whole weekend, without a hitch. The gears worked properly, and everything seemed to be fine. Until the morning of Monday 25th. I was taking my son to school, and as I was going to work immediately after, I took him in the car. I made to reverse out of my parking space, and the cable gave way again.

I had no choice but to take my car to work, so I phoned the garage from work. I arranged to take the car over again that evening, and dropped it off. I also asked whether all the warranty paperwork was up together for the new warranty.

Toby said he’d check it when I dropped the car off. He did so, and then stated “Yes, there was nothing else to sign”. I also raised some points about the car which I wasn’t satisfied with – my trip computer access button wouldn’t work, the rear light cluster was still broken (it was broken when I bought the car, and he had promised to phone me when he had ordered the part), the central locking wouldn’t lock/unlock the rear passenger door behind the driver, and the boot lock had started to malfunction; getting stuck in, not allowing the boot to lock shut when you shut it, popping completely out of the recess, and falling on the floor.

He promised to dutifully look at the faults, and repair/replace as requested (note, again I had requested a replacement of the faulty gear lever). I left the warranty paperwork with him.

Toby phoned on Wednesday 27th to say my car was fixed, and that I could pick it up, but that my warranty paperwork hadn’t been completed as it was incorrect/hadn’t been signed or something, and so he hadn’t been able to give the paperwork to the warranty guy who only came on Tuesdays, and get the warranty set up.

Because I had again borrowed my dad’s car I had to arrange for him to drive with me to pick the car up. This done so, I picked the car up. I checked all the details I had queried, and all had been fixed apart from the central locking query.

I drove the car to church, but had a shock when I tried out the reverse. It stuck open – the mechanism is one of those gear leavers where you need to squeeze a section of the lever up to the knob to engage reverse. There was no tension there at all – it used to be very stiff for me to use. But now, it was easy. Too easy.

I immediately drove over to a retail park (which is just over the road from the industrial estate where the garage is), and tested the mechanism out, by reversing and driving forward a few times. It appeared to work ok, needing only a slight squeeze of the mechanism to engage reverse. I put the previous shock down to first time using the mechanism.

The next day, Thursday 25th I consequently received more shocks. I went to a shopping centre during my lunch, and in the car park, engaged first, and ended up reversing instead. :o

This happened a couple of times during the day, including in a petrol station. The mechanism was failing again.

This time my husband phoned CB Autos, and demanded a replacement part, as per the warranty.

We agreed to drop the car off on Saturday 1st March, as we couldn’t get over to the garage for when they opened on Friday (9:30) nor before they closed (any time they felt like between 5:30 and 6).

We dropped the car off, and I signed the paperwork, and then left.

We heard nothing from the garage for a couple of days, and so my husband phoned them on Tuesday 4th March, and was told that Toby, who was unavailable at the time, would phone him back later. He didn’t.

I phoned the garage on Wednesday 5th, and asked about whether my car was ready. Toby stated, “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”. This flummoxed me slightly, so I asked for the good first.

“The good news is that your car has been repaired." ( repaired?! I'm sure I asked for replaced)

"The bad news. Well, the bad news. Um. Um. Er. Your car has been hit.”

“What?!”

“There’s a dent, about 8 inches by 8 inches, on the driver-side rear wing panel. Between the alloy wheel and the fuel cap.”

“When did this happen?”

“On Saturday”

“Why didn’t you phone me before? Why didn’t you phone my husband back yesterday”

“We didn’t know. The gentleman who drove into your car has only just owned up. And I received no message to phone your husband. Don’t drop him in it though, eh?”

This went on for about 10 minutes, with the net result being that the guy was in a hire car, and that he’d accepted fault for the incident. Toby was in the process of retrieving the details of the vehicle, and thought my car might be a write-off.

I informed my insurance company, picked my car up with my husband, and quizzed Toby further, demanding details of the car that had been involved, and the gentleman’s details.

Toby was very defensive about it all, but the guy who had hit my car was actually in a hired/fleet van, and he was an acquaintance of Toby’s. I asked when he had come forward to declare the incident; “oh, a couple of days ago”.

I then asked why he hadn’t informed us before then; why he hadn’t phoned my husband up. He couldn’t answer. He also dilly-dallied about giving us the guy’s details.

I also noticed, upon driving my car away, that the original fault had not been fixed. I had asked for a replacement gear lever. It’s still the same as when I dropped it off on Saturday.

My car has since been assessed by my insurance company's local recommended crash centre, and the verdict till recently on my car was it’s an estimated total loss. Write off in other words. This has since been confirmed by evaluation team that actually, it's not. But it'll still take at least a week to get my car back.

I am deeply concerned re the whole process, because the way that I see it, if the garage had replaced the faulty part when I first asked them to, none of this would have happened.

My next step has been to demand a fresh warranty (which I have since found out that I can use it at any garage, not just that one, which I was told to begin with ), and I'm considering writing to the local paper.

Is there any other action I can take, like suing them, or at least threatening to sue, for supplying me with an un-roadworthy vehicle?

What would you have done in the above situation?

[parkj3]

Hi,

I'm going to pick up my fresh year's warranty this lunch time.

Does anyone have any handy tips of governing bodies or whatever I can threaten them with?

I'm thinking Office of Fair Trading, and writing to the local paper.

Any other suggestions?

[Hammy1962]

How can a dent 8x8 result in a near total loss situation?

That said none of this should have happened, accept the total loss amount from the insurers and sue the garage for the balance.

Hammy

[parkj3]

Hi Hammy,

The reason they reckoned total loss is because the cost of the repairs came to £1100. They thought the car was only worth £2k max. (Cap clean, my car is worth £2750 though, plus it's in very good condition apart from a little dent on the left rear wing)

The insurance company have auth'd the repair though, but I've had another headache with that!

The repair company took a month to repair my car, and then handed it back at my workplace (got reception to sign for it and legged it!), When I collected my keys, there was a whopping scratch to the bumper, several sanding tool cast-offs in the boot, and everything was covered in an inch-thick layer of sanding dust Now I know why they legged it.

6 phone calls later, the repair centre agreed fault for the bumper damage, and ageed to clean the car. They picked it up on Tuesday 15th, and phoned on Friday 18th, stating all was fixed.

I was away Friday when they dropped the car off, and when I got back Sunday, it was still scratched and filthy.

Cue another phonecall, this time to the manager. I'm waiting to hear back from him yet.

And I've since found out that apparantly the warranty doesn't cover the original problem. I'm fuming about that too, as my husband had phoned them previously, spoken to a manager, and was reassured that yes, the part was covered.

So now back to the finance company to complain even further. (That's what Consumer Direct have advised me to do).

I'm so annoyed, I'm seriously contemplating handing the car back to the finance company and washing my hands of the whole thing. But I love that car...

[Conniff]

Don't just hand it back and take a loss.

Dealers must bear in mind that sales of used cars are subject to the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and attention is specifically drawn to the conditions of merchantable quality and fitness for purpose contained in this Act.

As this all started with the dealer failing to 'replace' the gear selection cables, then I believe your beef is with him and you should ask for a refund in full.

[parkj3]

Thanks Conniff.

I'm stuffed with the original 'repair' as well though, as I didn't pay for it - the garage offered to repair it as a goodwill gesture because of the mess-up with the warranty.

Consumer Direct say I can't do anything about it, and to go via the finance company.

[parkj3]

Plus, I've had the car 6 months, and the garage gave it a fresh MOT.

They're putting it down to wear and tear (the car is 9 years old, V-99 reg)

[parkj3]

Ok, finance company have coughed up £150 towards the repair.

It gets fixed once the cheque clears.

Now, what can I do about the original mess-up?

Both Renault and my dad's local garage (where the car is now) say the work carried out on my car turned it into a death trap, essentially.

I'm going to keep the parts, but where can I go to hit this awful dealer where it hurts?

[parkj3]

OK, car's finally been repaired, but it took a lot more than just a gear lever:

Gear knob
Gear lever
Housing

Cost, not including labour: £195 ish

The garage who repaired the car also told me that the car has a 2nd hand gearbox, and it's very likely to have caused the whole problem.

Now, 6 weeks later, there's a lot of clunking from the vicinity of the gear stick when I change gear, specifically 3rd, but sometimes 1st and 5th too.

Now what can I do?

Is a 2nd hand gear box likely to be covered by my warranty? I think not...

I'm so tired of all this messing around. I just want a car that works, for more than 6 weeks at a time - is this too much to ask?!?

[raydetinu]

Warranty has nothing to do with it, your beef is with the dealer all the time;see
Trading Standards Central - Consumer Advice Leaflets

[upset66]

i really do sympathis with your plight.

Simillar story bought a mini cooper in june. when the break peddle is applied I experience a judder. the hotter the car becomes, the more judder i experience. sometimes judder is quite violent and noticeable from the outside.

Been back 7 times for diagnosis and repair, judder still happens. finally got stopped by the police for the car judder. I explained the story to them, stating that it had been back to the dealer 7 times for repair as they were quoting the fault as being gearbox related. Even showed him the record I'd been keeping of how many times in one day the car judders. He looked at me and said 'that story is so riddiculous it had to be true' advised that in his opinion car was not roadworthy as should not be juddering like that and to take it back to dealer. This will be the 8th time. i've finally decided to reject the vehicle as the dealer has had the car longer than i have carrying out the repairs.

They have now sought legal help and are offering me yet another repair after they have carried out another inspection (1st inspection said gearbox) I don't want another repair just my money back.....how do I stand in saying this to them. do i have the right to reject the vehicle and insist on my money back?

all help greatfully received