Thread: CarGiant problem

We have bought a Mazda 6 from Cargiant in December 07. it seemed a bargain, it was almost £1000 cheaper then all the other models, we thought it must be because it had 93000 miles. after only 10 days the timing belt failed and the car stopped completely. We called Cargiant and they have picked the car up from our local garage and said they will fix it. It took 3 weeks for them to fix it and Car Giant claimed it was only a minor problem and they only replaced the timing belt and tensioner and injector number 4, and that we will have a 6 months 6000 mile warranty on these parts. By pure coincidence we found that one of our friends new someone who worked at Cargiant and asked them if they could check on our car as it still wasn't fixed at this time. To our surprise and shock the Cargiant employee told us that the engine was completely damaged and valves and pistons and lots of other parts needed replacing. he suggested it was best that we asked to change the car. When we called Cargiant they denied this and refused to change the car, in the mean time the car is repaired and they want us to pick it up. We will only have a warranty on the timing belt and 1 injector as Cargiant denies that there was any more damage.
I would appreciate any advise, as to what would be the best course of action? This has been going on for over a month now, we had to do without the car. If we take it back Cargiant will not take any responsibility if anything goes wrong with the engine as they calim they have not repaired it. They will not refund nor exchange the car and even if they would the same car now costs £1000 more!

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Thanks, it is a very usefull website, I have already written to CarGiant and explained my reasons for rejecting the car but they will not take the car back as they say they have spend around £1000 to repair it! But the parts they have told me they have replaced seem to cost a lot less than £1000.
My problem is that I know that they have repaired a lot more but will not admit to it as this would mean they would have to rectify it if it goes wrong again. But this is a very difficult point to prove as it would mean taking the whole engine apart and would be costly. So I gues i will have to claim that the goods where not fit for its purpose or misdescribed under the sale of goods act 1979?
And yes i should have tought trough why the car was cheaper, but it was still sold in good condition with service history and warranted mileage!

how old is the car?
is it petrol or diesel?
does it have main dealer service history?
was the timing belt changed at the correct time?
sorry for the questions but mazdas seem to have fairly strict service intervals and with the mileage of the car it may be the case that the timing belt could have been changed recently enough to ask mazda if the belt failed whilst under warrenty.

It is a 2003 Mazda 6 Diesel, it has been serviced by a Mazda authorized dealer, we have the stamped service book. The timing belt was changed in July 2006 at 72000 miles, and the next change is due at 150000 miles. The car has has 93800 miles (at least that's what the odometer shows) now. The problem now is that CarGiant has fixed it already and want me to pick up the car. They said they have replaced:
1. Timing belt & tensioner
2. Auxilary belt
3. Injector number 4 and seals
4. Sump plug and seal
5. Repaired starter motor
they claim this has cost them £1000 pounds and they will give me a 6 months 6000 mile warranty on these parts only!
I checked today and these parts cost around £400-£500

I would have believed that if I haven't heard from their own employee that they spend over £1000 and have changed a lot more parts, the list is 2 pages long and if it was him he would never take the car back, he also hasn't got much confidence in Cargiants own mechanics.

Of course he is not prepared to speak up against his company so I can not rely on this as proof.
I have told Cargiant that I am rejecting the car but they will not accept it back.
Do I have enough grounds to reject the car legally? we had it for 12-14 days and covered about 100 miles if that while we had it?
I must say it is a lovely car otherwise if this did not happen!

so the big question really is would you expect a genuine mazda cambelt to last more than 20k miles, i would certainly expect it to last at least the 72k again wouldn't you?

I sure would. You would think that if it wasn't fitted properly it would have happend sooner not after 20000 but may be there is an explanation?
I have seen a solicitor today and he said that I don't have a case against Cargiant, they have done their bit and fixed the car so I can not cancell the contract. Looks like they will get away with it! I will not have a proper warranty on the engine, only on the timing belt itself, so i will have to hope that they have fixed the car properly. Maybe I should get an extended warranty at my expense (if they are worth anything)?
I would not recomend them if your looking for a second hand car altough they have a great choice of vehicles!

Never buy from Car Giant, do not give these liars, cheats and charlatans the oxygen of your hard earned cash, they (the company) are vermin who trade off a veneer of legitimacy, please see my own experiences below:

I bought a high mileage diesel BMW 1 series from them earlier this year and almost as soon as I drove away from thier site, it was obvious they had lied to be about the so called "50 different mechanical checks" they make before handing it over.

I have bought high mileage cars in he past, so I was not expecting miracles here, but almost immediately, the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree, with the brake fluid light being prominent there was obviously some underline problem with the clutch causing it to stick , and the car smelt like a vagrant had been sleeping in it.

To date , I have spent £1092.72 to replace the clutch and flywheel mast,
£330 to replace the water pump, (yeah 50 checks, my backside)

I take full responsibility for not having the car independently checked (something) I doubt they would allow any way .


Aside from the blatant disregard of safety and willingness to defraud, I found the whole buying and customer handling experience from them cold and revolting ;
(1)When you walk in, you are confronted by what us usually a young man in his company issued attire , I found his knowledge about the cars very superficial, no care or pride (think of this guy as a shelf stacker type from Tesco's).

(2)Once you decide on a car, your ushered to a slimy sales assistant type man who is sitting at a desk, he seems mildly more knowledgeable in cars as the guy before, but what he is most interested in is selling you all kinds of 3ed party cover and insurances and finding out where you heard about them, I had the good sense to resist his advances in all things 3ed party cover which just made him more cold and unhelpful.

(3) After you have paid your deposit, you are then advised to return for you car in 3 days time to pick up your car, upon returning I was ushered through the collection process which had the feel and customer service of a local DSS office, you don't see the 2 previous guys you dealt with, you have to wait in line for your name to be called, sign papers and then go to a bullet proofed glass booth and hand your money to a woman, collect your receipt and then wait some more and then finally collect your car.

I later tried to raise my concerns and return my car, and it seems the number they give for customer service is a barely manned number, it seemed I faced the prospect taking days and days off work and the added stress to chase these people, in the end , I put it down to experience, but an experience I hope helps others avoid these people, they deserve to be a bankrupt business, in short: STAY WELL CLEAR!


You might ask why I went to them in the first place, but I'm afraid my first mistake was feeling pressure to buy a replacement car as quick as possible from a trust worthy place, never do this, always take the same approach as you would, were you buying a house, second hand car sales men are slippery as it is, Car giant seems to have industrialised the whole process to levels that even have second had car salesmen aghast.

PS: I stand by all the things I have said, and I challenge anyone from Car giant to prove otherwise, I'd gladly defend myself in a libel case.

Hi All,

Im sorry to read about your problems with Car Giant, I too have had a similar experience .

I bought a VW Golf for £7000 that died the next day and over the course of twoyears has cost in excess of £2000 to keep it running and is now beyond repair!!!

The case is obviously a lot more detailed and complex but writing up a detailed account would take over the site

I imagine you all have found dealing diret with Car Giant gets no where, and the have probably been clever and made sure through there conduct that your out of time to complain to any relevant bodies or related financers and therefore getting any action or justice seems impossible.

Well I for one am not standing for it, if we can't get our own money back, then the least we can do in return for Car Giant is make sure they can't do it again.

I plan to take the case to the Trading Standards, The Retail Motor Industry Federation and Watchdog and would like for anybody ho has had similar experiences to join me in doing so.

I will do all the work and prepare petitions etc all I'm asking you for is an email of your contact details and a brief description of your experience including dates etc

Watchdog will only do something if there is alot of complaints so forwarding them all in bulk is the best way to get there attention

This may help with any individual cases you may be persuing but at the least we will get there misconduct publicised causing them headache and loss in return for the headache and loss they caused us.

I have also found problems witha vehicle purchased from car giant, which is still in the process of trying to resolve, have you sent details of your case/others to trading standards/watchdog etc as of yet?

Yes, Im proceeding through the financial Ombudsman service, trading standards will only look into it if i can proove they have continued to service customers in the same way i.e. no good cars needing repairs.
I would love to get more details from you so that I can add this to the list I am compiling for trading standards, this way they will investigate to all of our benefits!