GMAC plc contact made in attempting to return brand new vehicle, advice needed?

[jules79uk]

After contacting Trading Standards I am attempting to return a Vehicle I feel
a) Has been miss-sold due to fuel consumption levels
b) Being faulty since purchase
Basically upon collection of vehicle a mechanical droning noise was notice coming from engine and brakes where excessively noisy upon braking. Original Dealer was immediately advised and vehicle was returned for investigation, garage cleaned brakes and stated couldn't hear drone/whine.
The car has since been back to partner franchise 5 times (due back in again next week) where I have been told that excessive noise from brakes is actually a known fault with some Vauxhall Corsa's and there is no fix at this time. And the drone/whine was at 1st V-pulley belt which after a 2 week wait for the part was fitted and now due to continued drone/whine they have advised a complete brand new water pump is needed.
I have been advised that MPG on my CORSA 1.4sxi of 35mpg (90% motorway usage) is fine even though advertised brochure states 45mpg Urban and 58mpg Extra Urban IIRC this is what sold me the car due to the increasing cost of fuel so was looking to downgrade from a Honda Civic VTEC 1.8 which was returning 30mpg. Apparently as advised by the helpful clerk at Service desk I should never have taken to much notice of printed claimed figures as these don’t represent real world figures and my Honda is a bigger engine so I cannot compare even though Honda only claim 32mpg 2mpg off I was experiencing!?
I have since contacted GMAC demanding to return the car and all monies paid to be returned under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and supply of Goods Act.
My original response from GMAC is had investigated my claim and temporarily closed this as Stockton nor Darlington had no details of said vehicle ever been worked on apart from pre-delivery inspection.
Luckily I have kept all the job documentation and sent another letter to GMAC outlining the full extent of the issues and attaching all Documentation.
This has been an on going issues that has gone on now for over 5 months now mainly due to Dealers not being able to book car in for 3 weeks and then not having parts in garage as so taking another 2-3weeks to deliver.
I am tired of dealing with Sherwood's and not getting a resolution and im utterly dismayed at the fuel consumption figures which I have kept regular logs of which no one takes seriously.
What is the likely outcome and is this likely to go to court, I have been told by Trading Standards that because the car is valued at 11.5k it cannot go to small claims not sure what this actually means?
Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

[aj84]

Jules, I cant help as far as legal side of things but I am in the same situation pretty much
You might want to read my long thread in the vehicle section
and part two in the general consumer issues area

There has been some excellent thread replies in there - i am at the point that i want to now take this further as i'm not getting anywhere just as you are not.

[raydetinu]

I dont think the problems are severe enough to reject the car!
You intimate that you have rejected the car, was this in writing? and if you did you should of stopped using it.
You should only deal and correspond with the dealer you purchased the car from initially. they are the ones you have the contract with.
Was it purchased on HP, if so they can help as it is their car.

As far as the fuel consumption goes they are a guide only and dont represent part of the conditions of sale.
The test are carried out to strict rules so they are comparable and do not reflect road conditions or any driving styke. They are conducted in a Lab on a rolling road with various bits not on the car and using a run in ( used engine ). Also not all models are tested they are allowed to interpelate between models and engines. So no grounds for rejection there.

[aj84]

Fuel consumption is a tricky one becauise so many things can change the charactersitcs of a car
In my case, book value is 46.1mph combined
However, the highest combined between fuelups I have had is 33.5mpg at any one time in the last 3 months

If however I put it on cruise at 60mph, I hit 40+ on a motorway on the day but as soon as I get off the motorway and my 5mins of stop start is there...it goes down to 32/33

It takes into consideration not only the motorway journey but cold start up, your journey to the motorway and the average speeds you are doing... for instance, a slight incline could take a bit more fuel up in comparison to downhill that could be coasting it down

It doesn't help in your case about rejection of a vehicle but in the past when I have questionned it, it was dismissed

[jules79uk]

I have sent the letter after advice fro trading standards i was advised to continue using the car by the dealer to assess the issues.
I have no contract with Vauxhall as the car is Hire Purchase, dealer sell the car to Finance company and Finance company sell to me at least that is my understanding which was also confirmed by Trading Standards.

In regards to MPG i understand how figures are worked out however the difference of almost 25mpg on an urban cylce is non camparable and is almost 40% error, i have upon many times advised that the engine is not running smoothly or performing at optimum performance and as a result is que to the reason why the mpg is so bad, which i may point out Vauxhall themselves advised was due to the faulty brakes originaly. I have recieved a reply from GMAC advsing they had investigated and Vauxhall advised the car has never been in the Garage?? and so have temp closed complaint.

However i have of yesterday sent all supporting Documentation/Evidence that said vehicle has been in on a number of occasions.

I have heard of similair issues with upmarket car dealers such as BMW taking customers seriously at MPG complaints and have attached a device to record mpg for a week and then looking at the data, at no time have Vauxhall offered this solution, i could understand if i lived in a hilly area however it takes me 3mins to get to the dual garageway with one stop start if im unlucky then i have a 20min on a dual garageway which i regular drive at 60miles an hour to try and optimes mpg to no avail, i have also driven a 250mile round trip on the motorway driving at 65miles an hour with no stop starts due to time of traveling granted hills are on the journey and i get 35mpg - now the intresting thing is if i drive around my local towns with lots of start stops i also get 35mpg, i also have a collegue who also drives the Vauxhall Corsa and he returns 48mpg mpg combined and 56 on motorway runs..... so why is my vehicle different!?

[aj84]

How are you calculating MPG?
I calculate it both manually using excel (as I log my mileage on it) but also using the onboard computer
This is mainly so I can match it and basically, as long as they are close (and its normally bang on!) i'm happy that its correct so to speak

In your case, it could be that you're using your onboard comp which doesnt work properly?

[jules79uk]

I am calculating my MPG at the pumps i.e run the car down to empty, i fill up and zero the odometer once down to low i refill and record milage average 300miles on a full tank and how many litres used to fill back to full around 38litres. I was even advised my Vuaxhall to fill up to top drive a 10 mile flat motorway run near i live and refill and record which i did without driving above 60mph and i averaged 38mpg i long way off the supposed figure og 56.5mpg

If the only thing that transpires from my letters is that they fully investigate issues/mpg and resolve i will be a happyman!

[raydetinu]

Of course you have a contract with the dealer you purchased it from, you paid him the money he supplied the vehicle; the fact that the finance company paid the dealer on your behalf is irrelevant, that a seperate contract between you and the HP company; the HP company is on your side as it is mostly their car as you say. always keep them informed of actions you are taking in resoect of the car. If you are not aware of it the HP company have a duty to put things right with the car if the dealer wont! they can put pressure on dealer for you

You have not rejected the car then, as you implied in your earlier posts, because if you have, legally you should not be using it.

have you got a fuel leak somwhere?

300 miles on 38litres = 35.9mpg not bad? YOU have to ignore the claimed figures. check on specialst web site with other vaxhall owners to see what they get. Which I have just done and surprise surprise the no.1 complaint is that the fuel consumption figures are much lower than expected, so you are not alone. Its just the the car and the figures dont match and Vauxhall or your dealer will ot do anything about it. Nothing to do with your particular car it appers its all of them!

[jules79uk]

Thanks Ray for your response, I am uttely shocked that Vauxhall can get away with claims of MPG like this if its a common complaint as youve said in your post. Especially as it is often the main reason for purchase as it was in my case. Where does it say that the consumer should take no notice of MPG figures as printed in sales brochure as far as im concerned this is a case of mis-selling? Granted i never expected the car to do the quoted figures but the MPG im getting is not even close. Well the follow up letter has been sent today so i will let you know of GMACs response.

[jules79uk]

Well Car has gone back into the Vauxhall Dealership to have the waterpump replaced then got a call advsing me that they now needed another part to fix the car which happened to be the belt auto tensioner. Went to collect car and technician comes out to speak to me advsing the issue has not gone away.....

however for the first time ever Vauxhall seem to be taking me seriously and advised they spoke to head office for a fix and they advised it could also need the a complete new air conditioning unit and if this doesn't fix the issue then they will have to keep the car and await a visit from a special technician from germany as they have no idea whats wrong with it!! just awaiting delivery of the unit. Looks like GMAC have pulled their finger out and kick some Vauxhall butt - lets hope the car gets fixed now or even better recalled!

[206eddy]

I got absolutely shocking fuel economy out of my 1.4 Sxi Corsa. From looking on other owners forums, its certainly true that virtually no-one gets anywhere near the VX quoted figures.

Apart from that, the car was brilliant and I loved it to bits. I am enjoying my 1.3CDTi much more though, 50+ MPG is much nicer on the eyes, and the wallet!!

[08plate]

Hi we have been having the same problems since buying a vauxhall corsa first posted a thread on here about rejecting because of scratched paint work and other defects that had been concealed by the dealership before the hand over. After lots of talks with vauxhall and assurances that if we were not happy they would help us with a new vehicle we found out it was all lies. We rejected the vehicle in writing and by recorded post with in two days of receipt, vauxahall persuaded us to allow repairs to the scratched paint work damaged roof rails and cut in light cluster to be repaired with assurances that if we were not happy with the result it would be replaced. we weren't happy the car was presented to us with more scratches then before.however the vauxhall representative that was sent down refused to take the car back and so did the dealership we were told our only option was court! Off went the "brand new "car for more repairs we also questioned about an odd noise on the engine and lack of power . Cosmetic Repairs were done and we were told the vehicle had no mechanical proplems at all. two weeks later the engine noise was louder and lack of power and need to keep downshifting more noticable so we took it to another dealership they said they could hear the noise and it sounded diffrent to others they changed the injectors but there was no diffrence so after various tests they flew in a vauxhall tecnicain they also brought in origanal vauxhall rep! suddenly vehicle engine noise can not be seen as a problem as its now "normal" and this dealership are also washing their hands of it. my advice to all out there is do not buy a vauxhall corsa and do not trust anything you are told even by vauxhall head office.