Ok going to update this for a final time, EVERYTHING IS GOOD!! Thank you for all your support and assistance in this, and thank you car craft customer services for actually helping out (eventually) Again I can't say thanks enough! Pete.

GOOD NEWS! We finally have the car back... bad news... air-con doesn't work! I think that it hasn't been re-gassed since the engine change, but at least we have a car back and it does appear to drive well. So YAY Thanks for the support here, Now do I go through the agro of telling them that the air-con isn't working or do I just go to ATS Euromaster and get it re-gassed for £30?

Update... Call received from CarCraft on Friday from James, must admit he is doing his best to keep me informed even if he does ramble on at times.. the car has had a replacement engine put in, and is awaiting its final road tests Also been told that CarCraft Servicing Chertsey are covering the rest of the bill so no cost to me. Just got to wait and get it back now, hopefully should hear something Monday or Tuesday. It can't take that long to road test the car and get it back to me.

The fault has been diagnosed as a cracked piston... so they are replacing the engine.. warranty company have agreed to pay "maximum" amount of £1,000... but there is no price given for the repairs at this time.. got a call today while I was at work, really inconvenient time but wanted to get an update.. If CarCraft think I'm paying for it then they can think again.. . I'm not impressed, they aren't even sure if I will get the car back next week according to James at CarCraft..

Well its been another week and no car, So update.. . car was picked up after speaking to James and was sent to West Midlands, they spent a couple of days stripping down the engine.. no one has told me what failed yet. .. however good news I think on the horizon.. . parts have been ordered, and car should be fixed by the end of this coming week, and should be back at the Chertsey branch early next week... ... now if parts have been ordered does that mean they have found the fault, and there is no bill to myself?? or does it mean we're going to fix it and btw heres the bill.. . I am going to hope its the former as no one has contacted me to confirm go ahead with the repairs after all if its so deep in the engine it took 3 days to diagnose then I am 100% certain its not something I've done and its not "wear and tear". I'll update when I have more news... but thought people would like to know what is going on here.

An update: I called Chertsey this morning and spoke to the service manager there, he informed me that the car was picked up on Thursday and he would be calling West Midlands, seems they have quite a few work bays up there (30+) unlike the 3 or 4 that Chertsey have, and the car would be looked at quickly, and he'd be calling them Wednesday evening / Thursday morning for an update. Then... around 3pm I got a call from James in customer services, and he did say the car was being worked on and was quite a way in being stripped down but they needed to go further, and he should have some news tomorrow on what is going on. Damn this deep in the engine, must have been faulty at time of purchase and just my luck for it to break when I have it... As I was dealing with things I couldn't really stop to chat with him and try and push for courtesy car, and if they can get it fixed and back to me by the weekend I will be jumping for joy!! I'll keep the thread updated as I get updates.

Well, they admitted they didn't have the tool to redo the timing chain on the car, I can't see what is so special about a hyundai's timing chain to all others, but they said that Hyundai wouldn't sell them one either so it was not possible for them to continue. BUT they didn't charge me for any investigation work as they couldn't perform any! so that is a +1 for Halfords in one way. Mind you saying that when I was in there getting my wiper blades done on my company van they did admit the engineer that they had working on my car was no longer with them as he had made a "few" mistakes, much like not tightening the injectors down on my car, as I was told by CarCraft after they started looking at it :/ Haven't had any updates from CarCraft, don't even know if my car has been moved, I did try and get hold of Chertsey to check it had left but I was pushed for time last week, I'll see if I can contact them on Monday and get an update. (just wondering how much CarCraft are going to blame Halfords now for not putting the car back together properly so they can check it..)

They gave me the 7 day drive home insurance, and I got a few calls trying to sell insurance after that. They also tried to "sell" me a 3 year warranty package, I only know this as I received the paperwork through the post for the finance for it, and looked at it and thought WTF is this! got straight on the phone and told them NO! didnt sign up for it so not accepting it also followed up with 3 emails and a letter and a few calls to Chertsey's in house finance team, that quickly got the message through. Haven't heard anything since last post.. . guess its a call tomorrow and see what happens, after I get kids up for school, and run the wife to work in the morning.

Maybe Linzi here would like to answer that one on behalf of CarCraft ? I have some driving to do now as just finishing work a little early, to go and run my kids around for Gym/Amateur Dramatics.

Thanks for the info Conniff, Spoke with Advantage Finance, got put through to Sarah in customer services / enquiries who advised that they are a "Finance" company and don't supply courtesy cars, there is no contractual obligation to supply one, I did point out that it is a "Hire Purchase" agreement and she advised that it would be down to CarCraft to supply a courtesy car while the car is in for investigation/repair I also was advised by her as the car is over 7 months from purchase that "I" need to prove that the car was faulty at time of purchase to go ahead with a refund, even though when I spoke to Rob on Friday he seemed happy to go ahead and follow down the "Sales of Goods Act" but nothing has been logged on the system to say this. Advantage Finance made me feel that they were just shrug their shoulders and bounce it back to myself as, "Your car, Your problem!", even though I did state that the car belongs to them until the finance is paid off. They did however want to know how long the investigation would take and what the outcome of CarCraft's investigation is and how much CarCraft were going to pay to cover the difference between the warranty limit and the actual repair.

Hi Conniff, As the car is in my wifes name and she has been doing most of the talking to customer services until she was getting frustrated over it, she told me she did ask but was told no as its not part of the warranty to give one. I did go through the warranty book and there is nothing that states anything about being given a courtesy car either.

Hi, Just to update here as I have noticed that people post issues and never state how they are doing with them, I have been contacted by CarCraft the gentleman's name slips my mind but he did call while I was walking into work, and they are moving my car from their Chertsey branch to the West Midlands one, and at no cost to myself as they can then look at it quicker and get a report back, which is good, however I didn't get an answer to "who pays for it to be fixed". As to Conniff's comment; The replacement engine that Paul at Chertsey had found had approx 30k miles on it and included all the parts such as turbo etc so the exchange would have been quickly done, and I had the car 7 3/4 months before it died not under 6, 27th April till 23rd December. I have contacted the Finance company and they are happy to assist in a Sales of Goods act refund if that is what I wish to go ahead with, and sort out a full refund. All I really want is to keep my wife happy and give her back a car that she loves to drive and can get the kids around in and with the car we purchased she loved from the moment she sat in it. Pete

Hi, I recently purchased a 2nd hand diesel car with 50k miles on the clock on finance from CarCraft Chertsey on 27th April 2014, got it MOT'd by CarCraft on 18th November (as they were unable to do service at the same time), and then serviced after 6 months / 6k miles as per the warranty requirements by CarCraft Chertsey (25th November 2014 earliest appointment that CarCraft had when called in September), and now after 7 months the car has had "catastrophic" engine failure to the point it is unusable on the road, no power, plumes of white smoke pouring out the back.. I contacted the warranty department and they advised to book the car in for investigation, I did this at Halfords Auto Centre (as advised by customer services that this is one of the approved centres they use that deal directly with CarCraft) , they had the vehicle for 3 days before diagnosing it was beyond their technical abilities, to progress this issue, I had the car taken back to CarCraft Chertsey where I purchased it and they have set about trying to get it repaired in their service area under the warranty, however they keep telling me they are snowed under with work and can only work on it for an hour or two a day. The CarCraft Chertsey have been in contact with the warranty company and advised that the engine has a major fault that would require a full strip down to diagnose, the diagnostics is going to take 10-20 hours work at £78 per hour. The warranty company have set a maximum payment for the diagnostics and repairs of £1,000. The servicing department, a great guy called Paul who is trying to be as helpful as possible, has advised both myself and the warranty company that the quickest and more economical solution is to replace the engine and that is still going to cost in excess of £1,600 if there is a cheap engine available for replacement. The warranty that came with the fact they still need the engine stripped down to find which component failed! Where do I stand? I am now looking at taking the vehicle back for a refund because of the amount of time this is taking, I have looked at the Citizens advice page and I believe that under sales of goods act it is not of "satisfactory condition" as in at least the sub section referring to "Last for a reasonable length of time in a reasonable condition", I do understand there is no guideline for how long a car should last but when it is still under 60k miles for a diesel car, this is incredibly low. The car failed on the 23rd of December and I have been without a car to take my kids to and from school, gym, swimming etc. I can understand I may have rambled a little so if you need any clarification please ask. Pete