How long are car repairs guaranteed for?

[apn8keh]

In May the boot of my Nissan Micra would not open. My usual garage (who are not Nissan dealers) couldn't find the cause of the problem, but suggested I take it to a Nissan garage as they didn't have the circuit diagrams. I took the car to my local Nissan dealer, Evans Halshaw. They quickly diagnosed that I needed a replacement boot switch at a cost of £150. This was replaced & I collected the car. The next time I tried to open the boot, it wouldn't open so I took the car back and they said they must have fitted a faulty boot switch. Anyhow, 4 months on & I can't open my boot again!

 

Am I correct in thinking the repair should have been guaranteed for 12 months? Meaning I should be able to get it repaired for free. I'm sure my usual garage have always told me their repairs are guaranteed for 12 months, but I can't find anything for Evans Halshaw. I just want to know my rights incase they try to pull the wool over my eyes!

[Conniff]

Warranty or implied warranty does not come into it. You are covered by the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (amended):

 

Goods must conform to contract in so much as:

 

(a) fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,

(b) appearance and finish,

© freedom from minor defects,

(d) safety, and

(e) durability.

 

For the purposes of this Act, goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory.

 

Four months on something that a reasonable person would be expecting to last the six years the act give you protection cannot be said to have complied with the act .

 

In your case you can request the dealer to repair or replace without cost to you. If they should make an attempt to say the lock was not faulty, then under the act, it is up to them to prove there was not an inherent fault for the first six months.

[apn8keh]

Hi Guys,

 

Thanks for the replies. I dropped the car off this morning & they just called to say that located a faulty wire that needed mending. Should I have to pay for this? Do you think they could have damaged this whilst they fitted the boot switch in May or more likely, it was a faulty wire all along, but they didn't bother trying to identify the exact cause of the problem but just replaced the biggest most expensive component they could find. If presented with a bill do you think I should suggest that maybe the boot switch was never faulty in the first place & they've already had £150 too much of money!

[sailor sam]

Hi there,

 

First of all, you need to establish if the new boot switch was faulty or not. If it was'nt then that would suggest the old switch possibly was'nt faulty also and it was this broken wire all along. I would of thought they would of tested the original repair (i.e. after fitting the new boot switch) before handing the car back to you.

 

As you asy, it seems you may of paid £150 for something that was'nt faulty in the first place, so I would certainly see what they have to say about that whether or not they do present you with a further bill, but I suspect that they won't!

[apn8keh]

Sailor sam were you working at the garage? Went to collect my car, no charge, the car had been fully valeted (it was in a filthy state when I dropped it off) & I've had missed calls from them today asking me if I was happy with the service I received!

[heliosuk]

I think what you are saying is that EH replaced the switch firstly at a cost of £150. Then the boot failed again and they thought they had fixed the fault by whatever means at no charge. It then failed again and they finally fixed it but returned the car very clean etc. So now the question is should you have paid the original £150 as it seems unlikely the switch was the cause in the first place?

 

If this is the case then it could be argued that the dealership have done everything right. You need to balance the hourly rate here. Say for example the garage is on £60 an hour plus VAT. An hour and a half tracing a fault and fitting a switch plus adjustments would not be unreasonable.

 

However, 4 hours, which is not unreasonable to trace an electrical fault these days in reality would have cost £240 plus.

 

So on this basis I'd would say it is all fair and quite probally has cost EH more than it has cost you.

[sailor sam]

Sailor sam were you working at the garage? Went to collect my car, no charge, the car had been fully valeted (it was in a filthy state when I dropped it off) & I've had missed calls from them today asking me if I was happy with the service I received!

 

So I take it its all sorted now to your satisfaction?

[apn8keh]

Yeah I am happy with the service I received! From past experience with big dealerships I have a genuine mistrust of anything they tell you. I have a garage that I'm very happy with, but they were honest and said they couldn't fix my boot as they are Fiat specialists and didn't have the knowledge of the circuit diagrams for my Micra.

 

I forgot to mention that EH did try to sell me 4 new tyres, even though when I compared the measurements to the ones they did 4 months ago each tyre had grown 1 inch of tread! Before you ask I hadn't changed them within the 4 months

[sailor sam]

Yeah I am happy with the service I received! From past experience with big dealerships I have a genuine mistrust of anything they tell you. I have a garage that I'm very happy with, but they were honest and said they couldn't fix my boot as they are Fiat specialists and didn't have the knowledge of the circuit diagrams for my Micra.

 

I forgot to mention that EH did try to sell me 4 new tyres, even though when I compared the measurements to the ones they did 4 months ago each tyre had grown 1 inch of tread! Before you ask I hadn't changed them within the 4 months

 

Great! well if you think I helped, perhaps you would like to click my scales?

[Vinny94]

Hi

 

I am also looking for some clear advice on a similar thing. I had a new clutch system fitted on the 9th January 2009 (3 days shy of 2 years) to my Citreon by my local garage. This cost around £350 in total and I have the receipt to prove the work was completed. Now my clutch is on it's way out again and wondered if I had a leg to stand on to be able to contact the garage and get them to replace the part for free even though it has been two years. I am not up to speed with what my rights are I just know that £350 is a lot of money and being hit again now is going to hurt so before I have to probably pay out again I wanted to find out for sure.

 

Thanks to anyone who might be able to shed some light.

[crem]

Replacement new parts would only be guaranteed for 12 months I believe, and as a clutch would be considered a "wear and tear" item, I think after 2 years, having driven "x 1000" miles and with no one knowing how you use or abuse a clutch, then I don't think you will stand any chance of a warranty cover.

[Wriggler7]

There are many variables in this type of matter. I tend to agree with Crem.

 

Firstly, component life will depend on what sort of vehicle we are talking about. With a clutch, mileage is relevant, as is driving style.

 

My car is a big engine motor with a top speed of 135mph, which is never driven over 70 (ok, never over 80). I do not have a tow bar, and I don't race 'Corsa 1.6's from the lights. The car has 114,000 on the original clutch and is 11 years old. My part of the world is flat. The dealer I obtained the car from tells me that 100,000 on a clutch on my car is 'normal', but thinks that it can't go on much longer. However, he passed the comment that my motoring is predominantly 'long distance', whereas most of his customers are 'around town'.

 

As such 'claims' for faulty parts/warranty replacements are 'difficult'.