Cargiant - 2nd Head gasket fault in 15 months

[bukkylabaks]

Hello,

 

I am after some advice please.

 

I bought a 2005 Rover 75 connoisseur from cargiant in March last year for £6,000. Within 6 weeks of getting the car, it started leaking and overheating. I ended up stuck on the M25 at 4am as it was undrivable. I contacted cargiant, who originally told me that they were not liable for any repairs to the car as they only give one months warranty. I contacted OFT who told me to contact them again in writing and demand for something to be done. Eventually they agreed to repair the car (if i had know that i could have rejected the car, i would have). They took the car away and bought it back within 5 days claiming to have fixed the repair. Two day later the car started leaking again, i contacted cargiant once again, absolutely livid, and they collected the car at the end of May 2008 and gave me a courtesy car. It took them just under 4 weeks to repair the car and return it to me.

 

This is what they alledgedly repaired:

 

 

• Replaced head gasket set and head bolt
  
• replaced thermostat, thermostat housing and water pump
  
• replaced timing belt kit and auxiliary belts
  
• replaced oil filter
  
• replaced six hydraulic lifters and spark plugs
  
• Head pressure tested - ok
  
• replaced cooling fan motor
  

 

All of this was done on the car that was sold to me having undergone the 114 point inspection (twice) prior to purchase. - How did they miss all these faults?

 

Ok, back to September 2009. The car started leaking once again, originally i thought thet it may be the radiator, as I did not under any circumstances expect the new head gasket to go again after just 14 months of use.

 

The car started over heating again, so i had to call the AA (this morning), the engineer took one look at the engine and said that it was the head gasket, again. water was pouring out of three places from the engine and my local garage has given me a worse case scenario quote for abut £2,000.

 

I have contacted cargiant again, as everyone tells me that a new head gasket (supposedly) should last a hell of a lot longer than this one has.

How is it possible for two head gaskets to develop a fault in under 18 months..............So frustrated.

 

I have been advised by consumer direct that i may have a case against cargiant under the sale of good act, but i need to start a dialogue with them first. In the meantime i have no car as i cannot afford to get it fixed. I work 25 miles from home, whic will cost me a a fortune in train fares.

 

Cargiant are trying to wash their hands of this, and there is no way on earth i'm going to roll over and let them get away with this.

I bought a relatively new car to avoid having all these problems, but instead it has been nothing but grief.

 

Please help.

 

Yours extremely angry

Paige:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x:-x

Edited October 16, 2009 by bukkylabaks
wrong date

[Conniff]

I see no mention there of a head skim. Any overheating will warp the head and it will need skimming flat again, just changing the gasket won't cure the problem.

 

During the first six months of ownership, any faults that occur would have to be proved as not inherent by the seller, and after the six months any faults would have to be proved inherent by the purchaser.

 

If you have all the paperwork, I think that is proof enough that the fault is inherent.

 

No phone calls, write to them recorded telling them that under the sale of goods act, they are liable to fix the problem as it is an inherent fault. As they have now had 3 attempts to fix it, you should tell them you will be taking it elsewhere to be fixed and you will be sending them the bill.

 

Remember, only in writing.

 

I almost forgot, is there any finance with the car?

Edited October 16, 2009 by Conniff
added a question

[bukkylabaks]

Hello,

 

Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure about the 'skimming' and my local garage cannot tell me whether this was done without taking the engine apart.

 

I have written to cargiant by email and i am just waiting for their response. Do i still need to send them a recorded letter, or should i wait for a response first?

Edited October 16, 2009 by bukkylabaks
Wrong date

[Conniff]

What engine has it got?

 

Email isn't as good as recorded, but it is a legal form of communication, so I would give them a few days to respond and then if they haven't, send them the same thing by recorded.

 

You can't see skimming from the outside, but as they have detailed head bolts and gasket, you can bet if it was skimmed they would have said so, so my guess is they haven't.

 

Ask your local garage if the car should have been returned after a set mileage for the headbolts to be retorqued. Some do, some don't.

Edited October 16, 2009 by Conniff

[heliosuk]

Don't think you have a hope, failure again is over one year ago. Rover 75 and a K series engine.? Forget it and get the engine repaired with the modifications recommended by the specialists. Don't think you can skim a K series head and if it is a K series then these problems are very well documented.

 

Wouldn't waste time pusuing it.

[Conniff]

There are a few different engines on this car so might be in with a chance.

[bukkylabaks]

Thank you for your replies.

 

Heliosuk - You may be right about not having a hope, but right now i really have nothing left to lose by pursuing this. I can't use the car and can't afford the repairs. I was looking to part exchange it anyway because it was costing me in fortune in petrol as i use it to commute to work, but i won't let them get off scott free. the car is not even 5 years old, with 47000 on the clock. I can't only but try.

 

Conniff - I will give them a few days to reply, and then decide on my next course of action. I'll also look into getting a second opinion from another garage, as the quote given seems a bit high to me, with 85% of it being the cost for labour. Many thanks.

[bukkylabaks]

No finance with the car, but i did take out a car loan to pay for it.

Edited October 17, 2009 by bukkylabaks
mispelled word

[chesham]

I interviewed someone for a job last year, and was interested to note she had worked a car giant in the sales office for 3 years prior to leaving. I was interested because I bought a 3 year old car from Car Giant in 2004, and in the year of owning it I suffered from dead battery, exhaust failing, overheating and the head gasket going, along with a few other problems. I paid and took out their warranty, and they did not pay up on any of the problems. The head gasket issue and the warranty was that the head gasket was about to go but had not yet gone - therefore, not covered under the warranty. But when it did go, they were not sure it would be covered under warranty because I was not prepared to get it fixed and therefore I "let" it happen rather than it happening.

 

Confused? I was too. But also angry and well and truly hacked off with Car Giant and their warranty.

 

Anyhow, the girl I interviewed was quite happy to talk to me about Car Giant and her salesman brother...and the fact that they got most of their cars from auction and were never checked for faults. The multi point check was mainly visual and sometimes by the admin girls, and some of the staff took the new cars out and raced them round to say that they would start and drove ok. A family member or friend could give them a make and model and they would go and get one from more "reputable" source than an auction. But a vast majority of the cars on sale were bought in bulk from auction brokers, delivered to the site, sometimes raced round NW London and sometimes given to staff for a week or so to drive round in "to clear the cobwebs" as some cars had sat there for a month. As long as they started, they were out for sale. Soem which had a fault were "patched up" and sold, knowing full well they may fail in the future, but by which time the buyer had been, bough and gone..

 

Very bad practices...but could explain why my car which had "one disabled owner from new" was subsequently found to have been driven to within an inch of it's life prior to me buying it...

 

But then again, a colleague of mine has had one from CG for two years and the only problem was a manufacturer's recall...maybe they have cleand up their act a bit...

[bukkylabaks]

Thats quite a confusing, yet interesting story. Does'nt surprise me at all, sounds like cargiant practices to a T. I bet cargiant would be quaking in their boots if someone on their staff decided to dig deep and really blow the whistle.

 

I'm acually now very curious to find our exactly what the 114 point check apparently entailed.

[heliosuk]

Whilst you have my sympathy the problem here is that even though the car is less than 5 years old the manufacturer has gone "pop" so any goodwill from them is not a possibility. Car Giant, despite their trading practices eventually met their obligations well over a year ago now and any warranty obligations expired 6 months after the sale date.

Respectfully, I frankly think your energies would be better spent in finding a solution to the overheating problems and would probably cost less than trying to pursue legal action on what would seem to be a frivolous claim.

 

The 114 point check is rubbish. For example for each wheel there could be 5 checks most of which are irrelevant and consist of visual inspection only. Times that by 4 and 18% of the checks have been carried out. Add fluid level checks and we're over 20%. Then condition of right hand front seat etc etc, does the heater work etc etc. In fact some of these checks mean that just by checking all the exterior lights mean that a possible 25 out of the 114.

 

Perhaps let us know exactly what engine it is and ask for guidance on fixing that as cheaply as possible.

Edited October 17, 2009 by heliosuk
spelling errors

[bukkylabaks]

"Respectfully, I frankly think your energies would be better spent in finding a solution to the overheating problems and would probably cost less than trying to pursue legal action on what would seem to be a frivolous claim".

 

Thanks for you reply, and athough i understand where you are coming from, this 'frivolous claim' at the moment is costing me nothing but a few minutes of my time. Having spoken to both Citizens advice and consumer direct, i have been advised to pursue this as far as possible under the 'Sale of goods act' 6-year rule. If and when it reaches the stage where it may start to cost me money, then i will re-think my strategy, but until then i have nothing left to lose, and everything to gain.

 

It is not ok for these big retailers to continue to treat us little people anyway they like with bogus advertising such as this so called 114 point check.

 

Even if i there is little chance of a win, i'm going to stand up and be counted by making as much noise as I can.

 

As for the overheating problem, I think it is the 'K series' though i'm not sure how to go about identifying the type of engine it is. Having had several quotes from £300 upwards, not sure who to trust really. i am currently looking into a solution, but that doesn't mean that i'm also going to let this claim go.

Edited October 18, 2009 by bukkylabaks