Welcome crap car

[midnight999]

Hi all, I bought a car from welcome in November 2008 for £9500, I have had it for a little over a year now,I also took out their mechanical breakdown plus warranty at a cost of £550 for 2 years, the car has already needed £2000 of warranty work so far, has developed a steering part fault that they won't cover that will cost £200, and now the dual mass flywheel has packed in, it is a well known vauxhall fault but the warranty won't pay for it, it will cost £1400 to put right and cannot be used until it is done, the fault was diagnosed at a vauxhall main dealer and they informed the warranty company that it was a faulty part and not due to wear and tear, however they are refusing to pay claiming wear and tear, the item in question has no wearing parts in normal use, any wear is due to malfunction, I told them I was unhappy with this and they sent an "independent" assessor out to give a report, but still claim wear and tear, even though this part would be changed without any trouble if I had a vauxhall warranty, it clearly states in my warranty booklet that the flywheel is covered in the event of a failure, I now have to pay vauxhall £350 to refit the gearbox without repairing the parts, I also have to make alternative arrangements for travel to work and have therefore canceled my direct debit for the car to put the money towards something cheap to get me to work, I think £3500 in 1 year is excessive and that the car has issues, where would I stand with rejecting it as unfit for purpose, I was planning on handing it back in 9 months by way of V/T, any advice gratefully received.

[Dibbothe3rd]

well seeing as they are supposed to do a 5000 point check (yeah right, sarcasm) before you buy, I would say you have a very good leg to stand on regarding the "unfit for purpose" line.

 

How old is ther car? what reg? how many miles? Petrol or Diesel?

[mark1arby]

Was there any MOT???

[midnight999]

Hi, the car is 2005, and had been MOT'd 1 month before I bought it, current mileage is about 92000.

[Pitsy]

Think you can only V/T it once you've paid off half of the agreement, otherwise you'll end up with no car and a remaining debt around your neck thereafter.

 

If the car has issues, then maybe a call to your local Trading Standards Office might be a good start point, I wouldn't expect Welcome to rush around to help as they have other things on their mind right now

 

The problem with the majority of cars Welcome sold and most sub-prime car dealers sell, is that in general they have cars that the general motor trade do not want which they buy on the cheap, they are generally very high mileage which can turn out to be a real can of worms.

 

Yes Car Credit were one of the biggest culprits for crap cars, its no wonder they went under but only after heaps of bad publicity!

 

A sub-prime car dealer know's they have a ready and willing buyer as soon as you contact one, where people will just about take on any car just to have one, where else will you get a car on credit if you can't buy via the mainstream route.

[midnight999]

Hi Pitsy, I believe that official guidance states that you can terminate at any time and only be liable for 50%, however I don't want to terminate now, as you have said I don't want an outstanding balance left owing, all I want is to get the car repaired and continue until I have reached the 50% mark, I cannot however continue to pay while the car is unavailable, I have to make alternative arrangements to get to work and will require every penny, I either want to get the car fixed, or reject it and get something else.

[mark1arby]

Speak to Trading Standards ASAP!!! You Have Not Had The Use of This Car. It is "UNFIT FOR PURPOSE" And Is"A DANGER TO YOU AND OTHER ROAD USERS".

 

In My Opinion You have been Deliberately Sold A LEMON. It Seems The MOT is NOT Worth a Flip. Find Out Who Did The MOT and Report Them As Well!!!

 

This Is Outrageous!!! I Would NOT Pay Them Another Cent!!! Tell Them To Collect This Wreck AND Refund Everything Payed So Far.!!!

 

Go Get Advice From A Solicitor, I Am Sure they Will Be Horrified About The Sale of this Death Trap!!!

[midnight999]

Hi all, quick update, spoke to trading standards regarding this subject, they told me that I have right with the garage that sold me the car, Carloans4u, under section 14 of the sale of good's act 1979, and also with the finance company, welcome finance, under section 75 of the consumer credit act, and should be able to get the repair done free of charge, I told them that I am not refusing to pay for the car, but that while the car is unavailable for use that I would need the money to make alternative transport arrangements, they said that it is not ideal to stop paying, but under the circumstances it is reasonable and could be regarded as damages, going to go onto consumer direct website and get some template letters to send them.

[midnight999]

Could anyone tell me the best address to send any correspondence to welcome, also the car was bought from carloans4u in Bristol, can't seem to find an address for them anymore either, can anyone help?

[ozzywizard]

send all correspondance to their compliance department.

WELCOME FINANCIAL SERVICE

COMPLIANCE

RUDDINGTON FIELD BUSINESS PARK

RUDDINGTON

NOTTINGHAM

NG11 6NZ

[midnight999]

ok cheers ozzy.

[midnight999]

Hi all, I don't think it's going to be easy forcing a repair out of welcome, to be honest I'm not sure I want it after all the has gone wrong, thought I would post my document's up to see if any eagle eyed caggers could spot any mistakes.

Edited January 16, 2010 by midnight999

[midnight999]

sorry, they are a bit mixed up, I have included the worksheet from the Vauxhall dealer who investigated the fault, and the warranty book extract that clearly states that the flywheel is covered in the engine section, guess what? it's a welcome warranty, the problem is I bought this car with my company car allowance, and they state that I must have a vehicle less than six years old, at the moment I am driving a car 16 years old until this is repaired, what sort of timescale would be reasonable to give welcome to sort a repair, I can't afford to argue forever, the construction industry is not a nice place to be these days with unemployment and I don't want to be putting my job at risk by not following guidlines or being unreliable due to an old car.

[Dibbothe3rd]

normally if there is a job to be done under warranty then all you do is phone welcome or Direct Group and they will direct you to the nearest approved garage to arrange repairs. alternatively you would send them a copy of the quote froim another garage and they will say yay or nay!

 

should take no more than a day to get an answer from them.

[midnight999]

Yeah, they are refusing to pay for the repair, claiming wear and tear, even though vauxhall themselves say its not, phoned trading standards and they said I should be able to get it done free of charge, the problem is, how long is it going to take.

[Dibbothe3rd]

depends on how stubborn Direct Group are. Direct Group are the admins for the policy and they are the ones to contact.

 

Direct Group - Where Insurance and Innovation Combine - Home Page

 

They are the ones that should be sorting it. Like i said before, it should take no longer than a day to go from quote to authorisation to do it.

 

Only other alternative is to get something in writing from them saying they decline the work to be done and then pay for it yourself and then sue the b'tards

[midnight999]

would like to do that Dibbo, but I haven't got £1400 to pay for it, especially straight after Christmas, trading standards reckon I need to contact the finance company and garage that sold the car, one and the same, and hold them liable under sale of goods act and consumer credit act. Going to send letter off to them tomorrow but can't fight over this for a long period of time, as I haven't got a reliable car for work, so at some point if they aren't willing to pay for the repair I will have to take a company car, therefore loose the allowance that pays for this car.

[postggj]

ime knocking up a letter as we speak

check back in an hour

 

did you pay for that inspection or did welcome authorise it

[midnight999]

Hi post, great to have your help, I was just racking my brain on how to word a letter,I'll hang on for a bit, I had to pay the £336 to Vauxhall, could of done without it this month as well.

[postggj]

why are welcome so adamant its wear and tear

is this the local office telling you this or direct group

[midnight999]

Its the warranty company that welcome supplied with the car, they sent an "independent" inspector out and still claim wear and tear, despite advice from vauxhall main dealer, thing is post this is the 4th major component failure in just over 1 year, totaling £3500, I'm questioning the quality of this car.

[postggj]

ime looking at rejecting the car

 

is this direct group we are talking about

 

was this inspector indapendant

 

did you get any paperwork from him

[midnight999]

When I phone the warranty company, the message states the they are welcome, but to talk about payments, finance agreement etc to call the local office, but stay on the line to discuss warranty issues, my warranty booklet says welcome mbi platinum (nu). No report or paperwork from inspector, he went to the garage on Wednesday, called welcome Thursday to find out what was happening, they said they hadn't received the report, then an hour later a call from Vauxhall saying they had heard from Welcome and they wouldn't authorise the repair

[postggj]

right

ime going for terminating the agreement under s.75 of the cca

and the sale of goods act

do you agree

[postggj]

check back later