HELP used car £1300 to put right

[teresah]

I purchased a 2003 vauxhall zafira 5 weeks ago from a car dealer and the car broke down so I had it towed to my regular mechanic as the car dealer told me that I was only covered for 30 days.

It turns out that I needed a new clutch,fly wheel, coil spring and a gear box mount totalling £1,300.

I rang the car dealer and spoke to one of the salesmen who told me that I had a bargain, and that the clutch wasn't covered as it is a movable part and he just fobbed me off.

I then managed to contact the owner of the car lot,and he said that the clutch wasn't covered even though my partner queried the clutch after the test drive and the owner got into the car and to check it out and said that there wasn't anything up with it.He said that he would ring me back later that evening and see what he could do. Whilst I was talking to the owner the other salesman shouted in the background that he would come around to my house and burn the F-----g car down.

Because nobody called back that night I let my mechanic carry out the repairs and he has said that he will write a report saying that the clutch was totally worn out and it must have been like this at the point of sale.

Could anyone advise if they think that I could pursue this any further and what I should do next.

Thanks

[Conniff]

Yes you should pursue it further especially in view of the profanity and threat. I don't suppose you have a witness to his threat?

 

The dealer has to prove during the first 6 months that there were no inherent faults that were not mentioned to you at the point of sail.

 

Your first error was in telephoning the dealer, you have no paper trail of their non compliance. If he hasn't started already, stop your mechanic going ahead with the repairs, you can then give the dealer another chance to repair it only this time by recorded delivery letter.

[teresah]

Because I was told that I was only covered for 30 days I have already had the car repaired.

Is there any way of finding out if this dealer has had other complaints made about him. I have had a quick search on the net but couldn't find anythinganything.

Thanks

[Conniff]

You don't need other cases. It is up to the dealer to prove there was no faults and not for you to prove there was.

[teresah]

do you think it is worth going any further with this considering that I have had the car repaired by a different garage.

I want to take this further but my partner doesn't due to the threat being made. We have 3 children and he is worried that if threats have been made already then what type of people am I dealing with.

[aki]

First of all with regards to the threat you should report that to the police if you haven’t done so already.

As for the clutch, this is a little bit more complicated? I’m not sure where you stand from a legal point of view but from an engineering point of view clutch is service part that will definitely wear out and need replacing during the life of the car. Depending on the type of failure sometimes it can be very difficult to predict when a clutch will fail? If the pressure plate is worn then it is usually easy to pick up as the engine will rev freely but the car will not be accelerating at the same rate i.e. slipping clutch, common issue. However if there is a fault with the pressure plate or the diaphragm spring then it can be more difficult to spot as these parts can fail with little or know warning. One of the tells of a worn diaphragm spring is that it will be difficult to put the car into the lower gears or reverse. When you test drove the car did you notice any of these issues? How did the clutch fail? Was the clutch slipping or were you not able to put it into the lower gears?

In my opinion I think it will be very difficult to try and pursue the garage for this issue as you had driven the car for 5 weeks prior to failure. I would still suggest reporting them to the trading standards (or whatever it is called these days) and to the good garage scheme and try to get them removed from the list.

[teresah]

My partner test drove the car and noticed that he had to raise the clutch pedal very high to catch the bite. He queried with the dealer if the clutch was ok and the dealer got into the car, tried the pedal,and said that it was ok and all zafiras were like that.

[Conniff]

reporting them to the trading standards (or whatever it is called these days) and to the good garage scheme and try to get them removed from the list.

 

You can't get anyone removed from there, it is all a big conn job, it's not a genuine list of good garages.