Welcome Finance - Another Fault with our car, need some advice

[Kat2507]

Ok to put this bluntly, Welcome have sold us a dud.

 

We purchased our 54 plate Primera from Welcome in November 2008, since that time we have had to have the listed repairs below carried out on our car.

 

 

1. Wheels straightened out as they were warped and buckled (which they would have known that if they had test driven the car before selling it on, as per their pre sale checklist)
   
2. Break Pipes
   
3. Steering Rack (replaced under warranty)
   
4. Turbo (replaced under warranty)
   
5. Anti Roll Bar Bushes
   
6. Brake Pads and Discs
   
7. Steering Rack and Pump (replaced as per manufacturers warranty on the part, broke within the year of being replaced)
   
8. Turbo (Gone again within the year)
   
9. Instrument and Gauge operation panel ( fixed at our own cost)
   

Now the question i have is were almost 2 years into the agreement with welcome and we have benefited no pleasure from the car as every month its back into the garage for weeks on end being repaired.

 

Recently we had the steering rack and pump replaced within the year of being repaired, when we got the car back from nationwide autocentre, there was something wrong with the steering column as the turns to the side were incorrect, the car was hunting while idle, they took it back in and said they had fixed it, yet 2 weeks later the hunting came back and was revv`ing over 1 when sittin idle.

 

So we decided to take the car to Nissan this time as they are the manufacturer and they diagnosed the fault that the Turbo is breaking on the intake side.

 

So in 20 months or so we have had the car less time in our possession than the garage, we have to take it to Nationwide due to the warranty on it.

 

Can anyone advise whether we have any rights or what to do now as it seems alot of the things they have down on their pre sale checklist has not been carried out.

 

This is what happened up to 10 months of actually having the car

 

We bought our car with Welcome in Newbridge Edinburgh. It was a welcome forecourt; I was 7.5 months pregnant so we must have looked like a right meal to them.

 

We made an appointment with them after being rejected from 2 dealers for finance for a car, we have two mortgages and they said based on Affordability they couldn’t offer us a loan. So we called Welcome, they snapped us up right away, we got missold the policies. When we arrived at the showroom, we were taken into the garage and shown several cars that were in our bracket for Finance. We were torn between a Mondeo and the Primera. Wat really sold the Primera to us was the size of its boot, being pregnant, im sure you are all aware of the amount of stuff you have to carry to go out, and we needed a family sized car with plenty of boot space.

 

My partner is a Mechanic for Mercedes and that particular day he had been working on a Sprinter where the Turbo had given on it, so when looking at the Nissan he asked "Is the turbo covered in the mechanical breakdown cover" salesman replied yes. He then asked again "is the entire unit covered under the MBI" again he replied yes up to the amount of £1000. Which completely sold the car to us.

 

We asked for some time to discuss this with each other which the guy gave us but he came back during our talk and gave us some paperwork to look over, Precontract agreement for the Nissan and Keyfacts n things for us to look over, which we did, and it all seemed fairly kosher to us, however I remember thinking back recently and seeing on the agreement which I have in my possession, the PPI, Shortfall Insurance and MBI is on it, now we didn’t state that we were going to take these policies at all so he assumed and when questioned, he said “You need the PPI as its part of our agreement to give you the finance on the car” So basically he was saying if you don’t take it, were not going to give you the finance. MISSOLD!!!

 

Anyway we took the car, signed all the documents and drove off with our car, Which by the way had a full service done at 48000 miles and we bought the car when it had just a little under 49000 miles on the clock, According to the service book 4 new tyres were fitted at that Service. Now on the service checklist for Welcome it says they checked number 43 – Checked performance and road test, well if they had they would have known that the front wheels were buckled, they corrected this under their 28 day warranty, however my partner says all they have done is straightened them out and swapped the back for the front wheels. UNACCEPTABLE when we have two children in the car one being a newborn baby, but hard to prove now 10 months down the line.

 

Anyhoo, Couple of weeks into having the car, the service light came on, it hadn’t been reset when the last service was done, however Welcome have it checked on their service checklist number 32 – Check Instrument and gauge operation, well that hadn’t been done either

 

6 months into having the car we have replaced the back brakes, anti roll bar links and several other picky things that were annoying my partner. Then this horrendeous whistling started from the turbo, we called National down in Seafield in Edinburgh and they had a look at it and said the turbo was fine, WRONG, the whistling got worse.

 

Now few weeks back were sitting at the other side of town from where we live and the steering rack goes pop, power steering fluid leaked out of the car and all over the road, actually that’s a lie, it didn’t leak it gushed, so we called the MBI and they told us they couldn’t recover our vehicle to the garage it was our repsonsiblity, again another thing not disclosed to us when selling us the MBI policy, so we got it towed to National, it got fixed under the warranty no problem got car back next day. While the car was in Craig my partner asked for him to give the turbo the once over, which he did, he said change the oil and filter and that should fix it, if not you need to check the bearing.

 

My partner is an MOT inspector for commercial vehicles, he did the oil and filter change and ran her thru with a fine tooth comb up on the ramps, he wasn’t satisfied with the answer the mechanic gave him so he took the entry point off the turbo and had a check of the bearing.

 

BIG BLOODY SHOCK, BEARING HAS FREE PLAY OF APPROX 2MM, this is not a good thing, it means the bearing is collapsing. So he called the MBI and informed them of same and they said that the car would have to be taken to a Nissan Garage to be seen.

 

OK no Problem we took her in on Wednesday and they confirmed the bearing has started to collapse, they stated that this is not a normal wear n tear fault as the turbo is not built to wear like a brake pad or disc, they weren’t satisfied they want one of their engineers to look at it before they agree to fix it.

 

This is where the BIG problem comes in, Nissan want us to pay £1500 up front in the event that the MBI wont pay out and it has to be replaced, we don’t have that kind of money, Now the MBI has stated that in order for them to pay out if mechanical breakdown then it has to be a part of manufacturers origin, ie the turbo as a whole, (which we were not told and does not state in our MBI Policy Schedule) The turbo alone from Nissan is £1100. then £400 time and labour on top, so were out of pocket by £500 on a car that we have had less than 10 months, a car that’s just turned 5 years and done just 57000, which is below the national average for the age of our car.

 

Sorry this is so long, but that’s it from start to finish, we now have had to hire a car in order for my partner to get to and from work due to his working patterns cos our car is not safe and if we do drive it and the bearing collapses then the MBI doesn’t pay out

[Kat2507]

Thought i should add that we have had several calls to Welcome since we drove off with our car from their forecourt, they are taking the pee now. We have tried to complain several times and been told that they dont have a complaints dept and that all they can do is put a note on our account!!!!

 

Please can someone help us we have well and truly had enough of this now and just want to give the car back now. Its been constant hassle since Nov08!!!!

[Conniff]

We can see instantly that the PPI 'has' indeed been mis-sold, so you should claim that back. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?111-Payment-Protection-Insurance-(PPI)

 

Now list chronologically everything that has happened to the car with dates, times and cost as much as you can remember. Start with the moment you talked with the salesman.

 

If you can, once you have done the list, post it up here.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Conniff
Typo

[Kat2507]

OK this is the long hard bit, there has been so much, the other half is a mechanic.

 

November 2008

We went to Welcome Car Showroom, they sold us the Primera, sadly i was becoming frustrated, being pregnant and was hungry, so we signed the paperwork and drove off with the car, During our time at the showroom, the salesman was a little pushy, didnt once mention that the Insurances were optional but didnt state that they werent if you know what i mean, he didnt state clearly that we had to have the them but intimated that they could not offer us the finance on the car if we didnt take them. My partner at the time was satisfied that he didnt need to test drive the car as it had it on the checklist that it had been done and we werent offered the option to test drive either. The thing that sold the car to us was the size of it, having a baby on the way we needed a big family car, craig specifically asked if the turbo was covered to whicb the saleamn replied "Oh of course it is" However, Craig was feeling the odd impression that the turbo was on its way out, there was a small whine upon accelerating.

 

Driving off with the car, craig noticed by the time we arrived at my mothers that the steering wheel was vibrating and the car was pulling off to one side, so he had a little look at them and said he thought they were buckled. So the following day he racked the car up at work and checked and they were indeed buckled. He then called Welcome and they said to take it to a local garage (Which we cant remember which one) for repair, they didnt repair them, they took all four wheels off straightend out the front ones and replaced them back to front, they stuck the back ones on the front of the car and vice versa with the front.

Whilst he had the car up on the rack at work he decided to give it a once over, it seemed ok he was happy with it, but noticed that the breaks were a little worn so decided to replace them, at our own cost (£50+)

 

Decemeber 2008

Few weeks later i noticed there was a knocking sensation under my feet, so once again Craig racked her up found that one of the anti roll bar bushes was severely worn and in his expert opinon (Mechanic for 12yrs) was most definitely like that when we bought the car and should have been fixed before resale.

 

In between December 08 - Septemeber 09 - Alot of little things, which can be put down to wear and tear

September 2009

18th

Sitting outside waiting for our eldest daughter to come of her friends i asked my partner what that god awful smell was and he immediately jumped out of the car and saw that Power steering fluid was gushing all over the road, he said the steering rack was gone. So we called the MBI company that the warranty welcome gave us for the car and they stated that we had to get the car recovered to a garage called Nationwide Autocentre on Seafiled Road, Edinburgh, they were not obliged to do so for us, luckily as it was outwith the 5 mile radius the recovery company we use took the car for us.

Garage rang us to state that a seal had blown, it was mechanical breakdown and not wear and tear, when they rang the warranty company they said initially they werent gonna pay for it but they would this time as a good will gesture. Awesome got our car back......

 

20th

Not so Awesome, when we got the car back we noticed that the whistling noise we first noticed when we first got the car was gettin worse as the days were going, until it started to sound like an emergency siren, it was horrifically loud by this point. So we took it back to Nationwide, they gave it a look over and said everything was ok, to change the oil and filter which he did, he dumped all the oil out and replaced it with fresh clean stuff. The whistle was gettin bad

 

28th

With the whistling gettin worse and worse, Craig racked her up and stripped the backend of the turbo off and noticed that the bearing had freeplay, it shouldnt apparently, so he called the warranty company and they said that the bearing is classed as a wear and tear item, yet in their booklet it states that a wear and tear item is classed as a part that is servicable, well a turbo isnt, its a sealed unit and component, it you break the sealed unit and your not a turbo specialist then it invalidates the warranty (Craid is a Turbo Specialist for Mercedes) so they wee`ed on their own bonfire there, Craig paid a guy at work to diagnose the fault. £20.00.

 

30th

We booked the car into Nissan to have it looked at, the Specialist there looked at our car for nothing, he said the same thing the bearing was collapsing but without opening the unit to see why he couldnt say if it was a mechanical break or wear and tear but he did state that given the cars age and the miles it had done, it should not have failed this quickly and like this so liklihood is its mechanical break.

 

12.28pm on the 30th

Craig rang, the warranty was still unwilling to pay until one of their engineers has seen the the turbo stripped down and nissan want 1500 off us just to do this, then the insurer will send their engineer out to assess.

 

However, its gonna be 1500 for the turbo alone, and then a further 1500 to strip her for the engineer, THATS 3 GRAND for Nissan to repair it

 

THE INSURER HAS SAID THAT IF IT IS A MECHANICAL FAULT THEY WILL ONLY CONTRIBUTE 1000 TO THE ENTIRE COST, which is not what was quoted to us when craig asked the about the Turbo to the salesman

 

October 2009

 

5ththe Mech at Nationwide stripped her Turbo off and the IVE was going out to see it

 

If the IVE has said the turbo bearing is a broken due to normal wear and tear then the warranty wouldnt pay out

 

We decided after much deliberation that if he does rule this, then the car can stay there and we will phone to finance company who sold us the car in Nov 2008 and tell them point blank that due to it being in our posession less than 10 month then it will be in their best interests to get it fixed ASAP...... Otherwise we were gonna stop paying for the car. We did that and we got no where, they didnt return our calls, wouldnt repsond to messages and stopped answering the phone

completely.

 

We knew then Were in a catch 22 and cos Craig is a Mechanic, we know what the outcome is gonna be.

 

1. they will say, "the bearing has worn, therefore, wear and tear"

2. you have left it too late, the bearing has collapsed were not paying out cos you would have noticed that something was wrong with the car.

 

OR

 

We have caught it at the right point, its worn enough to prove premature wearing therefore a mechanical break not wear and tear,

 

We KNOW its gonna be option 1 or 2. but we knew we would still have to pay excess out

 

7th

Turbo was taken off and Nationwide diagnosed it as a Mech Break not wear and tear, HOWEVER. The warranty came back and said now that the turbo is off they were willing as a goodwill gesture this one time not to send a IVE out to inspect it but will pay for half the turbo as it stands at the mo. Wasnt gonna happen, we asked if we could collect the turbo unit and have it inspected by Nissan themself and submit a report that way and the warranty accepted that.

 

We we down to collect the unit and Craig took one look at it and diagnosed the fault straight away, one of the veins on the exhaust side was sheared in half, the repair company paid to have the turbo replaced and we had to pay an excess of £122

November 2009

28th

Instrument Panel on the Dash CLuster went, the electrics on the car just kept fusing so we had an electrican from Craigs work look at it and it turn out to be a wiring fault in the boot, where someone had removed a towbar and left the wiring exposed, got water damaged and was shorting the car, £30 to fix

 

April 2010

11th

Exhaust sheared off and broke in half, once again fixed free of charge by the welder at craigs work

 

June 2010

Steering rack and Pump went this time despite being fixed less than a year ago, fixed under warranty, however we had to take the car back as steering column wasnt done correctly and it was hunting, they had a look at the hunting and said that they had fixed it by putting some specialised fluid through the system.

 

July 2010

 

Hunting started again over 1 when sitting idle, took it to Nissan they booked it in and have diagnosed that the Turbo is going on the Engine Intake side, £70 to diagnose and we now have to wait for week to have our car back.

[Kat2507]

Thats about all i can remember, if you need anymore information just shout other half is now home from work

[Kat2507]

Also

 

July, Back caliper seized also so craig redid the brakes again