Stuck in France with faulty car... Please help URGENTLY!!!!

[zoe_ashton]

Hi, Sorry for the very long post but hopefully with all of the information someone will be able to help us.

I tried emailing Trading Standards for advice but they replied and said to use ConsumerDirect, which I have emailed also. The problem is that we are stuck in France, and it is too expensive to ring people, so trying to rely on internet. Please give any advice that you can, as we would be very grateful!

 

The finance for the car was arranged through Chapelhouse, and we presume it is a car loan through Santander.

 

EMAIL TO TRADING STANDARDS:

I purchased a used car from Chapelhouse on 1st June, and since then have had an endless list of problems with it, and would like some advice on where I stand with them. I am unable to ring you for advice, as am currently on holiday in France, but have access to the internet.

 

On Sunday, 22nd May we test drove the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso with Chapelhouse, which had a fault with the automatic gearbox once we were on the Linkway, as it did not change gear at higher speeds - it just stuck in 3rd gear. We did the finance application and agreed to purchase the car, with reassurance from the salesman (Tony Murray) that the gearbox fault would be checked and fixed before we collected the car. We were at Chapelhouse for over 3 hours, as they put the finance through incorrectly, meaning they had to reapply for the car loan, and that there are now multiple credit searches on my credit history.

 

At 6pm on Wed 1st June we went to collect the car from Chapelhouse, and again were told by Tony that the gearbox fault had been checked and that everything was ok. We also checked that the car had been fully serviced and MOT'd ready for our collection. Tony assured us that it had, and said that the service history book was in the car glovebox, and gave us the MOT certificate. When we went out to the car I checked the service history and went back in to find Tony as there was no record of any service in the book. He asked a technician to sign the book but then said that it had been serviced on 28th February - not what we had been led to believe that it had been checked for our collection. The part-exchange cheque that had been agreed was not ready to be collected either, but Tony agreed that I could collect it the following afternoon. We drove home and parked on the drive.

 

Thurs 2nd June, we did not drive the car at all. The cheque was not ready when I called Tony at 2pm, and then Tony did not call me back til 9pm to say that I could collect the cheque on Friday morning.

 

Friday 3rd June, I drove the car to Chapelhouse to collect the cheque. I spoke to Andy the sales manager to ask who to make a complaint to, as I was not happy with the sales team and how we had been treated during the purchase of the car. I drove to the hairdressers, and found that the car was not changing gear automatically. As I was not used to an automatic car, I was not sure if I was driving in manual or not, and if that was the problem. However, upon picking my partner up from the station at just after 4pm, he confirmed that the automatic gear box was not working - so we drove straight to Chapelhouse and got a courtesy car so that they could fix the problem. I told them that I was not happy as it was less than 48hours after we had collected the car, it had the same fault as on the test-drive, and it had not even been driven on the Thursday. We also told them that we had upgraded the car as we were going on holiday on Sat 18th June to France.

 

Over the following week, Chapelhouse said that the problem was with the fusebox, and that they would order a new one and change it, which would fix the problem. My partner (Neil) collected the car back on Thursday 9th, just before 5pm and met me as I finished work, where I noticed that there was a chip out of the windscreen. We returned straight to Chapelhouse to complain that they had damaged the windscreen, and they agreed to repair the chips on Tuesday 14th June (as I did not need the car that day).

 

We managed to drive the car around St Helens town on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but never did more that 40miles per hour. On Tuesday 14th June, the car was returned to Chapelhouse for them to repair the damage to the windscreen. They were informed that we needed it back that evening as my partner had a job interview in Manchester the following morning - they said it was no problem as the repair would only take about 1 hour. We collected the car that evening.

 

On the morning of Wed 15th June, Neil (my partner) drove to Manchester for an 8am job assessment day. On his way along the motorway (M6) he noticed that the gearbox was not changing automatically, and that he had to change gear manually even though it was set to automatic. Once he finished his assessment day he drove back along the M6 and found that the automatic gearbox had reset itself. However, he had to come off the motorway early as the gearbox failed again during the journey, and the car would not get past 3rd gear at all. He drove straight to Chapelhouse, who gave him another courtesy car. He again informed them that we needed the car to go on holiday on Saturday 18th June, as we were travelling to France and needed the larger car to transport our belongings. They said that they would fix it on the Thursday as they had just fixed two other Citroen C4 Grand Picasso's that had the same fault with the gearbox, so the knew exactly what needed fixing - the brake switch.

 

On Thursday 16th June just after 3pm, Dave the service manager left a message for me to call him back on my mobile (I was driving so could not answer at the time). I rung back less than 10minutes later, but the receptionist told me that he was in a meeting and she would ask him to call me back. She was unwilling to give me any information as to whether the car was ready to be collected or not. I collected Neil from the train station at 4.15 and as we had not heard from Chapelhouse, we drove straight there. When we arrived the receptionist said she would get Dave out of his meeting for us. He took us into his office and said that they had replaced the brake switch, but that the turbo was now faulty and they would be able to replace that for us the following week. We told him that if that was the case, then they needed to provide us with a big enough courtesy car as we were going on holiday at 8am on the Saturday morning. He said he did not have big courtesy cars. I also said that I did not feel that the car had been sold to us with the fault having been fixed, and that we had been lied to by the sales team when we bought the car, and that really I did not want the car anymore as I did not feel it had been sold to us in a good condition, especially as the fault had been present on the test drive. Dave said he did not have the authority to get us a different car, so I said he needed to get someone who could get us a car suitable to go on holiday. He asked us to sit in the waiting area while he went to speak to someone.

 

After a little while, Andy the sales manager came to speak to us, and said that they would order a new turbo and it would be fitted the following day (Friday), in order for us to be able to go on holiday on the Saturday morning. He also said that he had not received my complaint letter yet - to which I told him that I had not written it yet, as everytime we got the car back there was something else wrong with it, so the complaints list was getting longer! I also told him that I thought they had sold the car with an existing fault that had not been fixed, which I was not happy about, and did not feel that they should have sold the car at all, and that we should be entitled to compensation for all of the hassle and faults. He said not to worry about that at the moment, and that they would fix the car for us to be able to go on holiday, and then I could write the complaints letter, and that they would ring us tomorrow once the car was ready.

 

Friday 17th June, Dave rung at about 4.30pm to say they had replaced the turbo and a faulty electrovalve, and the car was now fixed. I said we would collect it at 5pm after picking my partner up from the station. As we collected the car on the Friday, Dave the service manager and Andy the sales manager both asked if we had breakdown cover for our trip to France, which seemed a bit odd as they had just fixed the car!

 

Saturday 18th June, we left for holiday. Just under 100 miles into the 2-day journey, on the M6, we had just paid for the M6 Toll road, and the automatic gearbox failed again. We pulled off the M6 toll and rung the breakdown company to ask for their help. The lady said she could send someone out to us but did not think they would be able to do anything as we were still able to drive (although just in 3rd gear!) Neil called Chapelhouse and spoke to Andy the sales manager to inform him that the gearbox was broken again - he just said it was fabulous and would leave it to us to sort out - Neil informed him that we would expect Chapelhouse to pay for any cost associated with the breakdown as it was an existing fault. As I switched the car engine back on to open the windows while we waited for the breakdown company, we noticed that the gearbox had reset itself, so decided to continue with the journey so that we did not miss our Eurotunnel connection. We cancelled the breakdown technician as the car seemed ok, and thought that it had possibly overheated. We had to go back onto the M6 toll, and had to pay again! Along the motorway we had to keep stopping at services to let the engine cool down and the gearbox reset, and the fault kept occurring with the gearbox. We managed to get to France, but a 6 hour trip took almost 9 hours!

 

On Sunday 19th June we traveled through France, and again had the same problems that after about 25 miles the automatic gearbox would fail, and the engine seemed to be overheating. Again the 6hour drive turned into 10 hours!

 

Monday 20th June, we took the car to a Citroen garage in France, for them to have a look at the car to see what the problem was. We contacted Chapelhouse to speak to Dave, but he was not available, and we were told 3 times that he would call us back in France. On the 4th phone call, as we had not heard from Dave, Neil asked to speak to Ken Potter (who is the general manager of Chapelhouse), and was immediately put through to Dave. Neil informed him of the situation, and asked if Andy had passed on the message on Saturday, when we originally broke down - he said no! Neil told Dave that we would be claiming back the cost of the toll road, the phonecalls to the breakdown company, the cost of the phonecalls from France, and the cost of the Citroen mechanic in France to get the car fixed. Dave said to let him know when we found out what was wrong with the car, and gave us his contact email address, as he would reply to any emails within half an hour.

 

Tuesday 21st June & Wednesday 22nd June, the French Citroen garage had the car and said there was numerous problems with the car. They had been in contact with Citroen itself to ask for advice on the car. They found that one of the problems was with one of the electrovalves (one of which was supposedly replaced by Chapelhouse on Thurs 16th!) They also kept asking if the engine had been replaced, which we said no, it was just the turbo. They asked for the repair paperwork from Chapelhouse so that they could see what had been done.

 

Neil contacted Dave via email and asked him to fax the paperwork to the garage on Wednesday evening - Dave replied and said it would be sorted that night so that the french garage would get if first thing in the morning. We contacted the garage at 11.30am french time on Thursday 23rd June, and they had not received any fax from Chapelhouse. Neil emailed Dave again to ask him to fax the copies of the repair paperwork to the garage and also to email copies to Neil so that we had them also.

 

Dave emailed Neil the copies of repair paperwork, but it was all repairs that took place in February (the date we had been given as the service date) - which included a whole new engine! Neil emailed Dave back and asked him for the paperwork that related to our repairs, but only received details of the turbo repair. We took these details to the garage, who still had not received any fax from Chapelhouse. The garage said that they had thought that the engine had been replaced as they could not confirm the details with Citroen, as the engine details had not been updated and did not match. They said they would have a look at the previous repair details and try and try and diagnose the faults fully, as the engine was definitely losing power.

 

Neil again emailed Dave, who has now replied and said that the electrovalve was not a new one - it was one taken from another car?!?!? so there is no paperwork for it.

 

It is now the end of Thursday, and we have lost almost a week of our holiday, as we do not have a car to go anywhere, and are stuck in the middle of the French countryside. We have to rely on my dad to drive us to the supermarket, play area (we have a 3 year old son), and cannot go on any outings. We have spent the past 3 weeks trying to get the car fixed for a fault that was showing on the test drive.

 

We would like to hire a car so that we can enjoy our holiday, but do not think that we should have to pay for it - we have mentioned this to Chapelhouse, but again received no reply. We are also concerned about how we are going to get back to England if the car is not fixed, as my parents are also returning at the same time as us, so would not be able to rely on them for any sort of transport. Neil is also due back at work at the end of our holiday, so he cannot afford to be stuck here.

 

It seems that the car has much more serious faults that we were not aware of, and we had not been told of any of the repairs that were carried out in February -including a whole new engine!

 

I have attached the invoices that we have received for your reference. The list of work that Chapelhouse say they have carried out over the past 3 weeks are:

Replacement of fuse box

Replacement of Brake switch

Replacement of turbocharger and associated parts

Replacement of Air doser

Replacement of electrovalve

 

But not all of these are shown on our repair invoice.

 

 

Please could you reply with any advice you have as to where we can go from here, and what we are entitled to do ASAP? We would like to be able to enjoy some of our holiday!

 

Thanks for your help in advance,

Zoe Ashton.

 

Due to the language difficulties it is extremely difficult to get a lot of technical information from the French Citroen garage. My dad and partner have been to see them this morning, and they have said that due to the seriousness of the faults, and trying to repair the car under warranty of parts, it will not be fixed by Friday when we are due to return home. It is definitely a fault with the turbo (only just fitted by Chapelhouse, and seems to be causing other faults causing the engine not to work properly). We need some advice URGENTLY as where we can go from here, as Neil needs to return to work next week, and we have already paid for our hotel stay (non-refundable or changeable), and the return Eurotunnel crossing over the weekend. My parents also return to England at the weekend, so we will be completely without any means of transport to get to/from the garage, supermarket or to return home, and without someone who speaks french well enough to communicate with the garage.

 

 

What can we do?!??!

[zoe_ashton]

Previous owner invoices for work done that we did not know about!

[zoe_ashton]

Invoice for estimate of work done for us - however does not include a lot of the details!

[honeybee13]

Hello there. I'm sorry you're going through all this. I suppose you don't have breakdown insurance for travel in Europe?

 

I know Eurotunnel offer insurance when you travel but have never read their conditions, that could just be for cancellation, I really don't know. If you took that out, it's worth a read.

 

I'll send you a PM.

 

My best, HB

[zoe_ashton]

Thanks but the breakdown cover doesn't cover cars that are already broken! So as it is already at the garage they cannot help - we did ring them when the fault first happened and they said they didn't think they would be able to help as at that time the car was technically still drive-able (although only in 3rd gear).

 

We don't have the insurance cover by Eurotunnel, but I am just sending them a message to see if we can amend the return booking date on our ticket.

Thanks.

[honeybee13]

No, sadly you have to take out insurance before the event, not afterwards.

 

My best, HB

[zoe_ashton]

Hi HB - couldn't reply to your message as don't have enough posts yet

 

My parents have a holiday home here in France, which is where we are staying - the problem is that it is right in the middle of the countryside, miles from anywhere, with no bus service! They also return to England on Monday, so we would be completely stuck!

 

We are looking into OH flying back home so he can go to work, but it again is cost that we will get landed with, when it is not our fault the car is broken. Then there is the problem of me and our son getting home... if/when the car is fixed....

 

We are really desperate, and just don't know who to go to for help... as Chapelhouse are being completely unhelpful with everything, and ignore any emails they don't fancy replying to?!?!

 

Thanks for your suggestions anyway

[rebel11]

Hi Zoe

 

Have you checked your Credit Card or Bank Accounts sometimes they come with various add ons, such as breakdown cover.

[zoe_ashton]

Thanks, but don't have any additions on my bank accounts or credit cards - they are all just standard ones

[honeybee13]

And have you checked your car insurance just in case it includes breakdown cover overseas?

 

My best, HB

[rebel11]

Hi Zoe

 

All I can think of is getting it fixed in France, get them to print out the invoices in english. When you get back, send them an LBA, if they don't refund the cost of the repairs take them to court.

[zoe_ashton]

Thanks but the car is not going to be fixed in time for us to come home at the weekend, so we have no way of getting the car fixed in time, or getting home

[honeybee13]

Hi Rebel. Printing out invoices in English may not be that easy if the garage and mechanic don't speak English, which it sounds as if they don't. It's a myth that most Europeans speak English. It sounds as if the garage could be trying to be quite helpful, if they're trying to sort out a guarantee problem for a UK car.

 

Thinking out loud, I wonder if invoices in French could be translated into English with one of the language websites once Zoe gets back in touch with the garage?

 

My best, HB

[honeybee13]

Thanks but the car is not going to be fixed in time for us to come home at the weekend, so we have no way of getting the car fixed in time, or getting home

 

Hello again Zoe.

 

I don't know what your means are, but when this happened to a member of my family, they left the car to be repaired in France and took a plane back. Or would the train be an option or a hire car? Then this member of the family travelled back to France to collect the car once it was driveable.

 

What I don't know, but hopefully someone does, is what you can claim back from the garage that sold you the car for all your additional expenses.

 

My best, HB

[rebel11]

My thinking is that if Zoe plans to take legal action, at least the invoices will be in english.

 

Hi Rebel. Printing out invoices in English may not be that easy if the garage and mechanic don't speak English, which it sounds as if they don't. It's a myth that most Europeans speak English. It sounds as if the garage could be trying to be quite helpful, if they're trying to sort out a guarantee problem for a UK car.

 

Thinking out loud, I wonder if invoices in French could be translated into English with one of the language websites once Zoe gets back in touch with the garage?

 

My best, HB

[rebel11]

I think Hire car might be the best bet.

[zoe_ashton]

Thanks all, have called Chapelhouse (again) and kicked off with Dave the service manager (again!) and he just keeps saying he does not have the authority to say we can get a hire car, flights etc... So I told him to get someone who could sort it to call me - he said he would do with 1/2 hour.

 

However just rec'd email from him saying he had tried to call but couldn't get through (ie. he didn't bother calling!) and wanted the following info, which we had already discussed:

Email reply to him:

 

 

I have been sitting next to the phone waiting for you to call, so do not really think that you have tried.

 

We have breakdown cover with Britannia provided through quoteline direct

We do not know when the vehicle will be repaired – it depends how long the part takes for a new part to arrive as the turbo is defective.

The garage are trying to complete the work under your warranty as the turbo was new, but this will only be confirmed once the repairs are all completed.

 

We are due to return home at the weekend – we have the day’s drive in France on Saturday 2nd July, with overnight hotel stay pre-paid at Calais (non-refundable or changeable), Eurotunnel crossing on Sunday morning, and the day’s drive through England on Sunday also.

 

Eurotunnel have confirmed that we can change our return journey but there may be additional fare to pay if the new chosen crossing is a higher price than what we have already paid.

 

As both myself and Neil have told you, neither of us speak French, and are relying on the basic information that my dad is getting from the garage. If you need more technical information from the garage, you will have to arrange for a French speaker to call them – Neil has provided you with the number numerous times.

 

The flight home is via Ryanair – Limoges-Liverpool and is 45EUR each (Total for 2 adults & 1 child is 135EUR. Then one of us would need to fly back out once the car was ready to collect it and return to you for replacement (plus any cost of changing the Eurotunnel booking & hotel).

The other alternative is for Neil only to fly home (45EUR), and for you to provide myself and Oliver with a hire car while the car is being repaired (plus the Eurotunnel and hotel costs).

 

Once the car is returned to England, I will be returning it to Chapelhouse for a replacement vehicle – under my rights of the Sale of Goods Act (The car was not sold in satisfactory quality, did not meet the description given (was assured the fault would be fixed), nor as fit for purpose). Please see information taken for Which? website:

 

Your rights if you buy second hand cars from a dealer

When you buy a second hand car from a dealer, you have a right, under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, to expect the car to:

 

be of satisfactory quality (taking into account its age and mileage)

meet any description given to you when you were buying it, and

be fit for the purpose (for example, to get you from A to B safely)

If the second hand car does not meet these requirements you have a right to claim against the dealer for breach of contract.

 

Your right to reject a second hand car

If there's a problem with a second hand car soon after you’ve bought it, for example, the car develops a problem you wouldn’t expect for the car’s age and mileage, or it turns out to be not what you’d been lead to expect, you may have the right to ‘reject’ the car and get your money back.

 

However, you have only a ‘reasonable’ time to reject a second hand car. There’s no clear definition of what a reasonable time is – you probably need to do it within three or four weeks of buying it. And if the fault is very obvious you may have less time.

If it’s too late to reject the second hand car (or you don’t want to) you can ask the dealer for a replacement.

 

So he will hopefully get someone to call in the morning, and we will see where we go from there.....

 

Thanks for all the replies; just don't feel like we are getting very far!

Zoe

[raydetinu]

Another thing you can do is inform whoever the finance is through as it is their car, not yours, so must take some responsability.

they can sometimes put pressure on the dealer to sort problems out.

if worst comes to worst just tell them where the car is and let them deal with it.

Keep all records of cantacts, emails etc.

If you do have breakdown insurance, I think you can claim for repairs when you get back, with invoices etc.

I did that when in france a few years ago, shock absorber went, just took to local garage, got repaired and claimed when got home; but did contact ins.co.and that was quickest way to deal with it at the time and they agreed.

[honeybee13]

Hello Zoe. Just to check, this breakdown cover. Is it something you've just taken out and if it is, are you certain Britannia will cover this?

 

If they do, does it include repatriating you and/or the car, for example? I'm not very well versed in this sort of policy, but I just worry about cover taken out after the event, if this is what's happened.

 

My best, HB

[heliosuk]

Hi Zoe,

 

The reality is that the breakdown company will not cover you as the fault was there prior to taking out the cover. Remember the cover is essentially an insurance policy and no policy covers pre existing conditions whether it is a car, house or life insurance.

 

I am also somewhat sceptical with the fact that the French Citroen dealer will cover the repairs under warranty as you won't have the necessary paperwork with you and there seems to be a grey area as to what Chapelhouse have actually done. Certainley if the roles were reversed i.e. you were French and over here I'd have a problem with it. Guidelines for UK and Euro dealers, in fact all world dealers are quite clear on this. Where there is doubt as to the validity of the claim, such as not having paperwork to support the warranty on the part, then the dealer should charge the owner for recovery in the original repair home territory, in this case the UK.

 

What I suggest you do is get a detailed estimate of what is wrong in French. Do not authorise repairs. This is important. I can get it translated for you as the on line translations don't work with technical descriptions. It's a different language in English let alone French.

 

You and family fly home. Leave car in France for time being. If you can leave the car at the holiday home then all the better as it takes the pressure off you from the French Garage to get it repaired. You will though have to settle their current charges.

 

Then go and see Chapelhouse with a complete breakdown of what it has cost so far. Ask for courtesy car and don't mention compensation for inconvinience, loss of enjoyment bit at this stage as technically you have contributed to this by continuing beyond the M6 Toll when you knew it was faulty. If it ever went to court I think you could be in big doo doo here.

 

See what Chapels have to say and come back here to get the legal perspective and how to pursuit it if Chapels don't play ball. Sailor Sam is a bit hot on writing letters of this type and Dragon Dennis knows the legal perspective and puts it over clearly and concise, though I notice an earlier post has been removed as he is getting a bit frustrated at the moment and can understand why!

 

For info, what is actually happening is that the car is detecting a fault and going into limp home mode by the sound of it. This can be triggered by various items on the car and there is a clue in the mileage it keeps happening at.None of the repairs apart from the turbo related stuff would cause this.

 

The tone of your original post is very emotive and understandibly so but I would advise also to keep a clear and business like head and determine a clear strategy as to how to deal with this. There are enough experts posting here to guide you through this unfortunate mess.

 

BTW, keep all receipts.

[zoe_ashton]

Hi heliosuk,

Thanks for the reply.

The french garage have the copy of the invoice for the faulty turbo, which is why they are trying to repair it under warranty - this was only changed on the Friday as we came on holiday on the Saturday. The breakdown insurance was taken out last year, before I had the car, and they do have the details of the new car. On the subject of the breakdown cover, the car had been 'fixed' by Chapelhouse on the Friday and they say they were happy with the repair; on the M6 toll we actually called the breakdown company, and they said they did not think they would be able to help as the car was still technically drive-able (as previously mentioned in one of my other posts)

 

Will need to check with them about repatriation, as it is a bit sketch on the details as to whether they will get the car home if you have managed to get it fixed.

 

Thanks all for the advice and support.

BTW - it is now almost 1pm in England, and I am still waiting for the request call by 11am! No emails either from the lovely Chapelhouse!

[heliosuk]

Hello Zoe,

 

If the dealer in France is happy to repair under warranty then let them get on with it. I am not convinced though that this is the root cause of the problem. My worry is that you will have the same scenario driving back as you did driving down.

 

Now the thing is and if possible ask and get confirmation from the dealer by asking if the faults they have identified will cause the car to go into "emergency mode" or "limp home mode". If they confirm this then they should test the car for at least 100 miles non stop in various scenarios such as motorway and town driving to give some degree of confidence that the fix is OK.

 

The alternative is to confirm what I think about the car is currently in emergency mode and argue with the breakdown service that although it seems driveable the car is actually in a breakdown condition as the emergency mode is only designed to get you off the motorway and into a garage. The service should have realised this when you were on the toll road.

 

From an engineering perspective there is something not quite right with all of this but the main thing is to get yourselves home first with a degree of reliability and then the posters on CAG can help with the legal and moral aspects of dealing with Chapelhouse.

[papasmurf1cx]

If all else fails contact the British Consulate who will assist you as best they can. They will be able to get you home, not sure what they would do with the car (sorry did not read entire post) .

[zoe_ashton]

Hello again heliosuk,

 

It is funny you mentioning limp-home mode, as we told Chapelhouse this the first time it broke as OH had found some basic information on internet about it!!! They road tested it once they 'fixed' it before we came away - 3-4 miles of driving!! But I argued at the time that was not good enough, so they took it out for a 30min drive. What I have realised is that as they are the 'experts' they are obviously not listening to us at all, as we said to drive it for 40mins on the motorway as minimum to check it before we came away - which they did not do.

 

However, on a different note.... after a week and 1/2 of us saying if they wanted technical information from the garage they would have to get a french speaker to ring them, they have managed to magic up someone to call the french garage today! So we will see how that pans out, but as they are still not calling us back and ignoring emails, we may have a long wait to get any information.

 

On the M6 toll road, we honestly thought that it had overheated, as it reset itself, which it had not done before. It was only driving through France that the intervals at which we had to stop at were getting shorter and shorter, to approx 25miles, that we thought it could not just be overheating each time, which is why we took it to the french garage in the first place - we didn't ever imagine that the car was in worse condition after Chaelhouse had 'fixed' it probably, than we had test driven it!

 

Will keep you updated, but thanks again for the advice.

Zoe

[raydetinu]

what made you think it was overheating? temperature gauge or warning light.

The ecu may reset after ignition swithed of then when it gets fault signal again, it switches to limp ( safe mode ), until switched off again.

must be an intermitent fault that occurs when running, turbo fueling, mixture etc. could just be o2 sensor! not controlling mixture, runing weak so cuts out high revs to limit damage.