persistantly faulty Car on HP, now dead - HELP!!

[Sez2013]

Hi There

 

Please help

 

We have a Seat Freetrack 08 on HP finance and are over half way through the finance agreement with seat finance.

 

A few months after buying the car we noticed that the coolant was leaking so took it back to the garage where we bought it they did a number of test and couldn’t find the leak they changed the radiator just in case this didn’t solve the problem, they then in Nov 11 changed head gasket even though the paper work I was given stated that through investigation no leaks found, (this was all done as a 'good will gesture' apparently) even though the fault was brought to their attention whilst the car was still under warranty,

 

I kept ringing the garage in questions over a six month period explaining that the coolant was still leaking, I was told to monitor how much coolant I was putting in after how many miles, (there is no record of these phone calls)

 

I then booked the car into the garage as the car was recalled for other reasons and asked them to again investigate where the coolant was going, (this was about the 7th visit to the garage over a period of two years for the same problem ) I was told that they were unable to find the leak so I would need to pay about £600 in labour just to strip the car down to investigate which I couldn’t afford they did find that the oil was congealed,

 

I spoke to trading standards and have since complained to the finance company that the car is of unsatisfactory quality, the finance company returned with that it was general wear and tare due to the age and mileage the vehicle has done 64k.

 

I spoke to various garages who have said that leaking coolant is defiantly not general wear.

 

So I took the case to the Ombudsman who is currently investigating since the complaint has been looked into the car broke down and wouldn’t start, the garage have said that the engine has seized and will need to be replaced costly in excess of 6k

 

this will leave us in a financial mess and the car when working is only worth that and have been advised not worth fixing we would need to take a loan out to pay for the repairs plus the monthly finance payments of £275 would ruin us and we have a baby on the way can anyone help?

 

Am I able has over half way through able to give the car back even though it wont start??

 

Will I still have to pay for the cost of repairs and the remaining HP??

 

Any suggestions and advice would be much appreciated

Edited January 5, 2013 by honeybee13
Spacing

[dx100uk]

pers i'd await on the omb.

 

the thing here is your need to link the persistance 'leak' to the eventual failure

then i'd say end of problems.

 

the car was not fit forpurpose in the first place [nothing to do with any warranty BTW, this would/should have been a SOGA issue]

 

dx

[Sez2013]

Thanks for your comments dx100uk the garage where the car currently is said that it will be extremly difficult to prove that the leaking coolant and seized engine are linked, (even though the coolant was in the oil) I'm hoping the ombudsman is going to concerntrate on the original complaint of the leaking coolant. In the meantime I need to find out where I stand in handing the car back

[dhep1]

The reason for water in the oil is either, a cracked cylinder head, but as they replaced the head gasket then the head should have been checked, and if it turns out to be the head then the garage is responsible, the other reason for water in the oil is, a cracked cylinder, this could have and should have, been partially checked when the head was taken off, one cause of these cracks is if at any time the engine 'froze' due no anti freeze in the cooling system.

All the best sez2013, and look forward to hearing the outcome.

P.S. 6k is a ridiculous amount, check google for engine re-conditioners, there might be a surcharge if your engine is no recondition-able, but certainly not 6k

Edited January 6, 2013 by dhep1
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[garage flower]

As dx says it's best to wait for the ombudsman.

 

How long have you had the car and how many miles have you done in it? It'll be very hard to prove that the car wasn't fit for purpose at the point of sale if you've been driving thousands of miles for a couple of years.

[Sez2013]

Thanks for your responses

I have had the car for two and half years, and the garage where I brought it has been investigating the leak up until Sept.

I have done about 42k miles in it since buying it.

 

Dehp1

when they changed the head last year I asked for the paperwork as all the other times it had been in they said that needed to keep the documentation to send to Seat.

The paper work clearly states that no leaks where found when investigating but they changed the head anyway.

I have been told by other mechanic's that they should have crack tested the cylinder;

I know this wasn’t done and apparently not needed.

The garage is saying that the leak I have now is completely different to original leak (even though they never found the leak)

So basically my 08 plate car has had a couple of major leaks in the 2.5 years I have had it and this is normal.

I can’t prove what was and wasn’t done at the garage as I’m no mechanic and the finance company are happy with the garages response (It's a Seat garage).

I mentioned to the garage that I had been advised that it sounded like a crack cylinder and asked them to look (as would have been under warranty )

this is when it would have cost me £500 - £600 to just strip the car back and not guarantee actually finding the leak.

They did advise that they had noticed that the oil was congealed.

 

After all this I took it to a garage that I had been recommended, they looked at all the paper work and said exactly the same as everyone else

had said it was convinced that it was a cracked cylinder head and it hadn’t been fixed properly by the previous garage

and how could they say they fixed the leak when no leak as been found!

I was then quoted about £2,500 + to fix the problem again we couldn’t afford to do this.

 

At this point I contacted the finance company and Seat UK.

Who have come back and said the its general wear and tare.

I truly believe that it is a faulty vehicle as I have read nothing but great reviews about the car.

 

Deph1 have you any suggestions on how I can prove that can prove it’s the cylinder head?

[jenniegrant]

Hi Sez2013

 

Just wondered how you are getting on with your claim?

 

I am also currently having a dispute with Seat & Seat Finance over the car I have had for 4 months needing a new ECU at a cost of over £1100.

 

Thanks

 

Jennie

[scaniaman]

If you can't return the car and finance Co. won't help, then the cheapest way forward may be to get local garage to source a second hand engine eg. scrap yard. Once you get car running you can either keep it or punt it away. If you sell then you will have to clear HP balance.

[Sez2013]

Hi Jenniegrant

The saga continues

we are nearing month 7 of the battle and I have not had a road worthy car for 7 weeks now.

The complaint is currently with the Financial Ombudsman who have recently formally agreed that with all the evidence provided

my complaint should be upheld and Seat need to pay for the repair,

we paid for a third party inspection to be carried out who found out that the engine had seized due to the leaking coolant.

We now have to wait for Seat to respond, they have two weeks to do so and they can appeal which

means another ombudsman will start from scratch looking at the findings so I don’t see any lights at the end of the tunnel.

I have found Seat to be extremely unhelpful from the begining,

I rang Seat UK daily for two weeks just after Christmas as I wanted to form them about the seized engine

I was put on hold and told daily that the person I needed to talk to was busy on the other line but they would ring me back, they never did,

I gave up in the end.

Today im being told by Seat that they have given the third party inspection report to the original garage

and its up to them to decide if they are liable, which I find ridiculous as they are not all of a sudden going

to accept responsibility after 7 months of saying the problems are general wear and tare,

I did explain that I was happy for it too be inspected but asked it to go to another Seat garage to which I was told that is not procedure.

If you haven’t done so already Jennie I would contact consumer rights/ trading standards

I found them extremely helpful and they told me exactly what legislation I needed to include in my correspondence

and gave me the templates needed,

I obviously don’t know the ins and out of your purchase or how old the car is etc

but I am confident that they will be able to help you to enforce your rights.

I hope that it gets resolved quickly.