Vauxhall wont honor warranty

[Voxter]

I bought a brand new vivaro sportive top of the range for 20k 18 months ago.

 

I had first service done at 25k as per website.

 

last week my van stopped so the RAC took it to my vauxhall main dealer. For 4 days I have been ringing to get an update but could either never get through...just answer machine. or we will call you back which they didnt.

 

Well today I finally spoke to someone who said the cam chain has snapped and this has ruined engine. A new engine is required at...10k. They then said the warranty wont cover but unsure why. I have been ringing vauxhall customer care for the last 2 hours but cant get anyone. it just rings out after 30mins of robot talk.

 

The only thing it can possibly be is in the manual it gives 2 engine numbers....1 to be serviced 20k the other 25k or every year. ive no idea which i have but bet its the 20k one. Even on the vivaro website its just sais 25k/1year, which is given as a selling point.

when I had it serviced by a different main dealer at 25k, they never mentioned if i was late. van is now on 43k.

 

I am really worried about this as 10k will put me under.

 

Any ideas?

[blackknight]

First one at 25k is correct but 2nd should be at 40k,having said that I cant see any reason not to fix under warranty.

 

 

 

First service:

• At one year or after 20,000 miles (whichever occurs first) for cars and car-derived vans
  
• At one year or after 25,000 miles (whichever occurs first) for Vivaro and Movano
  

 

Follow-up services:

• Year two or 40,000 miles – major service
  
• Year three or 60,000 miles – interim service
  
• Year four or 80,000 miles – major service.
  

[Voxter]

thanks for the reply.

 

Dealer is saying due to lack of maintanance. oil was fine as i always check (it gets throught quite a lot) van is never driven over 2k revs and is spotless. not as if ive taken in a filthy van with no oil.

Ive been trying to get hold of them for the last hour.

 

The bill so far is £560 just to tell me im stuffed..........not good. New engine is 7.5k with fitting its 10k. im stressing.

[renegadeimp]

Could always get them under SOGA.

[Voxter]

thanks.

As I bought it via a finance company I think I need to go to them and quote the spply of goods act. Is this a good route ?

[scaniaman]

2.5K just to fit an engine?????? How can they justify that sum??????????????/

[renegadeimp]

Indeed scaniaman. refitting an engine is a pretty simple job. Just takes a good few hours. Less if you have the chain pully to get the engine up and out.

[*Thumper]

Thats the point .......... " a good few hours"

 

At how much an hour, main dealer rates??

[Voxter]

I think main dealers just double everything. On eBay there is a company selling spanking new engines for £2999. Bit lower than £7500. If I had any idea they wouldn't honour the warranty I wouldn't go anywhere near them.

[Customer Angry]

If you really believe you are right then stick to your guns. If the normal dialogue doesn't get you anywhere then make sure you keep the phone records, photos, video, etc. If you want to really want to give the dealer and Vauxhall something to think about, then start a website with your complaint. As soon the search results start showing the dealer name with a problems customer and car, they will think twice about being difficult. A one page website with photos, facts with links to YouTube, Twitter and Facebook should cost not more than £100 to set up. Also get hold of motorcodes, search it under Google. They will look at your complaint against dealership.They say they are unbiased.

Edited March 2, 2013 by ims21

[renegadeimp]

Thats the point .......... " a good few hours"

 

At how much an hour, main dealer rates??

 

Main dealer rates wouldnt even cost as much as stated.

[heliosuk]

The proper process is to register the complaint with Vauxhaul themselves and ask them to investigate. The problem you might have is that you have not adhered to the servicing schedule as required. However you are not far out of it so suggest you approach it this way as such and explain that the schedules are confusing, misleading etc.

 

See what the response is. SOGA will probably not be an option despite what you read as you are clearly outside of the schedule requirements.

[Surfer01]

At what mileage is it recommended the cam chain is replaced. Generally chains never break and are not replaced, but I could be wrong. I know the is an issue with belts. The question to ask is how lack of maintenance could cause a chain to break?

[Voxter]

Well its been nearly 2 weeks and ive got nowhere. The dealership go-vauxhall in wimbledon are the worst ive ever come across. I have got SMMT motorcodes looking into it for me.(anyone know of these?) I went to the van to get things out & some polish guy who didnt even ask for ID opened it up and let me help myself. They have chucked the head in the back of the van & lots of dirty parts are on the rear seats which were spotless. I took lots of pics. Go vauxhall have refused for me to get a independant assessor to look at it from DEKRA. I was told they couldnt refuse this but they have.

I had a good look at the manual which doesnt state it covers more than 1 engine apart from on the service page but its easy to miss. The engine was serviced at 25k and had nice fresh oil and another 20k hasnt passed yet so cant see why its my fault when a chain thats warranteed to 100k snaps at 43k.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Voxter
spelling

[heliosuk]

DEKRA reports have come up on this site before and are meant to be the be all and end all but the reality is most of the inspectors are just members of motoring organisations. Few of them have actual engineering qulaifications such as Chartered engineer status or even have a degree in engineering. You can join DEKRA with an NVQ level 3. DEKRA is also a private company, not a Government organisation and calling themselves this is a bit close to the mark (DEFRA?????). It won't be long before someone wakes up to this and they have to change the name. Therefore the dealer is under no obligation to letthem onto their premesis.

 

As I say, you need to formally register this with Vauxhall themselves. You cannot rely on the dealership to do it for you, the departments the dealer talks to and who you talk to are very different. Whilst it is true that the chain should last at least 100K miles this is not always the case as some early M/Benz engines needed them changing at 80K miles. However in your case as there is no detailed requirement to change detailed in the service schedule it is reasonable to presume it will last the life of the engine.

 

I would think this is a turbo charged diesel engine.

 

With many engines today that have a cam chain then the tensioner will be reliant on oil pressure. This like the turbo relies on regular oil changes and on time and it is this they will use trying to get out of it but as you rightly point out this is not made clear at all.

 

The next thing and perhaps a bit more pertinent is that your van is a commercial vehicle so the usual SOGA rules might and probably do not apply. Be careful if you intend to use this.

[leestudd32]

At what mileage is it recommended the cam chain is replaced. Generally chains never break and are not replaced, but I could be wrong. I know the is an issue with belts. The question to ask is how lack of maintenance could cause a chain to break?

 

I work for a VX dealer in Gloucestershire and we never advise chains to be replaced, only if there was an obvious issue like the chain rattling. No mention of any recalls on the VOSA site either.

[Amberheating]

Dear Voxter

What happened in the end with your van. Mine has had the same problem - an L-reg Vivaro, timing chain broke and destroyed the engine at 43,847 miles.

We had had a service done locally and Vauxhall is telling us it was inadequate even though we met all the service requirements. #

Have spoken to the Financial Ombusdsman, they sent a complaint to Vauxhall. Wondering how you fared?

[Voxter]

Dear Voxter

What happened in the end with your van. Mine has had the same problem - an L-reg Vivaro, timing chain broke and destroyed the engine at 43,847 miles.

We had had a service done locally and Vauxhall is telling us it was inadequate even though we met all the service requirements. #

Have spoken to the Financial Ombusdsman, they sent a complaint to Vauxhall. Wondering how you fared?

 

Hi mate

 

After 2 weeks of me screaming and shouting they wouldnt budge at all. I was desperate to get the van back on the road as it has specialist equipment built in so a hire van wouldnt be any use. I told the dealer i wanted to get my van to take to a local garage. They refused saying they wanted £700 for work done so far. I turned up at the main dealer and reversed into the workshop with my mates tow truck threatening anyone who came near and dragged my van out of there paying them nothing. I then took to a local garage. I bought a brand new engine from a company called ram induction for about £3500 and had it fitted with a new clutch for another 1k. Went back to the dealer a week later and grabbed my key back. That was that.