worthless car sold by CarCraft

[Guest Carcraft Customer Service Manager]

Thanks guys, I am using a PC (no tablets here !) and always seem to have this issue when posting, unsure why

[rubbishcarowner]

As a quick update to this forum CarCraft have today issued a further rejection of this claim. The letter states that the car was in good condition at the time of sale, aux belts can go at any time and that the servicing garage (had a service in between purchase and breakdown) has confirmed to CarCraft that the aux belt was checked at the time of service and no defect was found. However, in my call to the garage in question (local garage of a chain) suggested they have not spoken to car craft or that their head office has not spoken to them in relation to a carcraft letter/question. To be clear and in fairness to CarCraft this information could be incorrect and they are double checking to confirm but having spoken to the manager, he was fairly clear.

 

I am considering my next steps.

 

Thank you to Linzi (carcraft) for the starting this most recent investigation. If possible can you confirm to my email who your query was addressed to, to avoid confusion on this point.

Edited January 24, 2014 by rubbishcarowner

[Surfer01]

Reads like another typical excuse for a get out by Carcraft. How can Car craft insist on a service after 6000 miles or 6 months if thsi is not in accordance with the manufacturer's guidelines which may state every 12 months or 10,000 miles?

[Guest Carcraft Customer Service Manager]

Absolutely, I will get an email sent, I can confirm that the call was made to them at 2.25pm on 22nd January 14.

[Guest Carcraft Customer Service Manager]

Reads like another typical excuse for a get out by Carcraft. How can Car craft insist on a service after 6000 miles or 6 months if thsi is not in accordance with the manufacturer's guidelines which may state every 12 months or 10,000 miles?

 

Not all our cars come with full service history, therefore, we ask that a service (which is included in the guarantee) is carried out within 6 months or 6K miles, whichever is soonest, to help get the maintenence back on track. Thereafter we ask that the servicing is kept within the manufacturers guidelines.

[2ltr16valve]

Something that strikes me here !

 

If as you say carcraft do not know the history of the vehicle. You also insist that it is serviced with your selfs within 6 months to keep the warranty valid.

 

Then why does carcraft not service all cars sold with these warranties before collection ?

 

My personal opinion on this is that carcraft play on the customers oversight of this to get out of claiming on their largely shabby cars. We are only human after all and this would be easy to overlook.

[Guest Carcraft Customer Service Manager]

We do not know the service history of ALL vehicles (some have full, some partial and some not at all), we state to all customers that:"If at the point of sale you don't know when your car was last serviced, or has incomplete/no service history, you need to get a full service carried out within 6,000 miles or 6 months of purchase, whichever is sooner. This service can be carried out without charge at a Carcraft service centre."We carry out a 120 point inspection prior to sale to make sure all cars are at or above MOT standard, if anything is found to be a cause for concern then this is rectified prior to sale.We are all human, and this is why the customer is given a guarantee booklet at the point of sale to take home and digest.

[Surfer01]

Not all our cars come with full service history, therefore, we ask that a service (which is included in the guarantee) is carried out within 6 months or 6K miles, whichever is soonest, to help get the maintenence back on track. Thereafter we ask that the servicing is kept within the manufacturers guidelines.

 

In other words Carcraft openly admit that they do not check the vehicles before selling them onto unsuspecting customers. Whenever we have bought a second hand car, the dealership has done a service to avoid problems.

[Guest Carcraft Customer Service Manager]

In other words Carcraft openly admit that they do not check the vehicles before selling them onto unsuspecting customers. Whenever we have bought a second hand car, the dealership has done a service to avoid problems.

 

Please see my last post above, we do check all our cars prior to sale. Hope this clears up your post

[oddjobbob]

just shows you..... I was a car dealer and NEVER EVER EVER bought a car for resale unless it had a decent service history.

 

 

sounds to me like car craft will buy any old shed if its cheap enough and then retail it for top money by lying to people.

 

 

charlatans, they should be ashamed.

[rubbishcarowner]

Linzi are you able to confirm what exactly is covered in the 120pt checks as it is my understanding that these type of checks are rather like a basic safety check rather than anything else i.e would not cover all major service items and would not look for quality issues only basic safety.

 

Are you also able to confirm that this was carried out for my specific vehicle and provide evidence it was carried out and the findings/works carried out post the check?

 

Re other posts above it does look like, despite being a huge retailer of cars, you place all the risk on the buyers, why not just ensure that you can confirm to all buyers that the cars have a full service history or at the very least tell customers if it does not. Your posts above seem to confirm that you do not check service history in all cases and cannot assure customers that cars have full service history? This seems a basic indicator of risk and quality of the car being sold and should be simple to do and provide to customers. Not very hard to look in the glove box and tick a check box on a system somewhere to give the customer the information.

[Guest Carcraft Customer Service Manager]

When it comes to service history, we can only give what has been given to us when we have purchased it, ALL of our customers are aware of what comes with the vehicle at point of sale as they have to sign a document that outlays this information, and if they do not want to purchase a vehicle without service history, then we can find one for them that does. This is one of the reasons we give a 12 month guarantee at no charge with every car - to assist them in starting fresh service history.I would like to point out that the OP did have full service history and has kindly provided this to us during this investigation. I would also like to say that this thread is leaning away slightly from the issue in hand.

[Guest Carcraft Customer Service Manager]

Linzi are you able to confirm what exactly is covered in the 120pt checks as it is my understanding that these type of checks are rather like a basic safety check rather than anything else i.e would not cover all major service items and would not look for quality issues only basic safety.

 

Are you also able to confirm that this was carried out for my specific vehicle and provide evidence it was carried out and the findings/works carried out post the check?

 

Re other posts above it does look like, despite being a huge retailer of cars, you place all the risk on the buyers, why not just ensure that you can confirm to all buyers that the cars have a full service history or at the very least tell customers if it does not. Your posts above seem to confirm that you do not check service history in all cases and cannot assure customers that cars have full service history? This seems a basic indicator of risk and quality of the car being sold and should be simple to do and provide to customers. Not very hard to look in the glove box and tick a check box on a system somewhere to give the customer the information.

 

I understand you are already in touch with someone in our customer service department and have been communicating via email - i will pass the above request on.

[oddjobbob]

'' give a 12 month guarantee at no charge with every car ''

 

 

Yes and worth about half a crown by the look of it.

 

 

OP if I were you i'd get a BIG placard made to put on your car and park near to where you bought the car from so that you can be seen (not on Carcraft property though) with the words 'Buy a car from here at your peril 2013 £10,500, 2014 £0.'

 

 

As long as you don't actually lie or use threats of any kind there's not a lot they can do.

 

 

Start costing them some profits they'll fix your car.

 

 

They should be ashamed of themselves.

[rubbishcarowner]

Thank you for forwarding the information to your customer services dept Linzi. Helpful.

 

I think the thread is still spot on. Does carCraft sell quality cars/what do they do to ensure they sell quality cars, which is entirely linked to my specific issue of did it sell me a car of reasonable/fair quality?

[2ltr16valve]

Thank you for forwarding the information to your customer services dept Linzi. Helpful.

 

I think the thread is still spot on. Does carCraft sell quality cars/what do they do to ensure they sell quality cars, which is entirely linked to my specific issue of did it sell me a car of reasonable/fair quality?

 

I agree

 

Also. Why is the guarantee limited to 10,000 miles in the first year ? I would think this could be classed as an unfair term.

[Guest Carcraft Customer Service Manager]

You are very welcome. We have outlayed the reasons as to why the claim was declined in previous posts, but customer services will be in touch at their earliest opportunity regarding the information you have further requested.

[oddjobbob]

They aren't going to pay you OP, just going round in circles, get yourself down there every Saturday for a few weeks and cost them some money. Not a lot they can do about it.

[Conniff]

I would say the vast majority of car sales do not service their cars before sale. Those that claim 'we will service it before you pick it up' really mean they will change the oil and maybe the filter as well.

[heliosuk]

I'd agree with conniff here. It seems to me that car craft have met all the responsibilities they have to.

 

Still cannot get my head around the auxiliary drive belt causing the issue though. NO dealer services cars before sale unless it's needed as it just eats into profit and if they do it will only be an oil and filter change. Frankly I'd side with car craft on this one unless the OP can provide evidence to contradict what they say. Their process as well does not seem unreasonable and appears to be quite fair with good intention on behalf of the customer.

 

Perhaps if customers actually read terms and conditions an also understood what SOGA actually says (or rather makes it a wild and woolly interpretation for both sides) then there would be amore clear understanding of what is what.

 

It would be better to concentrate on VW in this case as it appears to be a known issue where servicing would have hardly made any difference to the apparent failure mode. Perhaps if one changed tact and went after VW (if we can determine exactly what happened) the OP might get some of their expense back.

 

I cannot for the life of me see what carcraft have actually done wrong here.

[Conniff]

I cannot for the life of me see what carcraft have actually done wrong here.

 

No, I can't either.

 

Examination of an aux belt usually means looking to see how deep it is in the pulley.

[j66]

No, I can't either.

 

Examination of an aux belt usually means looking to see how deep it is in the pulley.

 

It would do on an old car with a 'V' section belt. Modern cars have a multi ribbed flat belt (even my 22 year old Ford does), which can be smooth on one side or ribbed on both sides. Examination of these would consist of checking it for any foreign objects embedded in it, cracking, splits and general deterioration. These days they are usually tensioned by a spring loaded automatic tensioner, though Ford have been known to use one of an exact length with a special fitting procedure that requires no need of an adjustable tensioner.

 

As I've previously mentioned, changing the fuel filter as part of a service can affect the the auxiliary belt, due to their location, the fiddly seals and general deterioration of the fuel filter housing. Any fuel leak should be blatantly obvious when the vehicle owner does the recommended under bonnet checks as detailed in the handbook.

[sailor sam]

I also think we are going round in circles. What needs to be established is how the auxiliary belt failing, caused the timing belt to fail resulting in the catastrophic damage to the engine.

 

My aux belt failed on my Punto hgt at around 60 mph a couple of years ago... but it didn't result in the destruction of the engine.

[Conniff]

It could be that the front engine cover was missing in toto or either the top or bottom which would expose the timing belt.

[sailor sam]

That's the point i'm trying to make. If it could be proven (which I very much doubt) that a cover was missing at the point of sale, then surely the OP may have a case with or without the warranty. However, Helio seems to be also struggling with the aux belt being the primary cause and that maybe it's a design fault on this particular car. If that was the case, the OP should research the fact and present a case to the manufacturer.

 

In any event, a failure of this magnitude on a relevantly new-ish car and given the purchase price, is pretty shambolic IMHO.