Issues with RAC - vehicle caught fire

[endorfin]

Please move this to the correct topic if this is not the right place please. This is my first post so go gentle

 

 

My girlfriend (who is also deaf and disabled) took out a RAC membership last October (2015) with RAC Parts and Labour cover which provides cover up to £750 in the event of a parts failure. She also added courtesy car cover. She did this because she knows nothing about cars and wanted complete peace of mind.

 

*Parts and Labour cover seems to be provided by a third party warranty company called The Warranty Group (TWG)

 

In January 2016 her car wouldn't start at the top of a high rise shopping centre car park. RAC came out to her and diagnosed faulty starter motor. The RAC patrolman decided that he would replace the starter there and then and purchased a brand new starter from Euro Car Parts.

It seems the RAC bore the cost of the new starter, rather than The Warranty Group for some reason. He replaced the starter in the pouring rain and when he had finished the car started once, then would not start and run again. The RAC man gave up and said it needed to go to an RAC approved garage.

 

It was taken to a RAC garage while my gf was provided with a hire car under her cover. The next day, the garage made contact and said that the car was fine. They tried starting it and it fired up right away. They had not carried out any work or done any tests and it was ready to be picked up, no charge.

 

She picked it up. Fine for one week then battery light came on. RAC came out and diagnosed failed alternator. Back to the same RAC approved garage and the alternator replaced at great cost. She had to pay the bill herself because for some reason her parts and labour cover with The Warranty Group was not live, despite being purchased in October (now Feb) so a ghost claim was set up where she had to pay the bill and claim it back.

 

Fast forward to two weeks ago, September. I was with her this time. She tried starting car and it would not start. Smoke started coming from under the bonnet, opened the bonnet and the starter motor was on fire!! Next to the house and several parked cars. I managed to get some water very quickly and put it out but this could have been a potential disaster. Starter motor is directly under the battery and if that had caught fire it would have been a catastrophe.

 

Called out the RAC who had a look and immediately disconnected the battery. Explained the history to him and he said he would put in his report that the starter had caught fire etc. He took the car away to another RAC approved garage (the one we had used before was no longer RAC approved for some reason)

When we received the email report it just stated check all electrics. Nothing about the starter or the fire.

Hire car provided to her for 3 days as per her cover.

 

Now we come to the problem.

 

Rang the RAC and spoke to customer care about the fire. My girlfriend believed that because it was fitted by the RAC and the part should still be under warranty, there wouldn't be an issue replacing it. However the RAC appeared to be reluctant to accept any responsibility. First saying that the report doesn't mention anything about the starter so there's no proof that it was the starter. Got put through to a different dept, who then said that because they were treating it as 'an allegation of damage' that it was her responsibility to get the fault investigated and get a report to show that it was the starter at fault and they she would have to pay for all this!

They also said that The Warranty Group would not consider a claim (even though it wasn't TWG who fitted the starter but the RAC) as it was an allegation of damage again the RAC.

The garage that the RAC had taken it to were not able to look at it for several days, by which time the 3 day period on the hire car would be up. My gf said she would have no car to get to work and as a disabled person she couldn't use public transport. This made no difference to the RAC.

 

Report finally came back from the RAC approved garage, who we discovered had only done a visual check because they "didn't have the equipment to do any tests" saying fire damage to starter motor, wiring loom from starter to fuse box and fuse box. It said in the report "suspected high resistance in wiring" (based on nothing but a visual check) and quoted an estimate of £640 to repair.

 

The RAC jumped on the "high resistance in wiring" bit and said that showed it wasn't the starter! Despite the fact that a manufacturer fault in the starter can cause wiring problems.

They then said that they would pass it to TWG to see if they would cover it (even though it wasn't the TWG that fitted the starter but the RAC)

 

TWG came back and said no, they don't cover wiring looms! (checked the terms, and it does say they don't cover wiring looms)

 

The RAC were basically trying to wash their hands of the whole thing. A few emails back and forth and they've now said they'll send out an independent company called Hoopers to check the car and do some tests but they can't give us a date. It's been 2 weeks now that she has been without her car. The RAC simply do not seem to care, the fact that she is also disabled does not seem to matter to them.

 

I think the whole thing is shocking. She took out the top cover with them, with Parts and Labour cover to cover mechanical failures up to £750 and hire car cover so she would not have to worry about being without a car. Instead she's had nothing but worry with this company.

 

*The starter motor itself was replaced by an actual RAC patrolman, not a garage under The Warranty Group.

*The patrolman fitted it in the pouring rain, and the new starter not working may be down to the patrolman making a mistake, or failing to notice an existing issue.

*The car was taken to an RAC garage where it SHOULD have been investigated to see why the new starter was not working, not just turning the key the next morning and saying it's fine.

*The alternator failed 1 week later, this may not even have been the alternator but a failing connection between the alternator and the starter and should have been a clue for further investigation.

 

With the RAC being the last people to have any contact with the starter and the associated wiring, I can't see how it falls down to my gf to have to foot the bill.

 

 

Apologies for this very long post, and hope I haven't switched you off before you can offer any advice. It's advice I'm after about where she stands in regard to this.

 

Thank you for reading.

Edited September 22, 2016 by endorfin

[unclebulgaria67]

To help people answer.

What is the cars history ?

When did she buy it ?

From a garage or privately ?

What make/model ?

Are they known to have electric problems ?

 

I realise this is a problem with the RAC and warranty cover,

but these questions are relevant to understanding tbe situation.

 

 

If the car came with a problem when it was bought, then this should br looked at.

Perhaps the car make has a known problem and was subject to a recall for work to be done.

RAC should be aware of problems with certain make/models.

 

When the first RAC man came out, did they run a full diagnostic check ? If so, i would ask what warnings came up. The garage that the car was taken to should done similar checks to make sure they were doing the work that was needed.

 

In this situation you are always best to find out RAC's head office complaints and to see if you can get someone senior to get a speedy resolution. I will see if i csn find an email address.

[unclebulgaria67]

Ceo email address

 

[email protected]

[endorfin]

I don't think the car's history is relevant to this issue. The car was bought with full service history and the terms of The Warranty Group parts and labour cover is that the car was regularly serviced on schedule. It has been serviced on schedule and this has to be proved otherwise cover isn't valid.

 

In my opinion this does not detract from the RAC's liability. Simply put, they diagnosed faulty starter, fitted new starter, still not fixed, took to RAC garage who did nothing and said all was fine. Starter catches fire. Injury or potential loss of life luckily averted. They should be bending over backwards to rectify this.

[unclebulgaria67]

I don't think the car's history is relevant to this issue. The car was bought with full service history and the terms of The Warranty Group parts and labour cover is that the car was regularly serviced on schedule. It has been serviced on schedule and this has to be proved otherwise cover isn't valid.

 

In my opinion this does not detract from the RAC's liability. Simply put, they diagnosed faulty starter, fitted new starter, still not fixed, took to RAC garage who did nothing and said all was fine. Starter catches fire. Injury or potential loss of life luckily averted. They should be bending over backwards to rectify this.

 

In my opinion it is relevant, as RAC and warranty provider are going to say that there were pre existing problems with the car. As you will know, they always exclude pre existing issues. Hence why i asked about the history.

 

Of course if they caused a new problem, they are liable for that.

[Conniff]

What is the make, model and year please ??

[unclebulgaria67]

I wonder whether the car was bought in October 2015 and they took out this RAC cover at the same time ?

 

RAC mechanics are generally very well trained and in the January 2016 when they replaced the starter motor, they might not have picked up any other issues. Perhaps there were other issues with the car and they need to determine whether RAC/Warranty are responsible for these or these issues pre date when the cover was taken out.

[endorfin]

What is the make, model and year please ??

 

It's a Seat Leon 1.9tdi 2005 (basically a VW Golf mk4)

 

It's got full service history with all services done on schedule and is low miles for the year.