Big Motoring World/Motonova Finance - YR18 FJJ - suspension has failed within 6mts/<2000mls use

[abcxyz12]

hi

Does anyone have a solution to dealing with this company?

I bought a  £28,700 BMW on 26th August 2023.

I travelled 4 hours to get this car.

When i bought this car, i took out the extended warranty(£2412.52 for 3 years) in the confidence that the sales team told me i could take it to any garage local to me (Swansea), if there were to be any problems.

My first problem with the car came on 02/02/24.

The suspension has gone and the car is now un-drivable.

I have had it diagnosed  and the problem lies with the suspension compressor, in which BMW quoted me £1200 just for a new part.

Upon speaking to the aftersales team on 07/02/24, apparently their guidelines changed in December 2023, altering this agreement, in which the car now has to go to one of their garages. The nearest one being 4 hours away.

The warranty teams response was “ you will have to arrange your own recovery truck, at my own expense ,to take it to them, and if you cant do that then there is nothing else we can advise”. And obviously the refund policy is out of the window.

 i was not told at all, of these change in guidelines, which now changes my stance on this warranty and it is no good to me.

Cant even drive the car to work, never mind 4 hours away.

Can anyone help please?

I just want to know if i have a case with getting the warranty refund back

kind regards

[dx100uk]

there are now almost 50 threads here on Big Motoring World.

at present, though reclaiming the warranty is one of your later goals....

your present urgent need is to WRITE onto BMW and state the car car has failed in under 6mts and under your CONSUMER LAWS (forget any warranty claim) you wish them to either repair or replace the faulty parts FOC to you.

how many miles have you done since getting it?

is the car on Finance and who with cause if it is its NOT YOUR CAR - not your problem and you need to get them onboard too.

dx

[abcxyz12]

Apologies i failed to mention that the warranty was taken out with big motoring world, not BMW. The car has done less than 2000 miles, i can get an exact number tomorrow.

 

the car is on finance and it is with motonovo. I have contacted them today and they have logged my issue but as the warranty was not sold by them they couldnt really do much, other than file a complaint. 
 

big motoring warranty are adamant they cannot help me further, unless i get a recovery truck at my own expense, and take it to their garage in cannock. I would not have bought this warranty knowing i would be tied to certain garages so far away from me

[dx100uk]

read my previous post carefully.

FORGET THE WARRANTY....you've been HAD BLIND

forget about trying to get the car fixed under it.

the car has only done 2000mls and has failed so its not wear and tear. 

make a claim under your consumer rights, the car has failed within 6mts, to Big Motoring World and Motonova IN WRITING but you must get this done by the 6mts date of the car being in your possession.

Big Motoring World have one chance to fix it FOC to you else you can reject it and get your moneyback and cancel the agreement .

dx

[BankFodder]

I agree with my site team colleague @dx100uk that you must write to them  immediately.

You must write to them and say that because of the defects you are asserting your six-month right to reject which means that they are entitled to a single opportunity to repair and if they decline or if the repair fails then you are rejecting the vehicle for a refund.

Even if you eventually prefer to hang onto the car, send this letter immediately because at least it reserves your position so that you have some choice and flexibility in your eventual solution.

You must do this immediately. Do it in writing by email and by post. Do it now. Post a copy of what you have sent them here.

This is the first essential step.

We can help you get your money back on the warranty but as my site team colleague has suggested above, we can leave this one to a little bit later.

You haven't told us that you actually want to get rid of the car. I get the impression that if it was properly repaired that you be happy to keep it. Is this correct?

If that is the case then the issue for the moment is to get the car repaired and to get it repaired and a garage close to you and as a matter of their consumer rights and not related to the warranty.

You should not appear to be invoking the warranty at all. You have quite sufficient rights under the consumer rights act. If you now start to appear to be invoking the warranty it could be taken as having accepted the warranty and you would probably be unable to challenge it.

In the letter of rejection, I suggest that you make it clear that you will not be returning the car to the garage that if they want to make their own arrangements to collect it then they should do and they must let you know within five days.

Tell them that if they if they will not do this then you will put the car into your local authorised repairer and you will then seek full reimbursement from Big Motoring World and you will enforce the reimbursement by a court action in the Small Claims Court if they cause any problem about it.

Your chances of success if you have to do this are better than 90%, in my view.

Let's deal with this first.

Once we get the car back on the road and then address the warranty.

As I say this was completely unnecessary. You are adequately protected by The Consumer Rights Act and in my view as they have substantially change the terms of the warranty, they have now vitiated the contract and it is open to you to reject it and to sue for a refund of your money.

Once again, if you invoke the warranty and attempting to rely on the warranty rather than your statutory rights then it could be taken that you have accepted the warranty and you would probably then be prevented from claiming that it is invalidated and asking for a refund of the warranty fee.

Please let me know this make sense?

Please set about immediately preparing your letter of rejection. Post a draft here if you wish but let's get going. This is an essential step
Incidentally, do you have a written report from the authorised BMW dealer confirming the failure of the suspension and the quotation for the cost of repairs?

If you do not have this then you need to get it immediately and provide a copy to Big Motoring World along with the letter rejection.

 

[abcxyz12]

I will get onto doing this letter of rejection ASAP. 

With regards to actually keeping the car. Truthfully i like the car, and wouldnt mind keeping it,

but my stance on the warranty has completely changed, and this is why i want it refunded.

If ultimately the only option to get my warranty refunded would be to reject the car, then i would most certainly be happy to do this, and return the car.

I will not exercise the warranty. My only conversation with them was to see what the procedure would be now the vehicle is un-drivable.

They then brought to light these new 'guidelines' in the warranty that i could no longer take it to a local VAT registered garage for repairs.

Bare in mind this was the first time i had heard of these change in guidelines and was not once made aware of them before hand.

I have not accepted any invitation to any appointments to their garages and have this in writing on my emails.

Another problem with the warranty is that one of the terms states that if any work is carried out without consent from big motoring assist then my warranty will be completely null and void.

So should i still go ahead and get the car fixed?

will i still have a case?

 

Cannot thank you both enough for your help.

[dx100uk]

3 minutes ago, abcxyz12 said:

If ultimately the only option to get my warranty refunded would be to reject the car, then i would most certainly be happy to do this, and return the car.

no thats not what we are saying.

PLEASE forget the warranty, that can be refunded/taken off the finance later.

it plays no part whatsoever in you exercising your consumer rights.

they are two TOTALLY different things.

NO WARRANTY can vary, effect, negate or override your consumer rights 

[BankFodder]

I expect that we will be able to help you get the car repaired, get a refund on the warranty and also give them a slap and make them realise that they had better not mucking around in the future.

In terms of getting the car fixed – you don't seem to have paid attention to my advice to reject the car, tell them that there is a single opportunity to repair and that you will be putting it into your local garage unless the you hear from them about their own arrangements within five days.

In fact you had better add that the arrangements they put in hand will be to repair the vehicle and it must be done within a reasonable time – say within 10 days altogether.

That means five days for the response and a further five days to complete the repair.

As my site team colleague above and said, it had nothing to do the warranty.

You will have given them notice of the forthcoming repair and they have an opportunity to object. This is a repair which will be made under your statutory rights and not under warranty.

They have violated the warranty by the variation in terms and we will deal with that later.

Please read our posts carefully and it should make sense.

I also asked you if you had a written report as to the fault in the car and a quotation for the work – and you haven't responded.

Please will you read the posts carefully and where we ask a question, please can you take care to respond.

[abcxyz12]

Brilliant, thank you so much!

I shall get the diagnostics report, and cost of repairs print out from my local garage asap. 

I am putting all this advice into my rejection letter as we speak. Once i have finished it, i will send the draft in here.

This is my draft so far, is there anything else you think i should add?

Many thanks

Dear Big Motoring World,

 

Quote

 

NOTICE OF REJECTION VEHICLE REGISTRATION YR18 FJJ

 

I am writing to formally assert my rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 regarding the car that I purchased from your dealership on 26/08/2023, for which I paid £32,443 including three years extended warranty and GAP insurance.

On 02/02/2024, I encountered my first problem with the vehicle. It was diagnosed by a local garage on 05/02/24, where the suspension air compressor and its drain valve had failed, rendering the car undrivable.

When I bought this car, I took out the extended warranty(£2412.52 for 3 years) in the confidence that the sales team told me I could take it to any VAT registered garage local to me (Swansea), if there were to be any problems. The car has driven less than 2,000 miles since I purchased it.

 Upon speaking to the big assist warranty team on 07/02/24,  their guidelines changed in December 2023, altering this agreement, in which the car now has to go to one of their garages. The nearest one being 4 hours away.

The warranty team's response was:

 “ Thank you for confirming your concerns with the vehicle. We would look to get the vehicle booked in at your closest service centre in Cannock. We would be unable to arrange recovery for this appointment so we kindly ask you to arrange this for yourself. The earliest available appointment is currently Tuesday the 27th of February at 10:00am, which I have booked you for. Please confirm this is suitable for yourself?”

I have in writing, that I have not accepted any form of help from this warranty, and because I had stated that the above option was not an option suitable to myself, they advised me there was nothing else they could do.

I will not be returning the car to their Cannock garage, and so if you wish to make your own arrangements to collect the car, then you should do so and let me know within five days. I will then give a further five days for any repair arrangements to be made. If you don't do this then you will leave me no choice but to  put the car into my local authorised repairer and I will then seek full reimbursement from Big Motoring World and will enforce the reimbursement by a court action in the Small Claims Court.

 

 

[dx100uk]

so you got ripped off with gap too!

dont put docx files up all you personal details are in file/properties.

file copied to post as text.

as we said. forget about what has happened to date with regard to trying to use the warranty, so take all that out, dont mention it at all.

simply state what bankfoddere has advised.

also stop wishing them to do things...

you DEMAND UNDER YOUR CONSUMER RIGHTS THAT THEY do x,y,z by xxx date..  else you'll get it repaired yourself and then take them to court.

 

[BankFodder]

Yes, despite the fact that we have strenuously advised that you should keep the warranty issue and the rejection issue separate, you have lumped them together in the same letter.
I suggest
 

Quote

Notice of rejection. Vehicle registration XXX.

As you know, the XXX vehicle which you sold to me on XXX date has developed a serious fault.

I have already informed you that I took the car to an authorised BMW dealer who carried out an inspection and have diagnosed that there has been a suspension compressor failure which will cost about £1200 to repair.

It is clear that the vehicle is not of satisfactory quality. Therefore I am invoking my statutory six month right to reject the vehicle subject to a single opportunity by you to repair it.

If you refuse to repair it or if the repair fails then you should make your arrangements to collect the vehicle and to refund my money and to inform the finance company that the finance agreement is at an end.

Presently the vehicle is undrivable and therefore I am without transport. Please let me know what your arrangements are either to accept this rejection and collect the vehicle and refund me – or else to collect the vehicle and have it repaired or else your arrangements to have it repaired locally at the authorised BMW garage.

Please note that as I am without a vehicle, if I do not hear from you by Tuesday 13th of February, I will make my own arrangements to deal with the vehicle and I shall be seeking reimbursement from you in the county court if necessary.

 

 

Signed
Copy: to the finance company
 

 

 

In terms of the warranty

 

Quote

Rejection of warranty: vehicle registration number XXX

Letter of Claim

On XXX date you sold me a warranty to accompany the exact X car which you sold me.

At the time you made it clear that the warranty could be used to obtain repairs at any VAT registered garage in the United Kingdom.

I have written evidence of this.

On XXX date when I reported a breakdown on my vehicle and wanted to invoke the warranty you told me that the terms of the warranty had changed and that it was only valid and a limited range of repair centres authorised by yourselves.

This amounts to a unilateral variation of the contractual terms of the warranty.

I do not accept this change in its terms and conditions and so I require an immediate refund of £XXX and without any delay.

It is clear from social media that you have a reputation for doing precisely this and so because I don't want to waste any time at all, I'm letting you know now that if you do not refund me in full within 14 days and I shall see you in the County Court and without any further notice.
Signed
 

The letter above is self-explanatory I think.

The question is are you prepared to take the legal action? Frankly I spent they will back down and that they will pay you. Their position is untenable.

It may seem rather abrupt to move directly to the threat of legal action but I think that with this company it is necessary. They obviously are happy to take it to the wire.

If you brought this legal action then your chances of success are better than 95%, in my view. However, I would expect that they will put their hands up well before any trial and of course there is a big chance that they will refund you the warranty immediately.

I don't see any point in being gentle with this company. You know their reputation. You have already had bad treatment from them. If you are prepared to bring a legal action then of course we will help you all the way. But this is not a bluff.

If you are prepared to send this letter of claim giving 14 days then if you don't get your money back, and on day 15 you must issue the claim otherwise they will never take this is the again.

Once you issue the claim, when you win or when they settle, you will get your money back plus any costs. The costs of legal action for this kind of value is something like about £150 I think. If it actually went to trial it is most unlikely then that would incur an additional fee of about £75.

You would get all of this back. So you would add 8% interest to the amount you are claiming which is pretty good by today's rates.

Once again you can see that we are keeping the warranty issue completely separate from the repair issue.

If you send this letter then we will also have to send a letter to the finance company putting them in the picture and tell them exactly what is happening.

Once the warranty has been cancelled then your agreement with the finance company will have to be varied so you need to keep the finance company in the know

[abcxyz12]

Thank you so much for those letter drafts, really appreciate it. I will email them, and get them in the post today. And also get them sent to the finance company.

I am more than happy to take legal action, if necessary. 

 

[BankFodder]

In that case, please start understanding how to bring a small claim in the County Court and prepare your letter of claim and post it here.

You will have to open an account with the County Court money claims service. A good idea to you that immediately same staff get the hang of everything

[dx100uk]

dictation errors in letters sorted.

dx

 

[abcxyz12]

Both letters of rejection have been emailed and posted via tracked delivery, to both the finance company and Big motoring world.Now the waiting game.

i will look into the small claims court tonight

i cannot thank you all enough for all of your help.

[BankFodder]

Wait until we see what happens and you get a result!

[abcxyz12]

Hi,

just an update. They still havent replied to me as of yet, but i gave them a deadline, which is tomorrow.

If they do not respond by then, is it a case of proceeding with a small claims court matter? And also sorting my own arrangements to get the car fixed and then adding this to the total values of the claim?

many thanks

 

[dx100uk]

On 09/02/2024 at 08:13, BankFodder said:

In that case, please start understanding how to bring a small claim in the County Court and prepare your letter of claim and post it here.

You will have to open an account with the County Court money claims service.

A good idea to you that immediately same staff get the hang of everything

 

[BankFodder]

53 minutes ago, abcxyz12 said:

Hi,

just an update. They still havent replied to me as of yet, but i gave them a deadline, which is tomorrow.

If they do not respond by then, is it a case of proceeding with a small claims court matter? And also sorting my own arrangements to get the car fixed and then adding this to the total values of the claim?

many thanks

 

Sorry to say that you shouldn't be asking these questions at this point. When you send a letter of claim, it means that you are absently ready to go on day 15.

From the sounds of it, you are going to break your own deadline. Big Motoring World are already treating you with contempt and already they don't take you seriously. If you now issue a threat to bring legal action and you don't go ahead with a threat exactly as you have set out, then do you think that that is going to attract greater respect or less respect?

 

Also, when did you send the letter of claim? Looking back I get the impression that you may have sent it last Friday and you seem to be saying that the deadline expires tomorrow.

This suggests to me that you gave them seven days to comply with your demand. Is this correct?

[abcxyz12]

I just wanted to confirm the next steps. this is the first time doing something like this. I will most certainly go ahead with the legal action case.

Yes i sent the letters of claim off on Friday 9th, and the deadline i set was Thursday the 15th of February

As we speak they have replied to me stating that they want to send a technician down to inspect the car.

Do i have the right to refuse this as i do not want this warranty and i have already had to get the car fixed due to not being able to get to work.

[BankFodder]

First of all, why have you given them such a short deadline. The letter of claim that we suggested above gave them a 14 day deadline.

Secondly, yes it is in your interest to cooperate so if they want to send a technician then they are welcome but you make sure that they understand that it has to happen within your timescale or else you will issue the papers.
Make it clear to them that they have had ample time and you are not to be obstructed or delayed.

I don't want to go through this entire topic again – but can you confirm that you have had your own independent inspection.

Also, before you respond to them I want to know the answer as to why you have changed the timescale for action

[BankFodder]

I have looked back slightly and I realise that I am confusing the letter rejection with the letter of claim.

The letter of claim refers to your challenge to the warranty. Why have you given them such a short deadline?

In terms of the letter rejection – yes you should cooperate – but once again, have you carried out your own independent inspection?

[abcxyz12]

Apologies, i think i have gotten confused with the part where it said give them 5 days to sort arrangements to fix the car, hence the shorter deadline.

I will reply to them and accept their offer of a technician, but as you have said to make sure it is within the timeframe i have set. if it is not i will refuse.

Yes i have had an independent inspection of the car done. It was carried out on 3/2/24. 

[BankFodder]

Don't tell them that. You are confusing completely.

Let's deal with the letter of claim in respect of the warranty.

Please will you post your draft letter of claim here so that we can see it.

In terms of the letter rejection – when did you send it?
 

[abcxyz12]

This was sent to them via email and by post on Friday 9th of February. Letters would have been with them on Saturday the 10th.

Quote

 

Rejection of warranty: vehicle registration number YR18 FJJ

Letter of Claim

On 26/08/23 you sold me a warranty to accompany the BMW 540i M sport Touring car which you sold
me.
At the time you made it clear that the warranty could be used to obtain repairs at any VAT registered
garage in the United Kingdom .I have written evidence of this.

On 02/02/2024 when I reported a breakdown on my vehicle and wanted to invoke the warranty you told
me that the terms of the warranty had changed and that it was only valid at a limited range of repair
centres authorised by yourselves. This amounts to a unilateral variation of the contractual terms of the
warranty. I do not accept this change in its terms and conditions and so I require an immediate refund of
£2412.52 and without any delay.

It is clear from social media that you have a reputation for doing precisely this and so because I don't
want to waste any time at all, I'm letting you know now that if you do not refund me in full within 14 days
and I shall see you in the County Court and without any further notice.

Regards
Arthur Lerwell