Car Warranty refusing to pay

[BlueKarou]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone with some knowledge of warranties etc might be able to help me.

I got my car in May. Warranty (3 months) expired on the 8th July. Car broke down on morning of the 5th July - a Thursday. Takes all day for the recovery folk to actually get it to my usual garage. It's 5pm by then, and when I speak to the garage they say they're fairly busy, so it won't be looked at very quickly.

I notified the guy I bought the car from, and in whose name the warranty appears to be, and I check he's happy for it to go to my garage - his place is 45 mins away, and further than the recovery people would take it. He is happy for me to get it assessed by my garage.

By Tuesday of last week, it's been looked at, and my garage can't figure out what's wrong so they get it transported over to their bigger Make-specific garage; not a main dealership, but a licensed place. I get a message from bigger garage that they'll look at it on Friday (13th)

I call the bigger garage on Friday; car battery is flat, they will have to charge it before doing further diagnostics.

Finally, yesterday, car gets looked at. Needs a new fuel pump because the fuel gauge within isn't working, so it's always showing 1/4 tank of diesel, but is in fact empty. I ask for them to send me an estimate. It's pricey; roughly £850. Half of that is labour, which I assume includes transporting the car, charging the battery, plus all the diagnostics. Then there's the new part and there'll be a labour estimate for fitting it.

I send this to the sales guy and he passes it on to the warranty company. Suddenly there is umming and ahhing over the age of the car (it's a 10 reg) and the mileage (89k) and then he has questions which I relay back and forth to the garage.

Today he says the warranty people won't cover it as the warranty is expired. He's willing to cover the new fuel pump and fitting it, if I get the car to his place. (I think it's safe to drive as long as I put fuel in it and don't trust the fuel gauge)

I've now emailed the garage to ask what the cost would be for work done so far, if I were to collect it tomorrow and drive away as is.

Who should be covering that cost? Is it allowed for the warranty people to turn around and refuse to pay anything? Is it worth my getting their details and pressing them to pay the costs of the investigative work?

This is all a bit of a nightmare. I've been without a car for almost 2 weeks, which means I'm completely reliant on lifts to get me and my toddler around (I know, 1st world problems) and I'm so close to just extending a bank loan to cover the price of letting the garage fix the damn thing, which is a stupid move, but it's all just so frustrating, and feels really unfair that it should have been covered, but due to an overworked garage, and a weekend, I could have got it 'within warranty', even though I'm sure they would have attempted to fight it.


This might be fairly outing info, but in the highly unlikely case someone reading thinks they recognise me and then goes through my posting history I think that reflects worse on them than me!

[rosablue]

Did you speak to the warranty people when it happened?

I would have thought you have a good argument that it happened in the warranty period so that they should cover it. Not a lawyer though!

Do you have legal cover on your home insurance? Definitely worth talking to them if so.

Also check out the Honest Kohn website - ask a question and search the site. Ditto on the moneysavingexpert site...

[Joe66]

The seller of the car should probably pay for the tow and diagnostic work to date and then repair the vehicle. You need to look at the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which you can find on legislation.co.uk

[Joe66]

Sorry, .gov.uk

[Joe66]

Oh, and as the problem developed before the warranty expired, they do have to cover it subject to the terms and conditions.

[becciboo34182]

I work for a main dealer and usually we give 12 months Warranty on most used vehicles. Anything that's less than 3 years old is still covered by a manufacturers warranty, but not all things are covered.
Unless you took out a further warranty then I'm afraid there's nothing you can do but pay for the work that needs doing.

[Joe66]

becciboo34182 Read the post, there was a 3 month warranty, and I would hate to deal with your company as you clearly don't know the law. Read the Consumer Rights Act 2015 . . ..

[becciboo34182]

It's not a legal matter !!
Not every thing is covered under a warranty
It's an unfortunate situation but the car is 8 years old
It's down to the garage individually but not a legal requirement !

[Joe66]

Doh . . . read the law . ..

[becciboo34182]

Law on what ?

[Joe66]

And OP has said the warranty underwriters won't cover it "as the warranty has expired". The car went wrong before the warranty expired.

[Joe66]

Consumer Protection 2015 OP has the right to reject the goods and receive a full refund because she is within the prescribed 6 month period. Read the law Consumer Protection Act 2015. It is a legal problem with a legal solution .

[becciboo34182]

Doesn't matter..
if that particularly fault is not covered under the warranty your stuffed
Your forgetting the cars age aswell
It's not a legal right at all

[NT53NJT]

How does the fuel pump relate to the the fuel gauge? The fuel pump does exactly that. Pump the fuel into the engine. The fuel gauge is related to the sender float which is in the petrol tank.

The warranty hasn't expired cause you notified them of the problem BEFORE the warranty expiry date . 2 months of ownership shouldn't be any issue as nothing in the car would break after 2 months unless you've done a million miles in those 2 months. They should cover the cost of the repairs . They gave you the warranty when you bought the car so they can't um and ah about the age and mileage 😂

[becciboo34182]

We have had brand new cars go out and they have broke down or there has been a fault within days... this is just an unlucky situation.

[Joe66]

becciboo34182 with respect, you should stick to car dealing and leave the law to the lawyers.

[becciboo34182]

Lawyers lol ? Nobody needs one

[prh47bridge]

Nobody needs one

Clearly you do. Your statements on this thread are completely wrong. Under the Consumer Rights Act any car sold by a dealer must be of satisfactory quality taking into account its age and mileage. If it is not the consumer has rights against you regardless of whether or not there is a warranty.

[becciboo34182]

Wasn't sold by a dealer was it it was referred back to a main dealer !!

[becciboo34182]

And they have to be a manufactures approved garage to claim warranty work !

[prh47bridge]

Wasn't sold by a dealer was it

A dealer does not mean a main dealer. In this context a dealer means someone who runs a business selling cars. You may not be able to claim from the manufacturer but, if you run a business selling second hand cars and you sell a car that is not of satisfactory quality, you are liable. That is the law.

In this case the OP got a warranty with the car. That makes it clear she bought from a dealer. The fault developed within 6 months of purchase so it is assumed to have been present when she bought it. If the seller wants to argue otherwise it will be up to them to prove it. If they cannot they are liable for the fault regardless of any warranty.