Legal advice regarding my car

[StupidLandRoverStupidHusband]

Hope you can help me with some advice / sensible words.

Husband took our 7yo Land Rover for a service and mot a couple of weeks ago as it was running on reduced performance. We've owned it since Oct 2011 and it's been serviced each year since.

On 31 March 2018 it had done less than 38,000 miles.

Last service Nov 2017.

So, earlier this month, Husband drove it to Land Rover approved garage. They carried out the mot which required an emissions test as it is a diesel. This requires running the engine under strain for 20mins. They already knew diesel had got into the oil as the oil level had risen. Long and short the emissions test basically killed the engine.

Quoted £10k for a new engine!! Husband thinks we should just pay it. We would need to take out a loan. He thinks it's one of those things. I think we should take up a complaint procedure with the garage on the basis we drove the car in - it worked at that point.

Any advice for me?

180 mile occasional journeys wouldnt be enough to keep a diesel healthy. The fault should have been fixed before any mot as diesel mixed within the oil will kill the dpf.

Your only recourse is to sue but given that it was a pre existing fault which you were aware of, you asked for the mot knowing about the fault and will have signed a disclaimer as part of the mot which means the garage are not responsible for any damage caused as a result of the test. This is because the engine has to be revved to the governor, which can destroy timing chains in older engines.

10,000 for a new engine is not worth it, the dpf will already be seriously damaged by the contaminated engine oil and will also need replacing. So you'relooking at 12,000, in reality.

Scrap the car, buy a petrol and move on. You wont get a penny from trying to sue the garage, you knew about the fault already.

Why do people buy cars completely unsuited for the purpose? If you're doing 4000 miles a year, why on earth would you buy a diesel of any sort? The extra capital and maintenance costs would instantly wipe out any marginal saving in fuel over a petrol version; it's only worth buying a diesel if you're doing a high mileage.

And if you're worried about costs, you shouldn't be buying a Land Rover anyway, as (unless you're a farmer or the SAS buying a Defender) they're basically "look at my disposable income" jewellery.

Next time, OP, buy a petrol Avensis estate.

I don't think it's clear from my OP. Apologies.

The car's computer flashed up reduced performance mode. This was in December. Dh rang garage that he's used for years. It was booked in to look st everything. Fault fixing, service and mot. We needed to wait until after Christmas as they couldn't fit us in so the car was not used. The issue with the computer warning was communicated to the garage. We were told to bring it in.

We are not mechanics. We didn't know what was wrong with it. We took it to s Land Rover approved garage. We were told later what the problem was. After they ran an emissions test - that they have admitted killed it. That is my problem. That is what I have an issue with.

I am at a loss to understand why they decided to do that due to the issue the car had. Diesel had leaked into the oil. They told us that. We did not know that until they told us.

It was booked into be serviced about 58 weeks after the last service. To me that is s regular service. It is just over a year.

To the pp mentioning oil, we've used good oil. Not cheap oil.

I think I'd contact Landover for advice. If the garage acted against proper procedure/guidance then why would pay for their expensive mistake?

I do think that the way you've talked about what happened, what you husband has said and his reluctance to argue the toss (over £10k!) with the garage has made me wonder if he'd given them the go ahead when they advised what might happen or he didn't tell them about the fault properly, etc.