Apparently my car clutch going isn't covered under warranty

[Blanketyre]

Because it's my fault for 'riding the clutch'.

This is a 3 year old car I bought 5 months ago with a 6 month warranty from a VW main dealer. Before this I had a car for 7 years with no clutch issues. How on earth can they blame my driving??

Is this a thing?

They can't prove that this has come about through your driving unless they have a record of the conidition of the clutch when you bought the car. They can say it's "reasonable wear and tear" but not by you!

If the clutch was perfect when I bought it then surely even if I was the world's worst driver it wouldn't have degraded this much in 5 months??

You have to buy a special (much more expensive) warranty for the clutch to be covered. The only time we've had the clutch covered under warranty was a brand new automatic car. None of the manual cars have ever been covered.

Bugger. I'm so pissed off. It was the newest most expensive car I've ever bought!

I didn't think an automatic even had a clutch!

Of course they do. They still change gear it's just that it does it itself rather than the driver operating it. When driving an automatic you can actually feel the clutch engage and it shifting gear.

They have no way of checking the clutch as to view and replace, they have to take the gear box out and other bits, so they have no way of knowing.

I would be asking as a good will gesture what are they going to do to help you with your issue, considering you have only had the car 5 months, note down how many miles you have done during this time.

Stay as calm as you can and remind them that the car is only 3 years old and the fault must be with the previous owner, but insulting your driving is not helping the situation.

Have they quoted you to replace the part ?

Get a quote from a different garage and then if they do back down you should see if they have given you a discount on the price.

Sometimes clutches just fail without any warning, so don't take what they say about your driving to heart.

Of course they must do. I suppose they don't have a pedal therefore can't be affected by the driver.

I'm fed up, I had a little Citroën for almost 8 years with no clutch issues.

I had a whole gearbox go on a car I bought last year, first automatic and the most I've ever spent on a car after a lifetime of driving jalopies.... wish I'd stayed with the jalopies that was 3.5k to fix 😒

Hope it's not as much as that for you OP

Depends on the gearbox. Some have torque converters.

How do you know the clutch has gone ?

Wear and tear. Do you do a lot of urban driving?

Because the pedal has started to stick when coming up and yesterday I couldn't put it into 1st gear despite having the clutch pedal right down.

Later on that day when dh drove it it seemed fine though

Well, I don't live directly on a motorway, so yes I have to drive in a town to get to the A road to drive to work in another town.

An automatic car does not have a clutch pedal. You cannot ride the clutch in an automatic as that involves keeping a foot slightly on the clutch pedal. So it cannot be OP that caused clutch failure here.

I definitely don't ride the clutch - I have a stiff left ankle so like to take my foot off wherever possible!

Probably means not only is the clutch plate going but sounds like the thrust bearing too apparently, u dint think consumables were covered by warranty nd I'm told the clutch plate is a consumable

It is going to cost 1k.

I am a bit fucked off that a 4 year old car needs a new clutch.

I am not a car mechanic, but I have some experience in looking at things failing. From my understanding, automatics do have a clutch, but it is applied automatically by the car. There's no clutch PEDAL so you can't "ride the clutch" like you do on a manual. You can wear it out by towing very heavy loads, or by putting the car in to reverse/forward when it hasn't finished moving from the other direction. It can also wear if there is a mechanical failure.

So on the basis that you wearing it out in 5 months is not credible, you could try arguing that the car wasn't fit for purpose when you bought it, under the consumer rights act. There is a link here. There are a number of failures within the vehicle that can cause a slipping clutch. (you could google "what causes a clutch to slip in an automatic" for a list, but all of them are mechanical, not operational failures.

I assume you are going back to the garage that sold it to you. I'd push back firmly but politely on this one. Do your prep. Make a list of the things that could have caused it. Ask them what checks were performed before selling it to you. How much mileage have you done? If it is a low amount that will also help your argument.

My car is manual, not automatic.

I posted that before reading your updates. You have a clutch pedal?

Yes.

Ah - I thought your comment about the clutch pedal referred to your own car!

It’s worth bearing in mind that, if the issue occurs in the first six months after buying the car, it’s up to the selling dealership or garage to prove that it was of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described when they sold it to you.

So this would apply.

OK. Stickier ground, then. How much mileage have you done? Do you do a lot of hill starts? I'd still try and push them down the pre-existing condition route.

Hill starts - occasionally but they are very smooth and easy as it has that thing that holds the car for a few seconds. I do a lot of driving yes, I think I've done about 6k miles in five months