To not expect my 'new' car to die 5 mths afetr i bought it?

[cfc]

Sob.

Bought an 03 Laguna (diesel) in November and on Monday night the turbocharger blew, proper catastrophe!

We bought a warranty with autoprotect, they're not going to pay out because it wasn't a mechanical fault. I knew they wouldn't, just as i knew DH shouldn't have bought it without letting me go over the small print.

Sigh. £1000 down and stuck at my mother's with the kids until it's mended. The car only cost us £3750.

Husband wants me to contact the garage that sold it, and the useless fecking warranty, to us. We do have a good relationship with them, but I know that legally they aren't obliged to do owt, and we're 250 miles away from home so it's not like they couldhave a look at it themselves. The recovery cost us a bomb too, even though we are with Green flag - you have to pay for every mile over 10 miles.

What an expensive weekend! I only came home as DH away and I had bad morning sickness.

Boo too! Feeling v sorry for myself!

A turbo blowing isn't a mechanical fault? How does that work then?

Get in touch with Trading Standards NOW; you only have 6 months to make a claim. I think you are protected, but talk to TS today.

How is that not mechanical?

And as for Green Flag costing money to rescue you I've never been charged for rescue and we have been taken home well over a hundred miles before.

It is a mechanical fault..... How does the warranty define mechanical fault in order for this not to be covered?

The way I read it, and was told it by the mechanic who the warranty deals with in this area, is that it's a mechanical fault (ie something breaks inside it) as opposed to wear and tear and me doing something wrong, eg neglecting oil, services etc. Though that isn't the problem here, obviously, as we bought it from a garage less than 6 months ago.

I will contact trading standards and see what they say, thank you.

This is a known fault on the diesel Laguna (I only know because we had one too and the same thing happened) It was an 04 and had only done about 70k miles but because it was over 5 years old Renault wouldn't help (even though they have admitted it's a fault with the model and will replace turbo FOC if under 5 years old with full Renault sevice history....b@#$tards). Hateful customer service. Rant over, I feel your pain.

PS we couldn't sort it as when the turbo goes it usually takes the whole engine out with it. After months of trying to replace the engine (apparently there are a million different versions and we couldn't get the right one to fit) we sold it for parts on eBay for £800 (cost us £3500). Sob

Oh that is total tits! I feel for you, truly.

Luckily I could feel it going and pulled over immediately. The only smoking it did was when I pulled back up into the police's spot on the hard shoulder, iykwim. So there was no extra abuse on the engine thanks to the Turbo dirtying everything up. I know it can wreck the whole system and there might be a prob with my cat, but we'll see anyway, the run back home might be enough to blow the dirty oil out.

I know it's a fault, there's even a scheme for it (Yellow TOS or something).

I did contact TS and they pointed me in the direction of some helpful letters, so we'll see. I am actually a qualified solicitor but haven't practiced in a while and contract was never my thing. But I think I will contact the garage that sold it to me (I have told them about what happened) and perhaps I'll get some money towards the mend. We're very friendly with the mechanic at that garage, his wife and I had our babies together! He's a decent sort that I know would have helped if we were down south, with the repair I mean. But the sales is kind of separate to the garage so I'm not as reluctant as I was about sending a letter before action.

What a boring post! Sorry girls, anyway, that's the update! Thanks for replying to me x

Have a look at this www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/consumer-rights/
You do have rights, but it's 6 months so you need to getvyour skates on x

Thank you lettuce, that's a very interesting site. I am going to send a letter on Monday.

I feel your pain. On Monday we were on our way to a little holiday at the coast. Gearbox died and we only bought the car in Nov. :(

Ride home in a tow-truck which delighted my toddler, but having had to buy a new car on thurs I feel sick that we could have such problems again.

And I missed my cocking holiday which frankly with Satan's newborn in tow, I sorely needed. :(