To think I shouldn't be out of pocket.

[Toddlerteaplease]

My three year old car failed its MOT almost four weeks ago, and is still in the garage waiting for a part. With no timescale, as to when it will arrive. In the meantime I've got a hire car arranged by the dealership. It's a nice car but absolutely huge and much less economical to run than my own little car. I usually don't drive to much, but due to pre booked plans, I'm close to the fair mileage limit for the month. I will also be doing a lot of driving over Christmas, which will exceed the limit. Do I have any way of getting the dealership to cover the extra costs incurred? After so long, my patience with the dealers is wearing thin!

@BusyGoldBee apparently it's really rare.

You just need to ask for a copy of the contract, check the fair usage limit, then enquire about how to have this raised.

How do some people adult?!

1000 miles is more than fair for a month.

They are a dealership and need to sell the car after you're finished with it. Will you cover the loss they make if it's got high mileage?

It's a separate hire company. 1000 miles would normally be fine. But not over Christmas.

This

And then 4w to order/find the part seems excessive

A clutch slave cylinder is not rare and depending on the mileage is not beyond the realms of possibility on a 3 year old car. It’s a hydraulic part and they can fail. Not ideal granted but seems to me unless it’s some odd make vehicle that the dealers are fobbing you off.

Also in my fairly extensive knowledge. A clutch slave cylinder leak is unlikely to be an MOT failure!

They told me it was a one in a million thing. It's a Hyundai i10. So not a rare car.

@JoshLymanIsHotterThanSam apparently it is.

Mileage is 33000 miles.

Unless it’s affecting the braking system (clutch hydraulics run alongside braking hydraulics but are usually separated so that when one fails it doesn’t affect the other) then they’re having you along I’m afraid-see attached screenshot!

It’s absolutely not a one in a million thing although at 33k it’s unfortunately early. A slave cylinder is a serviceable part and would be changed alongside the clutch plate in mist vehicles. It would usually be easily purchased from most motor factors and you could put your registration number into somewhere like Euro Car Parts website to see if they have one available.

And for reference although it doesn’t really matter. A clutch replacement would normally be expected to be done between 50k and 75k depending on how you drive. If you rest your foot on the clutch pedal whilst driving then you can wear a clutch out early.

They have replacement clutches but not just the cylinder. And the car is still under warranty, so I can't go and buy one. Otherwise I would!

Oh I wasn’t suggesting going to buy one-just suggesting you look and see if they’re available. At which point you could argue with the dealer that they could get from a spares shop. Most car manufacturers use Valeo or LUK for clutch parts so they would be OEM spec.

Someone crashed into me last year and my insurance company were completely obsessed with me having a hire car. My car was also new.

On and on about how I had children so I needed a big vehicle. They didn't seem to be interested in actually getting my car fixed in a timely manner,

In the end I refused to have the courtesy car as I really felt like they wanted me in some high end vehicle and I didn't know why or who was benefiting but it felt dodgy as hell.

They must have phoned ten times trying to persuade me to take it and just leave it on my drive etc.

Someone somewhere was benefiting from this. 🧐