DD20 car serious safety recall - left with no car?

[Doornon]

DD20 lives at home and drives a car to work that’s had a stop drive notice put on it urgently. You need to get a slot with a dealer to carry out the recall but some people are having to wait months for the repair. We couldn’t get through to anyone yesterday by phone so I will try again today. She won’t be insured to drive the car as it’s unsafe

DD is too young to hire a car as you need to be 21. I think the manufacturer will maybe give some compensation if there is a long wait, but we don’t know this for sure. They are NOT giving courtesy cars.

I am not sure what to do.

DD’s job is shifts, 10 miles away so I’m having to take and collect her as no direct public transport at all. I also have a FT job in the opposite direction! I’m already exhausted

She can’t work from home or change her shift times

Public transport doesn’t run at her shift times and isn’t direct (would involve 2 hours of changing/waiting)

She could get taxis but this will be very expensive there and back and not sure if she will be able to claim any costs back.

Insure her on my car at our cost and then I hire a car?

Ask my job to WFH so I can lend her my car?

WWYD? I am frazzled by this

DS3 driver here facing the same issue.

Firstly, have you spoken to your insurer directly? I am with Sheila's Wheels which is part of esure. I rang them yesterday. Took a while to get through but they said an internal email from head office states that the stop drive notice does not invalidate your insurance. I can drive to my dealer appointment and still be covered, and if I choose to accept the risk can also drive in the meantime. I'm trying not to though.

I have managed to get mine booked in next week, and I am OK to drive it to the dealership. I did this by registering online with Stellantis (the parent Co) who then sent me a link to book online at the local dealership. The date they gave was 13/8, which I accepted, but then they texted me to change it to 8/10! I called the dealership directly. They have access to the national database and changed the appointment to a different dealership who had availability.

The first thing to do is get your appointment actually booked I think. They also said that there may be courtesy cars available for "those in most need" but didn't specify what the criteria was for that so call the dealer once you're booked and ask them about your specific case.

I'm lucky that I have access to DH's car in the meantime, and I have an e-bike (I know, I know!) so it's not a major inconvenience for me.

I hope you can work something out for your DD.

They will not do the hire in her name though, with her ID and Citroen now will not pay out for the insurance cost. We already insured her. On my car and they won’t reimburse.

@HollywoodTease her insurance didn’t really care or answer much! But my DD has one of the oldest cars at 2010 and she will not risk driving it. We have an appointment on 21st August just trying to sort out the tow

@Doornon - if they won't reimburse threaten to take them to the small claims court.

@Doornon I finally had mine done but what a joke it was. I had to pay for a tow to the garage. They then messaged me at 16:45 and said they couldn’t do it and to collect the car. I got sent a link to book a new appointment.
I went to the garage the next day. I spoke with two ‘managers’ then got sent to a man in a suit. I point blank refused to take my car, I was not going to pay for another tow truck then a third to take it back.
I was polite but I was to the point. The car got done the next day.

Has your daughter tried Formal D? There’s a whole Facebook group for Citroen users affected, a lot of people are having them done by that company they come out to the house if you have a driveway they can work on. It’s free, and they are getting appointments a lot quicker for people.

Oh, I also got a reply from the RAC ( the link I posted a few weeks ago ) they gave me an appointment for the 28th at home, it’s cancelled now as I don’t need it, but just for anyone who is looking, it is a legit one.

If its had the fault from the beginning and its not been a problem for 15 years, I think I'd just drive it tbh, especially with all this aggravation and inconvenience its causing.

Disgusting that they don't care about the issues their fuck up is causing their customers.

It is possible to get a hire car younger if her insurance is prepared to cover. My DD had a hire car at 18 when her car was damaged in an accident and it took 4 months to get the part from France in the post Brexit chaos. The car was from enterprise and her insurance provided a cover notes for it.

Most of us have been told our insurance no longer covers us to drive the cars.

totally insane that they would expect you to pick up a car that's deemed unsafe to drive. What planet do they live on.

Honestly a ‘free repair’… the legwork to try and get the repair done is crazy. I’ve never known such shambolic customer service. There’s a solicitor company involved now, how far it’ll get is anyone’s guess. Citroen have offered £22 per day from the day you manage to get an appointment, but you need invoices and receipts to claim it, although they haven’t actually given out details of how you claim it. They’ve offered £50 towards a tow truck then £1.50 per mile - you have to pay first then send it to them - but they haven’t told you where to send it.
There is a support group with quite a few thousand people in it, not one of us has managed to claim anything back.

There’s really no such thing nowadays though. Plus you’ve got to insure it and at the Dads age, that’s likely to be £££s.

Update that allegedly.. a hire car is on its way and a tow is booked for 21st August

Still not letting us claim back the insurance but I am going to worry about this later on.

The call centre is awful but I am now dealing with some different agencies so it’s a bit easier

@Doornon my brother's just had a call from the garage to cancel his appt for next week due to a shortage of parts. Apparently the garage is cancelling all appointments and will reschedule when parts are available. They don't have a timescale for parts becoming available and shortage is supposed to be national.

Oh no that’s awful. DD did get a hire car given to her. Has he tried calling the helpline again?

@Doornon no he couldn't get through to the helpline initially so he just went straight to local dealer where he bought the car from and they booked him in direct.

As a matter of interest, this recall is big news in France and the gantries above the motorway are displaying reminders to get these airbags changed.
Innocuous-seeming bumps are triggering the airbags and have caused deaths.

Friend of mine has had a letter from her insurance company saying they will insure her to drive the car until it’s fixed. Which amazed me because I thought it was a “stop drive” notice and you can get fined. She’s not fussed either way as she has managed to get hers fixed now.

Yes my DD’s insurance could not have cared any less!!

She has a hire care now through Stellantis. Repair day is coming soon.

You just have to keep on trying to get through