Car dealership refusing to honour warranty.

[pinkzebraspots]

We bought a used car last December from a local dealership affiliated with a large French car brand.

The car was advertised as coming with a 12 month warranty, which was one of the main reasons for choosing that car over other similar cars we saw for sale elsewhere. This was confirmed verbally by the salesman and then confirmed in writing when they emailed us the warranty documents after the purchase.

The branch of the dealership we bought it from closed down a couple of months after we bought the car, so we were told that we now need to deal with a different branch in a different town.

Earlier this year we had a problem with it, took it to the new dealership, and they said our warranty was only for 3 months, not 12, and had therefore expired. We emailed them our warranty documents clearly stating 12 months, and giving an expiry date in December, and they backed down straight away and covered the cost of repairs.

It’s now had a new problem, and we’ve taken it in again, and again they are insisting the warranty was only for 3 months, but this time they are not backing down. They are saying they would never have given a 12 month warranty on such an old car, that the warranty company wouldn’t have allowed it, and that they have contacted the warranty company who have confirmed that our warranty was only for 3 months and has therefore expired.

My understanding is that whatever mistakes they made their end that meant the warranty didn’t go through on the system (or shouldn’t have been sold to us in the first place), that’s very much their problem, not ours, and that since we have black and white proof that they sold us the car on the understanding it had a 12 month warranty, they need to honour that.

We have paid the cost of repairs this morning as we really need to get our car back and they were not backing down, but my plan is to claim the money back through the small claims court (which I believe is a simple online process these days).

Am I right in thinking they are in the wrong, and is this a good course of action? (The amount is £600).

So it’s still within the same company as the original branch?

Yes, still same company, with some of the same staff too.

Keep after them, I worked in motor sales and they are most likely telling you the truth that the company they purchase the warranty from wouldn't have provided a 12 month warranty on an older car BUT that's they're error, you bought, they sold the car c/w 12 month warranty, it may have been a mistake but it happened. It means they will have to suffer the £600 loss being unable to claim it from the warranty company.

It sounds like it’s a separate franchise rather than a different branch

and that franchise will have it’s own terms and conditions

it doesn’t sound like you got very lucky with the vehicle unfortunately given 2x problems within a year

I think you could go to a small claims court. You have written evidence so it's very likely that a judge would find in your favour.