UKC

A rather annoying coda to my recent 'which new car' thread. I spoent the money to get a Yeti 1.2TSi in the end, and bought it two weeks ago from a dealer. I travelled quite a long way to get it as it was a relatively rare spec - to get there and back costs me most of a day and £120 in fuel and/or train tickets.

The dealer told me he warranted the car for 30 days, and also gave me an AA warranty that ran for six months. This has a claim limit of £500.

Very quickly, the engine warning light's been coming on. I popped into my tame local garage, who plugged it into their diagnostics computer. It turns out there's a mechanical failure in the turbo. It's going to need a complete replacement turbo at £700 plus about £250 labour.

If I use the AA warranty, I'm going to end up with a ~£450 bill, but it'll be in a local garage with a courtesy car. I'm aware that SoGA (regardless of the dealer's '30 day warranty') would allow me to take it back to him and insist on a replacement - but that would cost me transport there and back twcie and two lost days of work. Plus there's an apparently significant risk that the turbo will fail en route.

Am I going to get anywhere in going via the AA warranty and then charging the balance to the trader? Is the law supportive of this sort of mixed approach? I'm tempted to write to him and point out that if I bring it back to him, he's going to have to buy a £700 part, and if he gives me, say, £400, I will consider myself fairly done by.

Any advice?

Cheers
Jamie

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

A friend had a similar problem with a used Landrover, with it breaking down a few hundred miles away from the garage. He spoke to the dealer concerned who agreed to sort it out, and when it became clear the car couldn't be driven to the original garage, they agreed to refund the cost of repairs. It did take a little bit of chasing to get the money, but came through fine within a week or 2.

You should probably speak to the garage that sold it to you, and give him the quote you have been given, and ask him whether he wants to pay this or whether he wants to do the work himself (whilst explaining that you would obviously expect him to cover your expenses (travel back and forth for certain, press him for recompense for your time).

You will probably find that he will be able to reclaim VAT (or even not have it charged) from the invoice of your local garage.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

I'd suggest that your first step would be to contact the garage you bought it from, explain the situation, and ask them to suggest how the car should be rectified. But this is one of the issues with buying a used car from a long way away.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

So the dealer says he wants me to return the car to be rectified.

I'm not too keen on this, partly because it costs me two days work (and I'm a physics tutor in the middle of my busiest time of year, so I can easily be losing more than £200 a day) and partly because I'd far rather have this work done by a garage I trust.

Do I have any way at all to insist that I get the work done and send them the bill, or do my rights under SoGA only extend as far as demanding that they rectify the fault?

I don't quite understand why they want to do it this way. The projected £450 that the AA warranty won't cover isn't enough to even buy the new turbo. Are they planning to fit a used or pattern turbo? I'm surely able to demand a new and genuine VAG part, aren't I?

I'm fairly sure from reading around the issue that it does need a complete turbo - apparently if you just replace the actuator, something in the computer system says 'no'. Rubbish design, of course.

If I am doomed to let them fix it, can I get anywhere by demanding that they collect and return the car? Or bill them for lost earnings?

Damned annoyed by this, not least because if they'd bothered to test the car before selling it the fault would have been obvious.

Thanks, all.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

I don't really know, but I'd presume that your rights are to return the car to be fixed or for a refund. You might be able to negotiate another deal, but I don't think you have a right to it.

I don't think that you have any right to claim for travel or lost time -- from their point of view they sold it to a customer who came and collected it; how far you had traveled for that was up to you and not part of your deal with them.