What would you do?

gyppo

A work colleague of mine finds himself in this scenario:

Last september, he spotted an 04 bora tdi in a renault main dealer. The bora had tiny milage (7000 miles), in showroom condition. He traded an 02 car + cash for this car. The Garage gave him a 12 month warranty.

A month later, the bora was noticed to be misfiring intermittantly, ie 5-6 times daily. It was brought back to the garage, who said that as the bora was under manufacturers warranty, it would be arranged to go to a VW dealership.

The car was examined 3 times by the VW Garage, and various components changed.
The problem was not resolved.
The VW garage said they could find no fault on the car.

The car was then given to the senior mechanic in the Renault dealership from where it was bought, who drove it over a long weekend. He confirmed, that "yes", there was a misfire, which manifested itself a few times over the weekend. He contacted the VW garage, and organised the car to go in again.

The VW garage once again said they could find no fault on the car, and that no errors were logged in the cars memory.

Is the owner of this car entitled to a replacement, refund, or what do you suggest, bearing in mind that he brought the issue to the sellers attention 1 month after buying the car.

Thanks

crosstownk

The Renault dealer has acknowledged the fault and it is his responsibility to fix it and he must be given reasonable chance to do so - I'd say 3 is enough. Walk in, hand the keys back to the salesman, tell him your returning the car and ask for your money back - this won't happen but you might get things resolved by threatening to return the vehicle. It's tough work to get your money back on a faulty car but it can be done.
If you do go back to the garage don't loose the head or get angry - just be calm and collect but firm.

gyppo

Thanks for your opinion, I will pass it on.

At this stage, the owner is fed up with this ongoing saga, and wants it brought to a conclusion. I think he is of the opinion that even if the fault was rectified, he no longer wants the car.
A misfire would surely damage the catalyser, over the period of 6/7 thousand miles - would it?
He is thinking down the line when an nct test will need to be passed.

The OP

His contract is with the Renualt dealer (not VW) - WHO HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED THE PROBLEM. It's 100% their responsibility by law to fix this, or he is entitled to a full refund.

Big Balls

I don't see why VW should have to look after him.. Renault sold him the car.

I would never buy a different make used car from a franchised garage like that either.

If he wanted a Bora he should've went to a VW garage, at least there'd be no question as to who is responsible for looking after the car's warranty.

Henry Ford III

I think VW are obliged to attempt to fix any vehicle with a VW warranty. It doesn't matter where it was purchased, even privately. Same applies for any manufacturer.

I think the owner has been pretty patient with his dealer, and perhaps the legal route is the way to go on this one?

gyppo

I agree, the seller should be the one to sort it out. I would imagine though, that the seller assumed VW would sort out this problem as it is "still " within the manufacturers warranty period, hence the reason the car was sent to VW.

At the end of the day, the buyers contract is with the vendor, and not with the 3rd party garage. As far as the buyer is concerned, his warranty is clearly the one given by the Renault garage.

gerrycollins

the law says he bought it off renualt so its up to them to solve it

short story of my past
bought a brand new car from a main dealer,a few months in something went wrong,brought it back a major part was broken so they fixed it free of charge not bad,took 3 days in total

another few months passed and similar problems started again brought it back and they spent a week looking at it,i had to fight them for a replacement car in the mean time as i travel quiet a bit with work,then they said that an even bigger part was gone and that sould have been replaced originally,car was over 1 yr old at this stage,the cost was roughly €1200 so i came to an agreement with them fair enought i thought
but i would have to wait for further tests just to confirm it and the part would take a week to order in as it would not be a part likely to be in stock
at the wend after leaving my house one day at the local roundabout i saw my car speed thru the roundabout so i was not impressed as it was supposed to be a work in progress and undriveable
i went straight to the dealership and asked for answers and threatened them with solicitors unless the problem was sorted soon as in my opnion they were taking the p**s
the following day the part magically appeared and my car was ready for collection the following day!!!!also other problems that i was having with the car dissappeared too (excessive blowing of bulbs) which i mentioned before but was told it was natural i was using them too much

sometimes it just needs to be explained to them in plain honest to goodness english what you want and not to take any guff from them your the customer,your driving(pardon the pun) their business